Plot
The Ghostbusters chase a ghost across the grounds of Harcourt Alabaster III's chemical plant. It flees into a chemical research and development facility, where the Ghoul ducks into one of the chemical vats. Peter zaps the vat with a proton stream, and the influx of energy sets off all the vats at once. The ghost laughs and prepares to leave, but the team captures it, ending up covered in sticky reddish brown chemicals. Egon notices the captured ghost reads as a weak Class 2 rather than the Strong Class 3 vaporous apparition he had first labeled it.
After a long shower and a lot of scrubbing the guys get clean, but they soon develop reddish and purplish growths over their bodies. A layer of strange growths eventually covers everyone but their heads. The chemical company cannot explain it, so they go to the hospital to consult a specialist. Dr. Gould runs many tests and claims he knows how to treat it, though it is clear he does not understand what he is dealing with.
Ray develops a large eye on his chest, and the others grow other organs on their own chests: Egon a nose, Peter an ear, and Winston a mouth with pointed teeth. Janine tries to keep them comfortable, but Slimer is kept outside the room because the doctor considers him unsanitary. When Slimer gets close to Ray, part of the mass covering his body reacts, flies off, and attacks Slimer. As Gould's tests take their toll, radio reports suggest the problem is incurable.
Egon decides to have Slimer approach them deliberately. When he does, the substance covering their bodies flies off and forms a reconstructed ghoul. It chases Slimer while the cured but weakened Ghostbusters grab their gear. Because the creature is not a real ghost but a chemical construct that has absorbed the original ghost's ectoplasmic energy and the proton energy, the team cannot trap it. Instead they overload it with their particle throwers and blow it up, trashing the floor and coating themselves in goop again.
A week later the Ghostbusters are discharged with a clean bill of health. When the doctor presents his bill, Peter hands him a bill for the team's services to the hospital for exactly the same amount, suggests they call it even, and rips up both bills, leaving the doctor speechless.
Cast and characters
The Ghostbusters: Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore, with Janine Melnitz and Slimer. The episode introduces the ghost known as the Ghoul, the Alabaster Chemical Plant scientists, Doctor Gould, and the Gunk Creature formed from the contaminated chemicals.
Equipment and locations
The team uses their proton packs and particle throwers, the ghost trap, the P.K.E. Meter, and Ecto-1. Settings include the Alabaster Chemical Plant, the firehouse, and the hospital.
This episode reveals that the animated ghost trap has a readout showing the classification of the ghost or ghosts it has captured.
Production
The episode was recorded on January 9, January 12, and January 16, 1987.2 Frank Welker recorded on January 9 and 16, and Maurice LaMarche recorded alone on January 12.2
Notes and trivia
Peter's line "Heat 'em up!" and the others' reply "Smoking!" echo a moment from the original Ghostbusters film.1 Egon's favorite soup is established here as chicken soup with mushrooms.
Janine brings Winston books by Herman Melville and Charles Dickens along with music by The Alan Parsons Project, and Peter references Captain Ahab from Melville's "Moby-Dick." Janine also misquotes the maxim "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" to Slimer, and Dr. Gould mentions the American Medical Association.
Doctor Gould's medical shield was later reused as a visual reference in IDW Publishing's Ghostbusters comics. It appears on page 19 of Ghostbusters Volume 1 Issue #7, and the nurses and Doctor Gould make a non-canon cameo at the check-in station on page 20 of that issue. The shield Egon carries in Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #5 (page 20) and Issue #6 (page 2) is based on Gould's, and the foot X-ray from this episode appears as a non-canon cameo on page 19 of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #2.
Episode order
By air date, "Doctor, Doctor" follows The Man Who Never Reached Home and precedes You Can't Take It With You. In DVD order it sits between A Fright at the Opera and Ghost Busted.
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Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 9. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1987). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Doctor, Doctor" (1987).
