THE THREE FATES ARE KIND OF LAZY

Hanging By a Thread

Original Air date: December 10, 1987^[1]

Writers: William Rotsler and Richard Mueller

Director: Dale Schott

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 three Fates are doing their jobs determining how long everyone gets to live.  Demons decide they wanted this power so they attack with an army.  The Fates, who hold such power yet don’t seem to have much in the way of offensive or defensive weaponry, sends the shears through time and space.  The demons frustrated with the loss go looking.  In their search they show up at the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge and Ben Franklin’s electric experiments.

                The real shears arrive in disguise in a garment shop in Manhattan in 1987.  The demons sense it and attack the shop owned by a father and son.  The Ghostbusters show up and fight off the demons.  During the battle Ray accidentally picks up the sheers when he needed something to fix his equipment. 

Okay let's hope the river isn't here on our way back!

                The Ghostbusters then head to the station and find it being overwhelmed with demons.  The Ghostbusters fight them again but this time Ray drops the sheers and the demons get it.  Once they have their prized position they leave.  Afterward the Fates appear and explain the situation to the Ghostbusters, recruiting them to go to the Netherworld and retrieve the shears.

If the Ghostbusters ran their business better they actually have money.

                While walking around the Netherworld, the Ghostbusters, using Egon’s PKE meter to find the shears, come across the River Styx and they met Charon.  Charon offers to sell them a ride but all the Ghostbusters had was a rabbits foot and a cheese sandwich.  Charon took the offer wondering why everyone always gave him white bread.

Charon is as happy as can be I see!

                The Ghostbusters find the demons and battle them again recovering the sheers just in time. Then they run as fast as they can back where they have to jump through a well that is a magical portal back to New York.  Once the Ghostbusters are home they give the fates back the Sheers of Destiny.

My Take:  This is very interesting episode it involved good use of some Greek mythology.  The Three Fates aren’t, in my view, overly used in fiction.  In fact I can only think of one other modern thing I saw them in, the animated Hercules movie.  Also Charon and the river Styx were used creatively as well.

                Now for my stray observations:

·         These Fates are extremely lazy.  First they lose the sheers and then blame the Ghostbusters when they were recruiting them.  As if Ray was supposed to know those scissors were magic. Also since the Fates are god-like they should be able to pay for the Ghostbusters’ services, after all the Ghostbusters aren't running a charity operation.  The Ghostbusters are running business, it is true they run that business poorly not even having money for poor Charon.

·         I love Peter’s comments the when the monster fish flops up in the River Styx, “I’m so glad I didn’t see that.”

·         So the PKE meter which often gets overloaded when encountering ghosts off the scale somehow works in Hell?

·         Where did the River Styx go?  When the Ghostbusters are running away they make it back without having to go through the river again.  It makes no sense.

·         The jumping scene was funny.

·         I think the Ghosbusters shouldn’t have given the sheers back to the Fates.  Instead they should have busted them and put them in the Containment Unit.  Humanity doesn’t need Fates telling us how long we can live.  We have a right to control our own destiny.  The Ghostbusters dropped the ball here.

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