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In The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!, much to his comrades' displeasure Peter sells the Ghostbusters' television rights and telecasts the new show live from Al Capone's tomb in order to stage the fake appearance of his ghost at midnight. Unfortunately, the real Al Capone shows up, and he's angry.[3]

Cast[]

Egon Spengler

Ray Stantz

Winston Zeddemore

Peter Venkman

Slimer

Janine Melnitz

Louis Tully

Al Capone

Manny

Al Capone's Gang

North Side Gang

ABC Executive

Equipment[]

Proton Pack

Particle Thrower

Trap

Ecto-2

Helmet Ecto Goggles

P.K.E. Meter

Binoculars

Radio

Items[]

Al Capone's Baseball Bat

Magic Crystals

Locations[]

Mount Carmel Cemetery

P.S. 7 Abraham Lincoln

Netherworld

Plot[]

Peter sold the TV rights for lots of money before the other Ghostbusters could stop him. They were stuck on national TV hosting an ABC Entertainment special focusing on Al Capone's tomb. Egon refused to speak as Ray and Winston passed over the cemetery on Ecto-2. Peter took over hosting and presented a fake legend that Al Capone's ghost appeared every 10 years at midnight. A brief history of Capone is played. It started with a young Capone accused but never proven of cutting down a cherry tree, blackmailing classmates for protection money, later moving to Chicago to become a mob kingpin, and spending the last years of his life in prison. Peter checked in on Slimer, Louis, and Janine but Egon suddenly got strange readings on the P.K.E. Meter.

Peter received a note they were still on the air and the audience heard everything they were talking about. Al Capone's ghost appeared and warned the Ghostbusters to stop talking about him. Egon confirmed a fourth magnitude supernatural disruption just took place from all around everyone. Midnight struck, and Louis pretended to be the ghost of Al Capone. Egon was not amused. Peter pulled out his thrower and taunted Capone. The real Capone had enough and teleported the Ghostbusters and Slimer away. Egon and Peter landed first, then Slimer landed on Peter's head, and they all ran away before Ecto-2 landed on them. A 1934 Ford opened fire on them. The bullets were ectoplasmic. Egon realized they were pulled into the Netherworld. A ghost stepped out of the Ford and demanded they come with him to see Da Boss, Al Capone.

After arriving at Capone's residence, Slimer helped himself to some clothes and dressed as a mobster. Capone appeared to the Ghostbusters with a strange baseball bat. He asserted he was still the toughest guy in Chicago and took the TV special as an offense. While Egon worked on adjusting his thrower, the others distracted Capone but the equipment still failed. Luckily, other ghosts conducted a raid on Capone. While he and his gang were occupied with returning fire, the Ghostbusters and Slimer ran out of the building. A ghost was waiting for them and instructed them to get into a van. The Ghostbusters were taken to a meeting of mobster ghosts opposed to Capone. The leader proposed a deal: they'll get the Ghostbusters back home, if the Ghostbusters got rid of Capone. The guys learned the ghosts called a truce on the other side and wanted to retire on the other side to be legitimate businessmen but Capone took over the whole joint and resurrected the old ways instead. Peter agreed to the deal and pointed out Slimer was their boss. Ray chimed in and introduced Slimer as "The Spud." The leader didn't understand The Spud so Egon translated and asked for help since their technology didn't work. The leader gave Egon Magic Crystals that would help make the throwers work. Egon was skeptical but the leader pointed out the crystals were guaranteed to work. A label on the underside of the crystals promised such.

As Ray and Winston rigged up Ecto-2 incognito, a moll flirted with Ray. However, her boyfriend showed up. It was Manny, Capone's #1 henchman. Ray and Winston drove away with Manny in hot pursuit. Egon and Peter provided cover and trapped Manny successfully with the new modifications. The Ghostbusters and their allies conducted a raid on Capone. Angered by this, Capone took his bat and grew to the size of a building. The ground assault came to a screeching halt when Slimer crashed. Winston asserted they needed to destroy the bat in order to trap Capone. Against Ray's wishes, Winston went it alone and ejected Ray. Winston set the automatic self-destruct on his Proton Pack and flew right into Capone's reach. At the last second, he ejected. The combined destruction of the pack and Ecto-2 disintegrated the bat. Now defenseless, Capone was trapped by Ray, Egon, and Peter. While Peter tried to cut the leader in a deal, he teleported the Ghostbusters back to the physical plane.

Meanwhile, Janine wrapped up the TV special. There was a flash of light and the Ghostbusters and Slimer were back. Janine ran over and hugged Egon. However, no one believed their story. A TV executive congratulated the Ghostbusters. After they vanished, the show got in calls asking about them. It was the biggest ratings since the election and he couldn't wait until the next one. Confused, Winston inquired what he meant. The executive revealed the deal Peter signed was for two specials. He envisioned the next to be, "Live! From the Center of the Bermuda Triangle!" Peter ran away as the others angrily chased after him.

