Cast
Regular voices include Tara Charendoff (later credited as Tara Strong), Maurice LaMarche, Jason Marsden, Pat Musick, Alfonso Ribeiro, Rino Romano, and Billy West. Guest voices are Joe Alaskey, John Ingle, and Keith Szarabajka.
Entities
The Vathek: Crainiac, Corpuscle, and Gristle
The Vathek are bipedal interdimensional corporeal entities classified by Egon as a "code seven" abduction. They enter the physical world through the act of writing: if their bound author writes that they are indestructible, they are. They cannot be captured with a proton pack or trap because they are not standard ectoplasmic entities. Their stated rule is "if it is not written, it cannot be done," which means the written text can also be turned against them.
Crainiac is the trio's leader, a demented figure with a buzz saw embedded in his head, a stitched-and-bolted tan mask that holds his mouth permanently open, dark-lensed spectacles, and a brown apron. Corpuscle has eyes on the palms of his hands. Gristle's lips are sewn shut, though he is fully capable of speech. The three made a pact with J.N. Kline: he would write successful novels featuring them in exchange for wealth and fame; their actual goal was to be written into existence as immortal beings.
The Vathek designs originated from series character designer Everett Peck, whose initial concepts served as a springboard that evolved into the final designs. Gristle's design specifically was a collaboration between Executive Producer Richard Raynis, Peck, director Scott Wood, and character designer Fil Barlow; Barlow worked from Raynis' notes, Peck's rough sketches, and Wood's input. The aesthetic was developed with the cenobites of Clive Barker's Hellraiser in mind, though the Vathek's motivation (transcendence through text rather than torture for its own sake) differs from the Hellraiser source material.
Crainiac appears on the IDW Convention Variant Cover of Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Extreme Ghostbusters and makes a non-canon cameo on Cover B of IDW's Ghostbusters Issue #12.
J.N. Kline
J.N. Kline is the reclusive horror novelist whose Gore Series books feature thinly veiled versions of the Vathek. His deal with Crainiac brought him celebrity (including a TV appearance with David Letterman) but ultimately left him enslaved at his own typewriter. Kline's name is a pastiche of R.L. Stine and may also reference co-developer Jeff Kline; in the December 1996 draft his initials were "H.P." as a nod to H.P. Lovecraft. His mansion is set in the Connecticut countryside.3
Jimmy
Jimmy is a waiter at a local diner who becomes the Vathek's first victim, transformed into a monster herald referred to as Corpuscle Junior. The script describes him as a "Jimmy Olsen-type," after the Daily Planet photographer and Superman's associate.4
Plot
A waiter named Jimmy is strapped to a surgery table by three monsters who regard him as a blank canvas. Despite his pleas, they begin their procedure.
In the Firehouse rec room, Slimer and Eduardo Rivera watch a news segment on reclusive horror novelist J.N. Kline, who has not been seen in months. Kylie Griffin dismisses Kline as giving demonology a bad name, while Eduardo quietly hides his own copy of Kline's Gore Series. Garrett Miller reveals he has sent a manuscript to a horror magazine, the same one that gave Stephen King and Kline their starts, admitting his real goal is celebrity rather than literature.
Egon Spengler sends the team out on a reported abduction. The cook who witnessed Jimmy's kidnapping describes one of the captors as having a saw for a head, which Eduardo recognizes as Crainiac from Kline's books. At Tuck's Inn Bed and Breakfast, Jimmy reappears transformed into a monster like his captors, and more guests are taken. When the team arrives, they find the patrons tied up and Crainiac descending the stairs with his henchmen Corpuscle and Gristle. Garrett's fire makes Crainiac explode, but the creature regenerates, and the team learns the monsters cannot be trapped because they are not ectoplasmic. The villains drop vials and vanish, taking Roland Jackson with them.
Consulting Spengler's Spirit Guide, Kylie identifies the monsters as Vathek, spectral forms that cross into the living world through the act of writing. Whatever Kline writes about them becomes true, including their indestructibility. The remaining three trace the activity to Kline's mansion, where they find guests already "re-imagined" into monsters and Kline himself restrained at a desk, forced to type. Garrett tries to rewrite the script to undo the Vathek, but cannot find the words. Crainiac demands Kline write the Ghostbusters' deaths, reminding him the alliance brought him wealth and fame and would let the Vathek live forever. As the team is captured, Eduardo shoots the typewriter, which collapses the surrounding circle of fire into a vortex that pulls the Vathek away. The victims return to normal and Kline is freed.
Back at the Firehouse, Garrett receives another rejection while Kline publishes a new book based on the events, in which the team appears, Garrett included, as "the loudmouthed guy in the wheelchair."
Production notes
The script's epilogue was set "a month later" than the main action.5 Jimmy was described in the cast list as a "Jimmy Olsen-type," after the Daily Planet photographer from Superman.4 Kline's mansion was placed in the Connecticut countryside.3
The Vathek take their name from the Gothic novel Vathek by William Beckford. In design and concept they resemble the cenobites of Clive Barker's Hellraiser, though their motivation differs. Full design credits and visual development are detailed in the Entities section above.
Several in-episode cultural references are worth noting. Kylie addresses Garrett as "Hemingway," referencing Lost Generation writer Ernest Hemingway. When questioning the diner cook, Garrett asks whether the attacker's saw was a Black & Decker. Kylie interrupts Eduardo and Garrett by calling them "Iron Johns," a reference to a Brothers Grimm coming-of-age tale. Eduardo's recurring line "maybe he's dead" appears twice: first about Kline's unexplained seclusion, then when Roland goes missing. Before the events of the episode, Eduardo is the only team member who has read a Kline book.
Garrett's failed writing career is later referenced in his profile in the IDW Publishing comic Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Extreme Ghostbusters. Roland's mention of his younger brother reading Kline's books points to Casey Jackson, who appears in the episode "Grundelesque."
External links
References
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Capizzi, Duane (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters "Deadliners" (Final Draft, December 1996), script title page.
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Capizzi, Duane (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters "Deadliners" (Final Draft, December 1996), script cast list.
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Capizzi, Duane (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters "Deadliners" (Final Draft, December 1996), script p. 7. Line reads: "Ext. Connecticut countryside - Late Afternoon."
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Capizzi, Duane (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters "Deadliners" (Final Draft, December 1996), script cast list, p. 2.
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Capizzi, Duane (1997). Extreme Ghostbusters "Deadliners" (Final Draft, December 1996), script p. 38. Line reads: "Ext. Firehouse - A Month Later."
