THIS EPISODE WASN’T NEW WHEN THEY AIRED IT!

Deja Boo

Original Air date October 13, 1990

Writers: Michael Reaves,Chuck Menville, Richard Mueller, Pamela Hickey and Dennys McCoy

Director: Raymond Jafelice

Main Cast:

• Dave Coulier as Peter Venkman
• Frank Welker as Raymond Stantz
• Maurice LaMarche as Egon Spengler
• Buster Jones as Winston Zeddemore
• Kath Soucie as Janine Melnitz
• Frank Welker as Slimer
• Rodger Bumpass as Louis Tully

(Rating 2 of 5)

Summary:  The loser Dweeb captures Slimer using one of his devices.  He then uses a machine to look into Slimer’s brain.  This causes him (and the audience) to watch old Ghostbusters episodes.  At the end Slimer captures Dweeb in his own device.

My Take: In the classic Star Trek episode “the Menagerie” Mr. Spock kidnaps the former Captain of the Enterprise, Christopher Pike, who had been hurt worse than Christopher Reeve was in real life.  During his court-martial Mr. Spock showed a video that was actually the pilot episode “The Cage.”  This was done by the writers to put the events of the unaired pilot into the mainstream continuity of the series.  This however is a clip episode, a popular device in the 80s and 90s.  These were usually at the end of a season to remind the view of all the great episodes that they had that season.  These could on occasion be rewarding, showing continuity throughout the series.  Also in the era before ondemand if you forgot to tape something then you were out of luck to summer reruns. A clip episode could catch you up on important events.  

                This however was in poor quality.  First, it involved that loser Dweeb from the horrible Slimer subseries.  Any episode with Dweeb is usually a wasted episode.  The second is every one of these episodes were from Season 3.  That was three seasons ago.  It’s almost like an admission that they have run out of ideas, since many episodes in this season were repeated concepts.  This was a bad way to close out a weak season.

GHOSTBUSTERS THE MUSICAL

The Halloween Door

Original Air date October 29, 1989

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski

Director: Charles Grosvenor

Main Cast:

• Dave Coulier as Peter Venkman
• Frank Welker as Raymond Stantz
• Maurice LaMarche as Egon Spengler
• Buster Jones as Winston Zeddemore
• Kath Soucie as Janine Melnitz
• Frank Welker as Slimer
• Rodger Bumpass as Louis Tully

(Rating 3 of 5)

Summary: The Ghostbusters are preparing for their Halloween party.  Slimer has made for himself a Peter costume, to which Peter quickly puts on a Slimer costume to slime him.  Peter is escorting a beautiful woman named Lynn Stacy to one of Donald Trump’s parties.  Slimer, in his Peter customer, chases her off.  Peter tried to chase her back and instead ran into a Dr. Crowley and his assistant Fairweather.  Dr. Crowley wants the Ghostbusters help in ending Halloween.  The Ghostbusters basically tell him off, but Fairweather stole a PKE meter and that is what they needed.

Peter gets a long awaited revenge moment.

                That afternoon the Ghostbusters were doing a demonstration at a local Junior High School.  That demonstration actually turned into a musical performance where the Ghostbusters danced and sang.  

The Ghostbusters tell Crowley and Pal to stick it.

                Later that night Dr. Crowley prepares his weapon when he fires it the blast goes across the world to destroy all the materials of Halloween and any fiction that might inspire it.  While this is going on he recites a rhyme.  After he is done Fairweather reveals himself to be a minion of the demi-god Boogaloo.  A deal that was made over 2000 years ago by the Druids stated that as long as Halloween was observed Boogaloo and his demons would not invade the Earth.  With the destruction of Halloween they are now back.  Unless Halloween is brought back by midnight they will overrun the Earth.  Boogaloo starts singing about his badness and begins dancing around finishing his dance with the moonwalk. 

The moment Crowley realized his henchman wasn't really on his side. 

The Ghosts are out dancing, but how did the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man get out of the Containment Unit.

                The Ghostbusters were overwhelmed, their traps were full, the packs were drained, the Ecto-1 was totaled, and the Containment Unit at the firehouse was destroyed.  They located Dr. Crowley and try to force him to reverse the effect of the machine.  However the machine was destroyed.  They begin to try to fix it but time was running out.  Then a little blond girl with pig tales and her own home made vacuum cleaner Proton pack shows up and tries to see if she can join the Ghostbusters in their battle.  Winston freaks and tries to tell the girl to get to safety.  Egon however gets an idea, since no place is going to be safe, he realizes that she could be a big help.

