Disney's Ghostbusters: The Dead End - Chapter 19 Sneak Peek

            Dressed in a tight, silk blue pencil skirt dress, Dana found it to be a challenge zipping up the back of her dress while holding the phone in the other, her mother’s chatty voice on the other end. It was a conversation that Dana wanted to cut short since she was running as late as it was for her date – which happened to be the topic of their prolonged discussion.

            “Yes, Mom, he’s a really nice guy and I do feel like he’s the right one, if that’s what you’re wondering.” She listened to her mother’s response through the receiver; there was a question that Dana could hardly believe her mother had asked. “MOM! It’s a bit soon to be thinking about that!” She waited and listened to the reasoning for her prodding question. “If it’ll put you at ease, Mom, then…yes…yes, I feel like he’s someone I can settle down with – maybe even have a child with.” She gave a deep sigh after saying this, hearing how jubilant her mother verbally expressed herself over the phone. “Whoa, Mom! Whoa! Let’s just take things one at a—” She was cut off upon hearing another surprising question from her mother. “You want me to name the baby what? Mom, that’s not too common of a name these days – it’s the name of a hot dog!”

            Lost in the conversation, Dana reminded herself of why she was having it when she glanced at the clock. “Seven-thirty! Dammit!” She momentarily forgot that she still had her mother on the line when she blurted out the expletive, which her mother was none too pleased about. “Sorry, Mom. I just…I just really have to go. I’m running late.” In her hurry, she listened to one more question that her mother managed to get in. “Peter Venkman?” Dana gave a despondent sigh. “I… I don’t know about him, Mom. I haven’t seen very much of him lately. I suppose his job is more important to him than I am.” Her mother gave some words of encouragement that brought a hopeful smile to Dana’s face. “Well, thank you, Mom. Really got to go now. O.K. Bye. Give my love to Dad.”

            After finally hanging up the phone, Dana tilted her head back, slowly inhaling and exhaling until all the stress left her body and she was relaxed once again. Those yoga exercises really do the job at times like this, Dana thought. Setting the phone down, Dana made the last preparations for her date and put on her diamond earrings, which hung in all their sparkling radiance from her ears. She was all set to leave for her date, until a flash of lightning came up from the corner of her right eye, followed by a loud electrical pop. Dana instinctively looked out of the living room window, believing there to be a storm approaching at first; but she only saw the clear evening sky, which baffled her. Did a transformer blow up or something?

            As Dana continued searching the skies for where the lightning flash came from, she suddenly caught sight of something much more unsettling and even horrifying, forcing her to back away from the window. There, in the dark skies, was a winged creature soaring like a bat out of hell (almost literally in this case) and moving directly towards her apartment. The large, winged creature – which resembled a cross between a vampire bat and a werewolf with large horns protruding from atop its head, long brown hair that clashed with its dark blue fur, red eyes, razor sharp teeth, a long snout, long claws, and a feminine figure – crashed violently into Dana’s apartment through the living room window, spreading shattered glass and broken bricks and mortar everywhere.

            At a towering height of seven feet, five inches, the creature stood menacingly within the room, which was too cramped for her (her horns scratched against the ceiling whenever she moved). She was donned in a shredded Ghostbuster flight suit that was stained with blood and had a loose nametag that read “Rousselot.” Dana was too terrified to realize how she was dressed. All she could do was shriek in horror as this enormous creature lunged directly at her.

The final three chapters go online, starting next month! Check out the previous chapters here!

DuckTales 007, Disney Men In Black, and Outatime - My Next Big Crossovers for 2014!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

As 2014 approaches, I'm looking ahead to my three next major crossovers I'm writing for the new year. Next month, The Disney Ghostbusters comes to an end with the last three chapters (and epilogue) of its final installment, The Dead End. Saying goodbye to DGB, which was undoubtedly the biggest crossover I'd written for five straight years (2008-2013), I feel a great accomplishment for writing the one and only Disney/Ghostbusters crossover - doing the impossible and proving to the haters and doubters that the two universes can coexist, regardless of who's playing the Ghostbusters. But once that series concludes next month, I have three new stories that could lead into the next big crossover series to rival Disney Ghostbusters.

