Slimer, Come Home

Slimer, Come Home
Air Date Number:	004
Episode Number Dvd:	004
Production Number:	75006
Written By:	J. Michael Straczynski
Date First Aired:	10/4/1986
Season Aired:	Season 1
On Boxset:	Vol. 1, Disc 1

In Slimer, Come Home, after ruining Winston's birthday surprise, Slimer leaves the Firehouse for good and wanders the streets of New York... where he soon joins in with a bad crowd of Poltergeists!

Cast

Ghash

Egon Spengler

Ray Stantz

Peter Venkman

Winston Zeddemore

Janine Melnitz

Slimer

Poltergeists (Type of Creatures)

Mrs. Millikan

Equipment

Proton Pack

Particle Thrower

P.K.E. Meter

Ecto 1

Trap

Containment Unit

Locations

Firehouse

Plot

The Ghostbusters are out on a night bust. For three nights in a row, they've been bested by a group of Poltergeists. This group is conducting roaming attacks on random targets, defying their Modus operandi: staying in one place and becoming weaker the further they stray from it. The Ghostbusters are suddenly surrounded by over a dozen Poltergeists who form a giant vortex. Ghash, the prime motivator, hurls empty trash cans at the boys then blows them away. The Poltergeists break off their attack and fly into the sewers.

On the way home, Ray is fuming at losing again. He speculates the Poltergeists must be drawing from some other source of energy or Ghash is feeding on the energy of the small ones. As Winston enters the Firehouse, he's surprised by everyone. A birthday party is being held in his honor. Winston is happy and overcome with emotion, even Egon a little. However, when Janine brings out the cake, Slimer eats it in one gulp. Peter berates him and Ray thinks it hurt his feelings. As the Ghostbusters sleep, Slimer leaves the Firehouse for good. Janine returns with doughnuts and finds a note left by him.

The Ghostbusters put on rain jackets and split up to effectively search for Slimer, except Peter. Meanwhile, Slimer spots a candy store but remembers Peter's harsh words. He moves on and sees a procession of Poltergeists. Peter attempts to sneak out to join the search but Janine catches him. She plays along with his excuse, though. Slimer follows the Poltergeists into a building.

Egon is lost in thought but realizes Slimer is a target if the Poltergeists are looking for ghost energy. One more recruit could make the group unbeatable and terribly, terribly evil. The Poltergeists welcome Slimer in and Ghash attempts to teach Slimer how to be frightening. A group of punks converges on Egon but they break off when one realizes Egon is weirder than them. Egon catches up to Ray who is testing out a new theory of his. Peter runs into Slimer and radios the team.

Ghash begins to absorb all of the Poltergeists and Slimer is forced to comply. Egon notices the individual frequencies are beginning to merge and the Ghostbusters have to act fast or risk losing Slimer forever. They switch the throwers to Slimer's frequency and pull him out. However, Ghash is still powerful and proceeds to kill the team. Slimer helps free them and Egon manages to trap Ghash but the trap wasn't designed to hold so many entities at once. The team rushes back to the Firehouse and Winston deposits the trap into the Containment Unit with success.

A Welcome Back party is held for Slimer. Even Peter admits he missed Slimer a little. Winston brings out a cake but Slimer eats it. Luckily, they unveil a back up cake. Ray remembers he taught Slimer a new trick and has the spud show it off to everyone... much to their disgust.

Trivia

• This episode is one of seven episodes from the early seasons to be re-dubbed with Dave Coulier and Kath Soucie. It was rebroadcast as part of season four. The second version was not included on the DVD. Multimedia samples can be found on Spook Central's Alternate Episodes page.
• After Peter shoots the trash cans, he mentions he watched a Clint Eastwood movie the previous night.
• While caught in the vortex, Peter references the Wizard of Oz. This is the first of many references to the work over the course of the series.
• During the surprise party, it is revealed Winston's favorite flavor is Blueberry Fudge Cake.
• In the aftermath of the party, Peter refers to the Ghostbusters' first encounter with Slimer, seen in the first film.
• Just like the rest of the episodes of season 1, it uses a track from The Real Ghostbusters Soundtrack. This episode features the song "Remember Home" in part of the episode.
• During the visual commentary on The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection, Brad Rader comments Slimer's good-bye scene was in part inspired by a scene in the 1941 movie "Penny Serenade" starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.
• Ray's theory proves fruitful. He sees his second grade teacher, Mrs. Millikan.
• Slimer's frequency is 500,000 Megahertz.
• One of the Poltergeists resembles Homer Simpson from "The Simpsons" (it is yellow, bald, and has on a white shirt). This is most likely a coincidence considering this episode aired a year before the original Tracey Ullman shorts aired.
• On page 15 of Ghostbusters Issue #5, this episode title is referenced on one of the newspaper clippings.

Animation Goofs

At the beginning, when Ray was driving the Ecto-1, the license plate mistakenly read, "Ectd-1".

Gallery

Episode Screen Caps

Collages and Edits

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RGB DVD Boxset Features

Episode menu for Volume 1 Disc 1

Episode features

Introduction

Introduction

Visual Commentary

Visual Commentary

Visual Commentary

Visual Commentary

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