Plot
The Ghostbusters were out on a bust at Lorne's Greenhouse and Garden Center. The action got too intense for the owner, Mr. Lorne, who insisted on waiting outside. A water hose floated up and shot Ray Stantz. The greenhouse ghost exited the hose and ran off with a wheelbarrow, scooping up Winston Zeddemore and launching him into a pile of compost. Peter Venkman and Egon Spengler stopped at a row of geraniums and noticed one glowing. Peter opened fire and confined the ghost, and Egon opened the trap, but the ghost escaped into a nearby geranium. Egon was skeptical they had trapped it, but Peter insisted he check his glasses. Pleased with the work, Mr. Lorne decided to reward whoever captured the ghost with one of his prized geraniums. Peter pointed to Egon.
As the team drove back to headquarters, Peter downplayed the geranium's worth. Ray defended the plant, nicknamed "Gerry," and cited a 1954 claim by Boxwood and Hedges that hibiscus responded positively to violin music as proof that plants had feelings. Egon added that they did not like the tuba, to which Peter wondered if anyone did. At the Firehouse, Janine admired Egon's geranium. Egon mentioned he kept pots at home because he used to employ plants in his experiments until they all died. Janine guessed he had over-watered them and recommended books by Professor Phil Dendron, who she called the world's greatest plant psychologist, listing titles such as "I'm Okay, Your Plant's Okay," "How to Be Your Begonia's Best Friend," and "Mulch to Success." Impressed by how much she knew, Egon gave her the geranium. As he handed it over, their hands touched and Janine remarked how romantic geraniums were. The moment ended when Peter appeared with a sandwich and asked if there were any messages.
At the end of the work day, Janine took the subway home, showed off the geranium to a table full of other plants, and placed it on her window sill. After she walked away, a pigeon landed by the plant. It glowed and rapidly increased in size. The next day, thunderstorms plagued the city. Arriving at the Firehouse, Janine found Peter so bored he was playing tic-tac-toe against himself on a window. Slimer was eager to play catch but was turned down, so Peter tricked him into a game of "Hide and Don't Seek." Delighted at having fooled Peter, Slimer rushed off to hide while Peter counted.
Meanwhile, the geranium had grown so large its vines crept down into the sewers and lifted a car. Several vines entered Sol's Tanning Salon and settled on a tanning bed. Back at the Firehouse, Janine took a call reporting something unusual at the Brooklyn Bridge. Ecto-1 pulled up and the team sighted the geranium vines wrapped around the bridge. As they strapped on their proton packs, Professor Dendron ran up and demanded the plant be saved for scientific study. Ray did a sweep with his P.K.E. Meter and registered a reading, but a vine grabbed him and hoisted him to a dangerous height. He nearly fell to his death before catching a giant leaf and gliding safely down onto the roof of Ecto-1.
Egon reasoned they needed to find the center of the growth and pointed across to Brooklyn. The Ghostbusters took a tugboat to the shore and marched in, only to find Dendron had beaten them there, unwilling to miss the most exciting horticultural event in a hundred years. Ray suggested a "slash and burn" strategy, but Egon warned the resulting fire would destroy every inch of Brooklyn. Dendron suggested they communicate with love before he too was grabbed. The team chased after him to the front of Janine's apartment in Brooklyn Heights, where Janine had arrived with some Dendron's Own plant food only to find her home overgrown.
They entered but could not stop the creature as all of Janine's possessions were destroyed. Peter and Ray were grabbed and Winston wrestled with another vine. Egon then grabbed the emergency fire hose in the hallway and over-watered the plant. It worked: the vines around Brooklyn died and crumbled, the ghost vacated the geranium, and Winston trapped it. Rather than thank Egon, Janine was furious at the destruction of her apartment. Dendron declared he would dedicate a chapter of his new book, "Geraniums I Have Known," to the event and send everyone an autographed copy. Peter declined, saying he would wait for the movie.
