FUN WITH TRAINS

Last Train to Oblivion

Original Air date November 24, 1987^[1]

Writers: Michael Edens and Mark Edward Edens

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 3 of 5)

Summary:  The ghost of famous train engineer Casey Jones is haunting the local train station.  He doesn’t seem to be impressed or just doesn’t understand modern trains, so he hijacks a classic. 

Ghost of Casey Jones!

                Back at the firehouse, Peter has a train obsession that we have never seen before and is really excited about his new model train. Slimer thinks it is food and eats it, enraging Peter.  Peter gets over it however when they get a call from the train station and Peter gets to be around real trains.  They don't have to do any ghost detective work to figure out the nature of the ghost because as soon as they get there one of the engineers tells them he believes it was the ghost of old Casey Jones. 

More coal, Peter!

                The Ghostbusters split up and Peter and Winston find an old steam train, like the ones used in the last century.  They found it after Peter explained his love of trains and his knowledge of Casey Jones’s history and how he died in a horrific accident. 

Okay we caught the ghost and now we're about to die.  Suggestions?

                Egon and Ray find the ghost in the break room and chase him out of it.  The ghost retreats to the train that Peter and Winston boarded and where Peter found an old engineer’s cap.  Casey takes control of the train, and forces Peter to be his fireman, yelling “more coal” at him.  Winston escaped from the train before it took off and joined the other two Ghostbusters in pursuit of it in Ecto-1.  Ray attempts some daring, or suicidal, attempts to catch the train. 

Jones stops the accident, Peter explains the legend.

                The three Ghostbusters do eventually get on the train and trap Casey but they realize they are on a collision course with another train.  Peter realizes that Casey Jones wanted to recreate the accident so he can avoid it and lets him out so he can switch the tracks and save the train.

                Casey Jones flies off into the sunset as Peter explains the legend to the rest of the Ghostbusters.

My Take: Casey Jones, whose real name was Johnathan Luther Jones, (Casey was a nickname based on his hometown) was a real-life train engineer in the late nineteenth century.  He was well respected in his profession and was well known for his talents with a train whistle and getting his trains in on time.  He was so well respected in his profession that he was asked by his company to represent them at World's Columbian Exposition.  His death is somewhat controversial.  Unlike in the episode, the train wasn’t running at another train coming directly at it, what happened was they rear-ended a train in front of them.   There is some controversy is whether Jones saw, missed, or if there even was a warning flag.  Jones quick thinking did actually prevent the accident from being worse than it was.  Peter was clearly wrong when he says it was one of the worst accidents, Jones was only one who died.

                Now for my stray observations:

·         Slimer is a bit out of character, he eats food not things.  Otherwise we would see him mowing down on Janine’s desk.  Let’s hope Slimer was just playing a joke on Peter and puked it up later.

·         Peter is so dumb he took the wrong major in college because of his train obsession?  Speaking of trains I don’t know any kids today or when I was a kid who loved trains like Peter does.  It seemed be popular kids' thing right up to the seventies but it doesn’t seem to be anymore.

·         Don’t need Egon to figure the ghost out, they’re told by the rail road employee that it was Casey Jones right away.  Well even Egon needs a break sometimes.

·         Yeah, we all thought of the Ninja Turtles character.

·         Ray is trying to clearly get his fellow Ghostbusters killed.

·         So Casey Jones‘s ghost intentionally endangers a bunch of people on a train for the sole purpose of seeing if he can stop it.  And this is okay because that is what he needed to be at peace.  AHH! You guys aren’t the Ghost Whisperer!  Take that self-righteous ghost and put him back in the trap and in the Containment Unit.   

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