MY MOTHER’S FAVORITE EPISODE

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 should point out that Janine’s idea to explore the Containment Unit won out over Egon’s. 

·         Good to see Ghash and Precious again.

·         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. 

That ghost has some belly!

Slimer, Come Home

Original Air date: October 4, 1986

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski

Director: Richard Raynis

Main Cast:

• Lorenzo Music as Peter Venkman
• Frank Welker as Raymond Stantz
• Maurice LaMarche as Egon Spengler
• Arsenio Hall as Winston Zeddemore
• Laura Summer as Janine Melnitz
• Frank Welker as Slimer

(Rating 5 of 5)

Summary: The Ghostbusters on the tail of some nasty type of poltergeists, which somewhat concerns them because poltergeist usually aren’t this powerful when roaming.  The Ghostbusters battle the poltergeists but fail to capture them.  As they drive home Winston wonders why they are taking so long.  He gets his answer when they arrive and at the station as Janine had prepared a surprise party for Winston’s birthday.  When they roll out Winston’s favorite cake Slimer sees it, gets excited, and goes and eats it. This angers the entire party; Winston’s has a sour grapes moment of “I’m a diet anyway.” But Peter is infuriated, he gives Slimer a verbal tongue lashing and Slimer goes off an sulks.

Now you see it!

                When the Ghostbusters go to sleep, Slimer takes off.  He leaves a note explaining that no one wants him around.  When he is out on his own he thinks about helping himself to a bakery, but Peter’s words haunt him and he lets it go.  Slimer follows some other ghosts to meeting that is led by large ghost dressed in black named Ghash.

Now you don't!

                The Ghostbusters realizing that Slimer has run off go out to look for him.  Peter refuses at first but joins later.  While looking Egon almost gets mugged, Ray runs into his second grade teacher, and Peter finds Slimer but the evil head ghost, Ghash, has convinced Slimer to turn and he slimes Peter again just like he did in first Ghostbusters movie.

Ray sees his grade school teacher.

                Peter radios the rest of the Ghostbusters and they follow them into a building.  There Ghash opens his shirt and summons all the ghosts to come to him.  Even Slimer is pulled in and according to Egon they were now all merging into one powerful ghost.  They alter their packs’ frequency to pull Slimer out of Ghash, but as they turn to fight Ghash he takes away their packs telekinetically and tosses them around like dolls.  Slimer grabs on their proton guns and aims it at Ghash, Slimer can’t control it but he distracts Ghash long enough for the Ghostbusters to recover their packs and blast and trap Ghash.  When they trap him, the trap looks like it won’t hold him for long but they get it to the Containment Unit in time.  At the party they have two cakes one for Slimer and the other for them.  

My Take: Before starting this project I haven’t really watched this show from start to finish since I was about ten or eleven.  Out of the hundred plus episodes in this series there are about eleven or twelve that I could recall the plot line to.  This was one of them.  I actually remember play acting this episode with my Ghostbuster toys one time when we were visiting my material grandmother and her mother.  (My great-grandmother lived with my grandmother in the last years of her life.) I had the shirt of my pajamas open and I was telling the ghosts to come to me so I could absorb them.  I then remember my great-grandmother coming in and looking at me wondering why I was acting so strange.

                I liked all the previous episodes but this one clicks more at a number of levels.  Every scene feels right for the characterization is spot on.  You get the impression that the writer understands who these people are very well.  My favorite scene is when Janine reveals to the Ghostbusters that Slimer has run off.  Peter’s reaction is perfect stating that he is going to bed because he doesn’t believe Slimer would ever run away due to the fact that he has too good with them.  I also really like Ray deciding to look for Slimer by sitting in one place and waiting for Slimer to come to him, and Egon scaring off a gang of thugs by just appearing so strange they don’t want to mess with him.    

My stray observations:

·         Don’t Ghostbusters have other family that might want to wish them a happy birthday?

·         When Peter asks what good Slimer has ever done, it might have been good if one of the other Ghostbusters said, “Well he did pull the plug on Killerwatt when we all thought we were done for!”

·         Slimer not only needs to learn to control himself, he needs to learn to take some criticism with grace.  The Ghostbusters never told him to leave he just assumed they didn’t like him because Peter yelled at him.

 ·         Does Janine need sleep?  While the Ghostbusters are all up snoozing away, she’s still downstairs working?  When does this woman stop?  I hope Ghostbusters are paying her well.  I doubt that though, they have now had two episodes in a row where they haven’t collected any money.

·         Why did the Ghostbusters take their proton packs when all they were doing was looking for Slimer?  It turned out to be right decision but I still thought it was odd. I guess they never leave home without them.

·         What happened to all the Ghostbusters jackets and hats?  I understand Peter tossing his out he got slimed but what about the rest of them?

·         Good move on Ghash’s part to separate the Ghostbusters from their weapons.  Why don’t more ghosts try that?  As kid I always thought that most ghosts couldn’t touch them because they same energy that is used to stop them in their tracks might prevent them from interfering with it.

In my re-watching I have enjoyed this episode the most so far.