Voice cast
Regular voices were provided by Dave Coulier, Frank Welker, Maurice Lamarche, and Buster Jones. Kath Soucie does not reprise Janine Melnitz here; according to the episode call sheet and SAG reports she instead provides incidental voices.4 Guest voices included J.P. Dizon, Jesse Dizon, and Robert Ito.
Plot
At Yamani Studios, a forklift operator moves film reels into Sound Stage 4 past a stockade of drums filled with caustic chemicals. Several drums tip over onto the reels, and the resulting reaction sends a trail of ectoplasm out through a hole in the wall and down into the sewers. Nearby, a boy named Kenji is reading an issue of a monster magazine when three bullies steal his hat and throw it into the river. As Kenji watches, the ectoplasm flow carries the hat out to Tokyo Bay. Out in the bay, fishermen haul up a slime-covered net, and a giant seaweed monster rises from the ectoplasm to attack their boat before swimming ashore. Kenji recognizes it as Nori-ra.
The Ghostbusters and Slimer arrive at the Tokyo airport to a modest reception, where Slimer turns out to be far more famous in Japan than the Ghostbusters themselves. Chief Inspector Ogata meets them, hands Ray photographs of the monster, and provides their transportation: a vehicle called Ecto-Ichi and a Mini-Phone communicator watch for Egon so he can reach headquarters. Kenji tries to get their attention but is taken for an ordinary fan.
En route, Ecto-Ichi's dense control panel becomes a hazard: the team encounters traffic and, while searching for the red lights, discovers the vehicle is fitted with a laser disc player, CD player, onboard computer, and fax machine. Peter accidentally activates the loudspeaker; Egon inadvertently engages a hovercraft mode and Ecto-Ichi lifts off before they spot the monster below. When the team catches up to the seaweed monster, their proton streams pass straight through it. Egon takes P.K.E. readings and advises a setting of 4000, which vaporizes the creature like film tearing apart. There is no trace of psychomagnotheric residue. Kenji catches up and insists the monster was Nori-ra, and Ray recalls it from a 1960s movie titled "Lizardo Meets Nori-ra." Peter dismisses the implications and pushes to enjoy Tokyo; Winston asks Kenji how many Lizardo movies exist. Twelve, says Kenji.
A giant crab monster, Kani, emerges next. Ray identifies it from the film "Lizardo and the Crab Monster from Space." Being larger than Nori-ra, Kani shrugs off the proton streams until Slimer slimes its eyes and Egon recalibrates to a setting of 9000. The blast vaporizes the crab but drains the packs. Peter and Winston note the packs are out of power. Egon wants to investigate the movie studio Kenji mentioned. At Yamani Studios, Kenji shows them the ectoplasm flow, the product of a chemical chain reaction, and Slimer follows it up a drain pipe to Sound Stage 4 just as the next manifestation begins. Lizardo emerges from the studio, and the team retreats to track it while the military tries and fails to stop it.
Egon calculates that destabilizing Lizardo requires a gigawatt of auxiliary energy. Kenji points out the Tokyo Tower as a power source, noting it is where Lizardo fought the Dreaded California Roll in the movies. Once primed from the tower, the packs will have only ten seconds to fire before they fry. Lizardo meanwhile terrorizes the Bullet Train. Kenji suggests using an air raid siren to lure Lizardo, since in the films the creature mistakes the wail for a female lizard. Lizardo is drawn toward the tower, stepping over Zojoji Temple without damaging it. The plan works, but Lizardo grows bored and wanders off, smashing Ecto-Ichi as Kenji baits him back into range. The team vaporizes Lizardo with two seconds to spare. Back at the airport, Ray credits Kenji for the win, and the three bullies turn up having styled their hair to match the Ghostbusters.
Production
The script went through two drafts in spring 1991, the first dated March 22 and the second March 28,56 and the episode was recorded on May 6, 1991.3 The term "psychomagnotheric," coined in Ghostbusters II, is used for only the second time on the series in this episode.
Several details changed between the March drafts and the finished episode. In the drafts Slimer wore sunglasses, an ascot, and a beret; in the aired version he wears a headband and a gi.7 In the scripted version Lizardo manifested before the team reached Yamani, with Ogata alerting Egon by Mini-Phone,89 and Kenji taunted Lizardo without using Ecto-Ichi.10 The cargo jet the Ghostbusters arrive on was scripted as a Japan Air Self-Defense Force model, and the Japan Self-Defense Forces appear to battle Lizardo.11 The tank designs were reused from "Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream" and the rocket launcher design from "Russian About."
Trivia
The episode features several real Tokyo landmarks, including the Tokyo airport, Tokyo Bay, the Tokyo Television Tower, and Zojoji Temple. Banners at the airport read "Slimer!" (スライマー!) and "Ghostbusters" (ゴーストバスターズ) in Japanese, and an Asian arrangement of the show's theme plays on the team's arrival. The No-Ghost logo on Ecto-Ichi is rendered as a samurai ghost, and the Ghostbusters' spiky hairstyles are a nod to the anime look.
By Kenji's count there are twelve Lizardo movies, and he claims to have seen all of them ten times. A few additional Lizardo films are named without their monsters appearing, including "Lizardo vs. The Blue Beetle" and the picture in which Lizardo fought the Dreaded California Roll at the Tokyo Tower.
The character Lizardo received later nods in the IDW comic series: a Lizardo movie advertisement appears on page 13 of Ghostbusters Issue #3, and Lizardo dolls are visible among the merchandise in the background of Ghostbusters Issue #6 page 5.
Two versions of the episode exist: in one, a shot after Ray says "OK, Lizardo. Come to mama" shows Lizardo blocked by a bridge, while the other has nothing blocking him.
Episode order
In both air-date and DVD orderings, this episode follows "Not Now, Slimer!" and precedes "20,000 Leagues Under the Street."
References
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Eatock, James and Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 42. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Mueller, Richard (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Five Disc Two, "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" Script title page. CPT Holdings, Inc. Line reads: "#140-605."
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Marsha Goodman (1991). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" (1991).
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Per the episode call sheet and SAG reports, Kath Soucie provides incidental voices for the episode rather than reprising Janine.
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Mueller, Richard (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Five Disc Two, "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" Script title page. CPT Holdings, Inc. Line reads: "First Draft March 22, 1991."
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Mueller, Richard (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Five Disc Two, "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" Script title page. CPT Holdings, Inc. Line reads: "Second Draft March 28, 1991."
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Mueller, Richard (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Five Disc Two, "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" Script p. 7. CPT Holdings, Inc. Line reads: "All the cameras are pointed at Slimer who--now wearing sunglasses, an ascot, and beret--is happily mugging for them, alternately waving and clasping his hands overhead like a prizefighter."
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Mueller, Richard (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Five Disc Two, "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" Script p. 29. CPT Holdings, Inc. Ogata says: "Ghostbusters! Emergency! Another monster!"
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Mueller, Richard (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Five Disc Two, "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" Script p. 29. CPT Holdings, Inc. Line reads: "Lizardo, a spectral-frilled lizard with bulging frog-like eyes, rises out of the Bay."
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Mueller, Richard (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Five Disc Two, "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" Script p. 39. CPT Holdings, Inc. Line reads: "Kenji puts his thumbs in his ears, wiggles his hands, and sticks his tongue out at Lizardo."
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Mueller, Richard (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Five Disc Two, "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" Script p. 6. CPT Holdings, Inc. Line reads: "The plane, a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force cargo jet, sits on the tarmac, surrounded by dignitaries."