Trivia[]

  • The episode was recorded on July 12, 1989.[4]
  • This episode has no formal title screen after the title sequence, so the exact episode title is unknown. Two episode titles are known to exist:
  • The bio reel about Al Capone references the cutting of a cherry tree, a play on a tale attributed to George Washington.
  • Peter does a spin on Merry Melodies' "That's All Folks" ending and says "That's Al Folks".[7]
  • During the special, Winston wanted to say "Hi" to his mother in New Jersey.[8]
  • For this episode, BS&P requested that the term "Netherworld" not be used because it would be associated with Hell and Satan so they suggested "spiritworld."[9]
  • In the ghost world, Peter references "Geraldo" (Rivera), who once hosted an ABC special called "The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault."[10]
    • Like the fictional Ghostbusters progam, Geraldo's special was a flop, when the contents of the largely empty vault failed to justify the advance publicity for the show.
  • Jocko Marcellino guest stars as the voice of Al Capone.
  • Peter invokes one of the classic gangster movie lines, "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"[11]
  • As Peter is shoved into a meeting of Capone's rivals, he mentions James Cagney, a famous actor known for playing tough guys.[12]
  • A ghost refers to Egon as "a regular Einstein."[13]
  • Peter invokes another gangster movie euphemism, "Curtains!"[14]
  • After a car crash, Peter asks his dad to borrow the car for prom and promises to get it back in one piece.[15]
  • The ABC executive mentions the Ghostbusters special got the best ratings since "the election." In the time frame of the story, the most recent U.S. presidential election was in 1988 between George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.[16]
  • The second special the Ghostbusters were contracted for was to be "Live from the Center of the Bermuda Triangle."
  • This was one of the few episodes that didn't have an appearance of the Firehouse.

Animation Errors[]

  • When busting one of Al Capone's goons, the Ghostbusters look as if they are blasting him with invisible proton streams.

Notes[]

  1. J. Michael Straczynski On Twitter confirming he wrote the episode.

References[]

  1. Marsha Goodman (1989). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989).
  2. straczynski Tweet 5/6/19 J. Michael Straczynski says: "...of those I wrote (better to pick on my own work than someone else's), the least successful was Life From Al Capone's Tomb. There was this whole Geraldo Rivera "Live From" thing going on, and I thought I'd poke it with a stick, but that led to the episode feeling... a bit forced, and too cute, and too self-aware. It also tied it too much to that moment in time, when most of our stores were more evergreen in nature. I know some folks like that one a lot but for me if the negatives fell off a pier somewhere I wouldn't cry over it."
  3. Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 33. CPT Holdings, Inc.
  4. Marsha Goodman (1989). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989).
  5. Spook Central Live! From Al Capone's Tomb!
  6. Spook Central Real Ghostbusters Books
  7. Peter Venkman (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989) (DVD ts. 04:10-04:11). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "That's Al folks."
  8. Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989) (DVD ts. 04:19-04:21). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "Can I say 'hi' to my mom in New Jersey?"
  9. Straczynski, J. Michael (1991). "Censoring Children's Television" Penthouse Volume 22 #10 (June 1991), page 148. Bob Guccione, USA. Line reads: "For "Live From Al Capone's Tomb!" we were told, "Please [refrain from using] the term 'netherworld' in order to avoid allusions to hell, Satan, et cetera. Suggest 'spiritworld' as a substitute." That certainly clarifies things."
  10. Peter Venkman (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989) (DVD ts. 08:04-08:07). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "How come this stuff never happens to Geraldo?"
  11. Peter Venkman (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989) (DVD ts. 14:16-14:18). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"
  12. Peter Venkman (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989) (DVD ts. 14:49-14:53). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "I'll have you know, I'm a close personal friend of Jimmy Cagney!"
  13. North Side Gang (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989) (DVD ts. 15:06-15:09). Time Life Entertainment. Goon says: "Yeah, a regular Einstein."
  14. Peter Venkman (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989) (DVD ts. 19:05-19:10). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "Okay, Rodney, it's curtains for you see? Curtains!"
  15. Peter Venkman (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989) (DVD ts. 21:02-21:11). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "Aah, I'm fine, Dad. Can I borrow your car for Prom tonight? I...I promise I'll get it back in one piece this time."
  16. ABC Executive (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!" (1989) (DVD ts. 24:26-24:27). Time Life Entertainment. Executive says: "It's the biggest thing since the election."

Gallery[]

Episode Screen Caps[]

Collages and Edits[]

RGB DVD Boxset Features[]

 
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