Here's a look at the ones I'm writing for 2014....

DuckTales 007: Silvermask

My first-ever crossover with James Bond will feature the cast of DuckTales, but with a major character twist: the role of Bond is switched to a woman. Anne-Marie McLean (who is currently featured in my World of Disney series - first introduced in Tales of the Disneyverse) is the inspiration for "Anne-Marie Bond," still going under the codename "007" for this series; her "Bond" will be a delicate cross between Roger Moore's and Daniel Craig's (more so of the latter). Much like The Disney Ghostbusters, the supporting cast of Bond character roles will be filled in by those of DuckTales - Scrooge McDuck serves as this story's version of "M" (chosen to be the head of MI6 by S.H.U.S.H. on account of his "gruff and take-charge personality" and the fact that he has - by the best of his knowledge - funded the organization) and Gyro Gearloose will be his own version of "Q" (due to his technological knowledge and skills in inventing - which he is forced by McDuck to use for weaponry, despite the fact that he's a pacifist). The role of "Felix Leiter" (Bond's American ally who works with the CIA) will be based on Anne-Marie McLean's real-life boyfriend Jeffrey Harris - making him "Jeffrey Leiter" for the story. Jeffrey also serves as the "Bond Boy" (the male equivalent of a "Bond Girl" for our female Bond), along with Launchpad McQuack, who also serves as ally to Anne-Marie Bond.

The "Bond Villain" of the story is Jean-Sean Silvermasque (a character written for myself), an African-French entrepreneur who suffers major burns to his face at the beginning of the tale that forces him to wear a silver mask (hence become the titular character Silvermask - which also serves as a play on his last name and the fact that he loves silver, opposing Scrooge's love for gold). Secondary antagonists include Flintheart Glomgold (Scrooge's DuckTales adversary) and The Beagle Boys, all serving under Silvermasque in his attempt at making silver the only valuable resource of the world by eradicating all others, endangering Scrooge's fortune. Other characters joining in on the adventure are Huey, Dewey, and Louie (Scrooge's nephews), Webby Vanderquack, Betina Beakley, and Duckworth.

"DuckTales 007: Silvermask" is set in the same universe as The Disney Ghostbusters, taking place chronologically during the events of Junior Ghostbusters. This is shown in the story when Donald Duck says goodbye to Huey, Dewey, and Louie in one scene mirroring the DuckTales pilot episode "Don't Give Up the Ship," when he leaves to join the Junior Ghostbusters program.

"Silvermask" will debut on FanFiction.net on February 6, 2014!

Disney Men In Black

 

This one I'm planning to be very much like The Disney Ghostbusters - only with an extraterrestrial influence rather than a ghostly one! The seeds for "Disney Men In Black" were planted in Chapter Fifteen of Disney's Ghostbusters: The Dead End when the organizations' initials were mentioned for the first name, immediately assessing that Disney MiB and Disney Ghostbusters share the same universe. Disney MiB will explore the "alien" side of the Disney universe with references to movies and shows like Lilo & Stitch, Gravity Falls, Treasure Planet, and even Disney 1979 classic The Black Hole. Unlike the Disney Ghostbusters and their first story, Disney MiB's first story will feature characters and circumstances originated from the Men In Black film series like Agents Jay and Kay. The only real difference from the films is that this story will take place in the year 2004 (the year that the Disney Ghostbusters had formed - setting up for a possible "crossover within a crossover" moment).

