Dr. Peter Venkman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
neverstudied) wrote1970-02-09 02:33 am
neverstudied) wrote1970-02-09 02:33 am
canon/headcanon infodump hell
this is like 99% just for my personal reference so i can keep track of all the dumb shit i have this man reference, especially for the stuff thats not 100% canon
this is also wildly unfinished. ill make it look better later
CANON INFO [strictly RGB]:
-Born in Brooklyn to Jim Venkman and an unnamed mother [or Iowa??? its either Brooklyn or Iowa depending on where you look but Brooklyn appears to be more canon to RGB]
-mother died at some point, presumably around the time he was in college, after a prolonged period of illness. she was sick a lot when he was a kid. Venkman tries to act like her death doesn't really effect him- he intermittently jokes about her as if she's still alive, for example- but he still has a lot of hangups over her. (EX: in the Mrs. Faversham's Attic episode, he goes out of his way to be kind to the elderly woman, refuses to charge her for their services, and skips a bust to stay and have tea with her just because she reminds him of his mother and he still feels guilty about not spending more time with his mother while she was alive.)
-father is a professional conman and Venkman has even MORE hangups over him. he loves his dad but his dad frequently gets him in trouble, even in adulthood, with his schemes(sometimes even lowering himself to conning his own son). his dad was also away a lot when Venkman was a kid, never coming home for holidays, Christmas in particular, leading to Venkman disliking the holiday. this also means his dad was never home for his mom, which just adds in to the Issues[tm] Venkman has about his mom's death.
-Studied engineering in college for 2 years because he thought if he got an Engineering degree then he could work on a train as an engineer. i know, mood whiplash, the last two bullet points were depressing but guess what this man is a fucking idiot
-speaking of trains Venkman just. goes. HAM. for trains. the episode "Last Train to Oblivion" deals with this extensively, from Venkman having a model train set that he plays with in the middle of the night while excitedly telling an exhausted Egon about it, to giving Winston a rundown on steam locomotives while putting on an engineer hat that he wears for the rest of the episode. this isnt just a one-episode detail, either- for example, in the episode "Apocalypse- What Now?" Venkman, despite them literally dealing with the end-of-times, still yells out "oh boy!!! we get to ride the train!!! can i sit by the window??" like a fucking 5 year old.
-Venkman ALSO goes ham for cowboys and westerns, as seen in the episode "Ghost Fight at the O.K. Corral". he immediately takes a job in Tombstone, Arizona because of its historical significance (the site of the Ok Corral gunfight) and because Dewey LaMort, a western author that Venkman reads extensively, was the man who called for their help. Venkman spends a great deal of the episode quoting LaMort's works and Western films, and for the majority of the episode, Winston is the only one who is even vaguely tolerant of this. Probably because Egon and Ray have been dealing with it since college (as Venkman mentions reading LaMort's books in college instead of studying). also he does terrible John Wayne impressions, in this episode and multiple others
-He has a fucking synth keyboard and he makes terrible music with it and also makes mixtapes. yes im absolutely serious. "Moaning Stones" as an episode has a lot of issues but god damn.
-Two degrees: one in parapsychology and one in psychology. He spent 7 years total in college, presumably including grad school, definitely double majored. the only reasons he made it through college are Egon and Ray. he definitely cheated off Egon more than he should've. he was a fraternity brother in college- Tri Kuppa Bro.
-He never went into practice as a psychologist but he still utilizes some of the stuff he learned in Ghostbusting- talking down vengeful spirits, helping those with baggage from their lives pass on peacefully, etc.
-taught as a university professor alongside Egon and Ray for years.
-he learned a lot of conman shit from his dad- everything from cheating at cards to blackmail. unlike his father, he tends to only utilize what he knows in order to protect himself and his partners, or to con people who actually deserve it(EX: him and Ray doubleteaming Dr. Bassingame and threatening to drop off a bunch of disruptive spirits at his house in "The Spirit of Aunt Lois"; making the bill for their Ghostbusting services identical to the hospital bill in "Doctor Doctor", and tearing up the hospital bill right in front of the doctor who spent the whole episode barely doing shit to treat them)
-fantasizes and dreams about being universally adored, popular, and rich(See: the Sandman episode). however, in multiple episodes ("Banshee Bake a Cherry Pie" is a huge example of this) he outright denies himself a chance at stardom because he cares more about his partners- literally walking away from a crowd of people chanting his name and going home with the rest of the Ghostbusters because he'd never want to give up ghostbusting with them.
