Production
"Knock, Knock" carries production number 76001.3 The episode was recorded on June 23, 1986.3 Because of its early production, it sits as a bridge between the first and second seasons; it appears to have been animated during the first-season run before airing in season two.
Kevin Altieri storyboarded the entire first act himself, with a Japanese director handling the rest. Bringing graffiti to life was something Altieri had wanted to do.4
Straczynski's first draft, submitted on February 26, 1986, differs from the finished episode in several respects:
- The Skeleton Woman is the first entity the Ghostbusters meet as they arrive at the subway station.5
- Egon Spengler admits he cannot read Sumerian, nor ancient Egyptian, Greek, Indian, or Swedish, and the writing on the Doomsday Stone cycles through all of those languages.6
- A standoff occurs between the Skeletal Tour Guide and the Ghostbusters: Peter Venkman raises his thrower, the Tour Guide plants his skeletal hands on his hips and looks indignant, and Peter holds his fire.7
- During a news segment, the second anchor quotes the Mayor of New York.8
- Egon describes the Containment Unit as based on gravitetic principles similar to a black hole.9
- Ray Stantz has season tickets to the Yankees rather than the Mets.10
- Before everyone switches to Full Dispersion Mode, Egon has the team activate Auxiliary Power Receptors, small dish-like antennas that swivel out of the Proton Packs to collect energy from the surrounding waves. The feature was cut from this episode and the series.11
- As the team pulls the ghosts and energy back through the Doomsday Door, the Skeletal Tour Guide makes a second appearance clinging to the boat.12
Plot
The Ghostbusters work a night bust at Bowl Rama Bowling, where the balls, pins, shoes, and bowling shirts are all under the influence of ghosts. They wreck the place but come out victorious and exhausted. Back at the firehouse they find another mess: food across the floor and Slimer eating on top of the file cabinet after Janine Melnitz failed to stop him. Peter pulls his Proton Pack on the spud, and Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore tackle him before he can fire. The team argues over whose turn it is to empty the ghost trap from the bowling alley.
In a subway tunnel, workers find a door that growls, "Do not open until doomsday." The foreman refuses to stop for a talking door, and opening it unleashes a portal. The workers meet a horrible end, and a swarm of ghosts follows the subway tracks while others surface above ground.
The exhausted team is changing into pajamas when Janine sounds the alarm: the transit authority has reported that something is wrong with the subway. The Ghostbusters suit up and head out. At the station they find every surface coated in ectoplasm and the graffiti come to life. They board a train to escape, but it is possessed; after a brutal ride they get off at another station and the train deflates like a balloon.
The PKE Meter places the center of the disturbance ten miles down the line, throwing off massive amounts of poltergeist energy that warps everything around it. Winston trips over an ancient stone tablet written in Sumerian. The team learns that after Doomsday ends the world, the Door is meant to replace it. They press a mile into the place of lost souls and reach the Doomsday Door, then use the flow from it to supercharge their Proton Packs. Switching to full dispersion, wide angle, they fire into the core; the streams loop back through the ghosts and energy, and the team switches to capture mode to pull everything back into the Door. Feeling the pull themselves, they fire to force their way out just in time, and the Door closes and repeats its warning.
At the firehouse, Peter is furious again when he finds Slimer inside the refrigerator, and the others talk him down. Once everyone is asleep, Peter sneaks off to feed Slimer and wish him goodnight.
Cast
Regular voice cast: Lorenzo Music as Peter Venkman, Frank Welker as Ray Stantz and Slimer, Maurice LaMarche as Egon Spengler, Arsenio Hall as Winston Zeddemore, and Laura Summer as Janine Melnitz. Guest voices were provided by Jim Cummings and Philip Proctor.
Notes and trivia
The Doomsday Door, inscribed in Sumerian, was meant to be used after the world was destroyed. The episode also reveals that Egon can read Sumerian, a detail reversed from the first draft. Gozer, the antagonist of the original 1984 film, was likewise a Sumerian deity meant to bring about the end of the world, and both Gozer and the Doomsday Door manifest in New York City.
Ray is established as having season tickets to the New York Mets. A sewer cover in the episode reads "AJIA-DO," the name of the Japanese animation studio.
Two versions of the episode exist. While the Ghostbusters are aboard the train, one version uses the series score and the other uses "The Boogieman," performed by Tahiti from the show's soundtrack album. The Tahiti music version appeared on a Magic Window home videocassette released in the 1980s.
Release
The episode was released on home video as part of The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection, on Volume 1, Disc 3 of the box set.1
References
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Eatock, James and Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 6. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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J. Michael Straczynski, statement of May 13, 2022: "This was actually the very first episode I wrote for THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS. Wanted to set the template from the git-go that yes, the show would be fun, but also legitimately scary."
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Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Knock, Knock" (1986).
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Benjamin, Troy and Goldberg, Craig (2025). The Real Ghostbusters: A Visual History, p. 87. Dark Horse Books, Milwaukie, OR, USA. ISBN 9781506749273. Kevin Altieri: "I actually storyboarded the whole first act myself. Then the Japanese director storyboarded the rest. Having graffiti come to life was always something that I wanted to do."
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Straczynski, J. Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume One, Disc Five, "Knock, Knock" script, p. 12. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Straczynski, J. Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume One, Disc Five, "Knock, Knock" script, p. 17. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Straczynski, J. Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume One, Disc Five, "Knock, Knock" script, p. 22. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Straczynski, J. Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume One, Disc Five, "Knock, Knock" script, p. 25. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Straczynski, J. Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume One, Disc Five, "Knock, Knock" script, p. 27. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Straczynski, J. Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume One, Disc Five, "Knock, Knock" script, p. 31. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Straczynski, J. Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume One, Disc Five, "Knock, Knock" script, pp. 33-34. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Straczynski, J. Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume One, Disc Five, "Knock, Knock" script, p. 36. CPT Holdings, Inc.