I am the baddest of the bad even though my name sounds dumb.

                Egon brings the girl before Boogaloo, who is gloating about his minutes till victory, he sees the girl and Egon tells him that she has something to say.  She looks at him and says, “Trick or Treat!”  Halloween is alive and Boogaloo has lost, he and his demons are sucked back to which they came.  It is now Halloween at 8:00 PM the night and its damage was erased.  

My Take:  This episode aired as a Sunday night special the week of Halloween.  It had its own special opening sequence that was different from the one typically used.  (I actually thought it was better than they had used the last two seasons.)  The last two Halloween episodes had Pumpkin head (I mean, Samhain) trying to take over the world and create Halloween forever.  In this case we have a villain who wants to insure it never happens.  It is an interesting take.  I wasn’t a big fan of the musical numbers that I found completely ridiculous.  Dr. Crowley as a villain was clearly a stand in for all the censors and the parent groups behind them that Straczynski felt restrained him over the years.

                Now for my stray observations:

• The Peter/Slimer costume thing was really funny.
• Peter should be glad to get out of a Trump event.  He might not even be a real billionaire.
• After the Ghostbusters tell Crowley off, he for a moment thinks about the moral dilemma of stealing from someone, while simultaneously planning mass property destruction. 
• I didn’t think the Ghostbusters could dance and sing, they talked about this before. 
• They crossed the steams while dancing I thought they couldn’t do that. 

  

  No crossing the streams, unless you are in a choreographed number.

• Dr. Crowley was going off like a Dr. Suess rhyme.
• The first thing that Boogaloo does is sing a song and dance, the villain.
• If the Halloween deal was made over 2000 years ago are we saying Emperor Augustus had to deal with Boogaloo and friends. 
• Hey how did the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man get out?
• Okay Pumpki(Samhain. sorry)  is the Spirit of Halloween and wants it eternal while Boogaloo is needs Halloween to end.  This should make them enemies.  So shouldn’t Pum(Samhain) have attacked once the Containment Unit exploded?
• The end of this episode is what saved it for me.  The little girl bringing down the big bad was great.
• Some things weren't meant to be musicals!

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. 

EPIC SHOWDOWN FOR TOP BIG GHOST

The Revenge of Murray the Mantis

Original Air date November 2, 1987^[1]

Writer: Richard Mueller

Director: Dale Schott

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 4 of 5)

Summary:  It’s Thanksgiving and the Ghostbusters are participating in the Thanksgiving Day parade.  Downstairs Egon has built this air tight device attached to the Containment Unit that will allow Egon to communicate with the ghosts locked inside. 

Macy's organizer. 

Ghostbusters in the parade.

                The Ghostbusters along with Janine head to the parade and enjoyed being part of the festivities.  Behind the Ecto-1 is the Murray the Mantis float.  Murray the Mantis is a popular children’s cartoon and Peter tells Ray he thinks cartoons are dumb after that is explained to him.  The holders have trouble controlling the balloon and they lose it.  The parade organizer asks Peter to shoot it down.  When Peter blasts it, the balloon explodes and inside is an actually Murray the Mantis who attacks the parade.  The Ecto-1 escapes with the organizer who explains that the balloon was put together in a former morgue.  Ray explains that would give off a lot of death energy.  Studying his PKE meter Egon explains its power is so incredible they probably won’t fit it into a trap.  Winston made a Gozer reference by calling it another Twinkie.  Winston insists they have to get the big guy.  The others agree.  

The Murray float.

Here he is!

                Back the firehouse Egon is preparing the Containment Unit for release.  Lt. Frump shows up blaming the Ghostbusters for the whole thing proving he is something of an idiot.  As they grab Egon they fail to prevent him from pulling the switch and out came the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.  Frump is angry because he remembers the event from the movie.  Peter explains that Egon fixed Stay Puft and he is better now.

Letting the big guy out!

Here he is, fight is on!

                Using Slimer as their man in between; the green guy communicates with the big guy the Ghostbusters instructions.  A battle begins between the two heavy hitters.  And its one of the ages: a giant marshmallow vs a giant bug.   Normally you would think the bug would have an edge but that wasn’t the case.  Stay Puft got Murray exactly where they wanted it and the Ghostbusters with Stay Puft manage to destroy the creature.      