-despite being very greedy and money-oriented in multiple episodes (frequently declining or attempting to decline jobs because of the lack of monetary value for the Ghostbusters, and conversely immediately accepting jobs that have high payouts), there are times when he puts that aside- again, Mrs. Faversham's Attic is a good example of him just straight up not making this old lady pay for their services; there's also the Boogieman episode, wherein he reassures some kids that their piggybank money is more than enough for them to help. and in the episode "You Can't Take It With You", Venkman initially picks up a bunch of the rich man's money off the ground, intending to keep it, until he realizes that Ray+Winston+Egon aren't taking any, at which point he tosses the money aside, declaring "easy come, easy go."
-He went to Woodstock in 1969 and got high. ("Lost and Foundry")
-Has a horribly short temper, is quick to get into physical fights with strangers who slight him("The Headless Motorist" is one example of this, where he gets ready to beat the shit out of a dude at a fancy party because the dude was being a dick to his girlfriend), will literally run around the firehouse chasing Slimer to try to beat up this fucking ghost. luckily he's easily calmed down by people who know how to handle his temper.
-physically one of the strongest Ghostbusters, if not THE strongest. He's definitely drawn to look buff as hell in the series... in one particular episode, winston is shown to be capable of wearing his proton pack AND carrying egon+egon's proton pack with one hand without any problems; that same episode, winston and egon both struggle to carry the same heavy chest together. Venkman is able to lift that chest by himself without any trouble whatsoever. could this be an implication born of error? yes. am i running with it anyway? oh, yes. if you combine this with the above, it paints a very concerning picture for whoever is unfortunate enough to get in a physical fight with him, especially since his fighting style is "going absolutely batshit insane with no regards for himself"
-Is not a fan of the Ghostbusters movie, which exists in-universe as an adaptation of the real life events the Ghostbusters went through (see: "Take Two", "Citizen Ghost"). the movie script is implied to have differences from the real events that the Ghostbusters were unable to influence.
GENERAL CANON INFO
[details stolen from the movies, the novelization, the video game, IDW comics, the old RGB comics, alternate timelines etc, for variations of Peter Venkman that AREN'T RGB series Venkman]:
-Literally born and raised on a carny. like, mother-gave-birth-to-him-in-a-circus-tent born and raised.
-he is ride or die protective of his carny heritage and WILL go apeshit if people insult it
-his dad taught him how to rig most carnival games and Venkman spent most of his summers working at the carny, usually as a barker. because the carnival moved around a lot, Venkman changed schools frequently as a kid.
-I'm taking certain storylines from the comics as canon and throwing away others. Issues 5, 9-12, and Venkman's date in 19 are all definitely canon. because of this, the following things are canon:
•The Ghostbusters are friends with a werewolf named Irena, who Venkman has flirted with and gone on dates with before. including while she's in her wolf form
•The Ghostbusters try to stop a cult from summoning a demon and save a young boy, Shannon Phillips, in the process; the entire cult was his family, and they're all consumed by the demon. the Ghostbusters wind up taking him home and holding temporary custody of him and during these issues, all of them kind of adopt this kid and grow fiercely protective of him; Venkman especially gets to show a more protective side of himself while he tries to help this kid deal with all those ISSUES[tm]
eventually it turns out the kid is the son of a demon and his father forces him to lose his humanity, and the Ghostbusters pull out all the stops to save him. Venkman's reaction in particular is noteworthy. also he clocks one of the guys responsible while wearing a teddy bear print wizard robe. Eventually, they get Shannon back, and Shannon gets adopted by Irena!
