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In Look Homeward, Ray, when Ray's returns home to a hero's welcome, someone plots to make him look bad in front of his home town, his childhood heartthrob and the Ghostbusters.[2]

Cast[]

Peter Venkman

Egon Spengler

Winston Zeddemore

Slimer

Ray Stantz

Mayor of Morrisville

Elaine Phermon

Alan Favish

Pallo Mansion ghosts

Janine Melnitz

Winged Puma

Mr. Johnson

Equipment[]

Ecto-1

Proton Pack

Particle Thrower

P.K.E. Meter

Magic Spells

Trap

Dimensional Inverter

Locations[]

Grand Central Station

Morrisville

Pallo Mansion

Favish Shoes

Firehouse

Plot[]

The Ecto-1 pulled up to Grand Central Terminal and three of the four Ghostbusters, Peter, Egon, and Winston, quickly run inside. Slimer wanted to come, too, but Peter ordered him to stay put. The trio stopped Ray from boarding a train and unloaded articles, scrapbooks, and film about the Ghostbusters to show to his home town. Ray was invited by his hometown of Morrisville to be the grand marshal in their Winged Puma Parade. Ray revealed the invitation came as a surprise as no one thought he'd amount to anything. Slimer arrived, but scared a bunch of bystanders, and gave his Stay Puft Marshmallow Man doll to Ray. Ray is completely embarrassed. Slimer starts crying and won't stop saying good bye to Ray as he departed. Even Ray gets annoyed and tells him to stop since Morrisville is only 30 miles away.

The Mayor of Morrisville gave a welcome speech for Ray when Elaine Phermon and Alan Favish run on stage to greet him. Favish revealed Elaine inherited the old Pallo Mansion but it is too haunted for any occupants to stay. Ray opened up bus travel case, revealing a Proton Pack, and declared it was time for a demonstration. Ray is relieved when the P.K.E. Meter revealed the ghosts were only Class 2 Mini-Wraiths. However, Favish used his "Magic Spells" to surround them in Negative Energy. The ghosts are transformed and are stronger than they usually are. After they resisted Ray's Proton Streams, tossed him in the trash, and ruined the parade tents, the ghosts happily returned to the mansion. The Mayor was angered at all the property damage since there isn't anymore money in the Treasury to cover repairs. Favish appears from the crowd and offered to pay of it all. Playing into his plans, the Mayor accepted and made him the new grand marshal.

Ray returned to the Firehouse and goes straight to the bedroom without saying much to the guys. After the equipment checks out as normal, Winston tried to tell Ray it was just a bad day. Peter notes it would be pure stupidity if Ray went back. Ray went back to the mansion. Elaine comes up behind him and scares him into a nearby tree. Egon woke everyone up and revealed he found a note left by Ray. They jump into Ecto-1 and took off for Morrisville. As Ecto pulls up to the Pallo Mansion, Favish recalls the Negative Energy from the two ghosts. Egon, Peter, and Winston easily captured them in their normal forms. Ray quits the team and storms off. Favish happened to jog by and offered Ray a job at his shoe store: Hoppy the Boot Bunny. After Favish left for the parade, Winston leaves Ray's Proton Pack up on display and the guys try to come up with a plan to get him back.

When electric shock is disavowed, Slimer donned a disguise and pretended to terrorize the Ghostbusters. The ruse almost worked but Slimer became enamored by an ice cream truck. Ray gets an unexpected visit from Elaine. She doesn't believe any of the past events were his fault. Together, they accidentally discovered Favish's book of spells and rushed off to the parade. The spell countered the Ghostbusters' equipment, which worked on positive energy, but the bigger problem was the build up of Negative Energy. The Winged Puma awakened and destroyed everything in sight. Favish failed to stop it, lost the book, and watched as his shop was stomped on.