Bug vs Marshmallow

                As the Thanksgiving Day Parade resumes the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man takes Murray the Mantis’s place in the parade. 

The Marshmallow corner the creature into a trap!

My Take:  Well the episode where we get to see one of the most famous villains from the film use his abilities for the forces of good against a giant bug.

                Now for my stray observations:

·         The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade a great tradition.

·         Did Ann Lawson, the organizer remind you of another character from another film who organized that parade?

·         Okay so the float was put together in an old morgue and that is what caused it to turn into a powerful monster.  So if that is the case shouldn’t morgues be these powerful city wreaking monster creation machines?  Doesn’t seem very likely for mathematics alone.

·         Lt Frump is as dumb as a piece of wood.

·         I am assuming that air tight camber that Egon designed is what allowed only the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to be retrieved and the only ghost to leave.  Correct?

·         Okay when did Egon, as Peter states, “Fix” Stay Puft.  Don’t get me wrong I love the fact they turned him into a good guy but last we saw him he was at a ghost convention and I pointed out then some inconsistencies in his story.

·         I did like how Slimer was used to help direct Stay Puft it was a good use of his character.

·         Why did roof tear apart like in the movie, it didn’t happen the last few times Stay Puft was the able to leave?

·         So the Mantis was destroyed.  Is that because it wasn’t a real ghost just effected by ghost energy?

Nevertheless it was a great episode.

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[1] Listed original air dates for entire syndicated season may not be correct.

THE DENTIST’S OFFICE OR THE AFTERLIFE

Deadcon I

Original Air date December 2, 1987^[1]

Writers: Mark Edward Edens and Michael Edens

Director: Reg Lodge

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 3 of 5)

Summary: At the opening of the new Plump Towers the owner, Mr. Plump, is pleased to be hosting this year’s convention of dentists.  However at the same time they are also hosting another convention that turns out to be a convention of ghosts.  Plump originally thought the name Deadcon 1 meant they were a bunch of undertakers.  The Ghostbusters are called in but Mr. Plump doesn’t want them to use their particle throwers because they almost blasted a dentist.  The Ghostbusters surprisingly complied and decided to track the ghost by posing as the hotel staff.

When you a dentist sometimes you hang about with ghosts.

                The Ghostbusters spent their time working as bellhops, room service, chefs, front desk receptionist—even had some of the calls rewired to the firehouse—, and anything else the guests needed, both living and dead.  At one point Janine calls Ray to tell him that the ghosts have an odd request and he tells her to answer it.  So Janine releases the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, who then reports to Plump Towers as the keynote speaker.

You want us to catch ghosts without our equipment?

Ray waiting on a ghost.

                Things start to get rowdy so the Ghostbusters go grab their equipment to deal with the ghosts.  The problem is there are too many of them and they find themselves surrounded.  Peter gets into the festive spirit and calls a conga line and brings it into the lobby where pre-laid out traps are waiting to the ghosts.  Peter gets out of the line and ghosts head into the traps.  The dentists in the line hardly notice.   

Abe Lincoln and Lawrence of Arabia these aren't bad ghosts why do we want to catch them again? 

King Louis XVI hanging out with Winston.  Without the King we wouldn't have the United States, and they want to put him in the Containment Unit?

                A few remaining ghosts kidnap Plump and bring him to the dentists’ ball but the Ghostbusters capture them as well.  The dentists all had a good time, but the Ghostbusters run out of traps and leave forgetting all about the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. 

Apparently a good public speaker. 

My Take: Okay so the ghosts want to have a convention.  So if they are actually paying their bills why does Mr. Plump want them gone?  I mean if they are not doing anything to hurt anybody so who are they offending?  Most ghosts don’t pay, why harass the few that do?

                Now for my stray observations:

·         Mr. Plump doesn’t want the Ghostbusters to use their equipment.  Let’s pretend that was possible for a moment, is that something they want to start doing as request for people?  Can other customers request no particle thrower jobs?  Maybe the Ghostbusters should charge a different rate for that.

·         Speaking of rates how much money did they get from Plump to take care of his guests for him?

