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. 

GHOSTBUSTERS VS FAIRYTALES

Once Upon a Slime

Original Air date October 10, 1987

Writers: Len Janson and Chuck Menville

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:  Ray is reading Slimer time bedstories out of a book of fairy tales.  Slimer, like many kids, wants Ray to keep reading even after Ray has read more than enough.  Slimer is also upset when Ray says they have to return the book back to library tomorrow.  Slimer not wanting to give up the Fairy Tales book goes and hides it under a machine that Egon and Winston are working on.  We later learn this machine is being built to stabilize unstable ghost signatures.  It works a little too well.

Slimer tries to hide book.

                The next day the Ghostbusters get a call that says a forest has sprung up in the middle of downtown.  The Ghostbusters head down with Slimer and enter the dark forest.  They come to a gingerbread house that is straight out of Hansel and Gretel.  Slimer losses his mind and starts to consume the house but it comes to life and attacks.  The Ghostbusters fight back and their proton beams destroy the house and forest very easily.

I remember this from Mortal Kombat II

                The Ghostbusters are cheered.  As they try to go home the Ecto-1 is stolen from them, by a mysterious red skinned dwarf.  Slimer figures out he is Rumpelstiltskin and tells Ray.  After Ray says his name, Rumpelstiltskin disappears.  After a running white rabbit and card soldiers passed them as they went back to fire house to find Little Bo Peep and her Sheep.  Scared Slimer quickly takes the book the library and throws it on the shelf.

Nice house!

Not so nice!

                After a bean stock grows in the middle of the city and giant eaten pieces of fruit and vegetables come crashing down.  Slimer then confessed and explained that he put book under the machine.  Egon says he can reverse what happened but he needs the book so he, Ray, and Slimer go back to the library too look for it.  Peter and Winston take the Ecto-2 and fly up the bean stock.  They are blasted with giant kid’s squirt gun and captured.  The giant kid bring them to giant dad who is about to eat them. They try to defend themselves with their proton packs only to discover that they have shorted out.

He is late!

She found her sheep.

                At this point Egon has reversed the machine's energies.  The giant disappears and Peter and Winston manage to get Ecto-2 started again before the giants’ world disappeared as well.

Where it all started: this mess and the Ghostbusters in general.

                Slimer now having enough with fairy tales is looking at a magazine with Ray that the other Ghostbusters think is an adult magazine, but it was just a magazine featuring food.

All I can think is the "off with your head song!"

My Take: This is one of those episodes that the Ghostbusters have actually caused their own problem.  They should just stick to trapping ghost because whenever they build something else trouble always happens.

About to eat Peter and Winston.

·         The scene with Egon messing up the tools was out of character.

·         The gingerbread house doesn’t stand a chance against Slimer.

·         Poor Rumpelstiltskin now everybody knows your name what good are you.

·         Good thing that evil card Queen didn’t show up with her soldiers.

·         Little Bow Peep’s sheep may have left a mess. Good thing it all disappeared.

·         When Slimer first went back to the library I was like “that’s not how you return a book!” I am glad that was addressed.

·         Uh…water doesn’t effect proton streams guys your packs should just work.  They can’t get water logged trust me on this. I will chalk it up to the strange stuff the giant world was made of.

·         So now we have a machine that will bring fictional stuff to life.  Ray has a point.  Why not a write a story how the bank wants to put one dollar for every person who lives in New York City in your bank account.  The mind stretches to imagine what you could do with this.  Bet we never see it again.

A very good episode and call out to the classical fairy tales.    

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.

RISE OF THE ANIMALS

It's a Jungle Out There

Original Air date September 19, 1987

Writers: Len Janson and Chuck Menville

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: A crew unloading a ship drops a box with a valuable statue; the statue appears to be okay but the demon named Rall who was trapped in it has escaped.  A dark cloud comes over the city and  a lost dog whimpers as the cloud passes by the firehouse that the dog is seeking shelter.

