Plot
Sulking after being left behind on a bust at a haunted dynamite factory, Slimer refuses Peter Venkman's peace offering of a Triple Caramel Crunchie candy bar, then snatches it with his tongue the moment Peter turns away. In the basement, Egon Spengler notes a strange new sound coming from the Containment Unit; Winston Zeddemore admits it has done that a few times that week but is too tired to investigate.
Still pouting, Slimer sleeps in the hallway and dreams of being a Ghostbuster, wearing his own jumpsuit and Proton Pack and saving the team from a giant entity. As he sleeps, a seal on the Containment Unit fails and a small amount of gaseous ectoplasm escapes through the vents and infects him. Slimer wanders out of the Firehouse in a trance.
Calls take the team to a slimed delicatessen and later to Neptune's Floating Restaurant, where Winston reveals an inflatable raft he had quietly installed on the undercarriage of Ecto-1 to reach the waterfront diner. At both sites they tangle with the same hulking green ghost and come up empty. Egon's analysis of the seal failure points to a "catalytic paranormal flux" that is harmless to people but can induce malevolent ectoplasmic metamorphosis. The team soon discovers the truth when the monster turns out to be Slimer himself, transforming whenever he falls asleep. Egon warns that if it happens enough times the change will become permanent.
Peter and Winston try to keep Slimer awake with junk food, loud music, and a scare, but he transforms again and flees to a 24-hour City Supermarket. There Egon proposes inducing ectoplasmic fission, instructing everyone to set their Particle Throwers to 50,000 gigahertz. Peter bounces a proton stream off a mirror and lands a direct hit, splitting Slimer from Big Green. With Slimer's help the team locates Big Green in the frozen section and traps it. Slimer, having eaten one too many Popsicles, admits he should not tag along on every bust.
Ghosts and locations
Big Green
Big Green is the name the Ghostbusters give to Slimer's monstrous alter ego. When the malevolent ectoplasmic wisp from the Containment Unit merges with Slimer, it surfaces during sleep as a massive, ravenous ghost powerful enough to demolish walls and shrug off proton stream fire. Each time Slimer falls asleep the transformation recurs, and Egon warns that repeated episodes will eventually make it permanent. The team resolves the situation by inducing ectoplasmic fission: proton streams calibrated to 50,000 gigahertz, with Peter redirecting his beam off a store mirror for the direct hit that forces the separation.
After Big Green and Slimer are separated, the two are never shown together in the same shot for the remainder of the episode.
All Night Deli
The All Night Deli is a Manhattan delicatessen near the Firehouse, open through extended evening hours. It is the site of Big Green's first rampage: he devours nearly everything in the store and covers the premises in slime before the Ghostbusters demolish the delivery entrance with their throwers and lose him in the city. The deli's setting is modeled on the Lower East Side block of East Houston Street, standing in for the real-world Katz's Delicatessen at 206 East Houston Street. That connection is made explicit in Ghostbusters International #2 (IDW Publishing), page 5, panel 1.3
Neptune's Floating Restaurant
Neptune's Floating Restaurant is an upscale harbor eatery located on a boat in one of New York's harbors, requiring a coat and tie of patrons. Big Green is responsible for the second bust. The restaurant has set sail by the time the Ghostbusters arrive, which is when Winston unveils the water raft he had secretly added to Ecto-1's undercarriage. They pursue Big Green from the dining hall into the kitchen but leave covered in slime and soot with nothing to show for it.
City Supermarket
City Supermarket is a 24-hour retail chain in New York City and the site of the episode's final confrontation. Peter uses a store mirror to deflect his proton stream into a direct hit on Big Green, forcing the separation from Slimer. Slimer then leads the team to the frozen foods aisle, where Big Green is gorging on Popsicles, and the team traps him there for good.
Cast
Dave Coulier, Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, Arsenio Hall, and Kath Soucie provided the regular voices for the season. Dave Coulier also voices the All Night Deli Owner, a minor one-scene character whose call to the Firehouse sets the second act in motion.
Featured characters include Slimer and his monstrous alter ego Big Green, Janine Melnitz, Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore. Slimer's Dream Ghost, the giant unnamed entity Slimer defeats in his dream sequence, is a separate credited character.
Notes
Winston tries to jolt Slimer awake with the line "I hope Freddy doesn't get you," a likely nod to Freddy Krueger of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" films, who attacks his victims in their sleep.4
Peter mentions his late mother twice: once promising Slimer a batch of "Mama Venkman's Chicken Soup" and again citing her warning that making faces will leave your face stuck that way.5 After the supermarket bust, Peter claims he used to be a box boy.6
At Neptune's Floating Restaurant, Peter calls for Plan 52-A, a Ghostbusters tactical designation that goes unused because Big Green slimes Peter before anyone can execute it.
Release
In broadcast order the episode follows Once Upon a Slime and precedes Sticky Business. It was later collected on home video in The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection.
References
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Eatock, James and Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 26. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1987). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "The Two Faces of Slimer" (1987).
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IDW Publishing. Ghostbusters International #2, page 5, panel 1.
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The Real Ghostbusters (2009), "The Two Faces of Slimer." Time Life Entertainment. Winston: "I just hope Freddy doesn't get you."
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The Real Ghostbusters (2009), "The Two Faces of Slimer." Time Life Entertainment. Peter: "I'll make you some of Mama Venkman's Chicken Soup, Okey Dokey?" and "You mean like my mom used to say if you keep making faces, your face will stick that way?"
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The Real Ghostbusters (2009), "The Two Faces of Slimer." Time Life Entertainment. Peter: "No big deal. I used to be a box boy."
