Name of show that this character is from:
The Real Ghostbusters Title of Episode:
Original Air date: September 15,
1987 (NETWORK: Syndication ) Where can I find this episode now?:
The Real Ghostbusters -- Slimefighters (DVD), The Real Ghostbusters --
Manhattan Madness (DVD)
EPISODE TYPE: Recombination
& King Kong Situation (see Common Themes section for more
on this category)
WHAT IS SLIMER?: An anthro,
furry, green slime ghost
IS HE MACRO ORIGINALLY?: No
HOW
DID HE BECOME MACRO?: He is separated into thousands of mini
versions of self and then when recombined is much larger then previously
WHAT DOES HE BECOME AFTER HE GREW?:
Blue colored larger version of previous self.
IS GROWTH SHOWN?: No
HOW
MUCH OF GROWTH STAGES SHOWN?: N/A
MACRO NAME: (If
different from regular sized name) NONE
QUOTE: "Yeah! Yeah!"
SEX: Male
LOCATIONS: New York City
MACRO SIZE (Approx or Average ): 50
feet
NATURE: Chaotic Evil
DESTRUCTION LEVEL DONE: Low - Covers everything in slime causing mass
destruction to be caused
SYNOPSIS OF EPISODE: Egon is
busy doing another experiment that explodes on him sending rubble and
broken room parts down atop him. Peter hangs from a broken pipe in the
room telling Egon to keep it down next time. Ray who is now
glowing comes in excited by Egon's breakthrough. Egon explains that he
finally created what he was working on. After much scientific jargon
that Peter doesn't understand, he explains that it is a Plasmic
Strainer. He explains that it will disintegrate ghost meaning
they won't have to store them any longer. Slimer shows up
suddenly babbling and Peter can't understand a word he is saying. Peter
touches Slimer by accident and blames Slimer for getting slime on his
finger. Ray tells Peter that he came up with a way to communicate with
Slimer. He takes everyone over to the Banana 9000 and tells Slimer to
type something. Slimer types a few things about enjoying working with
computers and the computer starts to tell Ray to stop. Ray admits that
it still needs a little work. Peter tells Ray that he needs work
and starts to chase after Slimer who gets scared. He accidentally flies
into the Plasma Strainer and out from the other side of it hundreds of
tiny Slimers start to fly out. They all start to grab nets trying to
capture them but any time one of the Slimers hits a surface it breaks
into more Slimers. All the Slimers fly out of the room heading
into the city.
Winston and Janine head up into the lab room where all the trouble
started and Winston slips on slime left all over the room. Egon
realizes that it is much worse then he thought. Ray goes to figure out
how long it will take the process to stop and finds out it is over 4000
years much to their shock. And what's worse is that Slimer can never
get back together again due to his Slimic energy being off now. They
are all trying to grow up but can't due to their fragmented make up.
Then Egon realizes that the whole world will be covered in a thin layer
of slime if they don't stop this. Peter slips on some slime falling out
of the room into the hallway. Egon tells them to imagine that happening
world wide. Just as a car accident is heard out their window.
Cars start to crash, people slip on the street and slime falls onto
scores of people. Peter decides that it is time to move and calls the
airport asking how far he can get. They tell him France and he decides
that he will help after all rather then have to go to France.
Before long the whole city and suburbs are covered in slime. Houses,
buildings, streets and sidewalks. No one can move anywhere without
slipping or crashing. Peter decides it is time to alert the mayor about
what has happened. The mayor is less then pleased and tells them
that they have 24 hours to clean this mess and they all agree as they
slip out of the office on slime. Egon realizes that there may be
a way to fix this problem. He thinks if he can reverse the process,
have one of the Slimers slip back through the machine and instead of
breaking apart from one another they will attract one another and
reform. They all think its worth a try but of course they have to try
and capture one of the Slimers.
