#AND LIKE I DID HAVE A FIRST-TIME SLIMER INCIDENT AT FIRST. BUT THEN I REALLY GOT INTO IT | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tomeandflickcorner · 3 years

Text

Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: Janine’s Day Off

Gotta say, this really felt like a filler episode. Not that it was bad, of course. But still largely forgettable, apart from one particular element.

The episode opens with Janine giving a woman a tour of the Firehouse. It’s not made clear right away, but this new woman is named Louise. And the reason why Janine is giving her this tour is because Janine is taking the night off. Which means Louise, who was sent in from a temp agency, is going to fill the role of the Ghostbusters’ secretary for the evening. Elsewhere in the Firehouse, Winston is helping Egon out in working on another one of Egon’s inventions. This new invention is quickly revealed to be a device that could open a dimensional gateway, which Egon hopes would act as a two-way conduit to the supernatural world. In other words, Egon is now trying to mess around with portal technology. Winston makes a remark over how the notion doesn’t sit right with him, and I don’t blame him. After all, the thing about opening dimensional gateways is that they tend to open both ways. Although, Egon doesn’t respond to Winston’s comment and the two leave the room, with Egon shutting off the power to the machine as they exit. Of course, once they leave, Slimer suddenly glides into the room and quickly notices the power switch. Out of curiosity, I guess, Slimer turns the power switch to the ‘on’ position, but when he notices the dimensional portal machine activating, he panics and quickly turns it off again. But not quick enough, though. Six orbs of light emerge from a glass bulb affixed to the top of the machine, with each orb turning into an Imp.

It then cuts to the Firehouse’s kitchen/dining area. There, it’s revealed that Egon had previously agreed to join Janine on her night off, in which they’d go to Canarsie (a neighborhood in Brooklyn) in order to have dinner with Janine’s family. As you might expect, this reveal was the highlight of the episode for me, as an unapologetic Egon/Janine shipper. Egon is actually joining Janine for a family dinner? Even if they’re not officially dating, Egon is still having dinner with Janine’s family. That’s a pretty major milestone!

Anyway, Janine enters the room to collect Egon and to introduce Louise to Peter, Winston and Ray. As one would expect, Peter has an instant attraction to Louise and begins trying to lay on the charm. But as he goes to pour her a cup of coffee, the Imps, who had managed to scurry past them without anyone noticing, end up stabbing Peter’s hand with a pitchfork as he reaches for the kettle. Peter, having not noticed the Imps yet, announces that the kettle is going haywire. Ray states it’s probably just an electrical short and that he’ll fix it later. With that, Janine leads Egon away, ignoring his sudden reluctance/cold feet.

Sometime later, Egon and Janine arrive at Canarsie. Egon states he’s not sure if he’s ready to meet her family, though Janine tells him she’s more worried about if her family is ready to meet him. (Seriously, are we supposed to conclude that they’re dating now?) Despite their reservations, Janine rings the doorbell outside an apartment, and we’re promptly introduced to Janine’s family. We’re not directly told which family members these are, but I’m guessing they’re Janine’s parents, along with her grandmother, sister (who Janine previously mentioned in Mrs. Roger’s Neighborhood), brother-in-law and nephew. Janine’s Mother(?) quickly greets them, and even seems to instantly recognize Egon. Which suggests Janine had previously told her mother about Egon. (Dawwww!) Janine’s Nephew(?), on the other hand, doesn’t hesitate to establish that he’s a bit of a brat, as he immediately shoots Egon with a water pistol. Still, the family dinner commences without further incident. Although, at one point, Egon transfers some of the soup he’s eating to a sample jar he has with him. When Janine notices this, she asks what he’s doing, and Egon tells her he’s planning to add the soup sample to his collection of spores, mold and fungus. (That’s kinda bordering on rude, Egon!) Once again, Janine’s Nephew squirts him with his water pistol, much to Egon’s annoyance. And I’m left wondering why this kid’s parents didn’t take the water pistol away from him after the first incident.

Back at the Firehouse, Ray is busy examining the electric kettle, but soon concludes that nothing seems wrong with it. That’s when he finally notices one of the Imps running around. He hurries downstairs to tell Peter and Winston that there are Imps loose in the kitchen. Louise, overhearing this, seems worried about there being an actual ghost roaming about the Firehouse. (Does she not know about Slimer?) Peter, still trying to impress her, reassures Louise, but one the Imps immediately jabs him in the hand again. Peter attempts to retaliate by trapping the Imp in a glass jar, but the Imp escapes by shattering the glass with his trident. In a matter of seconds, the other five Imps also reveal themselves and start causing all sorts of mayhem. Despite their best efforts, Winston, Ray and Peter cannot seem to wrangle the Imps. After this goes on for a while, Peter decides to try and simply zap the Imps with a Proton Pack. Ray tries to warn him against this, but Peter insists it’s fine as he has the Proton Pack dialed to ‘low power.’ However, when Peter zaps one of the Imps, the Imp suddenly splits into six more Imps.

Aaaaannnnddd this is when Peter starts being dumb. Because instead of him immediately figuring out that simply zapping the Imps was a bad move, I guess he decided ‘okay, let me try a higher setting. Maybe it’ll work that time.’ Of course, this only results in even more Imps running around. Winton announces that it’s time for them to call up Egon in the hopes that he can offer a better solution to the Imp problem. Upon hearing what happened at the Firehouse, Egon decides it might be best for him to leave the family get-together early so he could help resolve the issue in person. Upon being notified of this, Janine decides to go back to the Firehouse with him, possibly because she was getting annoyed by her nephew terrorizing and chasing around the family cat. (Seriously, are Janine’s sister and brother-in-law not doing anything to keep their kid under control?)

So Ray and Winston head off in the Ecto-1 to go pick up Egon and Janine. This leaves Louise and Peter to fend off the Imps on their own until they get back. Understandably, Louise is not pleased about this arrangement as she did not sign up to deal with a horde of Imps causing mischief. Peter, still trying to charm Louise, attempts to reassure her that they have it under control. But then he tries to solve the problem on his own again. He speculates that if zapping the Imps caused them to multiply, then perhaps reversing the polarity would have the opposite effect. Of course, while I can’t find much fault in his logic, he seems to be forgetting what happened in Adventures in Slime and Space. Sure enough, when he tries implementing his new plan, with Egon and Ray returning a little too late to stop him, the dozens of Imps do indeed fuse together. But this results in the Imps transforming into a large demonic creature. The Imp Demon immediately turns and escapes by bursting through the Firehouse wall, promptly running rampant onto the city streets, much to the terror of the random people milling about. To make matters worse, it seems that the Imp Demon severed the electrical wiring in the walls when it broke out, resulting in the Firehouse’s lights going off.

Here, the episode kinda splits into two separate subplots. Obviously, the Ghostbusters have to head out to try and capture the Imp Demon. But Janine also notices that Louise has disappeared. Because the lights going out in the Firehouse was the last straw for her nerves, and she’s now hiding in the basement. While you can’t help but feel bad for the poor woman, this means that Janine has to go find her.

As Janine begins searching for Louise in the darkened Firehouse, Louise regains enough of her nerves to try and find a light switch. Of course, as you might expect, this results in her coming across that dimensional portal machine that Egon and Winston hand been working on earlier. Thinking it might be an emergency generator, she switches it on, unwittingly conjuring up three additional ghosts. After a while, Janine successfully locates Louise, but those three ghosts also manage to get their hands on a spare Proton Pack that was lying around. And they proceed to chase Janine, Slimer and Louise around the Firehouse for a bit. Until Janine finds that other Proton Pack Peter had revered the polarity on. Acting quickly, she switches on the modified Proton Pack and returned fire at the three ghosts. When the modified stream collided with the regular stream, the two beams canceled each other out. This caused the three ghosts to get scared, and they immediately surrender.

