THE GHOSTBUSTERS ENCOUNTER A COPY OF THE ADDAMS FAMILY

Loathe Thy Neighbor

Original Air date November 7, 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:  The Ghostbusters are called in on a job to a very creepy mansion.  The clients they have are an odd group of people who closely resemble the classical Addams Family with a bit of the Munsters.  Bello Micawb is warm and friendly welcoming the Ghostbusters and he seems to enjoy playing host.  He doesn’t seem to be aware that his tastes are outside the mainstream.  He is also drawn to closely resemble Gomez Addams.  His wife Lucrecia Micawb, who is clearly based on Morticia Addams, is a little more cold and distant to the Ghostbusters.   The son Thaddeus, who built a Frankenstein dog, is openly hostile to the Ghostbusters.  The daughter Lydia Micawb is clearly a take on Marilyn Munster who is the only ordinary person in the family.

The Ghostbusters shown in by the butler.

                Throughout the episode the Ghostbusters are searching for the ghost but they are often thrown off by the weirdness of the house.  Everything down to the alarm clock is enough to trigger their instincts.  The only time they know that they have encountered the ghost is when it attacks them in the library.  They are able to ward off the attack when Ray reads a spell from one of the Micawb’s spell books.

The Ghostbusters and the Micawb Family.

                It is discovered that the reason Thaddeus was so upset is because he is the one who summoned the other dimensional entity when he was looking to the spell books to find a friend for his Frankenstein dog.  He leads the Ghostbusters to the entity and as they battle it they noticed that it fed of the energy of their proton packs.  However Egon concluded it could only take so much before it overloaded.  They continue to blast the creature until it is destroyed.

Lydia Micawb the normal one.

                After the adventure is over the Ghostbusters get to meet the extended family who are all bizarre in the true Addams Family fashion.    

Slimer being chased by a nasty book.

My Take: I was never a really big Addams Family fan.  I watched the movie and enjoyed it but not much else though.   I also have seen a only a few episodes of the old Munsters series.  So I didn’t get any fan nostalgia over it.  I did appreciate the concept of the Ghostbusters encountering characters and a place so odd that it makes the ghost capturing difficult because strange things that aren’t ghosts keep popping up.

Ray with a spell book.

Now for my stray observations:

• This kind or reminds me of the last episode of Season 2.  At least they didn’t destroy this house.
• It’s fun to remember their ghostbusting career started in a library.
• Slimer was useful to have around because it was good to have one of the guests like the food.
•  The discussion of Supernatural and Paranatural was interesting.  I always thought that it wasn't a done deal that all ghosts were once people.  Some these are strange and bizarre looking while not even acting human like.  I always assumed that some ghosts were just created negative energy etc.  So the Ghostbusters know their Containment Unit is a prison for souls.
•  I thought this paranormal creature was similar to the one they found in space.
• Egon claims they sent it back to where it came from.  Actually they didn’t, they premeditatedly destroyed it.   Egon probably didn’t want the kid to feel guilty.

This was a fun episode.