Continuity mistake: Janosz interrupts Dana and Peter talking about the Gaugain; behind him there are a man and an elderly lady passing by. Cut to Sigourney Weaver, and in the next shot the two people practically haven't moved. (00:43:10)
Continuity mistake: Dana and Venkman watch the painting for the first time while Janosz climbs a ladder. His hand swaps between grabbing the railing or raised, between shots. (00:43:45)
Continuity mistake: When Dana tells Peter that she thinks the painting is watching her, Peter turns towards Vigo with the whole body. In the close-up, he's glancing at the painting sideways facing Sigourney Weaver. (00:44:25)
Continuity mistake: While Dana is cleaning her baby for the bath, the bottle and sponge next to him move around between shots, the tissue popping out appears/disappears randomly, as does a towel on the corner. (00:45:20)
Continuity mistake: The pink slime in Dana's tub grows up to a height of 6 feet. then a frame later it's really small and it's growing-up again. (00:45:45)
Continuity mistake: The floating toys on the stool by Dana's tub disappear when the water becomes pink goo. (00:45:50)
Continuity mistake: When Dana and Oscar are at Venkman's place right after the scene where the bathtub attacks them, there is a slight mistake. Dana is shown from her left side, and she is holding Oscar. Oscar turns his head towards the camera, and almost immediately the view changes, and Dana is shown from her right side. Only thing wrong is that Oscar is still looking at the camera without ever turning his head. (00:46:15)
Audio problem: Dana shows up at Peter's door with poor little Oscar desperately crying after the bathtub misadventures. Is he really crying though? Sigourney Weaver does her best to hold the baby close to her and away from the camera, that shoots the scene cutting off above the mouth level. His body language is composed though, and for one moment (when Dana says "this pink goo everywhere" his mouth pops in frame and it is closed. (00:46:20)
Continuity mistake: When Stantz and Egon watch the computer encyclopaedia, in the close-ups the information shows up in several single lines, but in two big paragraphs in the wide angles. (00:47:30)
Continuity mistake: While Egon and Stantz check out the computer screen, the books on the right change positions between shots. (00:47:30)
Continuity mistake: Peter leaps on his own bed after telling Dana that she can treat his house as her own. Between shots, the spare clothes tucked under the covers and those lying on the box by the window change entirely. (00:48:45)
Continuity mistake: When Ray passes the paper with Vigo's biography to Peter outside the museum, the passers-by change at the cut. (00:50:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where the Ghostbusters arrive at the museum, and Egon tells Peter what he's found about Vigo, while speaking to each other Peter gets a bag and hangs it around his neck. In the shot where you only see Peter's back you can easily see the strap hanging straight down. But in the shot where Peter's face is visible, he's holding up the strap with his hand quite high. Cutting back to Peter's back the strap is hanging straight down again. (00:50:20)
Continuity mistake: When the Ghostbusters with their proton packs walk away from the car and get to the museum the morning after the bathtub incident, the people in front of the museum and on the stairs change at the cut. (00:50:25)
Continuity mistake: While Peter is doing his pantomime with Vigo's painting saying "Walk for me talk for me, yeah!" you can see Dan Aykroyd stiffening on the ladder, acting as if Ray suddenly got possessed/mesmerized by Vigo. In the close-up that follows we see the process happening in a different and more gradual way. (00:51:40)
Continuity mistake: When Peter talks to Dana and shows her the suitcase with her stuff (they sure seem to come and go as it pleases them from her home), Sigourney Weaver is holding the towel in a different way depending on the camera angle. (00:53:40)
Continuity mistake: The position of the socks (or whatever they are) sticking out of the suitcase when Peter presents the suitcase to Dana changes between shots. The one on top stick more in the second shot. (00:54:00)
Revealing mistake: Janine is wrapping up work at the phone and puts a cover on the computer screen. The monitor is plugged in, but the desktop is not. (00:55:20)
Continuity mistake: Tully is chasing Janine after she wished him goodnight. When the camera cuts closer to them, the cars parked on the sidewalk change abruptly, and they get back to the same models only at the end of the scene when someone honks a horn at him and the camera switches back to the original angle. (00:55:35)
Continuity mistake: When Louis is saying 'his place at 8' there is a guy in the background on the right hand side on the sidewalk. When it cuts to the long shot and he is almost hit by the taxi, the guy is gone. (00:56:00)
Answer: SpikeTV didn't alter the movie except for editing for time and content. The scene you saw was in the original film and the way the river looked was a combination of two things, the camera angle and the poor special effects of the time.
moviemogul