In the movies they gloss over alot of stuff about how much space said containment unit has. Granted the original containment unit almost looked like a simple panel meter/electrical box you'd find in any basement of any major high-rise. Did we EVER see the containment unit in Ghostbusters 2??? I don't think so.

But the cartoon tricked it out even further, (probably a “perk” of having to rebuild it) it was bigger, looked more sophisticated, yet I still have no idea how much holding capacity it has. But we get a look inside the containment unit various times in both Real & Extreme Ghostbusters, and it's this weird psuedo-spiritual world that, from the looks things, is pretty damn vast. Almost Tardis level.

Now… how the hell did that come to pass??? Did the ghosts create it?? Did all the collected energies of all these phatasms create their own reality to inhabit??? A pocket dimension??? Does it have any relation to the movies???

I'm just wondering… and a bit confused. Are here any explanations from the various media?

In the movies, the containment unit is just a bricked up room with a high powered laser grid lining the walls (at least, that's all the information we seem to get). The red panel we refer to as the Containment Unit is more or less just a hatch (kinda like a drop box at a video rental).

As for the cartoons I have two theories…

1. The new containment unit is a cap on a perpetually opened portal to another dimension. The unit ensures that the portal stays one way (ghosts can get in but they can't get out).

When the GBs make comments about the unit getting crowded they are actually referring to a build up of spiritual energy around portal's exit, caused by too many entities hanging around the portal looking for a way to escape (which in turn causes a strain on the system).

2. The ECU is just a container, but it houses so much spiritual energy that reality within the unit has fractured.

As for official explanations, I don't believe that there's ever been any.(*winston)

Cosmic-Riptide;165219
In the movies, the containment unit is just a bricked up room with a high powered laser grid lining the walls (at least, that's all the information we seem to get). The red panel we refer to as the Containment Unit is more or less just a hatch (kinda like a drop box at a video rental).

As for the cartoons I have two theories…

1. The new containment unit is a cap on a perpetually opened portal to another dimension. The unit ensures that the portal stays one way (ghosts can get in but they can't get out).

When the GBs make comments about the unit getting crowded they are actually referring to a build up of spiritual energy around portal's exit, caused by too many entities hanging around the portal looking for a way to escape (which in turn causes a strain on the system).

2. The ECU is just a container, but it houses so much spiritual energy that reality within the unit has fractured.

As for official explanations, I don't believe that there's ever been any.(*winston)

Those are brilliant theories Cosmic-Riptide. I always wondered myself.:p

Cosmic-Riptide;165219
2. The ECU is just a container, but it houses so much spiritual energy that reality within the unit has fractured.

You want fractured reality? Why don't you try stepping into my room if you find yourself in Evergreen Park? Reality is definitely fractured in there.:-):-)

The containment unit is so complicated if you really think about it(*egon)

i try not to think about it to much. I wrote a good amount explaining what i think the containment unit is all about but then i deleted it cause it sounded so retarded. Thats all

Since Egon's method of thinking was well above that of the norm, I think of the ECU as a Lovecraftian entity…in that it is too complicated to comprehend..and that if you ever were able to comprehend it…your mind would explode

Simple answer: Egon is yet another runaway Time Lord*, and the ECU is built from the remains of his one-way TARDIS.

(*His immense aptitude for physics got him persecuted on Gallifrey, so he fled to Earth in his TARDIS and used a Chameleon Arch on himself, but most of the intellect he honed at the Academy stayed with him, which also explains the Proton Packs, the ECU, etc. “My parents didn't believe in toys” is one of the false memory implants from the Chameleon process. He destroyed most of the TARDIS' piloting abilities but used the sensing equipment in the console to build the PKE/Giga meters and other GB gadgets, and also used some of its “black box” power source to construct the core of the Proton Packs. The damn thing still remained dimensionally transcendental, so he kept it as a file cabinet at Columbia University until he moved it into GBHQ, where it became the basis for the ECU of The Real Ghostbusters .)

I'd like to see Doc Fritz try that one for size.

Oh, by the way: Ray Stantz was the only colleague of Egon's who was already crazy enough to wrap his head around the sheer madness of the science–he could easily say, “Oh, I get it. That makes sense.”

Ray, however, is 100% human.

Cosmic-Riptide;165219
In the movies, the containment unit is just a bricked up room with a high powered laser grid lining the walls (at least, that's all the information we seem to get). The red panel we refer to as the Containment Unit is more or less just a hatch (kinda like a drop box at a video rental).

As for the cartoons I have two theories…

1. The new containment unit is a cap on a perpetually opened portal to another dimension. The unit ensures that the portal stays one way (ghosts can get in but they can't get out).

When the GBs make comments about the unit getting crowded they are actually referring to a build up of spiritual energy around portal's exit, caused by too many entities hanging around the portal looking for a way to escape (which in turn causes a strain on the system).

2. The ECU is just a container, but it houses so much spiritual energy that reality within the unit has fractured.

As for official explanations, I don't believe that there's ever been any.(*winston)

i really like your idea on this

The idea behind the size of the conatinment unit in the real ghostbusters is bigger then the one in the movie is that improvements were made to prevent any further complications like those which occur in the movie, such as the system reaching maximum capacity…. the basement of the ghostbusters headquarters is expanded, and the containment unit upgraded in size and technology with a back-up power source to prevent sudden shut-downs in addition to the battery back-up that they had.

Nix;165286
Oh, by the way: Ray Stantz was the only colleague of Egon's who was already crazy enough to wrap his head around the sheer madness of the science–he could easily say, “Oh, I get it. That makes sense.”

Ray, however, is 100% human.

I think with Ray it was more he understood the science behind it…not the actual operation. While Ray was the closest of Egon's Compatriots to understand his level of thinking…I keep wanting to say that Egon was still on a whole 'nother level. LOL