·         Okay let’s review the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for a minute.  He is destroyed during the film.  Yet, in "Cry Uncle" he escapes from the Containment Unit with aid from Egon's uncle in a manner that didn’t make sense.  The Ghostbusters catch him again using multiple traps (that also didn’t make sense).  So he is back in the Containment Unit, yet at the end of their Crimebusters adventure he was seen walking around, so somehow he escaped.  But in this episode he is back in the Containment Unit so they must have caught him again. Yet they overlook him when leaving?

·         Speaking of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man how did the ghosts know they could call the front desk and they could request his release?  They’re not supposed to know these are the Ghostbusters, although to be fair the Ghostbusters are still wearing their jumpsuits.  

·         And speaking of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the Containment Unit, how did Janine get him out?  We were shown in “X-mas Marks the Spot” that is not an easy thing to do, yet Janine does it on request?  If we can get ghosts out that easy now shouldn’t we be helping Drool?

·         How can I ever repay you? Pay you’re bill!

An okay episode with a lot of plot holes. 

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[1] Listed original air dates for entire syndicated season may not be correct.

MEET EGON’S UNCLE

Cry Uncle

Original Air date: November 12, 1987^[1]

Writer: Bruce Reid Schaeffer

Director: Dale Schott

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 1 of 5)

Summary: The Ghostbusters are on the job and Egon is concerned about finishing up on time to pick up his uncle at the airport.  They don’t finish on time and they end up meeting him at the firehouse.  Before they arrive Uncle Cyrus comes in contact with Janine and Slimer but he loses his glasses at one point and mistakes Slimer for a cat.

Uncle Cyrus the really smart dumb guy!

                When the Ghostbusters arrive they apologize to Uncle Cyrus for not picking him up on time, but there is a bigger concern. Uncle Cyrus does not like that his brilliant nephew is working as a low-level exterminator for non-existent things.  Winston tries to reason with him but they get called out on a job.  They ask Uncle Cyrus if he would like to go so he can see what Egon does and he agrees.  The Ghostbusters arrive at the convenience store and can’t find any ghosts.  Uncle Cyrus loses his glasses again and that’s when the ghosts show up and Cyrus misses his nephew’s success. 

This doesn't make sense even by Slimer standards!

                Back at the firehouse, Cyrus guilts Egon with a promise he made as a young man to be there if needed.  Cyrus tells him that he needs Egon to run his lab.  Egon leaves a note for his fellow Ghostbusters and heads off with his uncle. 

Egon hates his new job.

                Janine finds his note and is heart-broken at the loss of Egon.  The other Ghostbusters feel the loss when they go on a mission and find themselves needing Egon.  The three Ghostbusters and Janine fly out to see Egon at his new job, that he clearly hates, and ask his uncle if they can borrow him for one last assignment.  Cyrus reluctantly agrees and decides to go with them.

                The team invites Cyrus to come along so they can see how important Egon is but Cyrus declines.  On the mission Egon and Ray come up with a way to defeat the poltergeists and all is well, but they are still probably going to lose Egon.  While this is going on Janine shows Cyrus the Containment Unit.  Cyrus goes up and starts randomly pushing buttons causing a meltdown and before Janine hits the emergency switch the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man escapes. He is small and intangible at first then he grows larger and by the time is out of the firehouse tangible again. 

He's back!

                The Ghostbusters battle and with a little help from Uncle Cyrus are able to catch the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man again.  Cyrus now impressed with his nephew releases him from his promise and allows him to remain a Ghostbuster.

My Take: This episode sucked.  Really sucked, it was Janeway and Paris goes into transwarp turn into animals and have kids kind of suck.  I would like to give it zero stars but I already said one is my lowest so one it is.  This episode fails on nearly every level.  The only part I liked was Egon leaving a note (because with his non-existent social skills he couldn’t have done it in person) and Janine’s reaction to it.  The rest is almost unwatchable.  Even Slimer was off in this episode, he was in some ways overly aggressive and the whole Slimer in the drinking water was dumb.  Now if Slimer drank all the drinking water that would be one thing, but no he just wants to live in it.

                The biggest fail however is the whole premise.  As I stated in the ‘my take’ section in the previous review, the Ghostbusters live in the world where ghosts are real but they give us Uncle Cyrus a “skeptic” who doesn’t believe in ghosts.  In the last episode they made fun of mediums by showing a phony, it almost like they said “well we made fun of the people who really believe in ghosts so now we should make fun skeptics.”  Except the episodes were written by different people so probably not the case, although it is interesting that in the last episode featured an aunt of a Ghostbuster and this features an uncle.  Cyrus doesn’t believe in ghosts because he never saw one and whenever he has the opportunity he loses his glasses.  This is an absurd if you want a good lesson on skepticism look at the video below by QualiaSoup.

