The other day I was watching the first Ghostbusters with trivia. While I was watching it said the actual name of the green ghost who the Ghostbusters caught in the hotel is Onion Head, but most people who saw the movie called him Slimer. I want to know what you called Onion Head before you new his name. Did you call him Onion Head, The Green Ghost, Slimer, The Hot Dog Eating Ghost, or none of the names mentioned.
va in mona, simpatia, cortesia, porco dio va in casino. vaf.fan.culo
through out the entire time I’ve been a fan of the Ghostbusters, the only nicknames, I know that the called him either the Spud, or Slimer
I always called him the Ugly Little Spud and never ever Slimer.
That damn RGB cartoon…Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I don’t remember, I was like 4 years old or something 
so it was probably something like “ga ga”(green ghost) 8)
-Zack
In 1984, I read something (maybe in Starlog) where Aykroyd said the ghost was based on John Belushi, so he and some others referred to the ghost as “John” or “Belushi”. But when the models of the ghost were complete, it became common to refer to the ghost as “Onionhead”. I used to call it “the spud” because Stantz calls it an “ugly, little spud”
My understanding is that Onion Head was only used as an on-set nickname during the first Ghostbusters movie since the character didn’t really have a name or much of a personality at the time. He became known as Slimer a little later on when the franchise and series expanded. He was always called “Green Ghost” on the packaging for the Kenner toys, presumably so they wouldn’t have to pay extra to use the Slimer name. The ghost was credited as Slimer at the end of Ghostbusters 2 and he had that cartoon show called “Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters”, so I’d say that’s his “real” name.
It was never mentioned to have a name in the movie itself all the names it had were givin behind the scenes, the most popular being onion head (for whatever reason). Then the RGB cartoon named him slimer for obvious reasons.
I was at an age were I was too young and missed seeing the movie in the theater… My introduction to Ghostbusters was through the cartoon, so I’ve always called him Slimer.
That ugly little spud has always been “Slimer” to me. Onionhead just has too many syllables.
:lol:
An original RGB exerpt:
Peter: “Didja see? He tried to get me again!”
Ray: “Who?”
Peter: “The little green guy! That… Spud!”
Ray: “Who what where?”
Peter: “Nevermind.. That thing’s a menace”
Ray and slimer are under the Ecto1
Ray: “You know, peter’s right. We should give you a name.. Just to annoy peter, what’s say we call you.. Slimer”
Slimer: “Ohh? Ayhe.. hehe”
That doesn’t make any sense. Kenner were officially licenced to produce toys, which came out after the show began. There’s no way that can’t have known the name… so not using it for legal reasons is unlikely.
Right, legal reasons shouldn’t have been an issue. I think they didn’t use it to avoid paying Columbia extra for the name. They always refered to the Ghostbusters as by their real names and Slimer as the “green ghost”, even in the catalogs. So they could fork over the cash for the Ghostbusters’ names but not poor Slimer? I wish somebody could answer this! :?
I think… maybe… it was a timing thing… When production for the toy line started they hadn’t settled on a name yet for the “Green Ghost,” but sense they wanted the toy line to debut when the show did they had to have the toys packaged and shipped early. Hense the reason Green Ghost appeared on the packages.
And as for not putting Slimer’s name on future waves of toys… They probably left Green Ghost on all of the packages so people would know that they were all supposed to be the same character, from start to finish.
On another note, I have a plush Stay Puft that has a manufactures tag on it from Galoob. I would assume it’s a legit prototype, before kenner got the license for GB toys, but I don’t know?
That wasn’t really my point. Why bother getting the rights to use the appearance and not the name? I don’t think it was anything to do with additional costs…
Actually I think it originally was named Green Ghost for the toy line because the first line was half based on the movie and the cartoon. The first Green Ghost released is obviously not our happy little spud known as slimer.
I called it the green ghost or “the ugly little spud.” But that was before the cartoon. These days, I call him Onionhead, because that’s what the crew called it, and what it’s listed as in the credits. Plus, I like sharing that little bit of trivia with the non diehards who never heard of it.
I still say that “slimer” is a classification of ghosts. As in, “this is where we put all the vapors, entities and slimers that we catch.”
Are you talking about the one that splits in half, or has small bits of food with it?
Splits in half?! I don’t remember that one. What was that about? 