Winston Zeddemore

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Winston Zeddemore (b. 2 May 1953 in New York City, New York) is a fictional character appearing in the Ghostbusters films and TV series. He was played by Ernie Hudson in both movies and was voiced by Arsenio Hall in the first season of The Real Ghostbusters. Buster Jones provided Winston's voice in the remaining seasons, and he reprised the role in a cameo on Extreme Ghostbusters.

Contents

[edit] Character

Winston Zeddemore is a Ghostbuster, but unlike the other members of the team, he is not a scientist with a background in the paranormal. He was hired later in the company's existence when their business began to pick up. However, despite not sharing the educational credentials of his coworkers, Winston often serves as a voice of reason and displays far more common sense than the other Ghostbusters. For instance, when the jailed Ghostbusters seriously propose asking a US federal judge to release them because they must fight an invading god, Zeddemore is the only one to remind the others that they would never be believed.

Described as the "everyman" of the Ghostbusters, Winston was hired as a member on the spot, seemingly because he was the only applicant at the time. When applying for the job as a Ghostbuster he was questioned extensively by Janine Melnitz whether he believed in a large number of supernatural occurrences and beings. He simply replied, "If there's a steady paycheck involved, I'll believe anything you say." When he is introduced to Ray Stantz, his response is, "Beautiful. You're hired." However, it is not known whether Winston actually did take the paranormal as fact, or if he simply needed a job. Nevertheless, he accepted the existence of the paranormal once witnessing it first hand, even stating "these things are real" and that he has "seen shit that will turn you white".

As shown in the episode, "The Moaning Stones", Winston learns that he is the reincarnation of Shima Buku, a shaman who was at war with an immortal demon known only as the Undying One.

In another episode of The Real Ghostbusters entitled "The Brooklyn Triangle", the construction site belonging to Winston's father was the setting for a paranormal version of the Bermuda Triangle called the "Brooklyn Triangle", where various people's belongings were mysteriously disappearing.

[edit] Trivia

  • The name "Zeddemore" is misspelled as "Zeddmore" in the closing credits of Ghostbusters. As a result it was also sometimes misspelled in scripts and other sources related to The Real Ghostbusters. The name is spelled correctly on the nametag on Winston's jumpsuit, in the shooting script of Ghostbusters (as published in the book Making Ghostbusters), and in the closing credits of Ghostbusters II. The name is also pronounced correctly (with three syllables) by both Annie Potts and Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters.
  • Winston has been noted as being the character most often not featured in video games based upon Ghostbusters media, even when Peter, Ray and Egon are selectable. Most believe this is because Winston was hired later and most of the games have the player begin before the Ghostbusters company was started. However, others believe he is left out because he is African American.[citation needed] It may have been as simple as limited graphics or limited time to make an individual sprite for him, as none of the original three Ghostbusters have individual sprites either, only generic ones. So far, Winston has only been featured as a playable character in Ghostbusters II for the NES and the New Ghostbusters II for NES and Gameboy.
  • In the original script Winston was intended as the smartest and most capable of the Ghostbusters. He held multiple degrees and was a Ph.D as well as an ex-marine, making him more suited for the job than the original three. This was discussed in detail in the commentary on the DVD of the original movie; no explanation was given for the change in his character, but it was likely to make him a a blue-collar, "everyman" type of character to provide a common person's response to the supernatural happenings witnessed by the group.
  • Winston is the only Ghostbuster ever shown actually at the wheel of Ecto-1 for more than a few moments in the two films. As a result, he is almost always shown driving the car in the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. According to J. Michael Straczynski, network consultants demanded that Winston be depicted as the "driver". [1]

[edit] Quotes

[edit] The Real Ghostbusters (cartoon)

  • (about Spengler) "Brilliant man, but the attention span of a tumbleweed." ("No-one Comes To Lupusville")
  • (after capturing Victor) "Man, I feel like such a bully." ("Victor the Happy Ghost")
  • "Some people get cockroaches, we get Imps!" ("Janine's Day Off")

[edit] Ghostbusters (film)

  • "Ray, has it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason we've been so busy lately is because the dead have been rising from the grave?"
  • "So you're going to go before a federal judge and tell him that some moldy Babylonian god is gonna start tearing up the city?!... No offense, but I gotta get my own lawyer."
  • "I'm Winston Zeddemore, Your Honor. I've only been with the company for a couple of weeks. But I gotta tell you, these things are real. Since I joined these men, I have seen shit that'll turn you white."
  • "Ray, if someone asks if you're a god, you say YES!!!"
  • "This job is not worth 11,500 a year!"
  • "I LOVE THIS TOWN!"
  • "Tell him about the twinkie.

[edit] Ghostbusters II (film)

  • (After discovering Egon has been "sleeping with" the mood slime) "It's always the quiet ones."
  • "I hate Jell-O."

[edit] References


Ghostbusters
Movies: Ghostbusters | Ghostbusters II | Ghostbusters III
Television: The Real Ghostbusters | Extreme Ghostbusters
Video Games: Ghostbusters (Activision) | Ghostbusters II | Ghostbusters (Sega) | Ghostbusters (Xbox 360)
Technology: Proton pack | Ectomobile | Ghostbusters equipment
Characters: Peter Venkman | Egon Spengler | Ray Stantz | Winston Zeddemore | Janine Melnitz | Ivo Shandor
Ghosts: Slimer | Stay Puft Marshmallow Man | Vigo the Carpathian | Scoleri Brothers | Samhain | Bogeyman
Misc: Ghostbusters: Legion | Ghostbusters: The Return | Ghostbusters (role-playing game) | Filmation's Ghostbusters
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