Sticky
Business
Original
Air date October
24, 1987
Writer:
Richard Mueller
Director:
Charles Grosvenor
Main
Cast:
- Dave
Coulier as Peter Venkman
- Frank
Welker as Raymond Stantz
- Maurice
LaMarche as Egon Spengler
- Arsenio
Hall as Winston Zeddemore
- Kath
Soucie as Janine Melnitz
- Frank
Welker as Slimer
(Rating
5 of 5)
Summary: At a local hospital the Ghostbusters
enter a dark room where they find a ghost, who is obviously Slimer in a
bedsheet, and they quickly blast and trap him.
The lights go on and the viewers see that the room is full of kids. The whole setup was just a demonstration for
the kids and the Ghostbusters quickly let Slimer out of the trap to the kids
delight. While talking to Dr. Perkins she revels that hospital is hurting for funds and unless they can raise $50,000 by the end
of the week several kids will have to go home despite their serious
condition.
 |
| Slimer and the kids from the hospital. |
The
Ghostbusters return home brokenhearted and explain to Janine everything that is
going on with the children and hospital.
At this point a man who identifies himself as Marty Tillis, President of
the Stay Puft Marshmallow Company, enters the firehouse and offers the
Ghostbusters a deal. If they allow him
to shoot the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in his commercial he will pay the
hospital $50,000.
 |
| President of the Stay Puft Marshmallow company. |
The
Ghostbusters decide to take him up on the offer. Down in front the Containment Unit, the
Ghostbusters convince Slimer to go into the Unit and get Stay Puft. Slimer is reluctant at first because of the
all the enemies he has in there but he wants to help the kids. Slimer goes into the Containment Unit and
after some close calls with some old enemies he finds the SPMM and explains their
plan. Stay Puft happy to get out for a
little while agrees but as they leave a nasty ghost called the Phantom sneaks
underneath the SPMM’s collar.
 |
| Oh no, Slimer doesn't want to get eaten again! |
 |
| Escape! The Containment Unit is a rough place. |
 |
| Finds who he is looking for |
The
Ghostbusters open up the trap and Slimer and the SPMM come out. The Ghostbusters drive ahead giving
instructions to Slimer by radio and he relays them to the SPMM. Then the Phantom attacks. The Ghostbusters instantly recognize and
dread what has been let out. The Phantom
who is hot enough to burn through concrete zaps the SPMM who then chases after
him. The level of destruction that the SPMM
causes absent mildly continues to add up as he runs around in circles at the
Phantom.
 |
| Out! |
At one
point SPMM gets stuck in an ally and Egon and Ray try to squeeze through his
legs but have to separate from their proton packs to fit. This allows the Phantom to take the packs and
corner the helpless pair. But Peter
showed up in Ecto-2 to chase the Phantom away.
 |
| Me too! |
When
they finally are able to redirect SPMM back on course they almost make it as
the director begins filming the commercial.
The Phantom melts pavement sticking the Ecto-1 and then uses a crane to
throw them in the water. Getting thrown
in the water was good thing because of Ecto-1 built-in water abilities that first saw in last episode.
 |
| Stuck, help Slimer! |
The SPMM
battles the Phantom once more. He grabs the construction crane and caught the
Phantom. This held the creature long enough for the
Ghostbusters to trap it. The hospital
got the check and the kids from the hospital got to play King of Mountain on
the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
 |
| Finally making the commercial. |
My Take: My mother probably doesn’t remember this but
this was her favorite Ghostbusters episode.
In fact my first VCR recording was when she showed me how to tape this episode. It’s not hard to see why she liked it. The message of the Ghostbusters going out of
their way to help sick kids plus the SPMM calling the Phantom a “bad dude” and
the Ghostbusters “good dudes.” In some
way this episode is great individual episode to represent the entire
series. It has all the main characters
playing important roles, all their cool equipment is shown, and the two most
popular movie ghosts are included.
I have
complained in earlier reviews about continuity issues regarding the Stay Puft
Marshmallow Man, in this episode the character was done perfectly and this should have been the
model. "Sticky Business" showed the perfect
way to get him out of the Containment Unit and no issues with trap size. If there are any episodes involving the STMM they should be more
like this in the future.
Now for
my stray observations:
·
So the hospital needs $50,000 by the end of the
week, the Ghostbusters shouldn't be that intimated they once earned more than that in a single afternoon. All they have to do is
work hard.
·
Maybe the episode should have been about the
Ghostbusters lobbying Congress to properly fund the local hospitals instead of
having to rely on business charity. If
they cry socialism tell them you’ll let out Stay Puft.
·
I like how Slimer got the STMM unstuck.
·
I wouldn’t let kids play on the STMM, he is not bad guy
it just strikes me as dangerous.
A great episode in every measurable way, the funny thing is Richard
Mueller on the DVD set said he forgot about this episode entirely.
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