Characters exclusive to the story include "Chrissy" (based on and inspired by Chrissy Bernal - pictured above - who has been featured as a character in The Dead End and will be featured in the World of Disney series next year). Serving as the main protagonist of the story, Chrissy is a character whose past is shrouded in mystery and has strong ties with the MiB. Working as an officer in the NYPD alongside James Darrell Edwards III (a.k.a. "Agent Jay"), Chrissy becomes caught up in a plot that could mean the end of all universes, centering on her daughters Sienna and Sierra (based on Chrissy's real-life daughters). Chrissy gets help in discovering her mysterious past from MiB agents Ess (a character written for myself), Em (a character based on and inspired by Michelle Hanson), and Ar (a character based on/inspired by Renee Jadek). Like Chrissy, these three agents hold secrets of their own that will be further explained in sequels and mini-stories for the series.

 

The story's primary antagonist is Joie (based on/inspired by Joie Parent), a crazed humanoid alien part of a race known as Venusians (women from the planet Venus) who has her sights set on starting an intergalactic takeover with a group of alien terrorists known as "The Coalition." Joie's alternate self (who is also Venusian) has been featured lately in "Disney's Ghostbusters: The Dead End" but as a hero instead of a villain; her fate is mentioned but the specifics aren't explained (saved for the events that will be told in Disney MiB). Joie isn't the only villain of this story, however; there is also Cthulhu (who makes his own special appearance in the story) and two others that will be revealed close to the end of the story, working as members of the Coalition.

"Disney Men In Black" will debut on FanFiction.net on June 13, 2014!


Outatime!

For the past three years, I've been hard at work trying to find the perfect fanfic crossover to write for Back to the Future in the same manner as The Disney Ghostbusters. I've crossed it over with Disney (twice!) and even thought it would work as a crossover with the Muppets. Both attempts have failed to capture the same magic that The Disney Ghostbusters had when I first wrote it five years ago. Then it hit me: Don't write it as a Disney crossover, but a Universal one! This is how "Outatime!" was born.

"Outatime!" functions as a crossover between Back to the Future and Despicable Me, but also features SyFy/Universal's Defiance TV series. But these characters all take a backseat to the real focus on the story. "Outatime!" is something way much different than what DuckTales 007 and Disney MiB will be. While those tales will involve spies and aliens, "Outatime!" is predominantly a time-travel story, much like the source material it is based on, but with a major twist. The story deals with alternate timelines/parallel universes, taking A LOT of inspiration from J.J. Abrams' Star Trek.

Moving away from the storytelling method I deployed with the likes of The Disney Ghostbusters and the previous two stories mentioned in this blog, in which a character exclusive to the story serves as the main character, Doc Brown will be the primary character in "Outatime!" (the entire story told from his perspective). Taking place right after the scene in the first Back to the Future where Doc says goodbye to Marty in 1985 and leaves for the future, "Outatime!" shows Doc Brown traveling to 2015 - in an alternate timeline. Much like how Old Spock found his way into a new timeline created by Nero in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, Doc does in nearly the same way and immediately spots the noticeable differences.

In the alternate timeline, Doc Brown's parallel equivalent is Candace Brown (based on/inspired by Candace Stupek), a 49-year-old fitness trainer. Although much younger than Doc himself, Candace shares the same level of intelligence as him, but has chosen to pursue fitness over inventing (she's more partial to physical science), having not suffered the same blow to the head that gave Doc his vision for inventing time travel. Candace is also not as eccentric as Doc, being more outgoing and a little less of a hermit than he is in his own timeline. Of course, through the events of "Outatime!", Candace will exhibit some of his characteristics while facing the prospect of time travel and witnessing things that ignites her spark for "total science" and inventing again. The chemistry and interaction between Doc and Candace is the real entertainment to come out of "Outatime!" as readers will see how vastly different they are but also how dramatically similar they appear to be at the same time.

 

For the Despicable Me characters, "Outatime!" takes place between their first and second movies. Gru, his adoptive daughters (Margo, Edith, and Agnes), Dr. Nefario, and Gru's Minions are Candace's neighbors. Gru himself, along with a few of his minions, becomes pivotal to the plot when he experiences an accident with Doc's DeLorean Time Machine.