                Cyrus, “Egon, I don’t believe in ghosts.”

                Egon, “Uncle, here is my pet, Slimer”

                Cyrus, “I lost my glasses.”

                Egon, “Here are some of spare glasses and here is Slimer.  And if you come down to the Containment Unit I can show you the viewer and you can see more in there.”

                Cyrus, “Oh, look at that ghosts are real.”

                There you have it that’s how easy the plot should have been resolved.  But no we drag on this pointless exercise.  You could have made the uncle hate ghostbusting like an entomologist who hates the fact that his nephew is an exterminator for a living when he should be in a lab. That could have been interesting but instead we get an episode where the so called “brilliant” uncle is made to look like an idiot. 

                The episode gets worse as it goes on.  The scene with the Containment Unit was horrible.  The “brilliant scientist” starts just playing with buttons and it causes a meltdown.  Not only does this make Cyrus stupid but we have forgotten that the Containment Unit has a security system to prevent this.  Remember Wat needed a Ghostbuster body in order to open it.  Janine stops it from melting down completely by hitting a button on the wall that was never there before.  The Containment Unit front opens up completely and yet only one ghost pops out.  

               

The powerful Wat needs Peter to open this thing!

          

"Not really" says the STMM, "and I am the only ghost who saw this was open!"

              The escaped ghost is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, whom no attempt is made to explain how the giant changed from an incarnation of Gozer to an independent spirit in his own right, is now too big to be put into a trap.  This makes no sense what so ever, I can accept that fact that somewhere along the line some of the remains of the original giant reformed into a new entity, but don’t try to tell me you can’t fit him in a trap. I know you can because ghosts who are made of ecotoplasm will shrink down and fit in the trap—we already saw him change size in this episode—; in fact just before every episode I watch the Ghostbusters put Stay Puft and his friends into a trap with no problem.

                This episode is a complete failure, and one best to be forgotten.        

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[1] Listed original air dates for entire syndicated season may not be correct.

DREAM ME A LITTLE DREAM

Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream

Original Air date: October 25, 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 episode begins with a husband-and-wife pair arguing over what to do for the afternoon.  The wife wants her husband to come join her for tennis but her husband wants to stay home and read his old comic books.  While his wife is getting ready to leave he is attacked by mysterious stranger.  His wife is then attacked by a character that he was reading about.

Maybe he should have left with the wife.

                At the firehouse the Ghostbusters are having their breakfast.  An exhausted Peter, who hasn’t got enough sleep, joins them.  Peter complains about a strange dream he had about dark figure with glowing eyes and at that moment Ray chooses to let him know of some advice his aunt once gave him.  Ray explains that if you remind yourself that you are dreaming you can control your dream.

Fighting Comic Boy's dream.

Janine sounds the alarm and the Ghostbusters on a case. When they get to the job the Ghostbusters  find it odd that no one is outside.   When they enter the building they are attack by a weird alien who they destroy with their proton packs.  That leads them to believe they’re fighting something that is not a ghost.  They notice the married couple floating in the air and Egon is immediately suspicious.  Winston notices the comic book lying on the floor and that the creature they just fought was on the cover.  Looking outside they see lots of really strange things such as magical unicorns, flying cartoon characters, and more mysterious aliens. Egon immediately concludes that they are dealing with a sandman and one using very powerful sleep dust.  The others are skeptical but go along with it.

Dreams of a mailman.

When they get outside the Ghostbusters continue to see more strange things such as a letter arguing with a mailbox where it wants to be sent and then they nearly get stepped on by a new Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.  At this point they run to the Sandman himself.  The Sandman explains that he’s sick of humanity fighting wars and so is will put everybody sleep for 500 years to get humanity to correct itself.  Sandman is also somewhat defensive about what he’s doing telling them that he’s been dismissed as a rebel but he’s convinced his cause is just.  The Ghostbusters and the Sandman battle and they seem to have him on the run although the only thing they do is damage his outfit.  The Sandman then turns the dreams to nightmares and has them all attack the Ghostbusters. The Ghostbusters decide the need to get back to Ecto-1 which is being guarded by an evil giant rabbit.  Ray blasts the rabbit and it disappears.  They get into the car but it refuses the start, so Ray goes out to check under the hood but he is ambushed by the Sandman and put to sleep.  As the other Ghostbusters look on Winston wonders what Ray is dreaming about, and  then they hear something fall. They all run out of the Ecto-1 as a giant pizza lands on it. 

