I was wondering, does Winston have his doctorate? I didn’t think he did, and some of the info in the RPG book makes me think he doesn’t(one of the captions has him referring to the other guys as “college boys”) and I don’t think anyone called him Dr. In the movie. Yet in the video game, when you’re in the museum he said he used to spend all his time in the Egypt exhibit while working on his doctorate. So which one is it? Just curious.
If we are to consider the video game canon (as many people do) Winston would have started working on his doctorate sometime after 1984, but been in the process of completing it during 1989 (Ghostbusters II).
He would be a fairly fresh graduate by Ghostbusters The Video Game.
Winston did not have his doctorate in either movie, nor the video game. I believe the museum line in the game to be something us “college boys” call “irony”.
If you consider RGB canon, there’s a bit in “Cry Uncle” where Peter is introducing the guys to Egon’s Uncle Cyrus. Peter introduces Winston as “Dr. Zeddemore”, thinking it’d be more impressive to Cyrus if they were all scientists, and Winston responds with confusion, which would indicate he hasn’t got one.
I do not believe there was anything in the video game to insinuate that he was being sarcastic.
P.S. It would not be irony, but satirical humor.
Meh. I’m not the first to confuse the subtle meanings of the English language, Officer. 
Also, if it wasn’t a joke, why have just that ONE line in there? If the game’s storyline was meant to have Winston either BE a doctor, or be working on his doctorate, you’d think there’d be a little more backstory. Just my two cents.
Maybe he was working on his degree thru a “mail in” university, you know, like the 1980’s equivalent to an online university?
Doesn’t Harold say that he was over-qualified on the commentary in the first film?
I thought he had several practical degrees (like Engineering, nothing real sciency) as well as an extensive military career.
But I believe that was only mentioned in the RPG game and the movie novelization.
yeah, I guess it all goes into whether or not you want to count as being “written” for the character but not used in the final film. I know some people tend to not take things like that as canon. I forget offhand what the Mattel package says, but it has some of those details I believe, as well as RGB.
all of the above were mentioned in early drafts of the GB1 script, when winston took on more of a leadership role.
it’s also mentioned that winston went on to get his phd in aykroyd’s HELLBENT script.
it’s not solid canon, but take it for what you will…
Winston does have his doctorate as of GB:TVG. I remember reading that Murray was pretty specific about wanting Winston to be an equal among the guys now.
Well that’s pretty considerate of Murray. I like that. I thought it was cool that you got a lot of alone time with each member of the Ghostbusters too. I wonder if this had anything to do with that.
Winston does not need letters after his name to be “equal” to the other three. Even without them he’s the most sensible member of the team. I’m not sure it sits right with me because it undercuts some of the “everyman” element of the character; it’s what seperates him from the “college boys”
Making him “equal” means writing him that way, as far as action, dialog, and getting cool moments goes. It means having him be there with the others all along, instead of basically forgetting about him for the first third of the story. Winston doesn’t need a doctorate for any of that to happen.
For some reason I thought this topic was discussed elsewhere in another thread. Anyways to clear things up for those of you who haven’t played the game that much, apart from the museum level Winston clearly says "Thats Dr. Zeddemore to you when you are on Shandor Island while hoseing down some black slime ghosts. According to Aykroyd and some producers on the game it is considered canon so he officially is a Dr and this will carry on to GB 3. Come on people lets show my man Dr. Zeddemore some more love.