Rall

                Upstairs the Ghostbusters are watching Lassie on TV.  They all become nostalgic for a dog, so they become excited when Slimer finds the dog in front of the station.  They take the dog and it seems to be well behaved at first but Slimer notices something.  The dog rejects the food given and he gets up on two legs and takes Slimer’s sandwich.  Slimer is scared and hides in Peter’s bed.  When Peter asks Slimer what’s going on and Slimer points to the dog, Peter tries to show Slimer the dog isn’t dangerous.  The dog however starts talking back to Peter and Peter runs back with Slimer.  The other three Ghostbusters wonder what is up but they get their answer when the dog threatens them with one of their proton packs.

Slimer is not going to like what happens to this sandwich. 

                The dog then steals Ecto-1 after dumping the pack.  Janine shows the guys that her fish are becoming very people-like arguing amongst themselves.  Calls come in from all over the city about animal issues.  The Ghostbusters take a taxi to the zoo but the taxi driver is a gorilla who takes them the wrong way.  While stopped the Ghostbusters notice Ecto-1 abandoned so they exited the cab and grabbed their car. 

                At the zoo they noticed it was very quiet.  It turns out it was a trap and an army of animals corners them.  Not wanting to blast the possessed animals they were captured, their packs were taken, and they were put in a cage.  The animals after gawking and throwing peanuts at the Ghostbusters took off.  

Zoo animals make them zoo animals.

Janine and Slimer showed up to free them.  They put their packs back on and came up with a plan.  Janine and Slimer use Ecto-1 as a ruse to lure the animal army away from Rall and when Rall was alone the Ghostbusters attacked using Ecto-2 and crazy power skates.  The Ghostbusters captured Rall in the nick of time just as the animal army was going to stomp Janine and Slimer.  The original dog was found by his real owners. To compensate, when they were back at the firehouse, Janine gave them an electronic toy dog.      

My Take: There are many stories in science fiction of the animals of the world rising up to displace the humans.  The famous and misnamed Planet of the Apes series and the serious political work Animal Farm by Orwell are both good examples of the genera.  I think it has to do with the fact that we see ourselves as a part from the animal kingdom but in reality we are animals just like them.  These stories tend to reflect on these duel views.   But the notion of humans vs. animals is rather silly because a lion has nothing in common with an elk.  They would never see eye to eye.  In fact the lion would just attempt to kill it. So I don’t think we should ever see them combining forces.  Not with Rall in the Containment Unit at least.

                Now for my stray observations:

·         The new voices aren’t bothering me anymore.

·         I miss my boyhood dog: Rexy boy

Picture of my family with my dog Rex during my early teenage years.

·         If the Ghostbusters want a dog so badly they could adopt one from a shelter.

·         Lassie is a classic.

·         I am glad with all changes to Janine she is still very helpful to the Ghostbusters.

·         I am sorry those skates were ridiculous and there is no way they could actually ride up a wall. This episode was five up to that point.  Gravity guys.

A very good episode, with interesting new villain.  

FOR A THIRD TIME THE GHOSTBUSTERS DECIDE TO TAKE IN A SECOND PET GHOST

Baby Spookums

Original Air date September 12, 1987

Writers: Len Janson and Chuck Menville

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 3 of 5)

Summary: During a rare planetary alignment and a full lunar eclipse a dimensional gate way opens and a little ghost escapes, later two bigger ghosts coming looking for it.  

                 

Finding Spookums

                   The Ghostbusters are doing routine work busting ghosts.  When they got done Ecto-1 wouldn’t start and when they went to inspect it they find the little ghost in there.  Slimer intervenes before the guys bust the little one explaining to the Ghostbusters that it was just a baby.  They agree to bring the ghost home.

Janine likes Spookums

                At the firehouse Janine and guys fall in love with little ghost naming it “Baby Spookums,” after a nickname Egon’s mother gave him.  Little did they know that Spookums's parents had also come through the dimensional portal and they were not happy.

Actually everyone likes Spookums

                The Ghostbusters are later called in to deal with two large ghosts wreaking havoc.  The Ghostbusters fight them several times at one point they end up suffering friendly fire where one of their misses blasts Ecto-1.  While back at the firehouse Slimer is being punished for his good deed because Spookums is causing some trouble and the blame is being directed at Slimer.  Slimer starts to play the Peter role in his own relationship with Spookums.