•as seen in one of the above links from issue #9- Venkman has a tendency to cover up his own issues and insecurities and rarely opens up to other people. not even people like Egon and Ray, who he's known for at least 10+ years, get to hear most of the stuff he's worried about
•also in one of the above links- a lot of Venkman's attitude and tendency towards deflection are because of his upbringing, with his dad forcing the family to uproot every few months because of failed cons, and the overall instability in his life
-intentionally downplays his own intelligence so people can't second guess him and he can lure others- particularly enemies- into a false sense of security. [that said: he's still a dumbass. he's just not AS stupid or lazy as he acts]
HEADCANON INFO:
-so like, RGB is weird about canon ages. in extreme ghostbusters(10 years after RGB), egon retires from being a ghostbuster at like 39(making him and the rest of the ghostbusters around 29 in RGB). THIS IS ABOUT THE SAME AGE THAT HAROLD RAMIS WAS WHEN GHOSTBUSTERS CAME OUT. it doesnt make any goddamn sense. so i just toss that out the window. im hesitantly placing Venkman's birth year around 1951 for now, making him 36 in 1987, his canonpoint.
-fucking dumbass bisexual icon
-has been dating Egon and Ray since undergrad in college- around 15 years together at his canonpoint, at least for Egon and him. Ray started dating them both a while after Egon and Venkman got together. Winston, of course, was integrated into their relationship even later, some time after he joined the Ghostbusters- Winston's been dating the other three for about three years as of 1987.
-their relationship is open, partially because Venkman is The Way That He Is, partially because he is the only one who's bi and not gay and the Ghostbusters desperately need to keep media/tabloids from suspecting anything about their relationship (In both RGB and secondary canon sources, tabloids and paparazzi are frequent concerns for the Ghostbusters, with reporters straight up breaking into the firehouse and fucking up experiments in at least one episode of RGB- "Egon on the Rampage"). Venkman is incredibly paranoid about reporters and frequently goes on dates with women and has non-serious flings that never really last. At the end of the day, hes devoted to his partners first and foremost.
-His dad is dating Dr. Bassingame. yes, im serious. this is the funniest fucking headcanon to me because of the thought of how ENRAGED venkman and ray would be about it, and no one can take it away from me
-Venkman worked a part time job at a florist during college for maybe a year. it sparked a passing interest in flower language, which he later researched for giving bouquets to Ray and Egon with special meanings. Neither of them knew what the fuck they meant. Egon later gave him various fungi and Ray tried to give him a bouquet of his own but it was a disaster of various flowers he thought looked cool and from a flower language perspective it was a mess of mixed signals. he secretly loved them anyway.
-i literally cannot find a direct source for this in canon but since the 80s a lot of people think venkman was a college football jock. its probably one of those overarching headcanons that just got a lot of support because of fanzines and is now generally considered canonical. im rolling with it but under the stipulations that Venkman mainly got into college because of a football scholarship, and at some point badly injured his knee- not bad enough to severely mess up his leg, but enough to force him to quit. (as a sidenote, his dad never visited him at the hospital, but multiple people he knew from the carny and considered family DID) the following semester was a lot of him panicking and trying to figure out how to fucking not only pay for college but not flunk out, and Egon and Ray were godsends during that time. His knee is still a little fucked up, to the point where he limps if he's on his feet for too long, and it aches on bad days.
-His mom died while he was in college, maybe a year after Ray's parents died in their plane crash. they dealt with the grief together.
-Kissed Egon for the first time while they were both drunk sitting on the curb outside of a frat party they got kicked out of because Venkman decked a guy for insulting Egon and then proceeded to yell at everyone to not even fucking look at Egon because they didn't deserve to even be in his presence
-[drugs] Just. Every word of this. this is college Venkman especially
-a god awful professor. made all his exams incredibly easy and rarely showed up for his own classes, let alone office hours. whenever ray and egon inevitably got fired from a university(like the time they tried to resurrect the fucking dead hey extreme ghostbusters that was a BOMBSHELL to just drop on us), Venkman would pack up and leave with them to the next university. Eventually they stuck with Columbia U because it was where they all graduated and it had an actual proper parapsych program. and then the events of Ghostbusters happened
-HATES. Bill Murray. Just fucking despises him. Not even because of like personal beef but because Venkman dislikes how he was portrayed in the movie adaptation of their real life experiences ("Take Two"), making him a gross creep with women in the film and thus changing public perception of him.
