Play Them Ragtime Boos

Play Them Ragtime Boos
Air Date Number:	067
Episode Number Dvd:	016
Production Number:	76003
Written By:	Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
Date First Aired:	11/26/1987
Regular Voice Actor(s):	Lorenzo Music Frank Welker Maurice LaMarche Arsenio Hall Laura Summer
Guest Voice Actor(s):	Sharon Noble
Season Aired:	Season 2
On Boxset:	Vol. 1, Disc 3

In Play Them Ragtime Boos, while on vacation in Louisiana, the Ghostbusters find themselves in a town under the influence of mean-spirited jazz-playing ghosts who want to turn the clock back to the 1930s.

Cast

Malachi

Peter Venkman

Egon Spengler

Ray Stantz

Winston Zeddemore

Mary Cuttie

Janine Melnitz

Slimer

Equipment

Ecto-1

P.K.E. Meter

Modified Charged Particle Accelerator

Ectoplasmic Containment Module

Items

Gris-Gris

Location

Muddy Flat

Hotel Boudreaux

Firehouse

New Orleans

Tulane University

Environmental

Time Slip

Plot

Somewhere at a remote home, a ghost played the flute and vanished. While on their way to Mardi Gras/the International Para-Psychological Expo at Tulane University, the Ghostbusters stopped to rest at Hotel Boudreaux in Muddy Flat. However, the place looked rundown and Ray's brochure was printed back in 1925. Peter perked up when the hotel manager, Marie Cuttie, greeted them. The ghost from earlier watched them from afar. At midnight, the ghost is joined by other spirits and they started to play "When the Saints Go Marching In." Ray is possessed by the music and joins the villagers outside. The other three Ghostbusters followed and Egon realized the ghosts caused a Time Slip phenomena.

Marie Cuttie suddenly threw ritual powder and made the ghosts vanish. Everything is restored to normal. As they walked to a diner, Marie explained the entity they encountered is the ghost of a jazz musician named Malachi. He wanted to turn time back to the period when he was famous, which was back in the 1942. He could place people in his thrall using his music. The more people under his control, the more he could modify time. At the diner, Marie admitted she is a Mambo or priestess of Voodoo. But she also revealed she would be no match soon as Malachi was getting stronger. Egon called up Janine and asked her to ship the team's equipment. Janine then sent them via Super Express on overnight delivery.

Egon and Ray talked further about Malachi's plans. If he succeeded Malachi would cause chrono-synclastic infundibulum, a world without progression. The Ghostbusters experienced temporal distortions which put them back in the 1940s, the Civil War Era, and the Cenozoic Era (where they encountered a Megalodon). After studying the P.K.E. Meter, Egon theorized Malachi's para-sympathetic sonic vibrations somehow triggered a synaptic response in musically talented people (he used music to ensnare people). He also began to think he could off set these vibrations with a correctly tuned counter oscillation. Ray and Winston returned and revealed their equipment was erroneously shipped to Hawai'i.

Without their Proton Packs, Ray attempted to create a Makeshift Proton Pack and Ectoplasmic Containment Module from items at Tulane's expo. These didn't work well, so Egon programmed anti-distortion vibrations into musical notation and adjusted several instruments to create a counter oscillation to challenge Malachi's siren song. Using progressively more primal and powerful music, they dispersed Malachi by playing 1980s style contemporary rock music. With the ghost defeated, Peter stubbornly boarded a bus to Mardi Gras. Peter was unaware Mardi Gras was over and Super Express awarded the Ghostbusters an all expenses paid trip to Hawai'i for losing the equipment.

Quotes

Peter: Well, have no fear. The Ghostbusters are here.

Trivia

• The episode was recorded on June 27, 1986.

• The song that Malachi played throughout the episode was "When the Saints Go Marching In".

• There are two versions of this episode which each feature different background music for the parade scene. The television version features standard series music, whereas "Party On His Mind" (performed by Tahiti—from the soundtrack album) is played in the VHS version.

• Peter is more concerned with going to Mardi Gras but the other Ghostbusters aren't able to tell him it's over already by the end of the episode. This places the episode ending about the day before Ash Wednesday in mid-February.

• In keeping with Ghostbuster tradition, Ray is the only Ghostbuster to be possessed (Preternaturally induced hypnogogic ataraxia as Egon calls it).
  • Ray's susceptibility to ghostly mental manipulation can be seen in both movies and several episodes of The Real Ghostbusters.

• Marie admits to being a Mambo, a priestess of Voodoo. She uses ritual powder on Malachi.

• Among Egon's many techno babble lines he remarks that Malichi may cause a "chrono-synclastic infundibulum."
  • This is a term used in "The Sirens of Titan" by Kurt Vonnegut to describe a wormhole-like phenomenon.

• During the prehistoric flashback, Egon refers to the marine predator as a Megalodon, which was a prehistoric shark, though what attacked them was clearly a reptile.

• Peter mentions Philadelphia and Cleveland.

• Peter refers to the situation as a kismet or fated.

• Peter mentions the song "Good Evening Friends"

• Peter refers to the Battle of Gettysburg from the American Civil War.

• The Union and Confederate soldiers in the episode were carrying historically incorrect flags.
  • The thirteen star "Betsy Ross" was flown during the Revolutionary War, not the Civil War.
  • The "Stars and Bars" was used by the Virginia Army but never in Louisiana.

• While Ray is building makeshift equipment, Peter remarks people at NASA could do it faster on their lunch break.

• While Winston is holding the makeshift trap Egon touches it and gets shocked, but while Winston is holding the trap he is not shocked.

• The voice cast recorded this episode on June 27, 1986.

Animation Errors

• When Ray is using the Makeshift Proton Pack, the proton stream was missing when alarm is going off or the proton noise was wrongly still there.

Gallery

Collages and Edits

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Episode Screen Caps

Malachi and his band.

RGB DVD Boxset Features

Episode menu for Volume 1 Disc 3

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