Citizen Ghost

Citizen Ghost
Air Date Number:	011
Episode Number Dvd:	011
Production Number:	75012
Written By:	J. Michael Straczynski
Date First Aired:	11/22/1986
Season Aired:	Season 1
On Boxset:	Vol. 1, Disc 2

"Say 'Goodnight' fellas cause the Real Ghostbusters are here to stay!"

- Ray Stantz; Citizen Ghost

In Citizen Ghost, this flashback story reveals the origins of how and why Slimer came to live with the Ghostbusters, in events immediately following their film encounter with Gozer.

Cast

Cynthia Crawford

Janine Melnitz

Peter Venkman

Ray Stantz

Egon Spengler

Winston Zeddemore

Slimer

Spectral Ghostbusters

Bug-Eye Ghost

Equipment

Ecto-1

Proton Pack

Particle Thrower

Containment Unit

Dimensional Inverter

P.K.E. Meter

Trap

Locations

Firehouse

Plot

Cynthia Crawford, a local television reporter for UBN News, arrived at the Firehouse via taxi cab to do a pre-interview with Peter for a segment on the history of the Ghostbusters. Janine greeted Cynthia but restricted her from going upstairs. After she finished a 30 second countdown, a huge explosion is set off from Egon's laboratory. Peter took Cynthia down to his office to tell Cynthia his life story, when Slimer appeared and Cynthia began to wonder why a group of ghost catchers would have a ghost in their own home. So, Peter began to tell the story of how Slimer came to live with them.

After their battle with Gozer, their headquarters was destroyed and all the ghosts had escaped. So they planned to first rebuild the Firehouse and the Containment Unit. Egon decided this time the Containment Unit would be larger so no problems would arise from overflow. The first order of business was to burn their original uniforms, from the movie, because they absorbed a frightening amount of psychokinetic energy from their battle with Gozer. Luckily though, they had new uniforms that Janine had forgot to tell them about before they left to fight Gozer, so they quickly changed out of them into their current ones.

Sometime later, after the Containment Unit was rebuilt and it became Peter’s responsibility to burn the old uniforms but he just brushed it off saying he has to remember to do that. He kicked them next to the Containment Unit unknowingly next to one last crack that had not found out about in the unit. The uniforms began to absorb energy seeping out from the crack that overtime became much worse. In the rush to rebuild the Firehouse, Peter forgot about the uniforms.

After rebuilding the Firehouse the team sits down to a beautiful meal, when Slimer, who has been watching them, suddenly appeared and grabbed the food from the table. The team chased after Slimer unsuccessfully and he escaped. The team begin to wonder why he stayed around after all the other ghosts escaped. Janine posited Slimer was lonely and the Ghostbusters were the first people to pay any attention to him. They immediately dismissed the theory. Over the next several days, Slimer began to show up more and more all the time to each individual and they each reacted to him in their own way; Egon wanted to study him for science, Winston wanted to be his friend, Ray wanted him as a pet, and Peter wanted to blast him for sliming him back at the Sedgewick Hotel.

One night, the old uniforms suddenly start to walk and begin to take on the appearance of their old wearer complete with spectral Proton Packs. These Spectral Ghostbusters went up to the bedroom and attacked the sleeping Ghostbusters. After getting their own Proton Packs, the Ghostbusters fought back and chased off the ghosts. The team found out that Peter did not burn the old uniforms and they took on a life of their own.

Several days later it has been business as usual. While on a case, the Spectral Ghostbusters reappeared and attacked them again. They wanted to replace them as Ghostbusters. They made it back to the Firehouse where they deduced that the Spectral Ghostbusters shoot out ectoplasmic energy from their guns and Egon came up with two solutions to the problem. One, they could try to disarm them or two, because they are made of ectoplasmic energy make them run out of energy.