Meanwhile, the Ghostbusters are still chasing down the Imp Demon. Upon catching up to the Imp Demon, they soon discover the Proton Packs are ineffective against him. Probably because the Imp Demon had too much psychokinetic energy or something. So they have to come up with another idea. To try and draw the Imp Demon away from the innocent bystanders while they think of a solution, the Ghostbusters get his attention by ramming the Ecto-1 into his leg. This does get the Imp Demon’s attention, and he proceeds to chase after the Ecto-1. Eventually, Winston notifies the others that they’re running out of gas, so they need to come up with a solution pretty quick. Thankfully, Egon gets an idea. He speculates that perhaps they can capture the Imp Demon if they supercharge the Proton Packs. To execute Egon’s plan, the Ghostbusters drive to a nearby powerplant. There, Egon and Ray head inside in order to make the necessary modifications to the Proton Pack while Peter and Winston were tasked with keeping to Imp Demon occupied. Which basically meant they had to allow the Imp Demon to chase them around for a bit. Admittedly, I don’t really have an issue with them giving this task to Peter. After all, it was his boneheaded ideas that caused the issue with the Imp Demon in the first place. Making him the one to be chased around for a bit seems like a fitting punishment. However, it kinda stinks that Winston has to act as bait like this as well. After all, he didn’t do anything wrong. Of course, I suppose the episode had to give him something to do, as he doesn’t have the technical knowhow that Ray and Egon have and therefore couldn’t assist them in modifying the Proton Pack. In any event, Egon’s plan ends up working, and the Imp Demon is successfully captured.

Afterwards, the Ghostbusters return to the Firehouse. But upon arriving, they are shocked to find the place in a shambles. Because the incident with the three ghosts resulted in an even bigger mess to occur. As they take in the mess, Janine approaches them with Louise at her side. She announces that, since her night off was ruined, she’s going to take the next day off instead. With that, Janine walks out of the Firehouse with Louise. In the process, she tosses some cleaning supplies at the Ghostbusters, indicating that she expects them to clean up the mess themselves.

Yeah, I have a slight issue with this ending. It’s almost as if the episode is suggesting it’s the Ghostbusters fault that Janine gave up her night off, and that they’re responsible for the mess that resulted from the Imps and the three ghosts. However, Janine didn’t necessarily have to leave her family dinner to go back to the Firehouse. She decided to do that on her own. Of course, I suppose we’d be here for quite a while if we played the blame game. And Janine does deserve a bit of time off from time to time. Also, it was interesting that we got to meet her family in this episode. Which makes Winston the only character whose family we haven’t met yet. (I think that’s remedied in a future episode, though.)

(Click here for more Ghostbusters reviews)

#the real ghostbusters #rgb episode review #ghostbusters franchise

2 notes · View notes

touchingoldmagic · 4 years

Text

Comic Review

Okay first an apology. Due to COVID and then my own 30-day challenge, this review got very delayed. But here we go, let's look at the fourth and final issue of GB Year One! As always, spoilers under the cut.

As is tradition, we start the comic with interviews. But instead of minor characters this time, we have Janine, Ray, and Peter talking about Egon. Janine says he's hard to get to know but generous with sharing his knowledge. I think that's a really in character thing to say, I can definitely hear it in Annie Potts' voice.

We cut to Winston chaperoning Rebecca to the firehouse, where Egon is working. This takes place a few weeks after the end of the movie (as established by Dana in the first issue) so the firehouse is still blown up. I have to say I really like that they included this, we rarely get to see the firehouse with this much damage. There's a police officer stationed outside to keep looters away, which I also thought was a nice realistic touch.

I guess this is a good place to point out that I find Egon in the IDW comics to be written quite a bit differently than Egon from the movies (or from RGB/EGB). Even in GB1 and 2, where Egon was very reserved and deadpan, he never came across as unsympathetic toward other people. To me, anyway. In the comics, I feel like Erik Burnham always writes him as a man without any patience for "normal people." Even his comic bio states Egon is someone who "isn't interested in what you have to say." I dunno, I just never got that vibe from him in any other GB media and it bugs me a bit. -shrug- Maybe it's just me.

Anyway, Egon immediately tells Rebecca he's only speaking to her because it's part of the contract for them getting paid for this book deal, and they need the money to rebuild the firehouse.

Rebecca asks why Egon got started in the paranormal, and Egon basically says he wants to explain all the things that mankind finds unexplainable, and ghosts were just the first thing he was able to prove. He'll move on to something else when he loses interests in ghosts.

Rebecca then asks why he built the Containment Unit so that it exploded when the power was cut. Personally I'm like "Wow rude much?" but I guess it's a legit question. Egon says it was because of the unexpected increase in ghost energy due to Gozer, and that he's going to rebuild it so it won't happen again.

I find Rebecca in this issue is a lot more antagonistic than she was in previous issues. I guess Egon pushes her buttons LOL.

When they start talking about their first case at the Sedgewick, Winston brings up the story that the green ghost escaped when they were putting it into the Containment Unit. Rebecca is very interested in hearing this other story of the Unit failing to work right, and Egon is not very appreciative of Winston speaking up.

Great lines: Egon: Thank you so much for bringing that up, Winston. Your memory is a real asset. Winston: Uh... I think I've got an errand to run. -leaves-

We jump to a flashback that takes place after the Sedgewick scene in the movie. The GB's return to the firehouse. Peter has a hilarious cowlick from the slime, which I love.

Ray and Egon go to the basement to put their first ghost in the Containment Unit.

But the button gets stuck and Slimer escapes. (His name isn't really Slimer in this universe, but I'm just going to call him that for simplicity's sake.) Slimer appears upstairs where he picks up a prototype proton grenade from Egon's locker and then... phases right through the front door, carrying the grenade?

I don't know if this is an oversight on the part of the comic or if they're trying to purposely show us that ghosts can take solid matter through other solid matter, but it really confused me. I mean, we don't see Slimer doing that in the movie. He drinks a bottle of wine and it goes right through him onto the floor, and when he goes through the wall dragging a food cart behind him, the cart crashes into the wall. So why does the grenade go right through the firehouse door? I have no idea.

Anyway, Egon and Ray run out after him to protect the neighborhood. (Peter and Janine apparently aren't there now to see this happen.)

Ray: Why would you store a prototype proton grenade in your locker? Egon: I don't feel as thought that's important right now, Ray.

Slimer zips around the streets, stealing people's food and brandishing the grenade. Egon cautions Ray not to take a shot at him, since their beams could make it explode. Ray runs off to a dumpster to find some food to bait the ghost, leaving Egon to stall him alone.

Egon: Luckily it was driven more by impulse than intelligence--sort of like Venkman in college.

And for some reason there's two times where the artist forgot to draw Slimer holding the grenade? It seems like an obvious mistake to make, so I dunno if they really forgot or if it was on purpose. The quality control in this issue seems to be lacking.

Egon tries to sneak up on Slimer, but the ghost sees him and clonks him with the grenade. He then gets distracted by a pizza and drops it. Egon ducks, but the bomb fizzles out, a dud. (How anticlimactic.)

With the spud distracted, Egon fires his thrower and catches him. He compares reeling him in to a memory of reeling in a fish as big as he was when he was a kid. That was a cute reference, at least. I'm trying to picture tiny!Egon and his reserved father on a fishing boat.

We cut back to Egon and Rebecca as Egon wraps up his story. Here he says that this incident proved to all of them that they should never take solo calls, ever. That comment felt weird to me because... nothing bad happened? Egon was able to wrangle Slimer by himself just fine. How did this incident prove that? But I guess the writer just wanted to slip in a reason why we never see the GB's going on busts by themselves, in any media. (As if it's not obvious how dangerous the job would be by yourself...)

At this point Rebecca is ready to leave when suddenly a red ghostly light swirls around her and she grows fangs and claws. I was super excited at first because I thought this was going to be a twist ending and Rebecca was going to be a ghost this whole time! Trying to get inside info on how to take down the team. How awesome would that have been!?

But no, Rebecca is only momentarily possessed by...something. Something that has a vague message for Egon that the Ghostbusters will be killed sometime, someday. That's it. I'm not even kidding, the ghost literally uses the words "Sooner or later, doom!" Like... yeah, buddy? That's just life?

The ghost vanishes and Rebecca is overwhelmed and quickly leaves. Peter shows up just as she's leaving, asking what that was about.

(Narrator Voice: He did not find out.)

So that's it! I'm a bit disappointed in this issue, I have to say. The story was okay, but there's a bunch of little things that don't make sense, things that look like drawing errors, and a weak ending. It all adds up to a disappointing feeling.