Also featured into the story are the parallel equivalents to the characters in the original timeline of Back to the Future - Sean McFly (a character written for myself and the alternate version of Marty McFly), Christina Parker (a character written for my close friend Christina Renee and the alternate version of Jennifer Parker), and Diana Baines McFly (a character written for my other fellow DGB alumni Diana Navarro and the alternate version of Lorraine Baines McFly). It's also worth noting how different the friendship between Candace and Sean will be, compared to that of Doc and Marty. In "Outatime!", Candace and Sean appear to be slightly distant, his only connection to her being through his mother (who happens to be close friends with Candace). This is another thing that J.J. Abrams' Star Trek has influenced for the story - the dynamic between two characters who are destined to be great friends (i.e. Kirk and Spock) that start out as distant strangers in a new established timeline. And, depending on whether or not this story will continue through sequels, their relationship will grow much further in other adventures through time.

"Outatime!" debuts on FanFiction.net on November 22, 2014 (the 25th Anniversary of Back to the Future: Part II)!

These are the three big crossovers that I have following on the grand finale of The Disney Ghostbusters in early 2014! Hoping that the large gap between the release dates and the prewriting/outlining I've done for each one will take in effect, it's certain that at least two of them (Silvermask and Disney MiB) will finish before the end of the year, while Outatime! continues into the year of the 30th Anniversary of Back to the Future!

Which one sounds the most exciting? Which one will lead into more stories? Which one will become the next Disney Ghostbusters? Only time will tell.

Merry Christmas, everybody! And Happy New Year!

An Adventure in Space, Time, and Disney

Before I begin, let me confirm that this isn't "World of Disney" in the commercial sense (i.e. movies, TV, theme parks, etc.); what I'm talking about is my fan fiction series World of Disney, which I started back in early 2010. The series centers on a parallel universe compiled of Disney Animated films (think Kingdom Hearts only without the Final Fantasy undertones). In the first story, Muppets Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker invent a machine that grants access to this parallel universe, leading into an insane journey between two universes (the "real world" and the "Disneyverse") and two times (past and present). The main character of the story is Joanie Navarro (inspired by friend, artist, and cosplayer Joanie Mars), a young woman living in 1970s Orlando, Florida (the main setting of the first story). Joanie's journey through the Disneyverse leads into her becoming a powerful sorceress and protector known as "The Guardian of the Disneyverse." As the Guardian, Joanie can travel at will between the Disneyverse and the "real world," her power channeled through Yen Sid's sorcerer hat from Fantasia. The "World of Disney" series has continued through a sequel written and posted in 2012, a Christmas story posted later that same year, and a miniseries currently in development.

So how is Doctor Who played into all of this?

When I started writing the second "World of Disney" story, The Marvelous World: World of Disney 2, I'd introduced an element in character development that mirrors Doctor Who: reincarnation. My main character, Joanie, had died sometime between the events of the first and second stories. Because the Disneyverse must exist with its guardian (That's Joanie!), Joanie deploys a spell that grants her everlasting life. However, there's a catch: she must take on a new face and personality with her new body. Joanie became a woman she named "Gigi" (based on and inspired by my friend Gigi Loren) and had to adjust not only to a new body but a new world (in the sequel, the Marvel Universe replaces the Muppets one as the primary setting).

The reincarnation in "World of Disney" is a straight homage to Doctor Who's regeneration - taking the main character of the story and giving him/her a new face, turning them into a completely different character. Although this method in storytelling for Doctor Who has given the show something new each season it has ran in the past 50 years, it does something a little different and even more fun for "World of Disney." It implements a chance for half of the cast of characters to all play versions of the main character. On one hand, you have variations of the same person interacting with each other and providing interesting comedy, drama, and action, while on the other, you have characters outside this collection of "reincarnations" who bear witness to the insanity and are forced to react to it in ways that add even more comedy, drama, and action for them (think of The Day of the Doctor to the hundredth degree).

