- Air date: September 13, 1986
- Production number: 75002
- Episode order (air and DVD): 001
- Written by: Len Janson and Chuck Menville
- First draft: March 20, 1986 (revisions: March 27, April 1, and April 4, 1986)
- Recorded: May 6, 1986
- DVD placement: Vol. 1, Disc 1
Voice cast (original recording): Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, Arsenio Hall, Lorenzo Music, Laura Summer
Voice cast (redub recording): Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, Dave Coulier, Kath Soucie
Guest cast: Ron Masak
Plot
The Ghostbusters respond to a haunting at Conrad's, a chocolate factory in New York owned by a candy manufacturer and distributor. Inside they confront three Class 5 Full Torso Apparitions. After a chaotic fight that leaves the factory coated in chocolate, the ghosts are blasted into machinery and trapped. Back at the Firehouse, the team deposits the three into the Containment Unit, but Slimer blunders and releases them.
The three ghosts, Slug, Snarg, and Zonk, decide to take revenge by driving the Ghostbusters out of business. Operating as "Ghosts R Us," they pose as a competing ghostbusting service and systematically discredit the team, beating them to calls at venues including the Smalldorf Hotel and eventually costing them clients and their reputation.
Slug decides it is time to escalate. The trio travels to an abandoned toy factory in Brooklyn to enlist a reputed Class 7 Phantom named Turlock. Instead, they accidentally awaken something far worse: a Full Magnitude Class 10 entity. Angered, the Class 10 assembles a giant body from toys stored in the warehouse and begins moving through the streets. The Ghostbusters arrive and split their forces between Ecto-1 and Ecto-2 to engage the threat from the ground and air.
Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz re-trap Slug, Snarg, and Zonk at the Brooklyn Bridge. The team then sets Ecto-2 to full power overload as a last-ditch weapon against the Class 10. Slimer slimes the bridge's suspension cables, tripping the enormous entity and sending it into the bay alongside Ecto-2. As Ecto-2 goes critical, the Class 10 reveals its true form and is dispersed by the explosion. Bystanders cheer as the Ghostbusters stand atop the enormous toy debris left in the Class 10's wake.
Ghosts
Slug is the de facto leader of the three ghosts released from the Containment Unit. Storyboard artists Dan Riba and Kevin Altieri designed him with a blue-collar New York personality inspired by Archie Bunker from the TV series "All in the Family," blended with one of the Three Bears.
Snarg is the female member of the trio. She is never named in the episode's dialogue; her name appears only in production documents. Riba and Altieri conceived her as part of the same Three Bears framework used for Slug and Zonk.
Zonk is the third member of the group and the quietest of the three.
Turlock is a reputed Class 7 Phantom that Slug's gang seeks inside an abandoned Brooklyn toy factory. He is never actually seen: the ghosts accidentally awaken the Class 10 instead. Writer Len Janson chose the name "Turlock" after the city in California.
The Toy Ghost (Class 10) is the episode's primary antagonist, a Full Magnitude Class 10 entity disturbed when the trio searches the factory for Turlock. It builds a massive body from the toy warehouse's contents and pursues the Ghostbusters through Brooklyn before being dispersed when Ecto-2 goes critical in the East River. Storyboard artist Kevin Altieri based its smoke form on the creature from "The Crawling Eye," a 1950s black-and-white science fiction film.
Cast
Regulars
Guest characters
- Mr. Conrad (owner of Conrad's chocolate factory, voiced by Ron Masak)
- Slug, Snarg, and Zonk (three ghosts released from the Containment Unit)
- The Toy Ghost / Class 10 (the episode's main threat)
- Turlock (mentioned only)
Trivia
- "Ghosts R Us" was the first episode of The Real Ghostbusters to air on television. "Killerwatt" was originally scheduled to premiere but was not completed in time, so the two episodes swapped broadcast order.
- The script's first draft was written March 20, 1986, with revision passes on March 27, April 1, and April 4. The episode was recorded on May 6, 1986.
- This is one of seven early-season episodes later re-dubbed with Dave Coulier and Kath Soucie replacing the original voice leads. The redubbed version was rebroadcast as part of season four but was not included on the DVD release. Audio samples from both recordings are documented on Spook Central's Alternate Episodes page.
- After revisions were made to the script, a production meeting established a rule that only J. Michael Straczynski and the producers could finalize creative ideas for the series. The rule followed an instance where Richard Raynis presented Eddie Fitzgerald's comedic storyboard for the ghosts to Michael Gross and was overruled by the writers and Gross.
- Dan Riba and Kevin Altieri developed this episode working at Altieri's house, trading storyboard sections back and forth. Altieri storyboarded the chocolate factory sequence; ABC representatives visited the studio during production and were impressed by his work. Riba storyboarded the abandoned toy factory scene, and Altieri took over from the launch of Ecto-2 onward. A gag Riba added, an exclamation mark appearing when the ghosts drive over Ecto-1 while fleeing the factory, was cut for being too broad.
- This episode features the first appearance of Ecto-2, the Ghostbusters' helicopter.
- Ecto-1's license plate erroneously reads "ECT-1" rather than "ECTO-1" during the Conrad's factory sequence.
- Slug, Snarg, and Zonk were conceived by Riba and Altieri as a take on The Three Bears combined with an Archie Bunker-style blue-collar New York personality.
- Snarg is never named in the episode; her name only appears in production documents.
- Ray sleeps with a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man doll, visible in a Firehouse scene.
- The taxi driver whose cab is run over by the fleeing ghosts is a caricature of studio staffer John Calmette drawn by artist Everett Peck.
- The word "GOYOKIN" appears on a tugboat when the Toy Ghost falls over the Brooklyn Bridge, likely a reference to the 1969 Japanese Jidaigeki film of the same name.
- Egon Spengler's voice is noticeably deeper in the first four episodes before settling at a higher register for the rest of the series.
- Len Janson took the name "Turlock" from a city in California.
- The Toy Ghost's smoke form was inspired by the creature in "The Crawling Eye" (1958), as noted by Kevin Altieri in visual commentary.
- The episode's soundtrack includes "Driving Me Crazy" by Tahiti, drawn from The Real Ghostbusters Soundtrack used throughout the first season.
- Peter Venkman's line "Somebody seen a ghost?" is a callback to the original 1984 Ghostbusters film.
- This episode's title appears as a newspaper clipping on page 15 of Ghostbusters (IDW) Issue #5. Janine's file photo from this episode appears on page 21 of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #2. A P.K.E. Meter readout from this episode appears in panel 4 on page 18 of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #4.
- The opening montage of 35th Anniversary: The Real Ghostbusters echoes this episode, and Robo-Buster, by showing a rival company stealing the Ghostbusters' business.
Quotes
Ray Stantz: Hey Egon, ever gotten around to taking those flying lessons?
Egon Spengler: No.
Ray Stantz: Just checking!
Egon Spengler: Aim for the monkey!
References
- Fandom Ghostbusters Wiki, "Ghosts R Us"
- Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 3. CPT Holdings, Inc.
- Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Ghosts R Us" (1986).
- Benjamin, Troy & Goldberg, Craig (2025). The Real Ghostbusters: A Visual History. Dark Horse Books, Milwaukie, OR, USA. ISBN 9781506749273.
- Dan Riba, Kevin Altieri, and Len Janson, visual commentary, The Real Ghostbusters "Ghosts R Us" (1986), DVD, Time Life Entertainment (2009).