I think they are implying something about Afterlife with the ghost at the end? Is there going to be a ghost in Afterlife that claims to have been watching Egon since the founding of the Ghostbusters, and perhaps even eventually killed him? Man, I know ghosts can be patient but that's a pretty long stretch of time to wait before sealing somebody's doom.

But there we go, the four issues of Year One. I do think it's good to have oneshot stories. A comic series shouldn't be entirely made up of long storyarcs. I like a little variety. And I liked seeing some scenes that we only heard about in the past, even if it made the comic feel like a "clip show" sometimes, where they were just filling in things that were mentioned offhand in the movies.

I think the comic was strongest when it was giving us thoughts and motivations for our favorite characters and seeing them interact (like Ray training Winston for 15 min and calling it good, and Winston telling him how crazy that is). And I felt it was weakest when it was just redrawing screenshots from the movie or doing those interviews with minor characters at the start of each issue (I liked it at first but it got tiring quickly). All in all, I did like this series and I am really excited to see what is coming for the IDW GB's next!

#ghostbusters #ghostbusters comics #comic review #ghostbusters idw #idw comics #idw #ghostbusters year one #egon spengler #dan schoening #dan schoening art #erik burnham #luis antonio delgado

29 notes · View notes

shadowofadalekmightdeactivate · 5 years

Text

Sanders Sides Ghostbusters AU

Why? Why not. I should be writing a 1,500 word short story right now but fuCK IT (A side note: unless stated otherwise, everyone is gay. This is obvious why am I even saying this)

Peter Venkman: Roman - The fuck is a gender, he loves everybody. If they have a pretty face he’s game - This has gotten him into trouble time and time again and made him bounce around from job to job until he FINALLY settled down to be a scientist, and even THAT didn’t last more than 2 years - ADHD riddled fucker - Still as snarky as ever but also still dramatic - First time getting slimed? Almost had a meltdown. HE WAS HAVING A BAD ENOUGH DAY ALREADY DAMMIT - That lasted 2.5 seconds until Patton (Ray) said he thought it was cool - Starved for attention but snarks at everyone regardless - Acts like a Prinxiety fusion at times (”love me but fuck off“ is the mentality that comes to mind)

Egon Spengler: Logan - Picture a Logince fusion that’s mostly controlled/led by Logan - The science behind ghosts has been his hyperfixation for y e a r s - He’s also been wanting to be a scientist for years so being a Ghostbuster is like a dream job to him - Used to be an English college professor until Patton roped him into hunting a ghost with him. He’s still not sure how he even met him (though it’s not impossible that Patton just walked up to him and said “Hi I’m Patton do you want to hunt a ghost with me?”) - “Might have Autism. Might not have a soul. We aren’t sure yet“ -quote from Roman - The brains behind the whole thing. He made the siren, the alarm, the proton packs, everything - Remy (Janine) has feelings for him and he Does Not Appreciate It - Did indeed try to drill a hole in his skull. He wanted to make essentially an early version of Bluetooth. Got as far as putting the drill to his head and finding out the thing’s battery had died. Roman was not amused when he asked him for more - This is going to just turn into Egon headcanons if I don’t stop

Ray Stanz: Patton - Has Autism, is lOUD AS FUCK - Has been kicked out of several libraries for this - Eye contact is a no-no. He won’t freak but he will get very nervous - He introduced Logan to Roman, was dismayed when they didn’t get along at first - Basically a little kid with a laser-shooting gun - Main cause of most of the damage at ghost busts - Roman looks up to him a LOT, even though he’s older (but he’d never say that out loud) - Is allergic to everything with fur - Feels pretty bad whenever they have to bust a ghost with a tragic past - Had been begging Logan to let them have some kind of mascot. Logan finally relented and built a kind of cage in the front office for Slimer - (Remy doesn’t appreciate having that thing watching him every day with it’s beady little eyes) - Loves getting covered with whatever crap ghosts may spew at them-slim, ectoplasm, anything. It doesn’t feel sticky to him, more soft like water-hence why he thought it was “so cool” when Roman got slimed. Besides the physical contact thing - Fiercely protective of Virgil (Winston). Heaven help whatever soul that’s dumb enough to taunt that man in his presence because Patton will grab them-with his hands or his proton gun’s stream-and throw them against the most solid thing he can aim for (which has included teammates. Logan was not impressed)

Winston Zeddemore: Virgil - Wanted to be a necromancer when he was a kid, now just wants a job - Trigger-happy when nervous/frightened, causes the second-most amount of damage during busts - Stupidly tried hiding his anxiety from the others at first, writing off any moments of panic as “just paranoia”, “just got startled”, etc. It takes a particularly nasty ghost putting him out of commission via panic attack that he finally opens up to them - Initially wrote off his anxiety out of worry they’d either A. not hire him/fire him or B. treat him like he was made of glass. B almost happened until Logan took his side when Patton was barring him from coming on a bust - Patton and Logan argued viciously over who was in charge of teaching him how to work the proton packs and guns. Virgil was confused as to why they both can’t do it until Roman told him they’re pretty much arguing over who adopts him - (Patton won that battle on the grounds that Logan gets to teach their next employee. Sadly for Logan no one else has taken up the job) - He fucking HATES getting covered in ghost gunk - Some captured ghosts have learned to fear him, he’s pretty scary when he learns their patterns - (I was going to make him a ghost that gets attached to Patton, but...Nah. Four Sides, four Ghostbusters)

Janine Melnitz: Remy - Only took the job because of Logan, likes to call him “Resident Eye Candy” - Logan can not stand him. At all. Remy’s really up front with how he feels about Logan and he finds it over-bearing - He’d wear a skirt if the boys don’t stop him. Hell he’d wear a crop top if they don’t stop him. (They always do. Buggar.) - If he doesn’t have a coffee at any time in the morning he’s a real bastard to whoever gets within 2 feet of him - Roman thinks this is hilarious and will sometimes withhold his coffee order to hear him cuss out people on the phone. He finds it less hilarious when someone tries to sue them for verbal abuse - Patton thought he was blind at first because he always wears sunglasses (”LOGAN WE CAN’T HIRE A BLIND MAN TO TAKE CALLS”)

Dana Barett: Deceit - Trans ftm - “Deceit” is more of a nickname for him, but he’s so used to it that he’s considering making it his legal name - Told off Logan when they first met because he misgendered him four times (the first time was an accident, the second time was a slip up, the last two started seeming intentional) - Legal name is still Dana, he hasn’t have the money or the time to change it yet-which is infuriating - Has heterochromia (left eye brown, right eye green) and vitiligo - Roman thinks he’s drop dead beautiful, Deceit thinks he’s just annoying. Despite this he happily goes on a few flings with him and enjoys the pampering - They don’t officially “get together”, but Roman stops skipping work to take “clients” out on dates, so the other ‘busters are happy - Roman absolutely will tell anyone who listens to him long enough how gorgeous Dee is. Virgil has told Dee about this. Snake man is equal parts flattered and frustrated - Speaking of snakes, he gets two after the Gozer incident: Zuul (female Ball Python) and Vinz (male Corn Snake) - Why he named them after demon dogs is beyond him but he couldn’t think of better names for them

Louis Tully: Remus - Take everything you remember about Louis and throw it out the window. Now go out that window, pick up the remains and stich them back together into a vaguely Louis-like character with bits of rat and garbage left in. That’s Remus. Still awkward beyond help, still a well-meaning hopelessly-in-love fool, but an absolute chaotic MESS that can’t hold down a job for longer than a month - Roman wants to disown him so very badly but there’s no relative left alive that wants to go near that man with a ten-foot pole and SOMEONE has to take care of him - Deceit thinks he’s charming, if a bit...Weird. - Like Deceit, Remus gets two pets after the Gozer incident: Zelda (female Fancy Rat, name is a play on Zuul) and Vince (male Pitbull Terrier, name is a play on Vinz) - He wanted two Pitbulls at first but then saw Zelda in an ad and suddenly decided he HAD to have a rat - The kind of guy that’s a horrible person but really damn good at his job so his co-workers have to put up with him (until the boss fires him for doing something insane like hanging out a window to freak out the people on the streets below) - He actually did the above incident. Twice. He was fired quickly and all window-washing companies were warned about him - Virgil met him a total of one time and said he wanted whatever Remus was high on - Remus, surprisingly, never takes drugs. He finds them icky-not the GOOD icky, like blood and mucus and all that fun stuff. The BAD icky, like forced mood-changes and forgotten events - You can bet your ass he sleeps around like nobody’s business - (I was going to make him Walter Peck but figured it’d be funnier if he was Louis. Be glad he made it in at all)

#Ghostbusters AU #Sanders Sides #TS Remus #sympathetic deceit #redhead writes #roceit #should I write this?#Officially?#cursing

16 notes · View notes

tomeandflickcorner · 3 years

Text

Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: They Call Me MISTER Slimer

As you can probably tell from the title, this is a Slimer centric episode. It’s about what you’d expect it to be.

