THE BOOGIEMAN, JUNIOR GHOSTBUSTERS, AND 9/11

The Boogeyman Is Back

Original Air date October 3, 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 5 of 5)

Summary: The Ghostbusters are battling a ghost on top of the World Trade Center on the North Tower.  Only three of the Ghostbusters are there with Slimer.  Winston is nowhere to be seen.  While trying to trap the ghost, it blasts near Egon’s feet and he is knocked over the ledge.  Holding on for a few moments his hands slip and he falls.  Fortunately Egon is rescued by Winston who is in Ecto-2.  The Ghostbusters trap the ghost and go home. 

                As they go down for the night the other Ghostbusters are amazed that Egon was so calm after falling off the World Trade Center.  Egon shrugs it off, or at least they think he does.  Egon is actually really bothered by what had happened to him.  He has nightmares; he tries to watch a movie to calm his nerves and that fails. 

Looking for a way out!

                Trapped in his dimension and angered about being sealed off so that he can no longer prey on the fears of children, the Boogieman senses Egon’s intense fear.  Egon was extremely terrified and becoming more so as he tried to deny it.  This made the Boogieman so strong he was able to escapee his domain and attack the Ghostbusters in their own bedroom. 

I am back!

                Fortunately the Ghostbusters are quick on their feet.  They grabbed their packs and drove the Boogieman out to the street.  They go to confront him in an alleyway and they almost got him but Egon hesitated and the Boogieman could sense it.  He retreated and the Ghostbusters had to put the pieces back together.  Egon confessed to his fear and why he had hid it.  Winston expressed his fear for the Junior Ghostbusters.

                As the three Junior Ghostbusters, named Donald, Jason, and Catherine, were in their club house just hanging out.  They get a call from the Real Ghostbusters and they are told to check their PKE meter.  The readings tell them the Boogieman is coming, and sure enough he attacks.  The adults show up to drive him off.

Junior Ghostbusters

                As the Boogieman leaves he transforms the local carnival into one his own nightmarish creations.  At the firehouse Egon adjust one of his proton packs so that when it hits the Boogieman it will destabilize him and allow him to be trapped like and ordinary ghost.  They then track him to his lair. 

Getting caught.

                In the carnival the Ghostbusters find themselves outmatched.  The transformed rollercoaster takes them for a scary involuntary ride while animated statues disarm them.   The haunted roller-coaster takes them into the Boogieman's domain.  There the Ghostbusters are attacked by the Boogieman and his minions continuing to grow stronger on their fear.

Feeding on fear!

                Slimer, the only one not captured, runs to the Junior Ghostbusters and tells them what has happened.  The kids head to the carnival and find the discarded proton packs.  They take the packs and enter the Boogieman’s domain.  The Ghostbusters right now were all tied up and the Boogieman was feeding off their fear when the kids entered.  Realizing his opportunity to terrorize the Ghostbusters by threatened their most dedicated fan club, he turns to the kids.  Egon then loses fear and breaks his binds and slides past the Boogieman to his specialized proton pack and blasts him.  The Boogieman is now shocked at the different type of blast he is getting and the other Ghostbusters are able to escape grab their packs and join in.  The Junior Ghostbusters lay out the traps and the Boogieman is caught. 

My Take: At the beginning of this episode I was very distracted by the fact that they were at the World Trade Center.  The WTC had been mentioned in past episodes and seen when they showed the New York skyline.  But they were actually battling on top of it in this episode.  Every time I think I am “over” 9/11 I see some documentary or picture from the attack and I get all emotional again.  Last year I watch a documentary on line about those who were forced to jump from the towers, and was really upset afterward and to placate myself I immediately went to video of President Obama telling us Bin Laden was dead. 

                This is extremely unfair to those involved with making this episode fourteen years before the attacks.  It also unfair to the World Trade Center which had been an American landmark since the 1970s and doesn’t deserve to be remembered for only the way it was destroyed.  But I couldn’t help it.  When they were fighting that ghost in the beginning all I could think about were the people in Windows on the World who were trapped. When Egon fell all I could think about was the Falling Man and his fellow victims who did not have an Ecto-2 to save them.  And when the main plot dealt with Egon’s fear all I could think of was, “Well if that was enough fear to empower him.  On 9/11 he must have become a god.”  Enough with reminiscing on tragedy and instead focus on my cartoon. 

     

                “The Boogieman Cometh” was as I said in my review at the time the greatest episode of the series, so it makes sense that they would do a follow up.  Have one more moment to battle a villain so terrifying to young children.  There might have been a more practical reason for the episode.  The producers were actively concerned about how kids would react to the first Boogieman appearance that they made sure he was imprisoned at the end.  But imprisoned in his own domain, well it's his domain he might find a way out.  Now he is in the Containment Unit so even better. 

                So the Junior Ghostbusters, so I understand from interviews in the DVD set that the writers forced to create these kids. The reason was a group of executives at ABC weren’t happy with the fact that they had the most popular kids cartoon at the time.  No, they had to hire a bunch of child psychologists to come in and tell their writers how to write, after the writers already established their success.  You have to wonder if studio executives were so dumb how did they get their jobs?  I have always thought it had to be a combination of luck and nepotism.

                Still if you had to make Junior Ghostbusters don’t’ you think you should try to do it well?  For example why create new bland characters when you already have established characters you could use?  What about Kenny from the episode Masquerade or Megan and her bother—also a Kenny---from the Boogieman’s first appearance.   They helped defeat him last time wouldn’t it have been great to see them do it again? Then add a new character and there you go.

                It also might be a good idea to establish them before just announcing they exist.  You should answer the questions of, “How did they get to be Junior Ghostbusters?” “Where are their parents?” I also thought Catherine who dressed in a uniform similar to Egon’s and was blond might be relative, Egon’s niece perhaps?

                Now for my stray observations:

·         The title misspells Boogieman’s name.  That’s right they misspelled the name of their own character.

·         That ghost they were fighting I could have sworn I had that toy as a kid.

This one top section!

·         The scene where they are all about to go to bed shows why you don’t need the Junior Ghostbusters.  The show is already a little boy’s fantasy of hanging out with his buds in bunk house with no parents.

·         It’s a good thing the Boogieman isn’t really fast on his hoof feet.

·         Glad to have Proton packs in the bedroom.

·         Egon says the proton beams have no effect on him.  Last I checked he screams and runs when hit, I call that an effect.

·         Slimer shape-shifts when explaining things to the Junior Ghostbusters.

·         Every time the Boogieman has the Ghostbusters in a corner some kids come and bail them out.

A great follow up to the first episode.