Plot
At the Firehouse, Janine Melnitz, Slimer, and Louis Tully are handling the day's chores when the Ghostbusters return, each carrying a Ghost Trap and covered in slime. The four downplay the job they just finished and hurry off to separate invitations. Peter Venkman heads to a Ladies' Charity Function where he is to be auctioned off as a date. Ray Stantz is booked as a guest speaker at a comic book convention. Winston Zeddemore is off to shoot a Fizz Up TV commercial. Egon Spengler has won an annual scientific achievement award and goes to the university to accept it. On the way out, Louis again asks Peter to sign the checks, and again Peter puts him off.
Each event turns out to be a setup. At the Manhattan Ladies Club the doorman tells Peter there is no meeting scheduled, but Peter goes in and finds the room full of ghosts that swarm him. Ray reaches a closed Civic Auditorium and is grabbed after entering through the back. Egon's award banquet is held in a janitor's closet, where he is pulled inside before the sign vanishes. Winston mistakes the ghost holding a film slate for a crew member in monster makeup, and is taken too.3 The four pass through a vortex and land in a building Egon identifies as the Ghostworld.
Back on the physical plane, Louis worries when the team does not return. He examines the invitations, notices they are all written in the same handwriting, and a P.K.E. Meter reading confirms ghosts are behind them. Janine, Louis, and Slimer suit up and check each location, finding Egon's bow tie and matching readings at all four. In the Ghostworld, a prosecutor ghost charges the Ghostbusters with kidnapping and imprisoning ghosts. The Judge ghost finds them guilty and has them hauled away.
Slimer leads Janine and Louis to a portal to the Ghostworld at an abandoned tunnel near the East River, which opens at midnight. They make their way in past a wave of slime. Inside the prison, the captured Ghostbusters fail at digging an escape route and find the mess-hall food no better than the cells. Janine and Louis visit the team disguised as their parents and signal a plan to move at lights out. Slimer lifts a guard's keys, but a prisoner warns that the Ghostbusters have already been taken to the "Armpit" to be executed.
At the edge of the pit, a ghost arrives with a pardon from the Ghost Governor, but the Governor manifests from the letter and personally shoves the team in. Janine and Louis open fire on a pillar near the pit, Slimer pushes it over, and the Ghostbusters climb the fallen pillar to escape. The Governor returns with a pair of giant Terror Dogs, and the team races for the closing portal, jumping through just as it shuts while the Governor and his dogs cannot stop in time. Everyone arrives back in New York City at dawn. Peter declares that Janine is getting her raise, and in thanks she tousles his hair, which everyone says in unison that he hates.
Production
According to the episode call sheet and SAG report, "Jailbusters" carried production number 201007 and was recorded on July 5 and 6, 1989, with Frank Welker recording alone on July 6.2
Trivia and references
The title nods to "Jail Busters," a 1955 Bowery Boys film. The same comedy team made the 1946 film "Spook Busters," sometimes cited as an inspiration for Ghostbusters.
The episode is dense with gags. Winston warns Peter not to say "We're not in Kansas anymore," a jab at "The Wizard of Oz," and Janine later quips about the lack of a yellow brick road as they head into the Ghostworld. Egon dubs the mess-hall meal "Eyeball Helper," a play on Hamburger Helper, and Peter begins reciting the opening of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address at the edge of the Armpit. Running through the whole episode is Peter's loud objection to having his hair messed up, repeated often enough that his complaining is what leads Janine and Louis to the prison.
During the trial, a ghost shows flip-book cards of villains the team has supposedly trapped in the Containment Unit, including Samhain, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, the Boogieman, the Ghostmaster, and Doctor McCatheter. Their appearances do not all line up with series continuity: the Ghostmaster, seen earlier in "Short Stuff," had not actually been captured, the Boogieman was only turned into a ghost and trapped at the close of "The Bogeyman Is Back," and McCatheter is shown in his human form rather than as a ghost.
A recurring background detail, a giant Fizz Cola sign to the left of the Firehouse throughout the series, ties into Winston's bogus Fizz Up commercial.
Release
"Jailbusters" appears on Volume 4, Disc 2 of the Time Life Entertainment box set release of The Real Ghostbusters. In both air-date and DVD order it follows "Future Tense" and precedes "The Ghostbusters Live! from Al Capone's Tomb!"
References
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Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 33. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1989). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "Jailbusters" (1989).
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The Real Ghostbusters, "Jailbusters" (1989). Time Life Entertainment.