The episode opens with Janine informing Peter and Ray that they’re once again in the red according to the latest financial report, as they’re spending more money than they’re earning. This is because of their standard expenses of covering property damage (good to know they are doing that, as we’ve previously seen they often cause some damages during busts), as well as the cost of utilities, general upkeep of their equipment and food. The moment Janine mentions food, Slimer zooms in and goes a bit nuts in searching for the food. Peter stops him after a few seconds of this to berate the green ghost, saying that all he does is eat and doesn’t contribute anything in return. Slimer responds to this by kissing Peter’s hand, and Ray translates this gesture by stating Slimer pays them back for the food with love. (Ugh, the sappiness of that statement!) Janine then suggests that Slimer could help out by taking on some simple tasks around the Firehouse, as a way to earn his keep. So Peter asks Slimer if he can make himself small. Slimer complies by folding himself down to the size of a post-it note, which is a rather good trick. But it turns out that Peter was actually trying to trick Slimer, because the moment he’s folded himself down, Peter stuffs him into an envelope with the intention of mailing Slimer to a prank-loving friend of his. Naturally, Ray steps in and snatches the envelope away from Peter to let Slimer out. But it seems Slimer’s feelings were hurt by Peter’s trick since he turns and floats out the door.

Slimer proceeds to roam about the city streets. And by coincidence, a teenage boy named Mike is making his way home with a large stack of comics and magazines around the same time. Mike’s journey home is interrupted when he is held up by a group of stereotypical bullies, led by another teenage boy named Rick. Rick’s gang ends up knocking Mike down, with his comics and magazines landing in a puddle. As Rick’s gang walk off laughing, Mike briefly expresses a desire to get even with Rick and the other bullies, but laments that’s not possible, as they outnumber him. And, to make matters worse, an aggressive Doberman suddenly appears and starts chasing after Mike. (Boy, Mike sure is having a bad day!) By happenstance, Slimer overhears Mike’s cries for help and goes to investigate. He ends up unwittingly scaring off the Doberman, and Mike is clearly grateful for this. Mike states that he’s read about ghosts and monsters for years, so he’s not afraid of Slimer. But the fact that Slimer scared away the dog gave him an idea. He asks Slimer if he’d like to be hired as his ghostly bodyguard, charged with protecting him from Rick and the other bullies. Slimer, clearly remembering what Peter had said earlier about not pulling his weight, readily agrees.

Mike brings Slimer home with him and begins teaching Slimer how to be scary. Which seems to be easier said than done, as Slimer is easily frightened himself and even hides upon being shown a picture of a scary Alien monster. However, it seems that Mike’s training eventually was successful because sometime later, Rick’s gang spotted Mike walking around and they decide to harass him again. Rick and the other bullies end up cornering Mike in an alleyway, but this time, Mike is a bit bolder and throws a few good insults back at Rick. Before Rick and the other bullies could pummel Mike, Slimer appears and successfully scares the bullies off.

Of course, Rick’s ego is now bruised, and he’s determined to get back at Mike for making a fool out of him. He decides that, if Mike managed to get a ghost on his side, then he could do likewise. He leads his gang of bullies to a sealed away entrance to Subway 13. Remembering stories he’d heard from his father about how the subway station was closed down years ago because of creepy things living down there, Rick thinks they can use that to their advantage. One of the bullies, showing a bit of common sense, questions this, pointing out that whatever’s down there might not listen to them. But Rick is conceived that the creepy things living down there will naturally follow his lead, because he’s tough. (Yeah, how’s that for logic?) Rick and the others break into the sealed-off subway station and quickly find themselves surrounded by a group of troll-like creatures that will eventually be identified as Barrow Wights. Rick proceeds to tell the Barrow Wights his purpose for coming down to the abandoned subway station. At first, the obvious leader of the Barrow Wights seems suspicious, thinking Rick’s offer was a trap. Rick insists it isn’t, and the Leader Barrow Wight soon accepts the proposed alliance. But the Leader Barrow Wight states that they cannot go aboveground with them unless Rick directly invites them. Rick, rather foolishly, agrees to this and invites them to come aboveground.

Meanwhile, the Ghostbusters have noticed Slimer’s prolonged absence from the Firehouse and are growing concerned, as Slimer has never been gone this long. And Egon had been planning to run some electothermal tests on him, too. Only Peter seems to be unconcerned over Slimer’s absence. But then Janine comes in, announcing they’ve just received an envelope in the mail. An envelope filled with some money. And because the money is covered in slime, it’s very clear that Slimer is the one who sent it. They quickly realize that Slimer has been trying to earn some money on the side, and everyone immediately starts giving Peter the stink-eye, considering it was his earlier comment that must have given Slimer the idea to do such a thing. Anyway, the Ghostbusters wonder how they’d be able to track down where Slimer went off to, as he didn’t include a return address on the envelope of money. Ray suggests they start searching the area covered by the zip code of the post office who handled the envelope. They begin to search the designated area, but still have trouble locating Slimer. Although, Egon does start to pick up an increased level of psychokinetic energy in the area, which was obviously the result of the Barrow Wights escaping from the closed-down subway station. But the energy spike was too diffused to get a precise location, so Egon had to recalibrate the PKE Meter in order to pinpoint the source.

Elsewhere, Mike is walking around when one of Rick’s bullies spots him and calls him over to a nearby warehouse. The bully tells Mike that they want to make amends with him, stating anyone who can get a ghost like Slimer on their side must be an okay guy, and they want to hang out with him now. Mike is naturally hesitant, but decides to go into the warehouse anyway. Although, he tells Slimer, who is with him, to circle around the warehouse, just in case. When Mike enters the warehouse, Rick and the bullies appear on a catwalk, with Rick gloating over how he has his own group of ghosts on his side now. He then gestures to the Barrow Wights, as they emerge from the shadows. But when Rick orders the Barrow Wights to attack Mike, the Leader Barrow Wight turns on Rick, revealing that he never planned on working with Rick after all. He had only intended to trick Rick into inviting them aboveground. And now that they’re free, nothing can stop them from causing all matter of mayhem. And to start things off, the Barrow Wights begin moving threateningly towards Mike, Rick and the other bullies.

Fortunately, the Ghostbuters just happened to be driving by the warehouse at that exact moment. And they’re alerted to the danger when a frightened Slimer flies out and collides with the Ecto-1’s windshield. Upon reuniting with the Ghostbusters, Slimer tells them about the Barrow Wights, which enables us to learn what they’re called and how they operate, as Egon and Ray know all about them. Ray even points out how they share some similarities with vampires, as they can only come above ground if someone directly invites them to do so.

The Ghostbusters enter the warehouse and begin to get to work in busting the Barrow Wights. But up on the catwalk, Mike, Rick and other the bullies are still surrounded by Barrow Wights. Slimer flies up to join them, but reacts to the Barrow Wights with fear. Until Rick mocks him for being a chicken. This prompts Slimer to show a bit of courage, and he manages to fashion a baseball bat out of his slime, which he uses to try and fend off the attacking Barrow Wights. Before long, the combined efforts of Slimer and the Ghostbusters leads to all the Barrow Wights being caught inside Ghost Traps.

In the aftermath of the incident, Mike and Rick decide to call a truce. As for Slimer, Ray praises him for his display of bravery, stating he’s proven he’s worth his weight in gold. But Peter, perhaps jokingly, states he’s not so sure of that. Slimer responds to this by going after Peter with his slime baseball bat.

