Voice Cast
Regular cast:
Guest cast:
Plot
The episode opens at a pottery store where the Ghostbusters finish up a bust. Two ghosts possess ceramic vases, enlarging them into weapons before the team shatters and traps them. Ray has gone upstairs and emerges from the roof pursued by a swarm of possessed cockroaches; the team barely keeps the stairwell door shut.
Back at the Firehouse, Janine is flipping through a scrapbook of old photographs. Slimer notices that Janine looks significantly different from her earlier photos and alerts Peter. The Ghostbusters compare old and new images and are alarmed. Egon concludes they should investigate without tipping Janine off. The team takes covert readings: Egon lies on top of a filing cabinet behind her with a P.K.E. Meter, Ray walks past with Ecto Goggles while pretending to read a newspaper, and Slimer takes measurements with a tape measure. An irritated Janine takes the rest of the day off, and Egon sends Slimer to follow her.
In the lab, Ray and Egon analyze the data using a Holographic Comparison Grid. The results are alarming: Janine's Brooklyn accent is gone, she is 7.5 centimeters taller, her bone structure has changed, and even her cells have been altered. Traces of ectoplasmic energy confirm the source is supernatural.
At her apartment, Janine summons a Fairy Godmother, asking to be an inch taller, to lose a few pounds, and to have green eyes instead of blue. The fairy grants the wishes. The Fairy Godmother spots Slimer watching and quickly leaves, then confronts him in the alley outside, summoning three Spectral Dogs to destroy him. Slimer evades the dogs through a series of chases, hides in a Ghostbusters bus advertisement, and finally makes it back to the Firehouse just after 11:44 pm.
The Ghostbusters review Slimer's report. Winston is skeptical, but Egon identifies the entity as a Makeoverus Lotsabucks. The entity has been eavesdropping through the skylight. Two of the dogs are captured quickly; Peter lures the last one with a game of fetch using Egon's new recording of Beethoven's Fifth as the throw item. Winston traps it.
The Lotsabucks goes to Janine, warns her she is in danger, and lures her away from the apartment. The team finds it empty and splits up with P.K.E. Meters attuned to the entity's energy field. Egon, at a dead end, remembers Ray's note that Lotsabucks entities live near water. He runs for the harbor.
At the harbor, the Lotsabucks attempts to complete the possession by getting Janine to ask to be made as beautiful as the entity itself. Janine agrees, loses control, and attacks Egon. He strips off his Proton Pack and tells her that he loves her regardless of her appearance. Janine breaks free of the possession and fires on the Lotsabucks herself. Ray, Peter, and Winston arrive and blast the entity, then Ray throws a trap and captures it. A bright flash returns Janine to normal. The rest of the team makes a tactful exit to check on Ecto-1 while Egon and Janine sit together and watch the sunrise. Egon asks Janine on a date to a science film.
Notable Entities
Makeoverus Lotsabucks is the primary antagonist: a supernatural entity that disguises itself as a fairy godmother, feeding on a person's desire to be attractive and gradually remaking them until the transformation becomes total possession. According to Tobin's Spirit Guide (as cited in the episode), Lotsabucks entities live near water and draw their power from it, a fact that proves to be their undoing. As the Lotsabucks works on Janine, her form cycles through likenesses of Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Lucretia Borgia, Marie Antoinette, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Marilyn Monroe.
Spectral Dogs are three ghostly hounds summoned by the Lotsabucks to destroy Slimer after he witnesses her meeting with Janine. Two are caught relatively easily by proton streams. The third proves fast enough to evade capture until Peter tricks it into playing fetch with Egon's Beethoven's Fifth record, at which point Winston traps it.
Vase Ghosts are the pair of ghosts dispatched in the cold open who possess and enlarge ceramic vases as weapons. They are trapped after the Ghostbusters shatter the vases.
Possessed Cockroaches appear in the cold open as a secondary threat: a swarm found on the upper floor of the pottery store, apparently stirred up by Ray, that pursues the team down the stairwell.
Characters
Venkman
Peter Venkman
Spengler
Egon Spengler
Stantz
Ray Stantz
Zeddemore
Winston Zeddemore
Melnitz
Janine Melnitz
Slimer
*Makeoverus Lotsabucks
Equipment
Trivia
- Ray wears the Ecto Goggles in an attempt to secretly examine Janine while pretending to read a newspaper.
- Egon had just purchased a new recording of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. It is used without his knowledge as a fetch toy to stop a Spectral Dog, and Winston traps the dog before Egon realizes what happened to the record.
- Janine wears a green jacket with the No-Ghost logo on the back.
- The episode was recorded on April 11, 1990.
- This episode explains all of Janine's design changes across the series as an in-universe event rather than a retcon. Egon notes her Brooklyn accent disappeared as one of the supernatural alterations.
- When the Ghostbusters' ratings slumped during the Slimer-focused era, producer Michael C. Gross approached former story editor J. Michael Straczynski about returning. Straczynski declined a full-time position but agreed to write five episodes on specific conditions: the authority to argue with network censors, no Junior Ghostbusters, Slimer treated as a ghost rather than a child surrogate, and Janine restored to an independent, smart, and assertive character.
- Broadcast Standards and Practices and the consultants who had pushed for the "softer" Janine were notably angered by the episode. Straczynski acknowledged that equating them to a demonic entity was intentional.
- An earlier November 6, 1989 pitch for the episode had a different origin for Janine's changes: her desk sat directly above the Containment Unit in the basement, and long-term ectoplasmic exposure had made her form malleable as ectoplasm. The supernatural force was also preventing others from noticing. The final broadcast version replaced this with the Lotsabucks concept.
- The episode was storyboarded by Tom Nesbitt, Steve Moore, Frank Paur, Stan Phillips, and Brad Rader.
- In the credits, J. Michael Straczynski's name is listed incorrectly as Michael J. Straczynski.
- Janine's scrapbook contains photographs of: Egon with a clown nose during Halloween 1988, a group photo from June 1989, Janine putting a party hat on Egon during his birthday, a photo of Slimer flying ahead of Janine in her car, and Louis Tully.
- A shoe is thrown at Peter twice in the episode; he is hit the second time.
- Before taking the day off, Janine is on the phone talking to a friend named Monica about their friend Shirley.
- Janine's line "Oooh, men! Can't live with 'em, can't sell 'em for parts!" is a favorite of producer Michael C. Gross.
- BS&P requested that Janine not clasp her hands together when summoning the fairy godmother because it could be interpreted as demonic worship.
- As of this episode, the Ghostbusters' phone number is 555-BUST (555-2878).
- Janine claimed that since childhood, people made fun of her for not being pretty enough.
- Ray makes an excuse to get everyone back to Ecto-1 before someone strips it. This references the episode "The Grundel," another J. Michael Straczynski episode, in which Ecto-1 was previously stripped.
Quotes
: Egon Spengler: I love you. Peter, Winston, Ray all of us. We love you no matter what!
: Egon Spengler: Remember how she used to talk with that really annoying Brooklyn accent?
: Peter Venkman: Ohhh, the pitter pattier of tiny feet, Yeah he's still up there.
: Peter Venkman: I had a thought.
: Egon Spengler: You had a thought?
: Peter Venkman: Yea...
: Egon Spengler: Here, have a cookie.
: Egon Spengler: Janine listen to me! I've been trying to tell you. It does not matter what you look like! That-that thing is taking you over! I'm here because i'm worried about you because I can Janine. Not becaue how you look or because who you are.
: Egon Spengler: How do you feel about science film's? Life of a bug? Molecule's and you? This could be fun...