-Speaking of, Dana is a lesbian. She never appears in RGB, but she and Venkman probably keep in touch. She and Venkman probably encouraged the romantic subplot in the film at first, as they did go on a few dates for appearances sake. And then the movie had Bill Murray Venkman be a fucking creep to her when he first comes to her apartment, refusing to take no as an answer and having to be forcibly shoved out of the apartment by Dana. its still a big sore spot for Venkman.
this is also wildly unfinished. ill make it look better later
-Born in Brooklyn to Jim Venkman and an unnamed mother [or Iowa??? its either Brooklyn or Iowa depending on where you look but Brooklyn appears to be more canon to RGB]
-mother died at some point, presumably around the time he was in college, after a prolonged period of illness. she was sick a lot when he was a kid. Venkman tries to act like her death doesn't really effect him- he intermittently jokes about her as if she's still alive, for example- but he still has a lot of hangups over her. (EX: in the Mrs. Faversham's Attic episode, he goes out of his way to be kind to the elderly woman, refuses to charge her for their services, and skips a bust to stay and have tea with her just because she reminds him of his mother and he still feels guilty about not spending more time with his mother while she was alive.)
-father is a professional conman and Venkman has even MORE hangups over him. he loves his dad but his dad frequently gets him in trouble, even in adulthood, with his schemes(sometimes even lowering himself to conning his own son). his dad was also away a lot when Venkman was a kid, never coming home for holidays, Christmas in particular, leading to Venkman disliking the holiday. this also means his dad was never home for his mom, which just adds in to the Issues[tm] Venkman has about his mom's death.
-Studied engineering in college for 2 years because he thought if he got an Engineering degree then he could work on a train as an engineer. i know, mood whiplash, the last two bullet points were depressing but guess what this man is a fucking idiot
-speaking of trains Venkman just. goes. HAM. for trains. the episode "Last Train to Oblivion" deals with this extensively, from Venkman having a model train set that he plays with in the middle of the night while excitedly telling an exhausted Egon about it, to giving Winston a rundown on steam locomotives while putting on an engineer hat that he wears for the rest of the episode. this isnt just a one-episode detail, either- for example, in the episode "Apocalypse- What Now?" Venkman, despite them literally dealing with the end-of-times, still yells out "oh boy!!! we get to ride the train!!! can i sit by the window??" like a fucking 5 year old.
-Venkman ALSO goes ham for cowboys and westerns, as seen in the episode "Ghost Fight at the O.K. Corral". he immediately takes a job in Tombstone, Arizona because of its historical significance (the site of the Ok Corral gunfight) and because Dewey LaMort, a western author that Venkman reads extensively, was the man who called for their help. Venkman spends a great deal of the episode quoting LaMort's works and Western films, and for the majority of the episode, Winston is the only one who is even vaguely tolerant of this. Probably because Egon and Ray have been dealing with it since college (as Venkman mentions reading LaMort's books in college instead of studying). also he does terrible John Wayne impressions, in this episode and multiple others
-He has a fucking synth keyboard and he makes terrible music with it and also makes mixtapes. yes im absolutely serious. "Moaning Stones" as an episode has a lot of issues but god damn.
-Two degrees: one in parapsychology and one in psychology. He spent 7 years total in college, presumably including grad school, definitely double majored. the only reasons he made it through college are Egon and Ray. he definitely cheated off Egon more than he should've. he was a fraternity brother in college- Tri Kuppa Bro.
-He never went into practice as a psychologist but he still utilizes some of the stuff he learned in Ghostbusting- talking down vengeful spirits, helping those with baggage from their lives pass on peacefully, etc.
-taught as a university professor alongside Egon and Ray for years.
-he learned a lot of conman shit from his dad- everything from cheating at cards to blackmail. unlike his father, he tends to only utilize what he knows in order to protect himself and his partners, or to con people who actually deserve it(EX: him and Ray doubleteaming Dr. Bassingame and threatening to drop off a bunch of disruptive spirits at his house in "The Spirit of Aunt Lois"; making the bill for their Ghostbusting services identical to the hospital bill in "Doctor Doctor", and tearing up the hospital bill right in front of the doctor who spent the whole episode barely doing shit to treat them)
-fantasizes and dreams about being universally adored, popular, and rich(See: the Sandman episode). however, in multiple episodes ("Banshee Bake a Cherry Pie" is a huge example of this) he outright denies himself a chance at stardom because he cares more about his partners- literally walking away from a crowd of people chanting his name and going home with the rest of the Ghostbusters because he'd never want to give up ghostbusting with them.