As far as Slimer centrics go, this is probably the best we could have expected. And it was nice to see Slimer showing some courage. And he even stands up to Peter in the end. Although, I’m not entirely sure why the episode seemed to be suggesting it was wrong for Peter to want Slimer to earn his keep around the Firehouse. Because he did kinda have a point. Considering how much Slimer eats, it wouldn’t hurt for him to contribute something. As for the stuff with Mike and Rick, I personally felt it was a bit eye-rolling. The whole stereotypical bullies picking on the obvious nerd is really overplayed and unoriginal. And the way they resolved things made it feel like one of those afterschool specials. There was no acknowledgement of how Rick tormented Mike for who knows how long or why he saw fit to bully him in the first place. We’re just supposed to accept the fact that things are cool between them now. It was a bit unrealistic. The inclusion of Barrow Wights was an interesting touch though, as they apparently were taken straight out of J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous Lord of the Rings trilogy. And Tolkien reportedly gained inspiration for them from the Draugar, which were spirits in Norse mythology. Interesting bit of trivia there.

(Click here for more Ghostbusters reviews)

#the real ghostbusters #rgb episode review #ghostbusters franchise

2 notes · View notes

tomeandflickcorner · 3 years

Text

Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: Egon on the Rampage

Okay. So, that was a thing that happened.

The episode’s opening is really kinda trippy, because it starts with what appears to be an opening to an episode of the show, only it’s inside a TV screen against a black background. It’s a slow day at the Firehouse, so Ray is going out for a run while Peter and Winston are planning to go out shopping. But as Slimer drifts by, a disembodied voice starts scolding his kids for watching ‘that dumb show’ again, instructing them to watch something educational. So, I guess we’re seeing kids within the world of The Real Ghostbusters watching The Real Ghostbusters? I told you it was pretty trippy. The ‘channel’ then switches to some news station, where the news show 20/40/60 is just starting. The news anchorman, Eldon Bromo, announces some of the news stories for that day, such as hearing damage caused by loud clothes and an in-depth look at fabulously rich boring people. But the main story is to be about the Ghostbusters, and whether or not they’re frauds. It then switches over to the Firehouse, where ace reporters Sandy Van Sanders and Helen Shreck are starting their live broadcast. They make it clear right away that their intention is to prove the Ghostbusters are con artists.

Sandy and Helen proceed to try and enter the Firehouse, but Janine stops them at the door. She turns them away, instructing them to come back during office hours, between 10 am and 4 pm. But Sandy and Helen are not to be deterred and begin to try and force their way in. Janine does her best to prevent them from doing so, and I am quite impressed she was able to last as long as she did. Both Sandy and Helen were pushing on the doors that Janine was trying to close, and it took them a while to outmuscle her. In the end, however, Sandy and Helen are able to barge into the Firehouse, with Janine being thrown to the floor in the process. Peter, Winston and Ray, having heard the commotion, appear seconds later. Janine tells them she’d tried to stop the pair of reporters, and Winston assures her that it’s okay. He suggests she take Slimer out for a walk while they deal with Sandy and Helen. Yeah, this episode heavily portrays Slimer as the Ghostbuster’s pet ghost. He’s even shown with a dog collar and leash.

Once Janine leaves with Slimer, Winston realizes he recognizes Sandy and Helen as being from ‘that news show.’ Based on their description of the news stories that have previously been covered by 20/40/60, it seems this is like a tabloid news show, and it’s clear the Ghostbusters don’t have a high opinion of it. Sandy and Helen ignore this and ask where Egon is. Winston tries to claim Egon wasn’t there, but to no avail as Egon took that moment to call for them from his lab. Immediately, Sandy and Helen push past the other Ghostbusters and proceed to brazenly enter Egon’s lab. And it’s at this point where I started wondering why these two haven’t been fired yet. I don’t know much about journalism, but I don’t think they’re allowed to barge into places like this. They’re supposed to be professional reporters, not paparazzi. Of course, since this is seemingly a tabloid news show, I’m guessing ethics aren’t that big of a deal to them.

Upon storming into Egon’s lab, Sandy and Helen find Egon working on some new machine of his. Winston, Ray and Peter hurry in after them, and Ray instructs them to leave since this invention is top secret. Helen, however, refuses to leave, saying they can’t keep the press out. And Winston seems to be ready to try and physically remove them from the premises. Can’t say I blame him there. But Egon states it might be a good time to go public with their latest experiment, and he begins to explain what he’s working on. He announces that, up until now, they’ve stored the ghosts they’ve captured in the containment unit, but this is both expensive and dangerous. So they’re considering an alternative method, which involves permanently transporting the ghosts into an alternate dimension. (Huh, I wonder if they’ve been collaborating with that unnamed scientist from You Can’t Take it With You. After all, he seemed quite knowledgeable when it came to opening dimensional portals.)

The Ghostbusters begin to execute the machine’s test run, with Peter bringing out a loaded Ghost Trap. Peter lets the ghost out, and Ray and Winston hold him in place with their Proton Packs while Egon starts up the machine. The test run proves to be successful, as the ghost is pulled through a dimensional gateway, vanishing from sight. However, Sandy doesn’t seem to be impressed, suggesting all the flashing lights might have just been a show for their benefit. And then he proceeds to mess around with the controls. Despite Helen’s obvious misgivings about it, which is the first time we see one of these two nitwits being sensible, Sandy pulls a lever, resulting in the high voltage switch overloading. Seconds later, the ‘TV screen’ (because we’re apparently supposed to be watching this happening via live news broadcast) goes haywire, with brief images of the Ghostbusters and the reporters mixed in with static.

Eldon Bromo then reappears at his news desk, announcing that there seems to be some technical difficulty in the news feed from Sandy and Helen. So, while they try and reestablish their connection, he invites viewers to enjoy this week’s commentary from some guy named Roone Agent, who rambles random nonsense about watching fingernails grow and seeing dust collecting. Thankfully, this doesn’t last very long, as the feed from Sandy and Helen’s cameraman has been located again. Just in time for us to see the aftermath of the incident. While Ray, Winston and Peter try to extinguish the small fires that are still burning in the background, Sandy presses on with his report. Only he states there was clearly an accident with the test run of the Ghostbuster’s new machine. Upon hearing Sandy say this, Ray storms over and angrily reminds him that this was completely his fault as he nearly wrings Sandy’s neck. Fortunately for Sandy, Winston manages to pull Ray off him. However, something is clearly wrong with Egon, as he seems to have mutated into a large purple creature. The mutated Egon suddenly begins to attack Peter as he tries to check up on his friend. Winston, with the help of the videotape he’d apparently borrowed from Sandy and Helen’s cameraman, is able to piece together what happened to Egon. When the machine overloaded thanks to Sandy’s interference, Egon’s soul was pulled out of his body and got sucked up through the dimensional portal. Seconds later, a demon had come out of the portal and entered Egon’s body, filling in the vacancy. Upon consulting Egon’s notes on the machine, it’s determined they only have fifteen minutes to reverse the switch, otherwise the change will be permanent. First thing is first, though. They have to figure out how to restrain Demon Egon, who is currently destroying everything in sight. Ray points out they can’t simply zap him with their Proton Packs, as it’s still Egon’s body. Fortunately, Peter has an idea, and he tosses a few canisters of knockout gas (which they have lying around for some reason) at Demon Egon. This successfully knocks Demon Egon out, but before the Ghostbusters can retrieve him, they see Sandy and Helen’s camera truck speed off. Because somehow, in that short amount of time, Helen managed to get past the Ghostbusters and pulled Demon Egon’s unconscious body into the camera truck. And she’s now bringing him back to the studio for an exclusive interview. (Okay, I’m pretty sure this counts as kidnapping. Seriously, how do these twats still have a job?!)

Knowing that they have to get Egon’s body back, and locate his soul in order to reverse the switch in time, the Ghostbusters decide to split up. While Ray and Winston go off after Helen to get Demon Egon back, Peter will venture into the alternate dimension and fetch Egon’s soul. After Ray and Winston leave, Peter gets to work at entering the alternate dimension. He tasks Janine, who has since returned from walking Slimer, to pull him back out with the rope he has tied around his waist once he locates Egon’s soul. So Peter goes through the dimensional portal. And Sandy, being the utter moron he is, jumps in after him. Because he’s that desperate for a juicy story. (Ugh, those two reporters are really getting on my last nerve.) Naturally, Peter is dumbfounded when he sees Sandy has followed him into the other dimension. But there’s no time for him to really reprimand the reporter’s idiocy, as they’re promptly attacked by a flock of demon bird things.