Baby Spookums can get in some trouble

                After borrowing Janine’s car the Ghostbusters finally catch the two big ghosts.  At the station Slimer has yelled at Spookums so firmly that the little ghost runs away.  As the Ghostbusters bring the catch home, Slimer listening to the trap tells the guys that they have captured the parents of Spookums.  They decided to reunite the family but when they let the ghosts out of the trap Slimer finds that Spookums has run off.

Spookums looks to Slimer as a protector!

                They go on a search and find the missing Spookums.  As the eclipse was ending Egon and Winston hold the closing portal open with crowbars allowing the ghost family time to return home.

Family Reunion

My Take:  Over all it was a very cute episode.  But the thing I think everyone wants to know after watching this episode is the voice changes.  For Peter I got the feeling that somehow Venkman had finally been introduced to some anti-depressants.  He is a lot more excitable and happy now.  He even seems to have developed a positive relationship with Slimer.  Although that might just be character development the spud can only save your life so many times before you get use to him.  As surprising as it might seem I found the change to cause very minimal reaction from me.   

                Janine however was very different.  At times I had hard time even accepting her as the same character.  I really feel that even if they had to change actresses they should still gone with a New York accent.   You can argue that Dave Coulier sounds more like Bill Murray than Lorenzo Music did, and understand the change.  With LaMarche sounding very much like Ramis and Welker doing a close, if higher pitched, Aykroyd wanting a more Murry-like sound makes sense.  But Soucie sounds nothing like Potts, where Summer was very close.

                Now for my stray observations: 

·         Didn’t they learn anything from the last time they took in a cute ghost?  Hopefully they took a few more PKE meter scans this time. 

·         Despite the fact that Spookums wasn’t evil and Victor was they both caused similar problems for Slimer.

·         Are the Spookums actually ghosts or just other dimensional creatures?

·         Slimer has his own bed? About time!

·         Is Spookums a boy or a girl?  It took me awhile to identify the mother and father.

·         Slimer chasing off Spookums is a familiar theme in Peter and Slimer’s relationship.

A fun episode and a good start to the third season. 

SEASON 2 SUMMARY

Unlike the other seasons of this series that went to ABC first, these episodes all went straight to syndication.  This season was ordered and made at the same time as the first season and it aired during the same time as the third.  This extraordinary long 65 episode season created the foundation for the overall success of the cartoon.  Because of the large amount of episodes the TV producers were able to air episodes every day of the week right before school.  This amount of airtime allowed and entire generation of children, particularly young boys of the ages 8-14, to enjoy the show and become hooked on it.

Ghostbusters getting ripped off!

                The quality of the episode varied.  Season 2 produced some all-time classic episodes such as “Doctor, Doctor”, “The Man Who Could Never Reach Home”, and "Slimer, is That You.”  On the flip side the mass produce season could also produce some real duds like “The Adventures of Slime and Space” and “Cry Uncle.”

                When originally aired, like the first season of Star Trek, these episodes were aired out of order they were both created and intended. For the most part it doesn’t matter for clear majority of these episodes are self-contained.  There are however moments where it did matter.  For example the episode “Cold Cash and Hot Water” aired before “Venkman’s Ghost Repellers” and “The Spirit of Aunt Lois” despite the fact that CCHW featured characters introduced in those episodes and referenced events in them.

Big bad guy in Season 2

                Even when watched in the order they were intended, something the DVDs to this point let you do, there are still clear continuity problems.  Some of the earlier Season 2 episodes feel like they take place before the later episodes of the first season in terms of relationships and character development.   But the bigger problem can be best highlighted with how the character of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is treated.  SPMM is one of the two ghosts from the movie that make an appearance, the other being Slimer.  Slimer in the first season got an episode to explain why it is Slimer went from their first capture to their pet.  SPMM, who was destroyed in the movie, is featured on the intro (which I always saw as cannon) yet there is never any explanation in any of the episodes featuring the character to how and why he was reborn. 

When SPMM first makes an in episode appearance, not counting the dream SPMM in the first season, strange things start happening.  In “Cry Uncle” the SPMM is released when Egon’s uncle fools around with the controls of the Containment Unit.  The first season explained how the Containment Unit works, not only should Uncle Cyrus not be able to work the controller but when released the Unit opens right up and only one ghost escapes!?!  STMM starts small an immaterial but becomes solid again when outside and fully formed.  The Ghostbusters work to trap him but for some reason they need multiple traps because STMM is too big.  This has never come up as an issue before and we saw in the show's intro SPMM being trapped with company.  The issue of trap size returns sporadically in the second season depending on the writer.