(My character Sean Ryder as he'll appear in World of Disney 3, which debuts December 12, 2014)

In the first "World of Disney" story, there is a secondary protagonist in my character, Sean Thomas (Joanie's son from the 21st century). Sean's travels in the Disneyverse have led him into meeting his mother as a young woman and reencountering classic Disney Animated films up close and personal. But due to the *SPOILER ALERT* reboot in the future timeline at the end of the first story (caused by Joanie), Sean is no longer left with the memories of his adventures. That is until his alternate self - from the rebooted timeline - dies of old age and he reincarnates (this happens because of the strong bloodline between him and Joanie). By the events of "World of Disney 2," Sean has regained a new body of his own after death - unfortunately, it is the body of a woman! It is explained in an upcoming story told in Tales of the Disneyverse that only a woman can carry the title of "Guardian of the Disneyverse," which Sean has inherited in his death.

We're introduced to Sean's first reincarnation, Sheryl (inspired by the amazing Sheryl Ann - pictured above) in her confrontation with Gaston. She has the memories of both the "Original Sean" (seen in the first story) and "New Sean" (from his rebooted timeline), which gives her the experience necessary in handling this new life as Guardian and opening her eyes to the possibilities of alternate realities or parallel worlds. As Sheryl, Sean gets his crash course in the limitless powers of the Guardian, under the tutelage of Yen Sid. A new body and a new personality adds to the challenges he faces and overcomes. Unfortunately for him, Sheryl was only the beginning of a long line of reincarnations he encounters in his life as Guardian of the Disneyverse.

What intrigued me most about Doctor Who when I first got interested in the show near the autumn of 2011 was how this one main character has taken on many different faces, many different personalities, and many different lives. It is a fun approach to storytelling that I wanted to mimic for "World of Disney." In a recent article that I read for the show, which is coming up on its next Christmas episode (Matt Smith's final one as The Doctor), Steven Moffat - the current show runner - had some things to say about the Doctor's regeneration that impressed me even more: "I was trying to think about it from the point of view of what it would be like if someone told you, 'When you wake up tomorrow morning, you’ll still be alive, but you won’t be the same. You will like different things, you will sound different, you will look different, and have a different temperament.' That would be utterly terrifying. That would feel not like death, but something quite mortifying – you would be horrified by the idea of just being rewritten like that. I think that’s what contemplating regeneration must be like for the Doctor."

That quote from Moffat is something that I've been contemplating for my character and these many lives he is forced to take on whenever the cycle of them ends - only I'm "kicking it up a notch" for dramatic effect. Because his lives are all female (the opposite of the Doctor's many male lives), he goes through an experience that's even more terrifying, since he is used to thinking and acting like a man. Through his time as Sheryl, we can see fragments of his old persona coming into play at times (some of her dialogue in the story is based mostly on my real-life speech than Sheryl's) while fragments of hers are mixed in. As he continues reincarnating into different women of various ages, ethnicities, personalities, etc., he begins to lose his old self and slowly takes on the personas of these women - each one erasing some of himself along the way. It's a constant struggle for him that will be focused on in upcoming installments of the "World of Disney" series.

Much like the Doctor's TARDIS, another common element that Doctor Who has inspired for "World of Disney" is taking a real world object and turning it into something extraordinary in fiction - in this case, The Sphere. Based on the Spaceship Earth geosphere at EPCOT, the Sphere was the power source of Bunsen and Beaker's machine. It is mentioned in the first story that the two Muppets (along with members of the DHARMA Initiative) had constructed the Sphere to contain a form of energy that enables the access necessary in traveling between worlds. Not a lot has been revealed yet on the Sphere, except that it ironically resembles Spaceship Earth and enables travel between dimensions. Near the end of the first story, when Sean discovers an alternate timeline where the Sphere is used as a Disneyland park attraction, the machine anticipates his arrival - his future self from 2037 had placed settings for a specific "realm time" for him to travel to, in order to save his family in the Disneyverse. It's not yet explained why or how Sean's future self discovered the Sphere and knew where and when to send his younger self, but this chapter from the first story has shown just one of many additional traits of the Sphere. Like the Doctor's TARDIS, it is capable of time travel and space travel (which will be seen in "World of Disney 3" next year), but it is unfortunately not bigger on the inside (even though it is a massive piece of technology both in and out). Somehow, the Sphere is connected to the Disneyverse, which in turn is connected with the Guardian. If the Sphere were to be destroyed, it is possible neither the Disneyverse or the Guardian will exist either.

