SLIMER GETS A MR. HYDE

The Two Faces of Slimer

Original Air date October 17, 1987

Writer: Michael Reaves

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 4 of 5)

Summary: Slimer is at home upset about the Ghostbusters not taking him on a recent mission.  Ray tries to apologize but Slimer isn’t having it.  That night Slimer dreams of being the top ghostbuster.  While they are all sleeping we also see a leak in the Containment Unit. 

                The next day the Ghostbusters are called out on a local job where they encounter a big green ghost.  The battle this monster and manage to chase it away but they don’t manage to capture it.  The next night after Slimer goes to sleep he transforms into the creature.

Evil Slimer

                The Ghostbusters’ next few jobs all involve battling the big green ugly ghost.  They end up tracking him to a seafood restaurant literally at sea.  After an ongoing battle with some damage to the restaurant they finally capture the ghost.

Bad news!

                At the firehouse the Ghostbusters are preparing to place the trap in the Containment Unit, but one of them trips and falls.  They each try to catch the trap and they almost break its fall but it does land on the floor and opens.  Out of the trap comes Slimer.  The Ghostbusters are shocked they have been fighting Slimer all along.  Egon upon examining the Containment Unit discovers the leak and realizes that only some active ectoplasm leaked out not enough for a full ghost but enough to transform a pleasant one.

And Peter thought Slimer bothered him before!

                The Ghostbusters attempt to find a cure for Slimer.  The problem is in the meantime they need to prevent Slimer from falling asleep.  They put in a good effort but they ultimately fail and Slimer’s Mr. Hyde comes out again.  He leaves the firehouse attacks a local grocery store.   While battling the big green ghost Egon figures out a way to modify their particle throwers so the beams will cause Slimer to separate from his other self.  With big green and Slimer now separate ghosts Winston asked Slimer where his favorite place in the supermarket is.  When they reached the section of the popsicles they find the big green ghost there and capture it.  Slimer is back to normal and the big green ghost is gone for good.

Recovered Slimer!

My Take: An excellent parody/interpretation of “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” To be fair to Slimer his only crime was sleep to close the Containment Unit, it wasn’t the result of an experiment he did.  Slimer’s evil self is very similar to the way he was drawn in the pilot episode of this series.

Slimer in the piolot

                Now for my stray observations:

·         I thought Slimer was out of character in the beginning.  He doesn’t go on every mission since the beginning of the series.  I would say about half but that is a rough guess.  Having pout over it was in my view kind of off.

·         In some ways bad Slimer was kind of like his original self.  The Ghostbusters started their business hunting Slimer and now things have come full circle.

·         Why does Slimer need to sleep?  Do all ghosts?
·         So the Ecto-1 has been retrofitted to the Knight Rider car. We can travel on water now!

·         How forth right do you think the Ghostbusters will be about this problem that they caused themselves by not taking better care of the Containment Unit and having a pet ghost?

·         I thought it was funny that this was documented in Tobin’s Spirt Guide.  When could this have happened before?

Nevertheless it was a great episode.  Poor Slimer.