Peter's Dad proved to be a cheat with these "ghost repellers" that didn't work.

In the episode “Ghost Busted” the SPMM is seen walking around randomly at the end of the episode, how he got out isn’t explained but he is apparently caught again by “Deadcon I” where Janine is made to release him by the hotel ghosts.  This also contradicts how the Containment Unit works set episodes back.  Despite their leaving him at the hotel he is back in the Containment Unit for the episode “The Revenge of Murry the Mantis.”  There his escape from the Containment Unit is when the Ghostbusters release him on purpose.  His leaving resembles the mass break out in the movie, even though it's only him.  This is the only episode where STMM's movie history is mentioned.  However now he has become an agent of the Ghostbusters, trained and directed to fight the Mantis.

Despite these flaws Season 2 is awesome with a great many adventures for the Ghostbusters.  The characterization of each Ghostbuster, plus Janine, and Slimer is spot on.  There is a lot of chemistry for the characters and great stories told with those characters.  Even though Season 1 probably produced some of the best episodes, many in Season 2 can rival them and Season 2 is the backbone of the series.         

{I realized after I first posted this that the video was from season 3, now we have a correct season 2 video}

THE GHOSTBUSTERS HAVE THEIR MOST DESTRUCTIVE JOB YET!

The Hole in the Wall Gang

Original Air date October 21, 1987^[1]

Writer: David Gerrold

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 2 of 5)

Summary: A creepy melting ghost terrifies Mrs. Von Limburger of the great Limburger cheese family.  She decides to call the Ghostbusters.  The Ghostbusters arrive and they find the house very dreary.  Winston just wants to leave but the're the Ghostbusters and they can’t be put off by things just because they are scary.

Bizarre ghost that prompts call!

                Mr. and Mrs. Von Limburger are very dreary people but Peter seems to touch base with the man of the house a little bit.  Egon can pinpoint the source and the grateful Von Limburgers decided to take off and leave everything to the Ghostbusters.  The Ghostbusters find a hole in the wall and a ghost comes out so they go to blast it.  They miss a lot and end up creating more holes but they catch the ghost.  The Ghostbusters are used to blasting holes in people’s property but this time more ghosts pop out.  While investigating Ray gets pulled through the first hole after he widened it to get a better target.  The rest of them widen it further to see if they could rescue him.  He comes back with his hair white but otherwise okay.

The Von Limburgers

                Winston then finds a little hole that has little ghost coming out of it.  They then understand the bigger the hole the bigger the ghost.  Realizing by making one hole really big they are now in a lot of trouble.  So they try to put a smaller hole in front of it.  This however causes and earthquake and the Ghostbusters are forced to leave the house.

Ghosts and there holes.  The one on the top middle looks like a banana.

                They get out as the house falls into itself.  However they still have another problem.  The crater is one really big super hole and a very large ghost is coming out.  Winston takes his little hole out of his pocket throwing it into the mouth the beast causing it all to implode.

More ghosts of the holes

                The Von Limburgers get back and cry at the sight of destroyed house.  Peter tells them that’s what it took and let them know the Ghostbusters would be sending their bill.    

Homeless couple with a ghostbusting bill!

My Take:  So you see a cockroach and call and exterminator.  The exterminator does an investigation and you find out that your house had to be condemned. Even worse they already destroyed it while you were at the grocery store.

 I found this episode really confusing I didn’t get any of the cultural references. There was no real explanation to why they were seeing what they were seeing, what they did, or even how it was resolved.

·         The conversation near the beginning between Peter and Mr. Von Limburger was funny. 

·         The Ghostbusters destructiveness seems to be catching up to them.

·         To take the little hole to place to in front of the big hole, they had to make another big hole.  Oh, never mind.

·         The most destructive episode ever and the Ghostbusters didn’t ever seem to feel bad that they destroyed this couple's home.

Not as good as the season one final. 

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