("Genevieve" - Sean's 16th Reincarnation - Based On and Inspired By Actress/Model/Cosplayer Genevieve Marie Nylen)

With "Tales of the Disneyverse" returning with more mini-stories this Friday (December 20th), we can expect to see many more of Sean's reincarnations show up as a mysterious and dangerous rift opens within the Disneyverse and threatens its existence. There are a total of 17 reincarnations expected to be featured in upcoming "World of Disney" stories - one of them inspired by actress Adrienne Wilkinson, who will be the first-ever celebrity that I've written as an original character in one of my works. But the most important reincarnation is Genevieve (pictured above), who is the furthest down the long line of them. Genevieve possesses knowledge of every known universe (from the Disneyverse and beyond) and knows more than even Yen Sid himself! She is virtually the most crucial character coming into the series (so much that I have already planned to end its final story with her) and could hold the secrets to key moments of the series that have yet to be explained, such as where the energy used to power the Sphere came from, how a 2037 version of Sean knew how to operate the Sphere, and many others!

Although Doctor Who may never become a property of Disney (I hope that it doesn't - but who knows?), it has certainly impacted the progress and future of my "World of Disney" series in ways that I hope to one day pitch the idea to Disney themselves. If you look at many of the stories Disney has told over the years in their movies, you'll see how most of them are inspired by other works or figures of fiction (like Hercules and Superman, Tarzan and Tony Hawk, or Frozen's Elsa and The Snow Queen). I'm proud to have a character like "The Guardian" to have gained inspiration from "The Doctor."





Reflecting on Five Years of Disney-ing Ghostbusters (Part One)

In a time where Disney owns Marvel, The Muppets, Star Wars, and - as of recently - Indiana Jones, the one franchise that has only been touched by the "House Mouse" through a music video featuring scenes from a Mickey, Donald, and Goofy cartoon is Ghostbusters. There is an urban legend that states how Lonesome Ghosts - the cartoon featured in the aforementioned video - is the inspiration Ivan Reitman had for making Ghostbusters. Whether that's true or false, I cannot say; but that cartoon inspired me to create the fan fiction series that ultimately became The Disney Ghostbusters.

The idea for the fanfic started as far back as early 2008. I'd just ended my previous series, The Marvelous Muppets (you can guess what the crossover there was), and needed a new, fresh idea. I'd posted my best stories on the forum of a site called Muppet Central and wanted to create a fanfic that crossed Muppets with Ghostbusters (for kids of the 80s, you might recall it wouldn't be the first time that was done). My idea involved an all-female version of the Ghostbusters (with the same last names of the movie versions but the first names being the same as the girls') with Muppet characters like Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo serving as "new recruits." The monsters/ghosts would've been based on those from Jim Henson's Creature Shop (there were characters from Henson-blessed flicks like The Witches and Labyrinth and those out of The Storyteller series that I would have incorporated).

One of the most-successful methods to storytelling that I practiced in the latter days of my work on The Marvelous Muppets was casting real-life friends into the roles of characters in my stories (I personally call this the "Muse Method"). For my new, all-female Ghostbusters team, I needed some friends I made through MySpace (the big social networking site of the time) and Facebook to be the inspiration of these female equivalents. One of these ladies was my long-time friend Christina Renee, who I had cast for the role of the female take on Egon Spengler named "Christina Spengler." Little did I know at the time that Christina would later be cast in The Disney Ghostbusters as her own version of the character Janine Melnitz, secretary of the Ghostbusters in the films, named "Christina Melnitz."

