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"Hard Knight's Day" is a Season 2 episode of The Real Ghostbusters in which a medieval knight imprisoned in a museum tapestry by Merlin is freed during a full moon and mistakes Peter's date for a long-lost love. Written by Bruce Reid Schaefer and Steve Perrin, it first aired on November 30, 1987.
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| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Season | 2 |
| Episode (air order) | 56 (production order: 069; DVD: 051) |
| Production Number | 76038 |
| Air Date | November 30, 1987 |
| Recorded | October 1, 1986 |
| Writers | Bruce Reid Schaefer, Steve Perrin |
| DVD | Vol. 2, Disc 3 |
| Previous Episode | The Old College Spirit |
| Next Episode | Masquerade |
Peter races back to the firehouse after a job, anxious not to be late for a date with Dr. Doris Tibbs, a museum curator. Before Peter can choose an appropriate outfit, Slimer ruins his clothes, so Ray loans him a gaudy aloha shirt. Peter picks up Doris and discovers she has arranged a private evening showing of the Genevieve Tapestry at the Cloisters in Upper Manhattan, rather than the upscale outing he had planned.
At the Cloisters, a museum official named Steve Jennings unveils the tapestry, also called the Sans Pitie Tapestry, recovered from the ruins of Sans Pitie Castle. The timing is unfortunate: it is a full moon, and the curse binding Sir Bruce Sans Pitie to the tapestry is lunar-powered. Sir Bruce and his "bully boys" emerge from the artwork and immediately recognize Doris as the image of Queen Guinevere, the woman Sir Bruce has pined for since the Arthurian era. The Cloisters itself transforms into Sans Pitie Castle, and Doris is taken captive and begins slowly transforming into Guinevere.
Egon determines that Sir Bruce is anchored to the tapestry by Merlin's curse and cannot simply be trapped while the moon is up. The team's strategy: stall until sunrise. Ray and Winston ride Unicorns freed from other tapestries to distract and draw Sir Bruce outside, but he retreats when he realizes the ruse. With time running out, Peter disguises himself as Merlin. The bluff works, chasing Sir Bruce back into daylight where all four Proton Streams confine him and a trap finishes the job. His minions are re-imprisoned in their respective paintings and statues, the Cloisters returns to normal, and Doris recovers with only partial memory of the night's events.
Sir Bruce Sans Pitie (voiced by Alan Shearman) is the episode's main antagonist. In Arthurian legend, Sir Bruce (also known as Sir Breuse sans Pitie, or "Bruce Without Pity") was a rogue knight infamous for underhanded tactics who was never brought to justice. The episode draws on that tradition, using his open-ended fate in the source material as justification for his appearance. In the episode, Merlin imprisoned him and his army in tapestries sometime in the fifth century A.D. because of his obsession with Guinevere, consort of King Arthur. When the Genevieve Tapestry is unveiled on a full moon, Sir Bruce is freed and fixates on Doris Tibbs as a modern-day Guinevere. The episode's approach of anchoring a villain to a painting with magical rules presages a nearly identical structure in Ghostbusters II with Vigo the Carpathian. A painting of Sir Bruce appears briefly in the IDW comics continuity, hanging in a background shot in Ghostbusters Issue #1.
Dr. Doris Tibbs (voiced by Nancy Merwan) is Peter's date and a museum professional who arranged the private Cloisters showing. Her strong resemblance to a depiction of Guinevere in the Genevieve Tapestry triggers Sir Bruce's captivity plan. While held, she begins physically transforming into the medieval figure, with Egon noting the process was accelerating. She recovers fully after Sir Bruce is trapped, retaining only fragmentary memories of what happened.
Steve Jennings is the museum official overseeing the special showing who dismisses Peter's Ghostbusters credentials at first introduction. He is horrified at the prospect of the castle transformation making the artwork loss permanent.
Bruce's Bully Boys are Sir Bruce's knightly retainers, freed from various other works of art alongside him when the curse is broken. They revert to their respective paintings and statues when Sir Bruce is trapped.
Cloisters Manifestations are the broader population of spirits freed from all the artwork in the museum, ranging from knights to creatures. The Unicorns among them prove key: Ray and Winston ride them to harry Sir Bruce, since Unicorns are traditionally anathema to corrupt knights.
Merlin does not appear in the episode, but is referenced throughout. It is his curse that imprisoned Sir Bruce and set the lunar rules the Ghostbusters exploit.
| Role | Actor |
|---|---|
| Peter Venkman | Lorenzo Music |
| Ray Stantz | Frank Welker |
| Egon Spengler | Maurice LaMarche |
| Winston Zeddemore | Arsenio Hall |
| Janine Melnitz | Laura Summer |
| Sir Bruce Sans Pitie | Alan Shearman |
| Dr. Doris Tibbs | Nancy Merwan |
Genevieve, Sir Bruce Sans Pitie, and Merlin are all drawn from Arthurian tradition. "Genevieve" is a French form of the name better known in English as Guinevere. The episode's Arthurian material is loosely adapted: in medieval romance, Sir Breuse sans Pitie appears across multiple texts as an unrepentant villain never definitively defeated, which the episode uses as a narrative in for bringing him into the present.