They all chase the small Slimers all over the building trying to
capture one before long they are all slipping and down unable to. Peter
decides he is going to move as he has had enough of this. Just then
Slimer flies through the machine and comes out of it blue now instead
of green and starts to attract all of the other green Slimers who start
to reassemble with him. More green Slimers start to merge back with him
and more. They decide they better let Slimer outside so the rest can
find him. It starts to work as more and more start to find him and form
back into one Slimer again. The Ghostbusters head up to the roof to get
a better look and make sure its all working properly. They don't see
him and wonder what could have happened. Peter has a bad feeling but
Ray
asks "What can go wrong?" they soon find out as a gigantic blue Slimer
rises up before them. Huge piles of blue slime pour down over
various people coating them in pools of slime. Peter says he is
moving again while Ray and Egon figure that all the little Slimers were
growing and feeding so when they recombined of course they got much
bigger and now all of this has shocked his system causing him to be
evil natured. Egon has another plan. They need helicopters
though. So they go back to see the mayor.
The mayor is less then happy to help them after they request
helicopters he tells them to leave as he cries in agony. The huge
Slimer shows up as they are talking and reaches into the window and
grabs Janine flying off with her. The mayor after seeing this
gives them their helicopters that they fly over the city with their
proton beams attached to. They see the huge Slimer on top of the
Empire State Building holding Janine and finding the whole situation
quite amusing as he laughs at her captive. Janine sees them
approaching and warms Slimer that he will be shot if he puts her down.
He just laughs and puts her down anyway as if to take on the
challenge. He swats at the copters who start to shoot at him.
They circle back and all four shoot him causing him to start to shrink
down in size as he falls off the top of the building returning to his
normal self.
Back at H.Q. they ask a now renewed Slimer how he feels. He types that
he is glad to be back to his old self and they are all glad to have him
back too. That is except for Peter who says one is more then enough. In
which Slimer gives him a slimy kiss and hug.
REVIEW OF EPISODE: Another macro creature to
come out of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. With all the cartoons that
could have and should have been good macro wise with it's themes and
potential, that only wound up falling flat. This is a cartoon
that never did disappoint with it's macro creatures showing up at
different random points. And this is actually a fun one due to
the fact that it deals with a well known character that you may have
always been curious to see macro sized just to see what it would
be like. For the most part it wasn't too bad. A little silly at times
but a nice effort for an early season episode of the
series. I always enjoyed the series as it did capture the flavor
of the movies well enough but also stretched things more since you can
do anything in a cartoon, various creatures of all types and sorts
showed up but most importantly, the writing was very good on the first
few seasons. Later on the series was a little disappointing but that is
another story for another time.
The recombination method of macro isn't one that is
used often. But it has been used a few times and seems to follow the
same formula that this episode did being two separate type of episdoes
in one. The first half being one filled with many little versions of a
creature causing havoc and trouble and constantly duplicating itself
in some manor. Then the second half of the episode is the heroes of the
episode somehow figuring out how to recombine all the creatures back
together
but the result is always a giant of mass proportions being created by
so many creatures being fused into one body. Then it becomes a King
Kong type situation most of the time with the creature doing the stroll
in the city thing and now instead of being thousands of tiny trouble
makers, he becomes one huge trouble maker. Very formulaic it seems but
they can be fun episodes too as you really do get two for the price of
one here. Its almost as if it were two separate stories given each
extreme situation in a quick 23 minute adventure.
Full of humor, sight gags and pop culture references
this episode had a lot going for it. It is a classic in that most fans
of the show will instantly remember the episode that had the thousands
of tiny Slimers running about. It is full of humorous moments of
Peter vowing to move to Pittsburgh and even a weird cameo from some
wanna be Three Stooges who get slimed at various points of this. It was
just so random and out there, that the way it all winds up with a huge
Slimer, it seemed like it was the only way this could end up. Without
even watching this for macro aspects it is a very good episode. And
some may not care about anything but the macro moments, but to me I
actually do take story and situation and other aspects besides just the
big stuff going on in any particular episode. A bad story and badly
written build up to the macro moments can really ruin what could be a
fun moment. Here we have great writing and everyone seems to be having
fun. As if the idea of thousands of tiny Slimers coating the city due
to one of Egon's failed experiments is just another crazy day in the
city when dealing with the Ghostbusters.
