Plot
Back at the Firehouse after a routine job, Peter Venkman grumbles about Slimer riding along on every call. A Scotsman named Caithness arrives looking for Ray. He explains that Ray's uncle, Andrew McMillan, has died and left an unusual will: the first person on a short list who can exorcise the ghost haunting Castle Dunkeld inherits the property and earns the title Duke of Dunkeld. Ray's name is first. McMillan and Ray had never met in person, only exchanged Christmas letters, but McMillan deliberately excluded his own children from the inheritance.
The team flies to Scotland, much to Peter's displeasure. At the airport they meet Angus Lennie, who presents himself as executor of the will. Driving to the castle, Egon Spengler asks whether the ghost is a Free Floating Repeater or a Simple Roaming Vapor. Lennie says the locals simply call it the Keystone Ghost. On the road they pass a monument to the Battle of Dunkeld, described as a nasty clan squabble between Scottish highlanders and lowlanders. The castle staff greets them, still on payroll from the estate treasury.
That night, Peter stumbles out of his room looking for the bathroom and runs into a flying suit of armor. The rest of the team wakes to the commotion and Winston Zeddemore traps the Keystone Ghost after Ray uses himself as bait. The triumph is brief: 723 additional ghosts burst out of the ground. Angus reveals the old legend is true: one man caused the Battle of Dunkeld with a rash act, and his ghost was condemned to roam so all the other combatants could sleep peacefully. With the Keystone Ghost now trapped, the army of the dead is free, and at dawn they will march on the nearby village to reenact the battle's final massacre.
Egon and Winston's packs run dry; Peter's is nearly spent. Ray pedals a bicycle into town, wakes the local electric company boss, and negotiates use of the village garbage trucks. He rallies the townspeople (with a promise of payment) and converts the trucks into giant ghost traps by wiring them with degaussing coils powered by storage batteries. The improvised traps pull in all 723 ghosts. Ray then confronts Lennie: having done some asking around, Ray learned that Angus was never the legitimate executor but was hired by McMillan's relatives to sabotage the attempt. Instead of calling the police, Ray makes Angus buy the village a replacement fleet of garbage trucks and personally store all the trash in the meantime.
Ray hands the castle over to the Village of Dunkeld, allowing McMillan's kin to live there as paying tenants. Back in New York, the team receives a gift package from Scotland: traditional Highland dress for everyone, and a set of bagpipes for Ray. Peter wishes they had sent a ghost instead.
Characters
Peter Venkman
Egon Spengler
Ray Stantz
Winston Zeddemore
Janine Melnitz
Slimer
Voice Cast
Episode Entities
This episode features several one-off characters and ghosts that appear only here.
Caithness (voiced by Frank Welker) is the legitimate executor of Andrew McMillan's will. He travels to New York City to find Ray at the Firehouse and explain the terms of the inheritance challenge. His name references the Caithness region in northern Scotland.
Angus Lennie (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) introduces himself as the will's executor and drives the team to Castle Dunkeld. In fact, he is an agent hired by McMillan's kin to ensure Ray fails. He knowingly allows the Ghostbusters to trap the Keystone Ghost, fully aware it will unleash the ghost army. When Ray exposes him, Lennie accepts the alternative to prison: purchasing replacement garbage trucks for Dunkeld and storing the village's trash at his home until they arrive.
The Keystone Ghost (voiced by Arsenio Hall) is a red, spiky apparition and a Free Floating Repeater in Egon's classification. It is the spirit of the man whose rash act triggered the Battle of Dunkeld. As punishment, it was condemned to haunt the McMillan estate indefinitely, its perpetual roaming keeping all 723 fallen soldiers at rest. Trapping it is what sets the larger crisis in motion. It haunted the McMillan property, a 640-acre estate.
The Battle of Dunkeld Ghosts are 723 spirits of soldiers who died in the Battle of Dunkeld, a clash between Scottish highlanders and lowlanders. Released once the Keystone Ghost is captured, they advance on the Village of Dunkeld at dawn to replay the battle's final massacre. They are capable of projecting psychokinetic energy in the form of spectral gunfire and cannonballs.
Andrew McMillan (deceased) is Ray's uncle and the original owner of Castle Dunkeld. Ray and McMillan never met face to face, exchanging only Christmas letters. McMillan structured his will to give Ray first opportunity at the inheritance, effectively disinheriting his own children who are described as freeloaders. The castle and its treasury were left intact for the challenge.
Equipment
The episode features standard proton pack and ghost trap equipment, along with PKE Meters. The Ghostbusters also wear electrical insulating gloves and carry radios, both of which are relatively rare occurrences in the series. Ray's improvised solution to the ghost army involves converting garbage trucks into large-scale ghost traps using degaussing coils and storage batteries to maintain the containment charge.
Trivia
- The episode title is a play on the phrase "busman's holiday," meaning a vacation spent doing the same work one does professionally.
- The episode was recorded on August 6, 1986, more than a year before its airdate.
- One of the townspeople makes reference to Dick Whittington, an English folktale about a poor boy in the 14th century who grew up to become a wealthy merchant and Lord Mayor of London, largely thanks to his cat. The villager jokes that he is Dick Whittington's cat.
- The Ghostbusters wear gloves and use radios, which is one of the few times this occurs in the series.
- Peter references The Alamo when comparing their desperate final stand.
- Peter also references Peter Pan in reference to Ray.
- At the airport, Peter mentions the Big Mac from McDonald's.
- Janine Melnitz suggested Libya to Peter when he complained about needing a vacation.
- Winston compares covering Ray's run to the village to Moses parting the Red Sea.
- Argyllshire is a region in western Scotland; Dunkeld is a real small town in Perth and Kinross.
- Ray's mention of degaussing wires is technically grounded: degaussing is the process of reducing or eliminating an unwanted magnetic field, commonly used to neutralize ships and demagnetize electronic equipment.
- Toward the end of the episode, Egon's jumpsuit appears in a noticeably lighter shade of blue, a likely animation inconsistency.
- The expression Egon makes before giving a thumbs up near the end was later used as his character file photo on page 21 of Ghostbusters: Crossing Over Issue #2.
- Maurice LaMarche and Arsenio Hall voice both their regular characters (Egon and Winston respectively) and the episode's guest characters (Angus Lennie and the Keystone Ghost).
Quotes
: Scotsman: Excuse me, but would ye be Mister Raymond Stantz?
: Egon Spengler: No. Not by choice.
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: Mr Lenny: But it appears that it is getting worse.
: Peter Venkman: Very perceptive.
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: Egon Spengler: Is this my wakeup call?
: Peter Venkman: No, I think room service just sent up a ghost.
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References
- "Bustman's Holiday," The Real Ghostbusters, Season 2, episode 58 (production no. 76029). Written by Richard Mueller. DiC Entertainment, first aired November 13, 1987. DVD: Vol. 2, Disc 2.
Gallery
