THE STAR TREK EPISODE

Ain't NASA-Sarily So

Original Air date: November 17, 1987^[1]

Writers: Craig Miller and Mark Nelson

Director: Brian Cosgrove

Main Cast:

• Lorenzo Music as Peter Venkman
• Frank Welker as Raymond Stantz
• Maurice LaMarche as Egon Spengler
• Arsenio Hall as Winston Zeddemore
• Laura Summer as Janine Melnitz
• Frank Welker as Slimer

(Rating 4 of 5)

Summary: The episode begins on the Experimental Space Platform Galileo whose crew greatly resembles the cast from Star Trek.  The ship is commanded by Captain Kirov who seems to be a composite of Captain Kirk and Ensign Chekov.  The helmsman is Lieutenant Sato clearly based on Lieutenant Sulu.  Lieutenant Irahqua is a light skinned Lieutenant Uhura.  Lieutenant Commander McTavish is their Scotty. Yeoman Whitney is clearly based on Yeoman Rand who was played by Grace Whitney.  There is no Spock character; throughout the episode the crew will keep mentioning how Egon reminds them of a certain science officer. 

Yeah we know what song your humming and it wasn't written by Ray Parker.

                The ship has taken on a ghost so they call NASA and NASA calls the Ghostbusters.  Peter is glad to have a government job while Ray is concerned about how their weapons will handle in zero gravity. The Ghostbusters board the ship and are taken by how familiar the crew seems.  They discuss the ghost and Egon notices that according to the PKE meter the creature registers like a class 4 but its ectoplasm seems empty.

Who's Russian Captain Kirk going to call.

                When they go to bust the ghost they find it feeding on the ships energy, worse it also feeds on the proton packs’ energy and really likes it.  The ghost ultimately shuts down the gravity making everything, including the Ghostbusters to flout.  After a few misadventures and a lost proton pack, Ray comes up with a plan.   The Ghostbusters in zero gravity blast the creature, the force of their blasts pushes them backward causing the creature to follow.  It follows them to where the Ghostbusters have a group of traps waiting for the space creature. The creature continues to enjoy the proton energy up until the blasts suddenly start to hurt it and then is sucked into the traps.

The Captain called these guys.

                The Ghostbusters bid the crew farewell and head home. 

Yes that's right no transporters.  You have to get to and from Earth the old fashioned way.

My Take: As giant Star Trek fan myself I really enjoyed this episode.  I probably gave the episode a higher rating than I normally would have.  This show often references Star Trek, so it was just a matter of time before they did something like this.  I imagine if there was actually a real cross over it would involve the Ghostbusters converting Starfleet equipment into ghost catching equipment.

Proton Blasts are good!

                Now for my stray observations:

·         So how during the end phases of the Cold War did a Russian obtain command of a NASA ship?

·         Peter is excited about the government contract, Ray is worried about the equipment working in zero gravity, how about “Holy shit! We’re going into space!”

·         I really like that the space creature was similar with ectoplasm but was different from Earth centered creatures that base themselves on the form of a dead spirit or a demon. It raises the question into what ghosts actually are.

·         The Ghostbusters packs don’t until they do and how did they get all the traps down there in zero gravity?

·         Once again the “its bid we need multiple traps” baloney. No you don’t, ectoplasm shrinks in traps.

                 Great episode but they still should have had a Spock character. 

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[1] Listed original air dates for entire syndicated season may not be correct.