Back at the news studio, Helen is attempting to begin her interview with Demon Egon, who is just starting to come around. As one might expect, Demon Egon is not very receptive to Helen’s interview questions. Instead, he simply grabs her and starts running amuck through the studio, leaving behind a trail of destruction in his wake. Luckily, Winston and Ray arrive moments later. They manage to save Helen by overturning a crate full of soccer balls, footballs, basketballs and volleyballs (which was sitting inside the news studio for some reason), which causes Demon Egon to trip and drop her. But Demon Egon then runs off, so Ray and Winston hurry after him. And once again, Helen proves how irritating she is when she jumps into the back of the Ecto-1 as it’s driving off. (Well, I guess you can’t say she isn’t persistent.)

Meanwhile, in the other dimension, Peter has managed to drive off the demon birds. But the moment they fly off, the Test Subject Ghost from earlier suddenly runs over. The Test Subject Ghost begs Peter to take him back. It seems this other dimension is much too spooky for Test Subject Ghost’s liking. Peter agrees to do so, but first he asks Test Subject Ghost if he’s seen a soul around. The Test Subject Ghost states he has, and says the soul is right over a nearby hill. Peter then fulfills his half of the bargain and allows Test Subject Ghost to enter the Ghost Trap he has with him. With that out of the way, Peter and Sandy head over the indicated hill. At first, it looks like Test Subject Ghost gave them a false lead, as all they can see is a one legged ghost jumping on a trampoline suspended over a pit. Until Peter realizes the trampoline is actually Egon’s soul, stretched out like a sheet. Peter hurries down and retrieves Egon’s soul, rolling him up like a rug before signaling to Janine to pull them all out by tugging on the rope.

It then switches back to Ray and Winston, who are still following after Demon Egon in the Ecto-1. Winston announces he knows they can’t risk shooting Demon Egon with the Proton Packs as it could damage Egon’s Body. But they can use the Proton Packs to corral him back to the Firehouse. They proceed to do so, and manage to get Demon Egon back to the Firehouse with only a minute to spare. When they arrive, with Demon Egon crashing through the wall a la Kool-Aid Man, they’re greeted by the sight of Peter and Janine trying to physically hold back the One Legged Ghost, who is clearly not happy about losing his makeshift trampoline and is trying to come out through the portal to get it back. When the One Legged Ghost overpowers Peter and Janine by shoving them back, Slimer takes over by tickling the ghost’s foot, thereby keeping him from coming any further out of the portal. This gives Janine and Peter the chance to hold out Egon’s soul so Demon Egon would run into it. When Demon Egon and Egon’s soul collide, Egon’s soul is able to return to his body, and the demon that was inside Egon’s body is tossed out. Once it’s no longer inhabiting Egon’s body, the demon flies back through the dimensional portal, shoving the One Legged Ghost back as well before the portal closes up. And Sandy and Helen got drenched in slime in the process.

With the crisis averted, the Ghostbusters celebrate safe Egon’s return. As for Sandy and Helen, who are still sitting there covered in ectoplasmic slime, Peter decides to complete their news report for them, taking their microphone and announcing that, if tonight was any indication, many people need the Ghostbusters. And so the episode ends, with Eldon Brando bidding everyone watching the news program a good night.

What did I just watch?! I have no idea what this episode even was. We’re supposed to be watching a show within a show? What kind of weird mind trip was this? I would understand if this was supposed to be their April Fool’s Day special, but that doesn’t seem to be the case since the episode first aired in December. At the same time, it does make a bit of sense as this was one of the four episodes written by Marc Scott Zicree. The other episodes he wrote for the show were Look Homeward, Ray, Station Identification and Lights! Camera! Haunting! (which, incidentally, is the next episode on the roster). With the exception of Look Homeward, Ray, all of those episodes have something to do with TV shows and film. Kinda sensing a pattern here. In a partially related story, I get the feeling that someone in the writing room had some kind of beef against reporters. I do know the whole trope of how reporters will do anything for a scoop. But the characters of Sandy and Helen were just insufferable! Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure any reporter would be fired or arrested if they forced their way onto private property like they did in this episode. They were clearly there at the Firehouse without permission and refused to leave. Plus, Helen actually abducted Egon’s possessed body. Pretty sure kidnapping violates the code of conduct in journalism. Not only that, they continued to show absolutely no awareness of what was going on around them, even when it was clear that their lives were in jeopardy. How do these two still have a job? Was there some sort of scandal with reporters and journalists overstepping their boundaries in the 80s, making this episode some kind of social commentary? Considering I was a toddler for most of the 80s, I don’t remember that decade that well.

(Click here for more Ghostbusters reviews)

#the real ghostbusters #rgb episode review #ghostbusters franchise

2 notes · View notes

tomeandflickcorner · 4 years

Text

Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: Adventures in Slime and Space

Apparently, the guy who wrote this episode, David Gerrold, said that he drew inspiration from the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode More Tribbles, More Troubles. And I can see that.

Egon is apparently at it again, as a sudden explosion occurs in his lab in the upper floor of the Firehouse, resulting in the windows and skylight shattering. Which catches the attention of an elderly couple passing by, with the wife commenting on how she felt safer when the dynamite factory was there. (They had a dynamite factory in New York?) The reason for the explosion turns out to have been caused by Egon trying to build a new invention. One he thinks he’s nearly managed to complete. Now, before you say anything, no, this new invention isn’t that thing we’ve seen him working on since When Halloween Was Forever. That’s something that we’ll get properly introduced to in a later episode. This invention, however, is something he calls a prototype Plasmic Strainer. Egon proceeds to explain to Peter what this Plasmic Strainer is supposed to do. With nobody seeming to show any concern for the fact that Ray seems to be encased in an electrical field like Marvel’s Electro (though that effect seems to dissipate on its own after a few minutes). Basically, this Plasmic Strainer would make it possible for them to simply disintegrate ghosts instantly, thereby eliminating the need to trap and store them in the Containment Unit. (Um, Egon? Are you actually saying that you created a device that can ‘kill’ a ghost?! Because I find that slightly terrifying.)

At this point, Slimer appears on the scene, allowing Ray to reveal that Egon hasn’t been the only one inventing a new toy. Ray’s invention was a computer module called the Banana 9000 (a possible homage to HAL 9000), which had been fitted with a voterizer synthetic speech library. With this computer, Ray announced it would be possible for Slimer to effectively communicate with them (because at this point in the show, Slimer’s language is little more than nonsensical babbling). All Slimer has to do is type something onto the keyboard, and the computer will offer up an English translation. Of course, it does appear that Ray’s translator isn’t quite finished, as the ‘translation’ suddenly shifts into requests for Ray to stop.

Unfortunately, Peter decides to be a bit of a jerk here, stating that he prefers to stick to his own way of communicating with Slimer, and proceeds to threaten to shoot him with his Proton Pack. This results in Slimer to freak out and begin zooming around the room, bouncing from wall to wall. In the process, Slimer ends up flying headlong into Egon’s Plasmic Strainer. Thankfully, the Plasmic Strainer wasn’t quite perfected yet, so Slimer didn’t get disintegrated. However, this does result in Slimer getting physically separated into a bunch of little Slimers, which proceed to wander about the room in a random pattern. In an attempt to round up the Little Slimers, Peter, Egon and Ray start to chase after them with butterfly nets. Which doesn’t strike me as a practical tool to use, considering Slimer is a ghost and can therefore pass through objects at will. Although it appears that things might be more complicated than one would expect. Because every time one of the Little Slimers hit a solid object, they split up even more. Before long, the number of Little Slimers has grown exponentially, with a large number of them heading out the window and flying out into the city.

Once the hundreds of Little Slimers have gotten loose, and Winston and Janine appear on the scene (I’m guessing they heard the commotion upstairs and came to investigate), Egon and Ray explains what just happened. It turns out that when Slimer passed through the Plasmic Strainer, he became molecularly dis-coordinated. In other words, he lost his surface tension, and whenever one of the little Slimers collides with a material object, the Little Slimer will shatter into even more Little Slimers. And if they don’t find a way to reverse this issue, then eventually the entire world will be covered by a thin layer of slime. Of course, things are already bad enough, as the millions of Little Slimers have already caused a number of car crashes on the streets below. As well as caused a lot of people to slip and slide about on the sidewalks. With one hapless woman sliding past who I’m pretty sure was supposed to be Larry, Moe and Curly (which was an incredibly random cameo).