Production and title
In an introduction recorded for the episode in The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection, writer Michael Edens explained that he came up with the premise on a flight from Tennessee to Los Angeles. He originally titled it "It's a Jungle Out There," but Mark Edens changed it to a play on the novel "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." Some years later, Len Janson and Chuck Menville wrote a separate episode actually titled "It's a Jungle Out There." Peter pays off the original working title in dialogue when he says, "It's a jungle out there."
The business name "Lorne's Greenhouse" is a pun on Lorne Greene, one of the stars of the Western television series "Bonanza."1 Sol's Tanning Salon displays a sun symbol reminiscent of its depiction in Japanese culture, most likely because the episode was animated in Japan. During the greenhouse bust, Egon refers to Peter as "Bwana," apparently using it as slang for "boss."
The episode was recorded on November 14, 1986.2 An early script differed from the finished cartoon in several details. In the August 27, 1986 script, Peter mentioned his uncle rather than his father when referencing a door-to-door salesman,3 and Dendron stated the team needed to use geometry, rather than love, to communicate with the plant.4 Three of Dendron's book titles were cut from the episode: "The One-Minute Horticulturalist," "When Bad Things Happen To Good Petunias," and "Peonies Are People, Too."567
The episode established that Janine lives in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.
Release
In the air-date order the episode follows "The Devil to Pay" and precedes "I Am the City." It is included on The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection box set (Volume 3, Disc 1), which also carries the Michael Edens introduction.
Episode entities
Several one-off characters and items are specific to this episode.
The Greenhouse Ghost is the episode's antagonist, voiced by Brian Cummings. It is an entity that had taken up residence in Lorne's Greenhouse and Garden Center before the Ghostbusters arrived for the bust. During the confrontation it possessed a water hose, then evaded the trap by slipping into a nearby geranium. Because it took hold of the plant before the trap fully engaged, Egon was uncertain the capture was successful, and he was right: the ghost used the geranium as a body, drawing on its biological growth to spread vines across Brooklyn. Egon ultimately exploited that same biology against it, overwatering the plant with a fire hose until the ghost was forced out and Winston could complete the capture. The ghost appears again in a non-speaking cameo in the IDW Publishing comic "What in Samhain Just Happened?!" (page 22), visible in the crowd watching Sam Hain perform.
Professor Phil Dendron is a plant psychologist and author whose books Janine quotes by name: "I'm Okay, Your Plant's Okay," "How to Be Your Begonia's Best Friend," and "Mulch to Success." Three additional titles Janine recites in the August 27, 1986 script were trimmed before broadcast: "The One-Minute Horticulturalist," "When Bad Things Happen To Good Petunias," and "Peonies Are People, Too." Dendron arrives at the Brooklyn Bridge demanding the giant geranium be preserved for science rather than destroyed, insists the team try "love" as a first approach (the script had him prescribe geometry instead), and ends up grabbed by the vines himself before being rescued. His exit line, that he will dedicate a chapter of his forthcoming "Geraniums I Have Known" to the event and mail everyone an autographed copy, prompts Peter to decline and say he will wait for the movie.
Dendron's Own is the brand of plant food Janine brings to her apartment hoping to tend the geranium. It is a product endorsed by Dendron.
Lorne's Greenhouse and Garden Center is the opening bust location. Its name is a pun on Lorne Greene, one of the stars of the television Western "Bonanza."
References
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Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 21. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "A Ghost Grows in Brooklyn" (1986).
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Edens, Michael and Edens, Mark (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Three Disc Five, "A Ghost Grows in Brooklyn" Script p. 15. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Edens, Michael and Edens, Mark (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Three Disc Five, "A Ghost Grows in Brooklyn" Script p. 24. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Edens, Michael and Edens, Mark (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Three Disc Five, "A Ghost Grows in Brooklyn" Script p. 22. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Edens, Michael and Edens, Mark (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Three Disc Five, "A Ghost Grows in Brooklyn" Script p. 11. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Edens, Michael and Edens, Mark (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Three Disc Five, "A Ghost Grows in Brooklyn" Script p. 9. CPT Holdings, Inc.