-despite being very greedy and money-oriented in multiple episodes (frequently declining or attempting to decline jobs because of the lack of monetary value for the Ghostbusters, and conversely immediately accepting jobs that have high payouts), there are times when he puts that aside- again, Mrs. Faversham's Attic is a good example of him just straight up not making this old lady pay for their services; there's also the Boogieman episode, wherein he reassures some kids that their piggybank money is more than enough for them to help. and in the episode "You Can't Take It With You", Venkman initially picks up a bunch of the rich man's money off the ground, intending to keep it, until he realizes that Ray+Winston+Egon aren't taking any, at which point he tosses the money aside, declaring "easy come, easy go."
-He went to Woodstock in 1969 and got high. ("Lost and Foundry")
-Has a horribly short temper, is quick to get into physical fights with strangers who slight him("The Headless Motorist" is one example of this, where he gets ready to beat the shit out of a dude at a fancy party because the dude was being a dick to his girlfriend), will literally run around the firehouse chasing Slimer to try to beat up this fucking ghost. luckily he's easily calmed down by people who know how to handle his temper.
-physically one of the strongest Ghostbusters, if not THE strongest. He's definitely drawn to look buff as hell in the series... in one particular episode, winston is shown to be capable of wearing his proton pack AND carrying egon+egon's proton pack with one hand without any problems; that same episode, winston and egon both struggle to carry the same heavy chest together. Venkman is able to lift that chest by himself without any trouble whatsoever. could this be an implication born of error? yes. am i running with it anyway? oh, yes. if you combine this with the above, it paints a very concerning picture for whoever is unfortunate enough to get in a physical fight with him, especially since his fighting style is "going absolutely batshit insane with no regards for himself"
-Is not a fan of the Ghostbusters movie, which exists in-universe as an adaptation of the real life events the Ghostbusters went through (see: "Take Two", "Citizen Ghost"). the movie script is implied to have differences from the real events that the Ghostbusters were unable to influence.
[details stolen from the movies, the novelization, the video game, IDW comics, the old RGB comics, alternate timelines etc, for variations of Peter Venkman that AREN'T RGB series Venkman]:
-Literally born and raised on a carny. like, mother-gave-birth-to-him-in-a-circus-tent born and raised.
-he is ride or die protective of his carny heritage and WILL go apeshit if people insult it
-his dad taught him how to rig most carnival games and Venkman spent most of his summers working at the carny, usually as a barker. because the carnival moved around a lot, Venkman changed schools frequently as a kid.
-I'm taking certain storylines from the comics as canon and throwing away others. Issues 5, 9-12, and Venkman's date in 19 are all definitely canon. because of this, the following things are canon:
•The Ghostbusters are friends with a werewolf named Irena, who Venkman has flirted with and gone on dates with before. including while she's in her wolf form
•The Ghostbusters try to stop a cult from summoning a demon and save a young boy, Shannon Phillips, in the process; the entire cult was his family, and they're all consumed by the demon. the Ghostbusters wind up taking him home and holding temporary custody of him and during these issues, all of them kind of adopt this kid and grow fiercely protective of him; Venkman especially gets to show a more protective side of himself while he tries to help this kid deal with all those ISSUES[tm]
![deal with all those ISSUES[tm]](https://www.gbfans.com/w/images/8/86/Real_Ghostbusters_NOW_Comics_Volume_1_Issue_9_Page_21.jpg){kind=link}
eventually it turns out the kid is the son of a demon and his father forces him to lose his humanity, and the Ghostbusters pull out all the stops to save him. Venkman's reaction in particular is noteworthy. also he clocks one of the guys responsible while wearing a teddy bear print wizard robe. Eventually, they get Shannon back, and Shannon gets adopted by Irena!
•as seen in one of the above links from issue #9- Venkman has a tendency to cover up his own issues and insecurities and rarely opens up to other people. not even people like Egon and Ray, who he's known for at least 10+ years, get to hear most of the stuff he's worried about
•also in one of the above links- a lot of Venkman's attitude and tendency towards deflection are because of his upbringing, with his dad forcing the family to uproot every few months because of failed cons, and the overall instability in his life
-intentionally downplays his own intelligence so people can't second guess him and he can lure others- particularly enemies- into a false sense of security. [that said: he's still a dumbass. he's just not AS stupid or lazy as he acts]
-so like, RGB is weird about canon ages. in extreme ghostbusters(10 years after RGB), egon retires from being a ghostbuster at like 39(making him and the rest of the ghostbusters around 29 in RGB). THIS IS ABOUT THE SAME AGE THAT HAROLD RAMIS WAS WHEN GHOSTBUSTERS CAME OUT. it doesnt make any goddamn sense. so i just toss that out the window. im hesitantly placing Venkman's birth year around 1951 for now, making him 36 in 1987, his canonpoint.