 

The Muppets/Ghostbusters fanfic would last only a few short chapters before I decided to abruptly end it around March of 2008 as I just wasn't feeling the story. I was at a low point in my life at the time where there was just no time for writing (not even fan fiction), especially not with college weighing down on me hard with one particular course that cursed me with one demanding teacher. I went a four-month drought, having not written a single story, and my time on Muppet Central had come to a stop when I left the forum due to personal issues with one of the members (who was my girlfriend of three short months). Needless to say, the Spring and Summer of 2008 was the worst time for me as a writer; I lacked that spark necessary to write not just a good story but a great one.

Then came August 2008 when I discovered Disney-Dreams.net, a website for all things Disney with a cool active forum that included a spot for writers like me. DD.net became like a saving grace (or a sweet haven - whichever you prefer) for me, as I finally found a place encouraging of new ideas. Before I was on Muppet Central, a forum site known as DisneySites (which is now defunct) was the last spot where I posted any Disney-centric stories. By the time I reached Disney-Dreams, it had been three whole years since I'd written a Disney story (between then and the time I was first on Muppet Central, all I'd written were "Muppet Tales").

Becoming a new member on Disney-Dreams.net, I got comfortable enough with the fan forum to get back into writing. As with all stories, there needed to be an idea first. This is where "The Disney Ghostbusters" was born. I knew immediately that I wanted to write a Disney/Ghostbusters story when I'd attempted to get a Disney/Ghostbusters fan game started on DisneySites back in October of 2004 (they did weird-cool stuff like that on the page). What became my real drive to write it was the abandoned Muppets/Ghostbusters story from Muppet Central - even though I no longer had the passion for writing that story any further, I still loved the idea of a Ghostbusters fanfic in the style of a Disney reboot/sequel.

It was a no-brainer to have Mickey, Donald, and Goofy be the "new recruits" for this Disney-ized version of the Ghostbusters. The real trick was finding a cast of friends to model the new team on. Christina Renee, who remained my best friend/supporter in the months between my failed Muppets/Ghostbusters story and the launch of The Disney Ghostbusters, became our version of Janine - an even sassier woman who was one-half southern belle with a heart of gold. From there, I continued to consider an all-female version of the Ghostbusters like I did with the Muppets/Ghostbusters. I got Wendy Foster, a fitness friend I made through an online community called BodySpace, to be our female take on the Peter Venkman character, upping the Bill Murray quality to the character and switching it from a female perspective. In gender-switching the two Venkmans, there was an unintentional Disney joke made with their first names being "Peter & Wendy."

In the midst of casting, I asked myself, "Why not just diversify the Disney Ghostbusters?" With Wendy's involvement in the story, I'd not only had a woman in place of the character originally played by Bill Murray, but I also had a woman of color in the role (Wendy is Filipino-born). So I made a creative decision in gender-switching only two of the original Ghostbuster roles and leaving the other two to still be men. Here's where things got tricky: I had to decide what other member of the team I wanted to be female with three to choose from (Stantz, Spengler, and Zeddemore). At this point, I'd already put Christina in the role of "Melnitz," leaving the idea of a "Female Spengler" out of the question (Christina was the only person that idea could work with). Eventually, I got my inspiration through Diana Navarro, an incredibly talented artist and casual model who I met on MySpace. Diana had an "everywoman" flare about her the same way Winston does in the Ghostbusters movies, living a normal life as a mother, artist, and hard-worker; this was what convinced me to write her as the Disney Ghostbusters' female take on the "Zeddemore" character.

At the time I'd first launched "The Disney Ghostbusters," Diana was the oldest friend I'd cast for a character role in a story, so I capitalized on that with her "Diana Zeddemore" character. Although she is not the official leader of the DGBs or carries a PhD, Diana still has seniority over the other members and has a lot of streetwise intelligence. She is not a huge fan of Venkman's hotheadedness, which creates tension between them that grows throughout each story in the series. In my opinion, Diana is the real driving force of the dramatic side of the Disney Ghostbusters series, connecting with her young teammates and others in ways that echo the real-life motherhood of Diana Navarro. It is this effect that inspired me to feature Diana as a mother character in World of Disney (another Disney series that I started shortly after The Disney Ghostbusters) and Outatime! (a Back to the Future-inspired story I'm writing in late 2014).