Angry dreams

The three remaining Ghostbusters travel on foot and use the PKE meter to find the Sandman in an apartment building.  A sleeping dragon is in front and the Ghostbusters try to sneak round it, but it wakes up and they are forced to blast it.  Egon wanted to avoid that because doing so sends a red flag to the Sandman to their location and sure enough in the apartment building Peter is nabbed by the Sandman and begins dreaming of cars and prizes.  

Nabs Egon, down to one Ghostbuster

Egon and Winston get out and find the Sandman, during the battle Egon figures out that Ray had already discovered the answer but before he can communicate to Winston he is also nailed by the Sandman.  Egon dreams of Albert Einstein who appears and talks to Winston.  Winston is feeling down, as the average joe Ghostbuster he is unsure of himself, however he quickly understands what Egon meant and he races to the firehouse.  At the station he gets Janine a proton back and lays it on the table.  The Sandman shows up and battles the two knocking out Janine with his dust.  He is about to corner Winston when Janine dreams of herself as a Ghostbuster who grabs her proton pack and sacks the Sandman when he is not looking.  Winston joins in and Slimer emerges from the desk with a trap, the Sandman goes down and all the people wake up and the dream creations are gone.  

Dream Janine

At the end when the Ghostbusters are celebrating, Janine explains that Winston told her to imagine herself as Ghostbuster and the Sandman thinking she was done for was unprepared for the attack.  They go to find Winston to see if he wants to join the party but he is asleep. 

Hero's rest

My Take: It was quite a treat to see that my two favorite episodes as kid were aired back to back.  This episode is a lot of fun with the dream creatures running around, the Ghostbusters fighting a mysterious Sandman, and getting picked off one by one.   This was a great character episode for Winston.  He wasn’t there when the team started, he was hired on when they got more work.  He also doesn’t have the same background that they do, he wasn’t a scientist, he was a job seeker who didn’t let the Ghostbusters strangeness scare him away.  You always have to wonder how he feels about that.  When Egon goes down he starts to feel a lot of doubt about his own abilities.  Even though that’s not really justified for example in the episode “Killerwatt” he the first one to realize the power had to be cut to stop him.  Yet, he somehow can’t shake that new guy feeling.  I liked that he figured it all out and tricked the Sandman.

Now for some of my stray observations:

·         Dude, go out with your wife. You can always read those comics when you get back.

·         Peter had a strange dream and describes the Sandman, was this a premonition on Peter’s part or was he legitimately visited by a non-rebellious sandman?

·         Ray isn’t the only one who thinks of Stay Puft

·         The Sandman was a really cool villain.  He seemed to have some mental problems, he was always talking to himself, seeking the approval of others while simultaneously not wanting to have anyone around to talk to for fear they might laugh at him.  He seems to be the ultimate pacifist wanting to make people have 500 year naps to stop war.  However what happens when someone dreams of war?  I did see what looked like World War II aircraft.  Also like Gozer, Sandman seems to be a big Emperor Palpatine fan.  Gozer did force lighting, while the Sandman just dressed like him.

·         I love the fact that early in the episode Egon just knew it was a sandman by basic observation; the other Ghostbusters were equally as impressed.  We don’t need to solve a mystery Egon already knows it’s a Sandman.

·         Same destructive Ghostbusters every time they miss they blow something up.

·         When Winston and Janine are preparing for the Sandman he tells her that he is giving her their last proton pack.  With exception to the occasional returning villain, these episodes are made with the idea that you can watch them any real order and not get messed up.  Nevertheless the statement provides some continuity with the Boogieman episode where they blew up their four proton packs.  If each Ghostbuster has a spare and plus one that would make nine.  So if they blew up four than it would make some sense that they would be down to just five for now.

·         Glad to see the supporting characters of Janine and Slimer bust a ghost.  The scene where dream Janine takes down the Sandman was really cool.  I remember my little sisters like that scene a lot.  When the new movie comes out this year the idea of a female Ghostbuster is no longer going to be a dream.

A great episode all around.