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| Episode 8 – Season 1 |
Samhain has always been my favorite ghostly villain in the
Ghostbusters world but upon assessing this episode’s overall use of him has
left me a tad disappointed. I love the back-story
on Samhain; the originator of Halloween has a spooky ring to it. I really like the character design for him
as well, the pumpkin head truly represents the holiday. I would have liked to see a more dominant
presence or act done by him through the course of the episode but it doesn’t
happen. He’s mere eye candy in most
scenes and his apparent ignorance of the Ghostbusters leads to a sour ending
for me.
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| Peter doesn't hit on Cynthia? |
The
Ghostbusters begin the episode trapping spirits on Halloween day, very fitting. The rise of spirit activity has sky rocketed
and even caused the ghosts to be more difficult to trap than usual as noted by
Winston. If it’s tough for him I can
only imagine what the other three scientists must be going through with their
weaker physical prowess. Cynthia
Crawford, a reporter, is on the story of the recent ghostbustings going on
throughout the city. I like her presence
in the episode and it’s a shame she’s not integrated into the show more. She would have been able to connect the
Ghostbusters events to the general public more, solid possibilities were there. Later at home after watching the report on TV
Peter, as the TV is turned off, says, “I
think we’ve seen that three more times than we had too.” Winston states, “I don’t like it.” Peter
adds, “Me either, I always look terrible
on TV” one of the funnier moments this episode.
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| You might want to avoid carving this pumpkin. |
Egon is
figuring out why the increased spiritual activity is occurring, in a less than
overall entertaining scene. Slimer is
funnier than usual as he searches for candy in Peter’s jumpsuit during the
conversation they’re all having. Peter
earlier in the scene threatened Egon by using Slimer to slime his sock, Egon
conceded while Peter rewarded Slimer with a lollipop. Egon is suspicious that the Halloween legends
may be true but he hasn’t quite been sold.
You have to admire his stubborn tenacity in discovering the truth. Meanwhile at a museum two goblins release
Samhain from his tomb which is awesome.
It’s a great intro scene for him but alas it may be one of the few
moments done right to do him the justice he deserves. You get to see the immediate effects of his
power as he flies through the night bringing supernatural activity to high
levels. The music selection is a bit
lame from the actual soundtrack it’s taken from, sad times.
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| Blindly rushing out to face the supernatural forces! |
Later
at night in the firehouse Egon and Ray are working together on some random
machine when it breaks all of a sudden.
Egon thought they were building a “Spectral Differentializer” while Ray
thought it was a toaster. It doesn’t
sound like it would be that funny, but it actually is! Janine answers the door for some
trick-or-treaters but gets scared by the two goblins who released Samhain and
the guys head out in a frenzy trying to get a handle on the situation. Samhain meanwhile has the power to make
lesser ghosts gravitate toward him unwillingly; he ‘reels in’ Slimer so to speak
atop a tall building. Samhain senses
Slimer helps mortals and despises him for it.
Samhain seems to be building up an army of ghosts for his plans but has
no knowledge of the containment unit’s plethora of ghosts. Wouldn’t it be wild if Slimer was forced to
reveal that information to him? I
believe that plot course could have provided a more exciting finish to the
episode.
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| Light doesn't brighten up everyone's day. |
Ghosts
are meanwhile terrorizing the city as the Ghostbusters, on foot, try to capture
them all. Where’s ecto-1 guys, how can
you trap more than four ghosts? Are they
running back to the firehouse to empty each trap, no they probably are just
slacking and not catching many ghosts.
Peter probably convinced them since they’re not getting paid for this to
take it easy, ha-ha! They figure out
that time is stopping and it dawns on them that Halloween will last
forever. Samhain is finally pissed off
at them as he slams a section of brick wall near them forcing them to recognize
him. It’s the scene in the episode that
really saves it even though it’s not the best it still could be. I didn’t like Peter recalling a line from the
actual movie about showing Samhain the town, it wasn’t a good line. Samhain tells them to stop bothering him and
his “little ones” as he annoyingly says too much for my liking. I do love it when he states very evilly, “I am Halloween.” I’ve always felt Halloween and the
Ghostbusters is the best possible combination for a successful story. The legend of Halloween that only the
Ghostbusters can stop! I like the power
of Samhain to cause global eternal night.
That’s a big-time supernatural power to possess and he wasted no time in
using it. How they stop that is beyond
me, we’re talking about an immense amount of spiritual energy aren’t we? Alas Egon discovers his weakness, light! So along with the Gremlins, two of my
all-time favorite evil entities hate light.
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| I'm surprised Slimer didn't eat the pumpkin first. |
The
ending is disappointing. Egon gets search
lights in position below Samhain’s haunted building in a silly way. He tricks a pair of ghosts driving a small
car to pull several giant lights into place as the others march up the building
busting ghosts methodically. Samhain
faces them on the top by holding Slimer hostage, weak! You have the power of eternal darkness on a
worldwide scale while becoming stronger as a result of it and you try to hold
Slimer hostage? The Ghostbusters neglect
to blast him several times in the confrontation which is odd behavior
especially from Winston, he always shoots first! It’s an uninteresting conversation between
the forces when Ray simply shouts, “Pizza!” to get Slimer away from his
tortured state in Samhain’s grasp. I can
imagine Samhain reading the script for this episode and muttering, “This is major B.S.” Egon blasts the light on the top of the
building and Samhain gets trapped. Isn’t
Samhain strong enough to resist the beams in the very least? As the Ghostbusters put Samhain to rest in the
containment unit they use their newly installed ghost scope to view him
inside. He sits patiently looking quite
annoyed at his current predicament.
Janine turns off the power and has Slimer float inside a pumpkin to
scare the crap out of the Ghostbusters!
In that sense it ends on a funny note.
I still
like this episode enough for the presence of Samhain and the great potential
story behind his very existence. I admit
being disappointed but thus is the world of the Real Ghostbusters.
Links
Next Up: Look Homeward, Ray - Episode 9
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