Plot
Late one evening, while Egon tinkered in the garage bay and the others slept upstairs, an earthquake rocked the city. Winston came down the fire pole to check on Egon. Elsewhere, a police squad car flipped over. The two officers stumbled out and tried to radio for aid. They spotted a nearby subway stairwell lit up, and the younger officer grabbed a camera and photographed a red orb that flew out of the subway. The quake stopped soon after. The senior officer sent the other to take the film to the station while he stayed to guard the car. The red orb landed on a balcony, became a giant entity that expelled flames, then transformed into a well dressed gentleman who strode into a party.
The next morning, the guys cleaned up the mess in the garage bay. Egon explained that the line recorders had picked up a psychic energy reading that went off the scale. Ray was intrigued by the protonic anomaly, but Peter predicted the Ghostbusters would take the blame. Almost on cue, the two officers who had witnessed the entity arrived and handed over a photograph of the red being. Peter assured them the team could catch it, then announced they only had to look it up in Tobin's Spirit Guide.
At the Midtown Pier, a dock worker transformed into the red entity after a steamer collided with another ship near the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2. He flew the steamer to the docks before it could sink, and the passengers cheered as the entity flew off. Back at the firehouse, Egon ran a search on a new computer version of Tobin's Spirit Guide and identified the being as Marduk, Babylonian god of the city. Winston was not pleased it was another god, but Ray noted he seemed to be a force for good. Egon raised a concern: Marduk had an eternal adversary, a giant five-headed dragon named Tiamat.
In Central Park, a mounted officer woke a man asleep on a park bench, and the officer's horse was inexplicably drawn to the man before walking off on its own. The man then transformed into a sailor and hailed a cab. A green orb landed and revealed itself as Tiamat. Meanwhile, Ecto-1 was stuck in a giant traffic jam. The universal mounted on the car had jammed, so Egon fixed it on the spot. An angry motorist confronted the team, but Peter pointed him to the roof-mounted universal aimed his way, and the motorist, mistaking it for a weapon, backed off. With the universal working again, it picked up Marduk's emanations, and Egon also caught something else on the P.K.E. Meter. Peter advised handling one at a time.
The Ghostbusters arrived at Grand Central Station in search of Marduk. After setting their P.K.E. Meters to "infinite," they tracked him through a series of disguises as he turned into a sleepy guard, a nun, a businessman, and others to give them the slip. Winston spotted a Santa, and the team surrounded him. Egon tried to greet him properly, and Marduk changed into a more appropriate form.
Marduk said he liked New York and planned to settle down. He apologized for the subway and promised to fix it, but became irritable when Egon brought up Tiamat, admitting he had lost the dragon in ancient China. Tiamat then flew over Grand Central. Enraged, Marduk took his true form and vowed to defeat the dragon, but the Ghostbusters offered a strategy that would not wreck the city. Central Park was cleared and the perimeter sealed by police. Egon drove Ecto-1 in, Peter watched from a tree, Winston observed from the ground, and Ray took off in Ecto-2. Ray opened fire on Tiamat but was blasted down into a pond. Marduk pounced on the dragon and was tossed away. Peter and Winston joined the fight, the latter appearing on horseback.
Tiamat was led to Ecto-1, where Egon manned a cannon on the roof. The Ghostbusters opened fire and forced the dragon to disperse. They concluded Marduk had dispersed as well, reasoning the two were locked in an ecto symbiosis where one could not exist without the other. As the team left the park, the horse Winston had ridden transformed into a blonde police officer who broke the fourth wall, smiling and tipping his cap to the audience before walking off, a sign Marduk had quietly survived.
Marduk and Tiamat
Marduk is the Babylonian god of the city, able to assume the form of any citizen, human or animal, by expelling red energy that he can also use offensively. In his true form he has four eyes and four ears for heightened perception, can breathe fire, possesses tremendous strength, and can fly. Across the ages he traveled from city to city hoping to settle down, naming Babylon, Athens, Rome, Peking, Paris, and London among the places he had been. In the episode he assumes twelve different civilian forms. He is voiced by Stanley Ralph Ross.3 See the Marduk page for full detail.
Tiamat is his eternal rival, a giant five-headed dragon and the episode's main antagonist. The two fought for centuries before Marduk believed he had lost the dragon in ancient China, only for Tiamat to manifest in Central Park shortly after Marduk reached New York. Tiamat is voiced by William Hubbard3 and Arsenio Hall. More on the creature is on the Tiamat page.
Both Marduk and Tiamat were referenced again in the IDW Publishing comics continuity: images of each appear in Ghostbusters: Get Real #1 and #3, and Tiamat is referenced in Ghostbusters Volume 2 #15.4
Equipment and locations
Equipment featured includes Ecto-1, the Containment Unit, the P.K.E. Meter, Tobin's Spirit Guide, the Proton Pack and particle thrower, a ghost trap, Ecto-2, and a police radio (used by the two officers at the scene of the first earthquake). Locations include the firehouse, the Midtown Pier, Central Park, and Grand Central Station.
Trivia
Peter impersonates John Wayne and calls the angry motorist "Pilgrim." In an homage to the first film, Marduk asks Peter, "Are you gods?", and Winston stops Peter from answering. In Central Park, Peter references Smokey the Bear after Tiamat scorches a tree. The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 makes a cameo at the Midtown Pier. The episode title is shared by a song from the Swedish pop group ABBA.
References
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Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 22. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "I Am the City" (1986).
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Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "I Am the City" (1986).
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IDW Publishing. Ghostbusters: Get Real #1 (2015), Ghostbusters: Get Real #3 (2015), Ghostbusters Volume 2 #15 (2013).