-fucking dumbass bisexual icon
-has been dating Egon and Ray since undergrad in college- around 15 years together at his canonpoint, at least for Egon and him. Ray started dating them both a while after Egon and Venkman got together. Winston, of course, was integrated into their relationship even later, some time after he joined the Ghostbusters- Winston's been dating the other three for about three years as of 1987.
-their relationship is open, partially because Venkman is The Way That He Is, partially because he is the only one who's bi and not gay and the Ghostbusters desperately need to keep media/tabloids from suspecting anything about their relationship (In both RGB and secondary canon sources, tabloids and paparazzi are frequent concerns for the Ghostbusters, with reporters straight up breaking into the firehouse and fucking up experiments in at least one episode of RGB- "Egon on the Rampage"). Venkman is incredibly paranoid about reporters and frequently goes on dates with women and has non-serious flings that never really last. At the end of the day, hes devoted to his partners first and foremost.
-His dad is dating Dr. Bassingame. yes, im serious. this is the funniest fucking headcanon to me because of the thought of how ENRAGED venkman and ray would be about it, and no one can take it away from me
-Venkman worked a part time job at a florist during college for maybe a year. it sparked a passing interest in flower language, which he later researched for giving bouquets to Ray and Egon with special meanings. Neither of them knew what the fuck they meant. Egon later gave him various fungi and Ray tried to give him a bouquet of his own but it was a disaster of various flowers he thought looked cool and from a flower language perspective it was a mess of mixed signals. he secretly loved them anyway.
-i literally cannot find a direct source for this in canon but since the 80s a lot of people think venkman was a college football jock. its probably one of those overarching headcanons that just got a lot of support because of fanzines and is now generally considered canonical. im rolling with it but under the stipulations that Venkman mainly got into college because of a football scholarship, and at some point badly injured his knee- not bad enough to severely mess up his leg, but enough to force him to quit. (as a sidenote, his dad never visited him at the hospital, but multiple people he knew from the carny and considered family DID) the following semester was a lot of him panicking and trying to figure out how to fucking not only pay for college but not flunk out, and Egon and Ray were godsends during that time. His knee is still a little fucked up, to the point where he limps if he's on his feet for too long, and it aches on bad days.
-His mom died while he was in college, maybe a year after Ray's parents died in their plane crash. they dealt with the grief together.
-Kissed Egon for the first time while they were both drunk sitting on the curb outside of a frat party they got kicked out of because Venkman decked a guy for insulting Egon and then proceeded to yell at everyone to not even fucking look at Egon because they didn't deserve to even be in his presence
-[drugs] Just. Every word of this. this is college Venkman especially
-a god awful professor. made all his exams incredibly easy and rarely showed up for his own classes, let alone office hours. whenever ray and egon inevitably got fired from a university(like the time they tried to resurrect the fucking dead hey extreme ghostbusters that was a BOMBSHELL to just drop on us), Venkman would pack up and leave with them to the next university. Eventually they stuck with Columbia U because it was where they all graduated and it had an actual proper parapsych program. and then the events of Ghostbusters happened
-HATES. Bill Murray. Just fucking despises him. Not even because of like personal beef but because Venkman dislikes how he was portrayed in the movie adaptation of their real life experiences ("Take Two"), making him a gross creep with women in the film and thus changing public perception of him.
-Speaking of, Dana is a lesbian. She never appears in RGB, but she and Venkman probably keep in touch. She and Venkman probably encouraged the romantic subplot in the film at first, as they did go on a few dates for appearances sake. And then the movie had Bill Murray Venkman be a fucking creep to her when he first comes to her apartment, refusing to take no as an answer and having to be forcibly shoved out of the apartment by Dana. its still a big sore spot for Venkman.