Plot
While the team is off duty, Slimer plays with a makeshift proton pack and morphs his appearance to imitate Peter Venkman, down to the hair. He finds a ghost trap and knocks it down the stairs, where it breaks into pieces. Panicking, Slimer reassembles the trap but is left with one extra screw, which he hides inside himself just as the alarm rings.
The Ghostbusters board Ecto-1 and ask Slimer to bring the trap along, not knowing it is faulty. At a supermarket known as the Grocery Delicatessan they corner a cat-like grocery specter that is throwing food around. Slimer flies in and eats the food, and the team confines the entity using the broken trap. The trap captures the ghost, but spectral essence leaks out of it.
As Ecto-1 heads home, the loose essence infects inanimate objects along the way. An elephant kiddie ride near the doorway comes to life when a boy named Chucky tries to use it, a parking meter swipes and swallows a woman's purse, and a vending machine sprays a customer. Back at the firehouse, Egon Spengler tells Slimer to take the trap to the basement so it can be emptied later. Egon remarks offhandedly that he has not run an experiment in a week, unaware of what is about to happen.
The essence spreads and animates nearly everything in the building. A broom Slimer grabs to sweep up the essence turns on him. Janine Melnitz's desk, typewriter, office supplies, and water jug wake up. A coat hanger swipes at Slimer and two staplers pin Ray Stantz to a wall. Peter and Winston Zeddemore grab proton packs to deal with the animated objects, while a wave of chemicals comes down the stairs and an electrical outlet fires a bolt at Egon and Peter in the lab.
The alarm for the Containment Unit goes off. The unit itself has come to life and is spitting out the ghosts stored inside it. Egon finds the faulty trap, and Slimer tearfully confesses. While the others fight off the objects and ghosts, including the elephant ride, parking meter, vending machine, and construction equipment that have followed the team back to the firehouse, Peter struggles to subdue a road roller among the construction equipment. Ray and Winston are down to one empty trap. Egon modifies his particle thrower so he can reseal the Containment Unit without destroying it. The modified blast works, and the team is left with only one empty trap to spare.
Egon explains that the elements of the captured ghost leaked from the broken trap, spread through the essence, and the possessed objects followed the Ghostbusters home in an attempt to reassemble into a single ghost. The team makes Slimer promise never to play with the equipment again, then forgives him and gets to work cleaning up.
Ghosts and Locations
Grocery Specter. A cat-like entity haunting the Grocery Delicatessan, a combination supermarket and delicatessen located in Manhattan. The Ghostbusters trap it, but its spectral essence leaks from the damaged trap and animates objects throughout the city and eventually the firehouse itself.
Possessed objects. The leaked essence takes control of: the elephant kiddie ride outside the market; a street parking meter; a sidewalk vending machine; Janine's typewriter, desk, and office supplies; a broom; Egon's lab equipment; street construction equipment including a road roller; and ultimately the Containment Unit itself.
Cast
The regular voice cast for the episode included Dave Coulier, Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, Buster Jones, and Kath Soucie. Ron Green provided the voice of the parking meter.1 The episode was recorded on July 26 and 31, 1989, with Dave Coulier recording alone on July 31.2
Notes
When Peter calls out "Nice shootin', Tex!" to Winston, he is echoing a line from the original 1984 film, used during the team's first attempt to capture Slimer. The premise of a ghost scattering into pieces and trying to reassemble itself is similar to the earlier episode Lost and Foundry.
The makeshift weapon Egon uses to reseal the Containment Unit, sometimes identified in production notes as a Proton Shotgun configuration, was referenced as a visual callback in the IDW Publishing comic series: a version of the weapon appears in the background of Ghostbusters International #7 (page 20, panel 3) and is again noted in issue #8.
In broadcast order, Loose Screws follows Revenge of the Ghostmaster and precedes Slimer Streak. On the home video release it is paired so that Venk-Man! comes next.
References
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Eatock, James and Mangels, Andy (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 35. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1989). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Loose Screws" (1989).