Slimer as a macro, or should I call him Slimer
Kong as that is pretty much what they were referencing throughout all
of Slimer's macro moments, was actually a lot of fun if not silly and
not original. It was a bit of a surprise to the viewers that he would
be macro but it does make sense if you figure that all the little
Slimers were separating but were still the same little size. Then by
recombining more of them it should make a much bigger Slimer. Not to
mention a fun ending to this crazy as it was episode. Slimer as
an evil giant was weird but a nice change on the helpful and sometimes
annoying green ghost he usually. Now as a blue giant he must have seen
King Kong one time too many as he copies that situation almost to a
tee. It was another weird homage that was found in here but of course
it has been done so many times before and along with Godzilla is the
most emulated macro situation in various cartoon episodes.
The real problems with this episode and situation was
just that it seemed a little far fetched how the whole situation was
handled. First of all we are to believe that all four Ghostbusters can
fly a helicopter. I do realize that they would have Ecto-2 in later
episodes which is their own personal copter but they make it seem so
easy to just jump into an attack copter and fly it over the city
perfectly circling around the top of the Empire State Building to fire
in unison on a huge 50 foot creature atop of it. Boy if it was so easy
you would think we would have more pilots about with much less training
time needed. Also the real problem was, what did Slimer as a giant hope
to accomplish anyway? Kong in the movie was doing what he
normally
does in his ritual on his island and well to be frank , he had the hots
for the girl he was chasing after and climbing the building with. Here
Slimer grabs Janine and climbs up the building holding her. But he
didn't even use her as a way to prevent from being harmed as he puts
her down when she tells him not to. So I just didn't get the idea of it
besides just to spoof the famous situation in some way. Also I really
hated how the whole city was cleaned up so quickly. One moment we see
everything covered in green slime due to all the mini Slimer's that
were set loose in the area. Then a few moments later after Slimer is
done in and everyone is back at H.Q., everything is all cleaned up ever
so easily. Only in cartoons folks.
My final thoughts on this episode were that while its
great to see a giant Slimer about and he does have some great moments,
it still was missing that something extra to really put it as one of
the best moments ever. Would have been nice if they showed his growth
as he is recombining to add more to the shock value of this. Him rising
up three times over their headquarters was cool but I think showing him
growing would have been better especially for us macro fans out there.
Also if they were a little more original in Slimer as a giant instead
of just copying a movie then it may have been better too. But seeing
him looming atop the Empire State Building and evil is fun for what its
worth. Definitely check it out I say if you always wanted to see a
humongo Slimer on the loose. And he's blue too.. you can't go wrong
there.
RATING:
B+
MEMORABLE QUOTES AND MOMENTS
IN EPISODE:
(And old man and women walk by the
Ghostbuststers HQ as a huge explosion is seen causing windows in the
place to shatter) Man:
"Well.. there goes another piece of the neighborhood.
Woman: "I liked it better when the dynamite factory was here." (Peter
hangs from a broken pipe sticking out of the wall talking to Egon who
is buried in rubble)
Peter: "Hey Egon. Would you mind keeping it down? The neighbors are
complaining. From Alaska!"
****************
(Ray figures out on his computer how long it will take for the Slimers
to stop breaking apart) Ray:
"I was right. Slimer can't go on shattering forever. Past a certain
point he can't get any smaller. All we have to do is wait and all the
little Slimers will come home."
Winston: "How long?"
Ray: "Oh.. uh.. 412 years."
Peter, Egon, Winston, Janine: "412 years?!"
Ray: "Oh no. Heh. Sorry. I misplaced the decimal point." (All four
take a sigh of relief)
Ray: "4,120 years."