As the issue with the Little Slimers running rampant gets bigger and bigger (or rather smaller and smaller, in this case), the Ghostbusters decide that it might be best to pay a visit to Mayor Lenny to inform him of what’s going on. Because it’s better for him to hear about this from them instead of from someone else, I guess. (But not before Peter tries to run away from the problem by booking a flight to anywhere but there, only to change his mind when he hears the only available flight at the moment is headed for France. I guess Peter has a thing against France.) When they get to Mayor Lenny’s office, Mayor Lenny is not very pleased, especially since it’s apparently an election year. Although, we do get a subtle nod to the events of the movie, as Mayor Lenny mentions the incident with the Terror Dogs and the ‘walking marshmallow.’ Needless to say, the mayor is aghast when Ray casually suggests waiting to resolve the issue until January, when all the slime would be frozen and easy to pick up. He demands that they resolve the issue now, giving them a 24 hour deadline.

After leaving Mayor Lenny’s office, Egon suggests there might be a solution. If they change the polystratisification on the Plasmic Strainer, they could reverse the polarity of the Little Slimers. Ray clarifies this statement by comparing it to magnets. If one of the Little Slimers were to pass through the altered Plasmic Strainer, all the other Little Slimers would be drawn to it, resulting in them reforming into one singular Slimer again. Of course, for this to work, they have to first catch a Little Slimer. A task that’s clearly easier said than done, as evidenced by the next scene of the Ghostbusters and Janine tripping over each other in a vain attempt at catching one of the Little Slimers. Why nobody thought to simply ask one of the Little Slimers to cooperate is beyond me. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter, as one Little Slimer just happens to decide to go back through the altered Plasmic Strainer on his own. When this Little Slimer emerges, we see he has turned from green to blue, which is clearly meant to indicate his polarity has been changed. Like Egon predicted, all the other Little Slimers begin to be drawn towards Blue Slimer, and the merging begins.

Of course, things aren’t wrapped up just like that, which the Ghostbusters learn when they head up to the roof of the Firehouse to get a better look at Slimer reforming. It turns out that, while all the Little Slimers were loose, they were all busy eating whatever they could find throughout the city. So when Blue Slimer has fully absorbed all of the Little Slimers, he’d grown to roughly the size of a two or three story house. And the unexpected excess has caused such a shock to Slimer’s system, it resulted in him turning evil. Fortunately, Egon knows of a way to rectify this. He proposes that controlled blasts from the Proton Streams should be enough to neutralize the excess slimic energy within Giant Blue Slimer and return him to Normal Slimer. But to put that plan into effect, they’ll need to pay another visit to Mayor Lenny, in order to ask him to loan them some helicopters.

Of course, Mayor Lenny is not pleased at the request for helicopters and is all set to throw the Ghostbusters out of his office. But he changes his tune pretty quickly when Giant Blue Slimer appears at his window and proceeds to abduct Janine. So, armed with the loaned helicopters (I’m guessing we’re supposed to have forgotten about the existence of the Ecto-2, considering we haven’t seen it since the first episode), the Ghostbusters track Giant Blue Slimer down to the top of the Empire State Building. Yes, that’s right, folks. We’re officially parodying King Kong at this point. They even have Giant Blue Slimer plummeting towards the streets below after being shot down.

Thankfully, the ordeal did indeed result in Slimer returning to normal. And, upon returning to the Firehouse, he proceeds to express his thanks with the aid of Ray’s Banana 9000 translator, which seems to be working now. The Ghostbusters then tell him that it’s good to have him back, with Peter commenting that one Slimer is more than enough. Which leads to Slimer hugging Peter. And on that note, the episode ends.

This really felt like a filler episode, especially since I really don’t know what else I could say about it. The only other thing that’s probably worth a mention is the running gag of them suggesting simply moving to Pittsburg in order to get away from actually rectifying the issue of the millions of Little Slimers. But that didn’t make a lot of sense, since it was established pretty early on that the problem wouldn’t exactly be contained within the city and it would eventually affect the entire world. Plus, what exactly was so appealing about Pittsburg to begin with? Unless you have a thing for bridges, I admit I don’t quite see the draw.

(Click here for more Ghostbusters reviews)

#the real ghostbusters #rgb episode review #ghostbusters franchise

3 notes · View notes

tomeandflickcorner · 4 years

Text

Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: The Spirit of Aunt Lois

Hmm. For some reason, this episode seemed a bit shorter than normal. Not sure why, because it was the same standard length as the other episodes.

It begins with the Ghostbusters returning to the Firehouse after a successful bust. Though it was clearly a rough one, as their uniforms are visibly dirty, and Peter’s boots are covered in ectoplasmic slime. When Egon and Winston head down to the basement with two smoking Ghost Traps in order to load the captured ghosts into the Containment Unit, Slimer apparently decides to troll Peter by hugging his leg, just as he was announcing his intention to head up to bed for some much-needed rest. The sound of Peter screaming ends up being enough to cause Egon and Winston to emerge from the basement, just in time to see Peter trying to aim his Proton Pack at Slimer, who is essentially using a protesting Janine as a human shield. (And yes, Slimer is really being a little stinker here, openly taunting Peter from behind Janine’s legs.) Eventually, Egon is able to talk Peter down, reminding him that they need to keep Slimer around for scientific reasons, and that the little ghost could be their ticket to earning the Nobel Peace Prize. As Slimer makes his escape by slipping up through the ceiling, Ray and Winston state that they’re sure Slimer will change, and that Peter has to have a little faith.

At that moment, a kind-looking older woman announces her presence, having stepped into the Firehouse while the guys were distracted. Upon seeing her, Ray greets her as Aunt Lois. (Remember Ray previously mentioning her back in Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream? Now we get to put a face with a name.) When the Ghostbusters step over to properly greet Ray’s aunt, she gifts them with a plate of Pirozhki. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Pirozhki (I myself have never heard of it before writing this review), they’re baked or fried buns stuffed with a variety of fillings, and these filled buns are apparently a popular food offering in Russia. Yeah, this episode reveals that Ray’s family has some Russian ancestry. Which is slightly surprising, as I didn’t think Stantz was a Russian surname. Maybe he’s Russian on his mother’s side, or his paternal grandmother’s family was Russian? I suppose it’s a possibility.

Anyway, Aunt Lois proceeds to invite the Ghostbusters to her home that evening. At first, Ray states that they can’t make it as they have a job lined up at Museum of Modern Art, but Janine chimes in, informing them that the art museum had decided to cancel the appointment on account of a previous incident at the Guggenheim. I guess the Ghostbusters left a pretty big mess when they dealt with a bust at that particular museum and the curator of the Museum of Modern Art heard about it and didn’t want to risk something similar happening at his museum. So now that their schedule is all cleared up, the Ghostbusters are able to accept Aunt Lois’ invitation. She informs them that she’s apparently been dealing with a series of headaches, and is convinced the cause of these headaches is spiritual in nature. As such, she’s contacted a specialist to help resolve the issue. Namely this TV spiritual medium called Dr. Bassingame. Aunt Lois is hoping the Ghostbusters will agree to come join Dr. Bassingame’s séance. Upon hearing this, Ray is immediately ticked off, as he dismisses Dr. Bassingame as a snake oil salesman. But Aunt Lois insists that he’s the real deal and begs them to come join the séance. Ray is still visibly miffed about the whole thing, but Peter accepts the invitation. After Aunt Lois leaves, Ray continues to vent about the matter, frustrated that his aunt would trust a quack like Dr. Bassingame. To this, Egon reassures Ray that the worst thing that could happen is Dr. Bassingame would expose himself as a jerk and Aunt Lois would stop believing in him. And then, because the episode wanted to throw in a little more humor, we get to see Peter heading upstairs to get that nap he’d been planning on taking when they first returned to the Firehouse, and then screaming when he saw what Slimer did to his bed.

