Plot
A crowd gathers for the opening of New York City's newest convention center, Plump Towers. Mayor Lenny and the building's financier, J. Portman Plump, preside over the ceremony and cut the ribbon. Plump takes the microphone from the Mayor and welcomes the center's first guests, the American Association for the Advancement of Oral Hygiene. One of the dentists, Fred, remarks that it looks better than Des Moines, then shocks the Mayor with a joy buzzer. When the Mayor asks about the other convention, Plump reveals it is called Deadcon 1 and guesses the attendees are a bunch of undertakers.
The weather turns dark and menacing. An antiquated carriage pulls up and an English Ghost in Victorian-era clothing flies out of it and into the Towers, sending the staff fleeing in terror. At the firehouse, Janine Melnitz takes the call and sounds the alarm. The team races over in Ecto-1, enters the lobby, and opens fire on a figure hanging from the chandelier. It drops into the fountain and turns out to be a dentist. Plump scolds them and takes them to his office, where he reveals the ghosts are gathered on floors 12 through 19, but demands the Ghostbusters get rid of them without using their gear.
Ray Stantz agrees, since so many ghosts gathering in one place is suspicious and might be something big. With the staff gone, the team goes undercover as hotel workers so the ghosts will not leave for lack of service. Ray works the front desk and checks in an assortment of entities, including an African Fetish Ghost, a Manitou, a Samurai Ghost, an Arab Ghost, the ghost of Louis XVI and a Mummy, which signs its name in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Egon Spengler acts as bellhop and hauls the Mummy's sarcophagus to the elevator. Winston Zeddemore handles the phones and fields a complaint from a ghost about the dentists next door making too much noise. Janine calls to say someone from Deadcon 1 has made an unbelievable request; Ray, not wanting to arouse suspicion, tells her to do whatever they ask.
Peter Venkman runs room service on the 16th floor and is sucked into room 1631, barely hanging onto the door as a huge skull-like head rises from a swirling void. He and his empty tray are thrown back into the hall covered in slime. With no useful intelligence gathered, the team learns that Deadcon 1's opening banquet is set for that night, at the same time as the dentists' masquerade ball. While the Ghostbusters prepare appetizers, Plump passes along the Deadcon committee's special order: 1,000 gallons of hot chocolate in a single cup. Then familiar footsteps approach, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man arrives. As Ray wonders how he escaped the Containment Unit, Janine announces that she let him out, because Deadcon wanted Stay Puft as their keynote speaker and Ray had told her to do whatever they asked. She also demands overtime.
Eavesdropping on the banquet, Ray and Peter overhear that the delegates have gathered to plan and carry out Doomsday. Ray blurts out that it is time to get the equipment, and the committee chases the pair into the kitchen. Egon and Winston join them and the team runs to Plump's office for their gear. The ghosts kidnap Plump and crash the dentists' ball. The Ghostbusters split up and try to trap the ghosts, but cannot work fast enough and are soon surrounded. Peter declares a conga line and leads it into the lobby, then steps out and uses about three dozen traps to catch nearly all of the ghosts. The English Ghost and Manitou remain, dangling Plump from a disco ball; Egon fires while Ray and Winston break Plump's fall, then Egon and Peter trap the final two. Winston loads the traps into Ecto-1 and the team drives off, only to realize on the way back that they forgot one. At Plump Towers, the dentists award Stay Puft the prize for best costume.
Ghost attendees
Several one-appearance ghosts make up the Deadcon 1 roster, appearing only in this episode.
English Ghost is the episode's main antagonist, a Victorian-era specter who arrives by ghost coach and leads the opening banquet's chant for Doomsday. He and the Manitou are the last delegates to be captured, using Plump as a hostage from the disco ball until Egon confines both in a proton stream. Maurice LaMarche provides the voice.
Manitou is one of the Deadcon ringleaders and the English Ghost's co-conspirator in the final confrontation. Together they dangle Plump from the disco ball until Egon fires and the others catch Plump's fall, at which point Egon and Peter trap them both.
Huge Skull-like Head is a giant floating skull that occupies room 1631 and transforms the room into a swirling void. When Peter arrives with room service it pulls him inside, coats him in ectoplasm, and hurls him back into the hallway. Arsenio Hall provides the voice.
Mummy is a delegate who signs its name in Egyptian hieroglyphics at check-in. Egon hauls its sarcophagus to the elevator while working undercover as bellhop. During the conga-line finale the Mummy joins the line and is trapped by Peter. Guest voice Frank Campanella provides the character.
Hideous Skeletal Ghost is a humanoid skeleton capable of levitation. It mingles freely with the dentist convention during the masquerade ball and is ultimately captured there.
Additional delegates who check in to Plump Towers include an African Fetish Ghost, a Samurai Ghost, an Arab Ghost, the ghost of Louis XVI, and a Female Vampire Ghost.
Production and trivia
The episode was recorded on December 12, 1986.2 In the episode introduction, Michael Edens said he and his brother Mark wrote the story because their friends always talked about conventions and the two of them had never attended one. Plump Towers is a parody of the real-life Trump Tower, and Mayor Lenny again sports a different design from his previous appearances. Slimer does not appear.
A September 10, 1986 draft of the script contained material cut from the finished episode. In that version the firehouse scene had the Ghostbusters playing "Monotony," a game patterned after Monopoly; Peter was winning until he landed on Winston's sole property, which had 60 motels, 42 condominiums, nine shopping centers, and a major university, and ended up owing him eight million dollars before deciding to take the case instead.3 The same draft included a guest request from room 1302 for a live chicken to be used in a religious ceremony.4 In the finished episode, Ray also asks Egon about a Particle Throwing Tank he has been working on.
Footage from this episode was later reused in "Russian About" to depict a different convention. The previous episode by air date was "Masquerade."
Animation errors
When the team slides down the firehouse pole, all four are already wearing their proton packs.
References
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Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 21. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Deadcon 1" (1986).
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Edens, Mark and Edens, Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Three, Disc Five (DVD commentary), p. 4-6. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Edens, Mark and Edens, Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Three, Disc Five (DVD commentary), p. 14-16. CPT Holdings, Inc.
