Jefimus Top 20 Favorite Real Ghostbusters episode

I love the Real Ghostbusters It was a near perfect adaptation of one of the funniest movies of all time but what episodes are the best of the best? so in honor of Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary I'm counting down my top 20 favorite episodes of The Real Ghostbusters


Honorable Mentions


The Spirit of Aunt Lois
The Ghostbusters in Paris
Spacebusters
The Halloween Door
The Copycat
Mr. Sandman Dream me a dream
The Devil to pay
Jainie Melmetz Ghostbuster

20. X-mas Marks the Spot: Starting the countdown is one of the most observed  this brings up a lot of unique ideas. First, the Ghostbusters, traveling along in the country to (or from) a job on Christmas Eve get caught in a blizzard. Somehow, they get trapped in a wormhole and travel back in time to England. Confused, and not sure what’s going on, they stumble upon of all things, the home of Ebenezer Scrooge. This being Christmas Eve…guess who’s around – the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future. They do their job, capturing the ghosts, not realizing what’s going on but note that something about it all seems familiar. They eventually get back to their time and realized they completely changed history. Christmas isn’t celebrated anymore and Ebenezer Scrooge is an icon to the masses. With the ghosts in the containment unit, it’s up the crew to go back to Scrooge’s place and pretend to be the ghosts to set things right as the real spirits are searched for by Egon. It’s a funny episode, especially the crew trying to show their “ghostly” abilities (involving a wheelchair, flares and a viewmaster with slides.)

19. Elementary My dear Winston: In many ways looking at it now, Sherlock is a bit like an early Doctor Who; always using his mind to solve problems. This episode makes an excellent use of Sherlock, Watson & Moriarty. What really sells the episode is showing more character for Winston, proving he’s more than just the team’s mechanic. The show also explains the sudden appearance of these fictional characters, using the term “Belief Made Manifest”. I love this bit, as it helps grow the universe and prove there’s always more to explore and learn.

18. The Thing in Ms. Faversham's Attic: It’s a given that basements, attics and areas that usually remain dark & dreary are considered hotbeds for ghostly activity, but this episode captures that wonderfully. Instead of an evil force being in a attic, due to some tragedy, the specter was brought about by Mrs. Faversham’s father years ago, in an effort to make a better life for his little girl. The attic by itself could be scary enough, but having the ghost turn the entire room into it’s own realm adds to the uneasy feeling. What makes the episode one of my favorites though, is how it shows Peter’s heart & generosity. Normally Peter is seen as just the sarcastic member of the team, and focusing a fair amount of the income of the business. However, Peter shows that underneath the skin, he cares greatly for those unable to protect themselves. The final scene, after the ghost has been captured & Mrs. Faversham is allowed to return home, Peter chooses to stay and have Tea with the elderly woman, instead of leaving her alone in her house.

17. Slimer come home: I’m actually not a huge fan of this episode, but I can’t deny it’s pretty dark and disturbing and a popular one for fans. Slimer runs away and gets caught up with a group of spirits all congregating to an abandoned building. Eventually it’s discovered it’s a sort of “party” put on my a very powerful and large ghost. By “party” I mean one where the big ghost looks to consume all the other ghosts attending and absorb them. How does he do that, you ask? Well….he lifts up his shirt and there is a giant mouth, beckoning the other ghosts to come. Like kids on chloroform at Michael Jackson's house, they do and now the Ghostbusters have to find their ghostly friend before he is completely digested. Yeah…pretty dark, but it has a sweet sub-plot about the way Peter treats Slimer (which is why Slimer ran away).  Good lesson for kids…treat your friends nice or their run off and get eaten by a 20 foot tall demon.

16. Mrs. Rogers Neighborhood A classic haunted house story that turns really ugly, real fast. Called in to take a look at a little house in the city, the owner is sent off to stay at the Headquarters while the investigation is going on. Of course, even little old ladies aren’t what they seem as it’s Mrs. Rogers herself that they should be investigating. A cool episode with some nice scares and a great twist. Kinda like a Scooby Doo episode but with one of the gang gets possessed by the monster and no awful 70's music.

15. Big Trouble and Little Slimer: You can't have Ghostbusters without mentioning their nemesis old wallywiz himself Walter Peck and out to discredit the Ghostbusters any way he can. When his efforts to expose them as frauds fail, he hits them where it hurts by taking Slimer away for government testing. This one is great cause it featured the first and only animated appearance of Mr. Peck and yet even in cartoon world he still has no genitals. 

14. Flipside In a what if everything was the opposite of what it's supposed to be. Egon, Ray, and Peter get sucked into a tornado that takes them to an alternate universe where ghosts trap humans and put them into a containment unit! Gotta love the people busters and their design.

13. Chicken He Clucked: This episode feels like something you would find on the Tick or Earthworm Jim, but Ghostbusters got it first, here a man living in a chicken restaurant gets fed up with chickens that he summons a demon to rid the world of chickens. Yeah with a wish this lame you know the demon Morganan, gets insulted and ends up being a laughing stock, so he cons the Ghostbusters to help him reverse the spell to get some of his dignity back. What makes this episode stand out is that the plot is weird and silly it was bound to

12. Egons Ghost This was  the best Egon Scentric episode from the series when Egon is accidentally zapped by one of his own inventions on a bust, he becomes, for all intents and purposes, a ghost. Now the Ghostbusters have to build a replacement before Egon fades into oblivion? Despite it showing us a grim vision of the future As I'm posting this countdown the real Egon Harold Ramis passed away in the Feburary of this year it was awesome story, a montage, and a terror dog. Hey Ramis Rest in piece.

