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Transcendental Tourists is an episode of The Real Ghostbusters, first aired on November 18, 1989 during the show's fifth season. Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore, and Slimer head to Mount Rushmore for a long-awaited vacation, only to find a ghost family on its centennial holiday who want the place to themselves.1 The episode was written by Len Janson and Chuck Menville, and ran a short fifteen minutes.
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The episode carries production number 201010, air-date episode number 111, and DVD episode number 108B.2 It aired as part of The Real Ghostbusters Season 5 and was later collected on Volume 4, Disc 3 of the show's DVD box set. Regular voice cast for the installment included Dave Coulier (Peter Venkman, Clot), Frank Welker (Slimer, Spectral Father), and Buster Jones (Winston Zeddemore). Kath Soucie is credited as well, though she does not voice Janine Melnitz here; per the episode's call sheet and SAG reports she instead provided two incidental voices, identified as the Spectral Mother and Scabitha.3
Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Janine Melnitz do not appear in the episode and are not mentioned at any point.
A family of ghosts arrives in South Dakota for their centennial vacation. The father takes a photograph of his two children, but the celebration stops short when the family notices humans nearby. The son suggests they go elsewhere; the father insists all they have to do is scare the humans off.
Peter, Winston, and Slimer are meanwhile driving along in Ecto-1, bound for a week-long vacation in Riverota, South Dakota. They pass a stream of vehicles fleeing the town and pull up to the No Tell Motel just as the manager is leaving. Winston reminds him they paid in advance, and the manager tosses them the key to room 7. Winston remarks that the mass exodus out of town looks like rats bailing from the Titanic.
The three go fishing in a river, where the fish start leaping at them before a huge wave, conjured by the ghost family, swamps them. Peter caps off the indignity with a John Wayne impression. The ghost daughter, Scabitha, takes an interest in Slimer. Winston points out that ghosts are the source of their troubles, but Peter, set on getting away from work, doesn't want to think about ghosts. On a horseback ride the horses buck and throw the men, revealing that the ghosts had transformed into the horses. The ghosts shift into scarier shapes and chase them off.
Peter refuses to leave and declares war. Scabitha and her brother Clot fly back to the family's castle to warn their parents, and the father is far from pleased. Peter brings two Proton Packs into the room before bed. When Slimer asks for milk, a groggy Peter throws him a quarter and points him to a vending machine in the parking lot. After the machine eats his coin, Slimer flies inside to get his drink and runs into Scabitha; the two play hide and seek until Slimer hides in an ice chest and freezes. They part to rejoin their families. A rumbling wakes everyone: the ghosts have possessed Mount Rushmore. The men drive to the monument and aim low to flush the ghosts out, and Winston throws out traps, but Slimer and Scabitha object and fly off to play. A truce is finally called. At the end of the week the two parties say their goodbyes and head home, with even Mount Rushmore getting a word in before Peter, Winston, and Slimer climb back into Ecto-1 and leave.
The Spectral Family consists of the Father, Mother, and their two children: son Clot and daughter Scabitha. Only the children's given names are spoken aloud during the episode. The family visits their preferred vacation spot near Mount Rushmore on a centennial schedule, with their most recent prior visit falling around 1890. Their powers include shapeshifting (used when the Father, Mother, and Clot become the horses the Ghostbusters are riding before morphing into more threatening forms) and the ability to possess large structures, demonstrated when they take over Mount Rushmore near the climax. Friendship between Slimer and Scabitha is what ultimately breaks the standoff. At departure, Slimer gives Scabitha a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man doll. The family dynamic and eventual truce with the Ghostbusters are structurally similar to the Grungies in the later episode "Guess What's Coming to Dinner," where a misunderstanding between ghosts and Ghostbusters similarly resolves into unexpected friendship.3
A purple winged reptilian entity kept in stone dormancy atop the Spectral Family's castle. When the castle materializes in South Dakota, atmospheric energy from the disturbance cracks the stone casing. The entity's eye opens; it breaks free, circles briefly on its wings, and comes to rest on a nearby tree branch. It does not participate in the confrontation between the Spectral Family and the Ghostbusters.
The Spectral Family is baffled by the existence of Mount Rushmore, which fits the timeline: they last vacationed in the area around 1890, and the monument was not completed until the 1930s. Peter mentions having spent summers in South Dakota as a child, giving him particular attachment to the vacation. Along the way the three travelers sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and during the horseback ride they sing a parody of "Home on the Range." While drinking his milk, Slimer hums the Ghostbusters theme. The possessed Mount Rushmore performs a number set to the tune of "Hit the Road Jack" in an attempt to drive the Ghostbusters away.
Transcendental Tourists falls between Trading Faces and Surely You Joust in both air-date and DVD order.
Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 34. CPT Holdings, Inc. ↩
Marsha Goodman (1989). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Transcendental Tourists" (1989). ↩
Per the Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report sheets, Kath Soucie does not reprise Janine for this episode but instead provides two incidental voices, identified as the Spectral Mother and Scabitha. ↩ ↩2