That evening, the Ghostbusters all arrive at Aunt Lois’ place in their Sunday best. Aunt Lois’ home ends up being revealed as a fancy mansion that Ray states has been in the family for 100 years. (So, does this mean Ray came from a rich family? Wow, I’m learning so much about him this episode.) Aunt Lois leads the Ghostbusters through her mansion home into the dining room, where Dr. Bassingame is already hard at work setting up his equipment for the séance. And the episode wastes no time in portraying him as a slick con-artist, as even his voice comes across as slimy. And, in what was apparently meant to be a subtle jab at Filmmation’s Ghostbusters, Dr. Bassingame’s outfit is similar to the one worn by Jake Kong Jr. (Refer to my review of the episode Ghosts R Us if you want a refresher on the rivalry between the two shows.)

As they enter the dining room and meet Dr. Bassingame, Egon pulls out his PKE Meter, which he’s brought with him for some reason. He determines there is indeed a paranormal presence in the house, but it’s lying dormant. Before he could figure out anything more, however, Dr. Bassingame instructs him to put away the PKE Meter, as they are only using his equipment that evening. Egon complies with the request at Aunt Lois’ urging, and the séance begins. Right away, we’re shown that Dr. Bassingame is the con artist Ray thought him to be, as he’s secretly using some sort of switch panel positioned near his feet to activate a series of projectors and voice recorders to make it look as if a ghostly woman is appearing before them, beseeching Aunt Lois to help put her soul at rest. Dr. Bassingame’s ‘ghost woman’ begins to explain that a sum of money was supposed to be left to her, indicating that Dr. Bassingame is indeed trying to swindle Aunt Lois.

However, the fake séance is abruptly interrupted when a bunch of creatures appear in the dining room, with one of them cutting the tape on the voice recording reel, thereby disrupting the voice playback. Acting quickly, Egon once again pulls out his PKE Meter, announcing the ghosts that had been dormant moments before have all woken up, no doubt a result of Dr. Bassingame’s interference. Ray immediately offers to help put a stop to things by fetching their Proton Packs, but Aunt Lois insists that Dr. Bassingame can handle it, her faith in him still not swayed. Dr. Bassingame states that he can indeed settle the matter, but insists the Ghostbusters step out into the hall to let him work. Of course, not a minute goes by before the doors fly open again, and Dr. Bassingame gets thrown out into the hall by the rampaging ghosts. Meaning Aunt Lois is now trapped inside the dining room by herself. When the Ghostbusters all run in to try and help her themselves, they all end up getting blown out of the house completely.

In order to figure out what to do now, the Ghostbusters gather around the Ecto-1 to come up with a plan. Egon consults his copy of Tobin’s Sprit Guide while cross-checking the family history information Ray provides him with. Namely that his family came over to America from Russia in the 1860s. With that information, Egon is able to determine that they’re dealing with Domoviye, which are a type of Russian spirit that are usually tied to a household and do their best to make things go right. In other words, they’re supposed to be helpful ghosts. Unless they’re provoked, which is what happened when Dr. Bassingame attempted his phony séance. The Domoviye considered it a direct insult to everything they stood for and therefore became violent.

With that in mind, the Ghostbusters decide the best course of action is to hold another séance, so the Domoviye will direct their attention onto them instead of Aunt Lois, who is still trapped in the dining room. They even try to rope the highly reluctant Dr. Bassingame to lead the second séance, but the creep chickens out and dives for cover almost instantly. So the Ghostbusters, in the hopes of making the Domoviye believe the séance is still going on, start chanting out the first random things they could think of. Peter and Ray begin singing 99 Bottles of Beer, Egon, being Egon, starts rambling out various mathematic rules such as the Pythagorean theorem, and Winston…. Um….. Yeah, I’m not really sure what he’s doing. He’s just saying ‘Ghost, get out of my face, ha!’ Apparently, he was trying to imitate James Brown, an American singer and songwriter who was a major figure of 20th century music and dance and is often referred to as the Godfather of Soul. Kinda feel bad I never really heard of him before, but then again, I don’t really follow music that closely.

In any event, this ends up working, and Aunt Lois is able to safely make it out of the dining room and back into the hall. At first, the Ghostbusters are left wondering why the Domoviye didn’t follow them out into the hall as well, but Egon reminds them that they’re location spirits and therefore are tied to that specific room. However, they then hear Dr. Bassingame’s yells, revealing that he’s still in the dining room. Even though the Ghostbusters know Dr. Bassingame probably deserves whatever he’s getting right now, they decide they really should do the decent thing and get him out of there. Ray asks Aunt Lois if she’ll allow them to fetch their Ghostbusting gear now. This time, she agrees, apologizing to Ray and announcing that it’s probably best to leave it to them, as they know best.

So the Ghostbusters gear up and return to the dining room, where they proceed to successfully trap all the Domoviye. Which I admit makes me feel pretty sorry for the Domoviye. It was established earlier that these were helpful ghosts and they were only acting up because they were angered. It just seems to me that there had to have been a better solution to the problem than simply trapping them. But I suppose I really shouldn’t expect too much from a 20 minute episode. And for all we know, the Ghostbusters later released them after they calmed down a bit. Anyway, when Aunt Lois cautiously reenters the dining room after the last ghost has been trapped, it becomes clear that the combined antics of the Domoviye and the Ghostbusters attempts and catching them left a pretty big mess in the dining room. The Ghostbusters apologize for the mess, but Aunt Lois reassures them that the Domoviye caused most of the damages.

Of course, there’s still the matter of Dr. Bassingame, who takes this chance to announce he still expects payment for his services. Upon hearing this, Aunt Lois becomes incensed, appalled that he has the gall to demand payment when it was his actions that led to her dining room getting destroyed. Dr. Bassingame, however, doesn’t bat an eye and shows her the contract that she’d signed earlier, which clearly states that he was not liable for any damages that resulted from spiritual work on the premises. Obviously, this was clearly a low handed tactic meant to make us dislike this guy even more, but I am wondering how the Ghostbusters typically handle things when their Ghostbusting actions cause sizable damages. Don’t forget, it was stated earlier in the episode that they did leave a mess behind at the Guggenheim. So do they take a similar stance as Dr. Bassingame in regards to damages that occur during busts, or do they include a complementary discount on the bill? Either way, I guess it doesn’t really matter in this case, as Peter and Ray are able to blackmail him into essentially ripping up the contract by threatening to find out where he lives and releasing all the Domoviye there. This does the trick, and Dr. Bassingame writes out a check for Aunt Lois. Of course, it then turns out that Aunt Lois might have a vindictive side to her, in spite of the sweet old lady persona she’s been displaying throughout the episode, for she chooses to not warn him that a single Domovoy has decided to hitch a ride on his back. Which I guess is meant to indicate that this particular Domovoy will end up following Dr. Bassingame home, where it will continue to terrorize him. Though this doesn’t make much sense, as it was clearly stated earlier that the Domoviye were tied to Aunt Lois’ dining room. So how was this one remaining Domovoy able to leave with Dr. Bassingame? And even if this was possible, the Domoviye were supposed to be peaceful unless angered. So if this Domovoy took up residence in Dr. Bassingame’s place, wouldn’t it simply settle down and become the dormant, docile ghost it was supposed to be? Because I doubt Dr. Bassingame typically hosts fake séances at his place.

So, while the ending of this episode does leave you with some lingering questions, the story as a whole was still enjoyable. And it does present a subtle moral about trusting TV spiritualists, mediums and psychics. Because the world sadly is full of people like Dr. Bassingame, who go on TV pretending that they can communicate with ghosts and spirits by relying on cold readings in order to make a quick buck, and have no qualms about scamming people who are grieving the death of a loved one. In fact, John Oliver did a segment on these scam artists, which you can find on YouTube. It’s well worth a watch, especially because you get to see some of these so-called ‘psychics’ get caught in their lies. However, I am wondering about one thing. Aunt Lois stated at the start of the episode that she was experiencing headaches. Well, Dr. Bassingame clearly made her believe spiritual activity was causing the headaches, but since he was a con artist the whole time, then… does that mean that Aunt Lois might be suffering from some sort of medical issue? Because if the headaches were happening frequently enough that Aunt Lois would actually seek him out in the first place, that might be an indication that something could be wrong with her physiologically. Then again, we’re clearly not supposed to read too much into these episodes, so she was probably just suffering an ordinary headache.

(Click here for more Ghostbusters reviews)

#the real ghostbusters #rgb episode review #ghostbusters franchise

2 notes · View notes