While they are talking the Spectral Ghostbusters came into the Firehouse and stole Ecto-1 which had the Ghostbusters' Proton Packs in it. Ray noticed the spare Proton Pack over by their lockers and Peter rushed to grab it while the rest made a distraction to the Spectral Ghostbusters. However, the spare only had half a charge which wouldn't last long against four Spectral Ghostbusters.

As the Spectral Ghostbusters were shooting their ectoplasmic streams at the Ghostbusters, Egon noticed that they became weaker every time they shot. So, someone needed to distract them long enough so they became weak enough to be trapped. Ray volunteered but Slimer doesn’t want Ray to do it. He rushed in, flying around while being fired at. While distracting them, Peter said, "Good job, Slimer," which caused Slimer to stop and thank him but got hit by the Spectral Ghostbusters' streams. Hoping that enough energy has been spent from the Spectral Ghostbusters, Peter shot the ghosts for shooting "his little buddy." The shot blew them out of the Firehouse, and the team ran to Ecto-1 to recover their Proton Packs. They captured the Spectral Ghostbusters, saying "The Real Ghostbusters are here to stay!" Peter relented and agreed to let Slimer live with them.

Cynthia, satisfied with the story, thanked Peter for the interview and left. That night the team is sitting around watching TV when it is revealed that the entire story will be about Slimer and not the team. At first it agitated Peter but he just brushed it off.

Quotes

Cynthia Crawford: Oh, you must be Janine Melnitz. Janine: Well, if I must, I must. Though all things considered, I'd rather be Meryl Streep. But then, wouldn't we all?

Egon: Transtator? Peter: Check. Egon: Field generator? Peter: Check. Egon: Ionization decay meter? Peter: Check. Egon: Plasmatic refractor? Anti-Ectoplasm destruct mechanism? Bipolar adjustor? Peter: Check, check, and [yawn] check. Egon: Transwarp drive? Peter: Check. Egon: AH-HA! Caught you! We don't have a transwarp drive. Peter: If we don't have one, then it can't malfunction. If it's not malfunctioning, then nothing's wrong. And if nothing's wrong, then it checks, right? Egon: I'm not going to talk to you again for at least a week. It's not good for me. Peter: Hey, don't make fun. This is how I got through college.

Ray: Say goodnight, fellas, 'cause the REAL Ghostbusters are here to stay.

Trivia

• "Citizen Ghost" is the eleventh episode and along with "Take Two" covers a lot of Canon topic of the series. This episode address Gozer, the new Uniforms, and how Slimer became the Ghostbusters' pet.
• Ray reveals he was born in the Bronx.
• Peter reveals to Cynthia that he fought a person named Rick in the third grade. Peter noted he was a big guy with bug muscles but the brain of a trout.
• One of the photos hanging on the wall near Peter's office is of the Firehouse, after it blew up during the events of the first film.
• When checking the new Containment Unit, Egon tests Peter by mentioning a transwarp drive. It is a propulsion device from Star Trek.
• Peter instantly recognizes the green ghost as the one who slimed him at the (Sedgewick) Hotel.
• Just to annoy Peter, Ray named the green ghost "Slimer."
• Egon compares Ectoplasm to putty.
• Just like the rest of the episodes of season it uses a track from The Real Ghostbusters Soundtrack. This episode features the song "Charge You Up" in part of the episode.
• When the Spectral Ghostbusters are defeated, Ray shouts the series' namesake.
• The Spectral Ghostbuster version of Ray did not have any lines but when the Spectral Ghostbusters were defeated, one of the old uniforms was floating and Ray's scream can only be heard.
• On page 15 of Ghostbusters Issue #5, this episode title is referenced on one of the newspaper clippings.
• On the Subscription Cover of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #1, the robot and purple lizard toys and tape recorder from Peter's desk make a non-canon cameo.

Gallery

Episode Screen Caps

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Collages and Edits

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RGB DVD Boxset Features

Episode menu for Volume 1 Disc 2

Episode features

Introduction

Previous Episode		Based on		Next Episode
Take Two		Air Date		Janine's Genie
Take Two		DVD Order		Janine's Genie