*****************
Peter: "I give up. I don't
care if New York gets slimed or not. I can always go live in
Pittsburgh."
Janine: "Pittsburgh?!"
Peter: "If anyone else has any bright ideas. Don't share em. Do they
have ghosts in Pittsburgh?"
*****************
Ray: "Oh dear.." Peter: "Egon! It was your
idea. You tell the mayor. I'm going to Pittsburgh!"
Winston: "Wait for me Peter!"
*****************
Mayor: "Oh I can't stand it.
The center of my city is now called "Slime Square"!
*****************
Winston: "He's sliming the
Empire State Building!" (The huge
blue Slimer sticks his tongue out as he holds the top of the antenna on
the building with Janine in his hand) Peter: "Well .. that will keep
the gorillas off. Where's Fay Wray now that we need her?"
******************
Janine: "Don't put me down
Slimer. They'll shoot you!" (Slimer
grins and laughs putting Janine down on the ledge of the building) Janine: "Uh huh. Right... one
word from me and he does exactly what he pleases."
FINAL NOTES:
*This is the only time in all Seven seasons of the show that
Slimer would be macro sized. There were moments when he was bigger or
different then his usual self but this is the only macro moment
that he would find himself a part of. There were many other ghosts and
monsters though that were macro sized that showed up throughout the
series. The series ran on ABC Saturday mornings and eventually would be
shown in syndication and on cable in repeats.
*There is a strange homage to "The Three Stooges" That shows up in this
episode. Characters that look exactly like Larry, Moe and Curly
show up at various points in the episode getting humiliated, slimed and
doing their usual antics.
*There is also a nod to the movie 2001: A Space Oddesy. When Ray is
talking to the computer it replied "Ray Stop. Stop Ray. I can feel it."
which is what Hal said in the movie to Dave.
*The episode is very similar to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
episode called "Big Zipp Attack" which has a very similar chain of
events occur leading up to the macro creature formed at the end. That
episode came after this one so it can just be a coincidence if not a
direct influence. But since there have been a few other Recombination
themed episodes it could just be seen as a good way to get a macro
creature formed and make for a good climax to the separation situation
that these episodes usually detail.
*Frank Welker was of course as should come to no surprise the voice of
Slimer in this episode and every other episode that had Slimer in
it. His Slimer voice is up there with a few of his
other voices as one of the more famous ones he has done in his
animation vocal career. In
the early seasons like this episode falls in, Slimer was not capable of
speech, but as the character became more of an icon and part of the
focal point, Welker's character would talk more and get much more
highlight as a central character. In this episode though Slimer was
only able to laugh and mumble things. Welker also did the voice
of the Mayor of this episode named Lenny Clotch. Who of course
was a direct spoof of the Mayor of New York City in the 1980's Edward
Kotch.
Errors--
Continuity
--
When Slimer is first seen reassembling one pushes into him making him
more then double in size. Given the fact that there are thousands of
Slimers around Slimer would have been thousands of feet if they had
that much of an effect on him rather then just the 50 or so feet that
he was in his giant size.
Continuity -- Slimer rises up over
the building two times in the same moment which isn't possible. The
first time they see him they are in shock as he roars out at them. And
then they look again and he starts to rise up again over the same part
of the building to the same position.
Continuity -- After they
finish reducing Slimer they head back to their headquarters and all the
slime in the city and that was coating their place is gone with no
explanation of how all the slime was cleaned out so quickly as the
events shown at the end take place moments after they finished reducing
Slimer.
+ :It
was a fun and humorous episode. Slimer made for a fun King Kong wanna
be giant. Same wit and excellence you expect from a Ghostbusters
episode that is found here. Not often you see a macro creature like
this.
-
:A little silly at points. A lot of the
situations didn't make sense and were forced. A lot of the jokes fall
flat. For such a big build up , Slimer sure is defeated quite
easily. No growth shown. They show him reassembling at one point
then we don't see him again until he is already at his giant size.
