I wrote this two years ago. Didn't get a response. Thought I'd re-share it.

You think Ghostbusters was an influence on Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Both show a world threatened with being overwhelmed by supernatural forces that specialists in arcane arts must destroy or contain;

Both are matter-of-fact about how those specialists attack the bad guys;

Both have heroes researching arcane manuscripts (or not-so-arcane building blueprints, but you get the idea) to find the info needed to stop the Big Bad;

Both are funny;

Both are sexy (our audience [at Cort and Fatboy's Ghostbusters screening] heartily approved of Signourney Weaver, Annie Potts and, of course, the sex ghost)…

Both are insanely quotable;

And, um, the villain in Ghostbusters II is, er, kind of vampire-like. Um. *theory comes crashing down like torrents of melted marshmallow*

(If y’all can somehow wrench in to fit apply this theory to, say, Supernatural, The X Files, or whatever, go for it.)

(And if any of my readers use this as an excuse to picture Willow or Xander or whomever wearing a proton pack and nothing else, well, I’m not gonna stop you.)