With two female takes on classic Ghostbusters, that just left the remaining two members: Stantz and Spengler. Back when I first implemented the idea of casting friends as characters in my works, it was easier casting women than it was men. From my perspective, there are stories that have been overdone with men that are just so much more interesting and fun with women in place of them (hence why I'd switched genders for Venkman and Zeddemore in The Disney Ghostbusters). In a world mostly run by men, there is a general fear in half of the Earth's population in seeing iconic male roles (i.e. James Bond, Doctor Who, and Indiana Jones) replaced by women. The same goes if a person of color were to take an iconic role that was originally envisioned with a Caucasian person.

This is how I'd approached casting the roles of Stantz and Spengler for The Disney Ghostbusters - I didn't just want men in the roles, I wanted men that brought diversity with them. While searching for the right guy to inspire the role of Stantz, I came across my friend Jatniel Gonzalez, a Hispanic-born MySpace friend of mine from New York (the main setting of Ghostbusters). At first glance, Jatniel ("J.G." for short) looks like a young Hispanic version of Dan Aykroyd - so much that I joked with J.G. once on MySpace about writing him in a Blues Brothers fanfic as his own version of Elwood (another character Aykroyd brought to life). His involvement, and the notable fact that he's quite a handsome guy, encouraged another interesting new aspect that I brought to the Disney Ghostbusters series - developing a love life for Dr. Stantz. As most fans know, Dr. Venkman is the real "ladies man" of the Ghostbusters, having been with Dana Barrett and various other women. But what if - especially in a world where Venkman is female - Stantz was the ladies man? The title of "The Heart of the Ghostbusters" brings a whole new meaning with J.G.'s version of the Stantz character and adds another depth of drama to the series. That and the fact that J.G. was the youngest friend to be cast in the series gave me some great material to write, especially in his interaction with Wendy and Diana's characters.

Finally, there was Spengler to worry about. Following up on my approach with J.G. and his casting as the "New Stantz," I realized that with two women and two diverse backgrounds taking on this Disney version of Ghostbusters, I needed to balance it out in a way that made sense. I made the conscience choice in casting myself in the story as "Dr. Sean Spengler" in homage to Harold Ramis' decision in casting himself in his own story. But the choice wasn't just paying homage to the source material. My involvement with the series put a reversal on the original team, which consisted of basically three white guys and one black guy (our team consisted of a diversified mixture of race, sex, and age).

 With the Disney Ghostbusters team complete, it was time to launch the first story, "Who Ya Gonna Call?" The story began with the climax of the first Ghostbusters film, retold with our team taking the place of the original team. For added measure, characters and settings from then-popular Disney Channel shows were featured, such as the ones from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (the Tipton Hotel replacing the Shandor building from the film). From the first chapter, we're introduced to one of the most intriguing characters of the series - a young woman by the name of Alexis Embers. As interesting as Alexis's story is in the series, it's equally so in real life: Alexis Embers was the friend of a friend I made on MySpace who created a superhero character around her named "Safire."

I never once got to chat directly with Alexis, just with Robert (the friend behind her superhero alter ego). Robert shared with me what Alexis thought of the story, and her opinions of both it and her character were positive. Today, I've lost touch with Robert and Alexis, but Alexis's presence in the series has been strong since its insurrection in the fall of '08. The character Alexis Embers has played a integral role in the series, going from "Ghostbusters Fangirl" to falling in love with J.G. Stantz and becoming his fiancée to becoming "Caretaker of the Underworld" by the second story, "Ghosts of War." Because I'd lost contact with Alexis and Robert by the time I'd written and posted the second installment from 2010 to 2011, Alexis was purposely written out of the series - a choice that I regretted deeply and even disrupted the tone of the series.

 

TO BE CONTINUED...