Voice cast
The episode features the series regular voice cast of Lorenzo Music, Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, Arsenio Hall, and Laura Summer, with guest performers Katie Leigh and R.J. Williams. Frank Welker also voiced the bully Willie Bradford in this episode.
Plot
A group of twelve-year-olds is hanging out at a park over a weekend. Willie Bradford suggests they do something, and Cindy spots Kenny Fenderman approaching in a home-made Ghostbusters outfit and gear. The group laughs at him, but Kenny insists he is a full-fledged Ghostbuster and vows to prove it.
At the Firehouse, Egon and Ray Stantz wait for Peter Venkman before a staff meeting. Ray asks about a device on the bench, and Egon identifies it as the Ecto-Aroma Eliminator, a prototype meant to neutralize the foul odors left behind by Class 3 and higher manifestations. He warns that it is experimental and dangerous. When Peter finally arrives, Janine Melnitz calls him to the lobby, where Kenny is waiting with Janine and Winston Zeddemore. Winston explains the boy wants a job. Peter takes Kenny into his office, hears that Kenny has already told his friends he was hired, and pins a badge on him, declaring him a member of the "Ghostbusters Auxiliary."
As a first perk, Peter gives Kenny a guided tour of the Firehouse and, against his better judgment, hands him the Ecto-Aroma Eliminator. When the alarm sounds, Peter brings Kenny along over the others' objections. The team arrives at a crystal gallery owned by Vincent Van Swell, who complains that ghosts ruined his opening and that priceless imported crystals are at risk. Peter orders Kenny to guard Ecto-1 and the team heads inside.
The Ghostbusters trap three ghosts quickly, but a fourth appears. As they try to surround it, Kenny bursts in and Peter has to shove Winston aside to keep him from shooting the boy, shattering several crystals in the process. The team traps the last ghost, and an angry Peter leaves Kenny behind. Back at the park, Willie examines Kenny's badge and reveals it is a souvenir pin from the 1964 New York World's Fair, prompting more laughter. Kenny shows off the Ecto-Aroma Eliminator instead, which catches Cindy's interest, and Willie dares him to spend the night in the old Halliwell Mansion.
At the Firehouse, Egon cannot find the Eliminator. When Peter admits he gave it to Kenny, Egon warns that an unstable isotope inside could destroy a city block if the wrong button is pushed. The team sets out with a Geiger counter to track it. Kenny, meanwhile, has entered the mansion, switched on the Eliminator, and confronted a glowing door upstairs, announcing himself as a Ghostbuster, which only angers the entity.
The team picks up the device's signal and races to the mansion, where they are outmatched by four ghosts. Consulting Tobin's Spirit Guide, Egon determines that a single powerful intelligence is directing all the activity in the house and holds enough P.K.E. to blow apart the Containment Unit. He reasons that a near-atomic kinetic force applied at the moment of capture could destroy the spirit while the conditions inside the unit keep it from reforming. With all four streams on the ghost Halliwell, Peter signals Kenny to throw the Eliminator at it. The gambit works and Halliwell is trapped.
In the morning Kenny walks out of the house, and Willie's group is stunned when the Ghostbusters emerge too. The team thanks Kenny for his help and drives off. When Willie sheepishly asks for an introduction, Kenny replies, "We'll see."
Production notes
The episode was recorded on August 25, 1986.2 In the final draft of the script, Willie's mocking comparison originally referenced the Smurfs rather than "Inspector Gadget," the cartoon name used in the aired episode.3 "Inspector Gadget" was another series produced by DIC, and Frank Welker, who voices Willie here, also played Dr. Claw and Brain on that show. Two of Willie's friends go unnamed on screen but are identified in the final draft as Mark and Jim.45
A few other lines shifted between script and broadcast. In the final draft, the World's Fair pin is read aloud by Jim, while in the episode Willie reads it. The script also has Jim call the ghost "Old man Halliwell," whereas the aired version uses "Old General Halliwell."6
Peter's gag of passing off a 1964 New York World's Fair pin as a Ghostbusters badge echoes a scene cut from the first film, in which Janine gives Egon a coin from the same fair. Slimer does not appear in this episode.
Ghosts and guest characters
Halliwell is the primary antagonist, a powerful spectral intelligence that controls all paranormal activity inside the Halliwell Mansion. Egon's consultation of Tobin's Spirit Guide reveals that Halliwell commands enough P.K.E. to blow apart the Containment Unit. Because of this, the team cannot simply trap the entity the normal way and must channel nearly atomic kinetic force through the Ecto-Aroma Eliminator at the moment of capture to prevent Halliwell from reforming. The episode refers to the spirit as "Old General Halliwell" in the aired version, though the final script draft used the name "Old man Halliwell."
Halliwell's Minions are four lesser ghosts who reside in the mansion and serve under Halliwell's direction. Directed by a single powerful intelligence, they are more crafty and evasive than standard manifestations, successfully baiting and outmaneuvering the team until the Ghostbusters shift their focus to Halliwell directly. Their fate after Halliwell's trapping is left ambiguous, though Kenny's offhand remark that he "helped" bust several ghosts suggests they were captured before morning.
Kenny Fenderman, voiced by R.J. Williams, is a twelve-year-old who has fabricated a Ghostbusters career to impress his peers. He shows enough determination to spend the night alone in the Halliwell Mansion and enough presence of mind to follow Peter's signal at the critical moment. The episode treats him generously: the Ghostbusters thank him for his help rather than simply rescuing him.
Cindy, voiced by Katie Leigh, is part of Willie Bradford's circle but quietly roots for Kenny throughout the episode. The story implies Kenny's efforts are largely motivated by a schoolyard crush on her; she is the first of the group to show genuine interest when he produces the Ecto-Aroma Eliminator, and the episode ends with her apparently impressed by the night's outcome.
Willie Bradford, voiced by Frank Welker, is the ringleader of the peer group that mocks Kenny. His dare that Kenny spend the night at the Halliwell Mansion sets the episode's third-act plot in motion.
Vincent Van Swell is the owner of the crystal gallery where the Ghostbusters are called in mid-episode. His primary concern is the financial value of the imported crystals, and his running commentary on breakage provides the episode's sharpest comedic beat.
Animation errors
In the gallery sequence, the foot pedals on the ghost traps are not seated correctly on the floor. Later, as the Ghostbusters drive to the mansion, Ecto-1 passes a storefront whose sign appears to read "Victoria Restorang" rather than "Victoria Restaurant."
Episode order
In air-date order, "Masquerade" follows Hard Knight's Day and precedes Deadcon 1. In the DVD running order it falls between Last Train to Oblivion and Janine's Day Off.
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
