Plot
A man let himself into the Firehouse just before dawn. The creaking woke Slimer, who feared it was the Boogieman and roused Peter, who in turn woke Egon Spengler. The team crept into the kitchen to ambush the intruder, only to find Peter's father, Jim, making breakfast.
Once everyone had eaten, Peter pressed his father on the real reason for his visit. Jim produced a treasure map. Egon noted that it was made in Taiwan, and Jim admitted it was a reproduction, but argued that no one had ever found the treasure: a giant gold statue worth a couple of million dollars. Winston Zeddemore read a warning on the map, "Aqui Hay Demonios," and translated it as "Here There Be Demons." Ray took an interest in the adventure. Peter insisted that any treasure belonged to the people of Mexico, and Jim agreed, banking instead on a reward for locating the statue. Ray signed on and talked Slimer into coming by reminding him about the Mexican food.
Before they left, Egon gave Ray a new piece of equipment, a combined mini proton thrower and ghost trap called the Sub Compact Ectoplasmic Tesseract, or SCEP-TECH for short. He demonstrated it by confining and releasing Slimer, and warned Ray that the device was only good for a few short bursts; if overloaded, it would freeze everything in sight.
In Mexico, Ray, Slimer, and Jim could not find a guide, because the locals were too afraid of the legends surrounding the temple. A burrito vendor offered Slimer some of his chili-pepper burritos; the heat sent Slimer flying off into a well. A man named Paco then offered to guide them. They reached the temple, and when Slimer went in, snakes, toads, and bats poured out. Inside, a Coatl, a winged serpent spirit of red plumage, attacked. Ray fumbled the SCEP-TECH, but Slimer recovered it, and Ray confined and trapped the creature. A second Coatl attacked, and Ray, Slimer, and Jim fell through a trap door. Ray sent Slimer to fetch Paco for help.
Back in New York during a snowstorm, Winston took Paco's call and flew to Mexico with Peter and Egon. Paco led them through the Chamber of the Stone Watchers, where Peter narrowly dodged falling stone heads, joking that the solution was "hop scotch." They reached the trap door and reunited with Ray and Jim after the second Coatl blasted it open and flew off. Egon picked up stronger readings deeper in the temple. As they pressed on, Paco's eyes briefly glowed red.
Jim revealed the gold statue depicted Quetzalcoatl, a supreme deity worshiped by Mexican, Aztec, Toltec, and Mayan cultures, known to manifest in the form of a giant feathered serpent. When Peter tripped, the team realized they were standing on the statue itself, which then woke. It was no statue at all but Quetzalcoatl, and proton streams had no effect on it. Back in the chasm room, Egon concluded they could freeze the entity. Reasoning that serpents are cold-blooded, he gambled that Quetzalcoatl would share the same weakness. He linked the team's proton packs into a feedback loop, the same trick behind the SCEP-TECH, to create a controlled psychomagnotheric vacuum and drop the ambient temperature to freezing. When Quetzalcoatl arrived, the Ghostbusters fired, and once the overload alarms sounded, Egon had Slimer disconnect the packs. Quetzalcoatl froze in place.
After they left, Egon explained that Quetzalcoatl would eventually thaw and return to hibernation until someone woke it again. Paco asked them to warn others against doing so, then revealed his true form: he was the second Coatl, of purple plumage matching his human disguise's poncho and hat. His plan all along had been to use a group of adventurers to convince the outside world to leave the treasure alone. On the flight home, the team rested while Jim and Slimer charmed the flight attendants with a cover story about the temple collapsing.
Equipment and ghosts
The episode introduces the SCEP-TECH, the Sub Compact Ectoplasmic Tesseract, a handheld combination of a proton pack thrower and a ghost trap. It runs on a few short bursts and, if overloaded, freezes everything nearby. Egon later applies the same feedback-loop principle to the team's standard proton packs to freeze Quetzalcoatl. The P.K.E. Meter is used to track the readings that lead the team to the buried entity; notably, Egon is picking up strong readings from Paco even while the Coatl is in human form, without realizing it.
The principal creatures are the Coatls and Quetzalcoatl. The Coatls are mythical flying serpents of the Aztecs that serve as guardians of the temple. They possess flight, pyrokinesis, and shapeshifting. The first Coatl, of red plumage, is voiced by Frank Welker and is trapped by Ray using the SCEP-TECH. The second Coatl is Paco, voiced by Luis Accinelli, who goes undercover in human form and ultimately reveals he orchestrated the whole expedition to warn the world away from the treasure.
Quetzalcoatl itself, voiced by Frank Welker, is a major deity of Aztec, Toltec, Mayan, and Mexican traditions. Ray describes it as a shape-shifter and estimates its size as comparable to a mountain; in the episode it appears only in its feathered-serpent form. Standard proton streams are useless against it; Egon's cold-based countermeasure succeeds because of the assumption that, as a serpent, it would be cold-blooded. When explaining both the SCEP-TECH and the plan to defeat Quetzalcoatl, Egon uses the term "psychomagnotheric," first coined in Ghostbusters II.
Production notes
The episode was recorded on March 20 and 22, 1991, with Dave Coulier recording alone on March 22.2 As Lorenzo Music had done with the character in earlier episodes, Coulier voiced not only Peter but also Peter's father, Jim.
Trivia
- Winston is shown to be fluent in Spanish, translating the warning on the map. He initially mistakes the Coatls for "Koala Bears" when they first appear.
- Slimer is seen sleeping with his Stay Puft Marshmallow Man doll.
- Slimer initially mistakes Jim Venkman's arrival for the Boogieman, who had escaped through the bunk-room closet in "The Bogeyman Is Back" and was trapped at the end of that episode.
- Janine Melnitz does not appear in this episode.
- When Ray is rescued alongside Jim, he is shown wearing a proton pack. This appears to be a storyboarding error: the team coming to the rescue was never said to bring a spare pack, and if Ray had a proton pack he would not have needed the SCEP-TECH.
- Quetzalcoatl makes a non-canon cameo in Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #19 (page 9), appearing as the form taken by Tiamat. Paco, in human form, appears in a non-canon cameo in Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #10 (page 1).
Episode order
In air-date order, this episode follows "The Magnificent Five" and precedes "Not Now, Slimer!". In DVD order it follows "Deja Boo" and precedes "Not Now, Slimer!".
References
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Eatock, James and Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 41. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1991). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "The Treasure of Sierra Tamale" (1991).