11. The Collect call of Cathulu: The Next Episode That Show The Ghostbusters saving the world this time from Lovecraftian monsters Using the most infamous work of H.P. Lovecraft, and making it a reality is beautifully executed here. I throughly enjoyed the cult & Necronomicon scenes. Best of all, is that, as so many other times, the Ghostbusters have to use their minds to figure out how to defeat Cathulhu.

10. When Halloween was Forever: Samhaine, the name given to the end of summer, also known as All Souls Day, is envisioned here as an actual spirit (Sprit of Halloween, that is) who is reborn. Having been trapped for centuries, he wishes to never repeat that hardship and, instead, wants to last forever by having Halloween last forever and for people to worship him again. Samhaine returns a number of times in the series, but his original appearance is very memorable with a great voice, great lines and a great look. A lot of good action and drama in this one.

9. The Grendel:I should be greatful to have good parents but but also from this episode. If there was anything that could scare a kid from being a bad seed, it is this show & the idea of a Grundel. The sheer design of the Grudel is magnificent, and the idea that he is drawn to bad kids so that he can turn them into Grundels, it all makes for a very scary show.

8. The Revenge of Murry The Mantis As a kid I never found Stay puff to be scary when I saw the movie and this episode portrays hm as being more friendly. A large, inflatable balloon of Murray the Mantis becomes possessed during the balloon's appearance in a prominent New York parade. Overwhelmed, the Ghostbusters release the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the Containment Unit and a mighty battle begins!Stay Puft Vs a giant mantis whats not to love,
work. 

7. Robo-Buster: It's Robocop meets ghostbusters What can't go wrong. anyway I enjoy seeing episodes the utilize the idea of man vs. machine. This adventure does a great job of showing how greed and an ego of selfish man can lead to disasters. What is also enjoyable about this one episode, is it explains that ghosts cannot be destroyed, only contained. Helping explain a bit more of the physics and mechanics of the Ghostbuster’s equipment,

6. Ragnarok and Roll The Best “entire world at stake” episode, but with heart. Showing how dark a human’s feelings of sadness and depression can take them is serious. I really like the idea of certain objects existing that could usher in the end of the world, and the flute Jeremy uses captures that look. I especially love the scene where, as the Ghostbusters believe the only way to save the world is for them to self detonate the Proton Packs, all while holding onto them. That lesson stuck with me all my life, that you must be willing to pay the ultimate cost for the safety of others.

4. You Can't Take It With You: Greed destroys peoples lives and this episode shows the consequences greed cause. Some old ying tycoon builds a device that transports his possessions and servants to the other side so it will be waiting when he crosses over, but when things come in ghosts come out. The guy is a crockey old jerk who care about nothing but wealthy and his desire to keep it dooms the world.
 
3. Take Two: Anyone who doesn't think that this show has no connection to it's source material hasn't seen this episode. The Ghostbusters are flown out to Hollywood to oversee production of a movie being made about their story. On a tour of the studio they are called into action, but they're armed with fake prop Proton Packs by mistake! Here the Ghostbusters need to improvise to get their gear back. Plus we learn that the Toon Ghostbusters are hence the title The REAL Ghostbusters while the ones we all know and love from the movie are just actors. plus My favorite scene The Ghostbusters going to see the Ghostbusters movie.

2, Citizen Ghost Mr. Stracynski did an excellent job in showing exactly what happened between the end of the Ghostbusters movie, and the adventures in The Real Ghostbusters. Using an interview for television is an awesome way to lead into the flashback. I love all the explanations and insight this episode gives. The story of how Slimer came back and got to stay with the team is fun. My favorite moment is, as the Ecto-Clones are down, as the team stands ready to “zap & trap”, Ray tells them, “Say goodnight fellas, cause The Real Ghostbusters are here to stay.” I love that part, as it shows that these are the REAL Ghostbusters, and they will always be around to beat any paranormal threat.But as much as I love this episode there is one more that blows it out of the water.

1. The Boogeyman Cometh For any fan of the show, this one should be obvious. One of the most creative, well-written and legitimately scary episodes.  We follow the story of two children who go to the Ghostbusters with a problem: the Boogeyman is in their closet. Despite the Ghostbusters being, well, Ghostbusters they laugh it off. But this was an Egon episode and, in what I think was the first time I ever saw flashbacks used in a kids animated show, we learn that Egon was haunted by the Boogeyman as a kid, and it’s the reason he became a Ghostbuster in the frist place. Thus, he rallies the team to investigate. It’s actually a great character arc as he finally faces his fears and does what he could never do as a child, and helps these new kids as a result. I know what you’re thinking, though. Boogyman, huh? But to a kid, that idea was scary enough as is. Then you have one of the most popular series on Saturday morning showing us what is in our closets…and he looks like this creep Who…who the hell designed this? It’s not so much the design as the way it was used in the show, such as when the children look over their covers to their glowing closet and the Boogeyman’s head, taking up nearly the whole frame of the door, is looking back at them and smiling. You know…for kids! Or when the children hide back under said covers and all we hear is raspy, heavy breathing, the clip-clopping of his goat hooven feet and see a shadow slowly creep across the room…closer…closer….You know…for kids! Even though the Ghostbusters take him out, locking him away forever, the images were already stuck in our little heads. Then they bring him back again later which tells us we can’t believe in the Ghostbusters either…thanks, writers!