MEET WINSTON’S DAD

The Brooklyn Triangle

Original Air date November 19, 1988

Writer: Richard Mueller

Director: Charles Grosvenor

Main Cast:

• Dave Coulier as Peter Venkman
• Frank Welker as Raymond Stantz
• Maurice LaMarche as Egon Spengler
• Buster Jones as Winston Zeddemore
• Kath Soucie as Janine Melnitz
• Frank Welker as Slimer

(Rating 4 of 5)

Summary: At a local construction site there is a strange hole that has appeared in the ground.  Most of the workers want to call in the Ghostbusters but their chief, Edward Zeddemore wants to the crew to fill it themselves.  At the firehouse it seems that all the Ghostbusters are missing something and as they continue to look for their lost property the more things go missing.  At one point they see Peter’s shoes walking around by themselves.

Edward Zeddemore tries to seal the hole.

                The Ghostbusters get the call and Egon elects to stay behind to monitor the energy build up the city has been getting exposed to.  As they head toward the site parts of Ecto-1 start to fly off.  When they get there Edward rejects his son's team and tries to close the magic hole by himself.  Both he and his son get sucked in so Peter and Ray (with Slimer) drive Ecto-1 in after them. 

The Collector

                Peter and Ray end up in the dimension of all lost things. Their proton packs aren’t working in this dimension but they continue to look for Winston.  Winston and his dad are in a jail cell going over their differences and trying to escape.  Things get easier as most of New York City fills the dimension along with Ghostbusters' firehouse.  Egon and Janine show up with adapters for the proton packs.

Winston learned some tricks from his dad!

                They find the castle where the Collector, ruler of the dimension, is hiding out. Slimer sneaks in and frees Winston and his father.  They all confront the Collector in his throne room and find out that he is looking for a key.  It turns out 10,000 years ago he fought ghosts like they did and one imprisoned him here.  The Collector can't leave but can summon things to him, so he has been gradually swiping things from the world looking for his key. Turns out Winston and his Dad had the key all along so they give it to him.  Now that the Collector has his freedom he returns everything to normal.   The Ghostbusters spend the last moments of the episode looking at their old, but newly found, stuff. 

My Take:  When Winston Zeddemore was hired in the movie he made it clear that he was just in it for the pay check.  He also states in several episodes that he didn’t believe in ghosts before taking the job.  This episode deals with the disappointed relative who thinks their loved one is making a full of themselves.  Like the episode Cry Uncle, I have a hard time dealing with the skeptical family members who don’t believe in ghosts.  In the Ghostbusters’ universe ghosts are real.  They are so real that the Ghostbusters have a fairly profitable business taking care of them.  So profitable they can be the victim of corporate espionage.  I would rather have had Winston’s dad Edward be upset that his son didn’t follow in his footsteps than be upset because of his disbelief.

                Now for my stray observations:

·         Okay so this is where all the lost stuff went?  So where is my lost stuff now?  The Collector left.

·         10,000 really?  What type of ghost hunter could he have been in the caveman years?

·         Slimer and the hot dog stand was a funny scene.

·         Slimer can change color? Really?

·         So what happened with the Containment Unit when the firehouse was relocated?

Halfway decent episode.