Ray got its attention and grabbed a screw driver to reverse the polarity on his Particle Thrower. The gamble worked and the Puma flew off. The Ghostbusters sort of all agree they needed to stop it. Utilizing a float of Ray and a giant shoe, the Ghostbusters directly confronted the Winged Puma. It took the bait and was trapped. The damaged float then touched down on a tree. While Favish worked on rebuilding his store, Ray was made the grand marshal again. However, he mistakenly shot a float of the Winged Puma. Elaine then planted a kiss on Ray's cheek.

Trivia[]

  • The episode was recorded on July 16, 1986.[3]
  • In an episode introduction from The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection, Marc Scott Zicree reveals the inspiration for the episode came from various "Twilight Zone" episodes where the characters go back to their hometown and things go awry.[4]
  • The title is a reference to Thomas Wolfe's "Look Homeward, Angel," a 1929 novel and Wolfe's first.[5]
  • This episode marks another appearance of Slimer's Stay Puft Marshmallow Man doll.
  • Ray says that Morrisville is only 30 miles away from NYC when in reality it is at least 200 miles away.
  • This is one of the few episodes that is about Ray Stantz and his love for Ghostbusting.
  • This is also the only episode where Ray has a love interest, Elaine Phermon.
  • All the spells Favish casts are in Pig Latin; ex; Ell-spa egon-bay!
  • The cover of Alan Favish's Magic Spells tome features a pentagram, the shape of a five-pointed star with long-standing occult associations.
  • Just like the rest of the episodes of season it uses a track from The Real Ghostbusters Soundtrack. This episode features the song "Hometown Hero" in two parts of the episode.
  • Back at the Firehouse, Winston and Peter play a game of Chess.
  • When Winston shows concern for Ray having problems, Peter quips "We knew that back in college."[6][7]
  • There are numerous spelling oddities throughout this episode, including "Ize Cleem" and "Twuck Sreet Twuck."[8]
  • The ice cream truck's license plate is "Drippy 1," a play on Ecto-1's.
  • Peter pronounces "Winged Puma" as "Wing-ed Pyoo-ma" when it first appears in the proverbial flesh.
  • After Ray runs off with one of Mr. Johnson's screwdrivers, Mr. Johnson comments on how Ray always had the weirdest pets.[9]
  • As the Ghostbusters set off on the flying shoe, Winston notes never knowing Ray has a birth mark under his chin.[10]

Animation Errors[]

  • When the Ghostbusters arrive at the Pallo Mansion, Ray appears twice, in place of Winston. Winston appears a few frames later, but in Ray's uniform.
  • About a minute before the end of the episode, Winston's skin is colored incorrectly.
  • Ray's mouth doesn't move when he hands his Proton Pack to Winston and says, "Here, take this. Maybe you can use it for parts."

References[]

  1. Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "Look Homeward, Ray" (1986).
  2. Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 4. CPT Holdings, Inc.
  3. Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "Look Homeward, Ray" (1986).
  4. Marc Scott Zicree (2009).The Real Ghostbusters-"Look Homeward, Ray" (1986) (DVD). Time Life Entertainment.
  5. Marc Scott Zicree (2009).The Real Ghostbusters-"Look Homeward, Ray" (1986) (DVD). Time Life Entertainment.
  6. Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Look Homeward, Ray" (1986) (DVD ts. 07:44-07:45). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "Ray's got problems."
  7. Peter Venkman (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Look Homeward, Ray" (1986) (DVD ts. 07:45-07:47). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "Well, we knew that back in college."
  8. Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 4. CPT Holdings, Inc.
  9. Mr. Johnson (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Look Homeward, Ray" (1986) (DVD ts. 19:59-20:03). Time Life Entertainment. Mr. Johnson says: "Boy always did have the oddest pets."
  10. Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Look Homeward, Ray" (1986) (DVD ts. 20:45-20:48). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "I never knew you had a birthmark under your chin, Ray."

Gallery[]

Collages and Edits[]

Episode Screen Caps[]

RGB DVD Boxset Features[]


 
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