Production
The episode carries production number 175006.2 It was recorded on July 18, 1988.2 The regular voice cast included Dave Coulier, Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, Buster Jones, and Kath Soucie, with Gregory Martin as a guest voice.
The episode is included on Vol. 4, Disc 1 of The Real Ghostbusters DVD box set.
A production tape (Production #175006, dated October 18, 1988) of this episode exists that carries the animation and voice track but no music or sound effects.3
Plot
In a run-down part of the city, Winston Zeddemore chases a ghost that hops out a window, where Peter Venkman and Ray Stantz blast it. Slimer hands a trap to Egon Spengler, who captures it. On the way back to headquarters, Ray admits he is bored, missing the days when the team faced major manifestations like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and the Sandman.
In the Netherworld, the Ghostmaster realizes the Ghostbusters have captured nearly all of his ghosts. He summons his three best bounty hunters, Animax, Mist Crawler, and Dark, promising a reward to whoever brings him the team alive and punishment to the other two, then sends them through a portal.
At the Firehouse, a portal opens and Animax bursts through, wrecking Janine's desk and spraying webbing on Ray and Peter. Slimer slimes Animax's eyes, and Winston tricks the ghost into swallowing a trap before opening it to capture him. Egon recognizes the attack as an ambush.
Driving through the city soon after, the team is caught off guard by Mist Crawler, who morphs into a brick wall, deflects their proton streams, strips off their packs, and disables Ecto-1. They take cover in a building, and when Mist Crawler slips in through the mail slot, Egon captures him with a trap he managed to carry along.
The third hunter, Dark, comes through a portal and takes the form of a figure from a stack of Punk Cinema magazines. Reaching the Firehouse, Dark hypnotizes Janine into shutting off the team's makeshift security system, then puts her to sleep. Inside, a shrinking spell reduces the Ghostbusters to six inches tall and traps them in a magic bubble. Slimer wakes Janine, chases Dark, and bumps the ghost into the portal, knocking the bubble loose so it shatters and frees the team. The Ghostmaster, furious at the failure, sends Dark back to finish the job.
From a rooftop, Egon has Slimer tell Janine to search the Big Red Book of Ancient Spells for a counter spell. The shrunken team stalls Dark across a clothesline, dodges a crow, and ends up in a ventilation system that funnels them into a bottling plant, where they are sealed inside a bottle of Yuppie Water and loaded onto a delivery truck. Egon has them shake the bottle and shoot the cap, and the carbonation pressure launches them free. After a series of near misses, a boy lends them a balloon to float back toward the Firehouse.
Unable to find the right spell, Janine starts trying them all, turning Slimer different colors and patterns, splitting him into three, changing the Firehouse, and briefly making Peter rat-like. Ray shoots the balloon to bring the team down. A restoration spell binds Slimer back into one and also makes him grow steadily larger, letting him smother Dark and break the ghost's concentration. Ray and Egon find the correct spell and return the team to normal, then trap Dark. As they relax, the Ghostmaster appears on their television to swear revenge before the set melts. Only Ray is excited by the whole affair.
Ghosts
Animax
Animax is a spider-like ghost and the first of the three bounty hunters dispatched by the Ghostmaster. Voiced by Frank Welker, Animax attacks at the Firehouse, smashing Janine's desk and entangling Ray and Peter in webbing. It is captured when Winston throws a trap into its open mouth after Slimer blinds it. Animax also had designs on killing the Ghostbusters, though the Ghostmaster had specifically ordered them taken alive. Animax reappears later in "Guess What's Coming to Dinner," having escaped the Containment Unit when it was opened by Foul Grungie, before being driven off with a proton pack.
Mist Crawler
Mist Crawler is a yellow serpentine ghost surrounded by clouds, serving the Ghostmaster as a second bounty hunter. Voiced by Gregory Martin, its abilities include shapeshifting (it disguises itself as a brick wall to ambush Ecto-1), generating ectoplasmic shields that deflect proton streams, and firing P.K.E. energy blasts. It strips the team of their packs and disables their car before Egon traps it through a mail slot.
Dark
Dark is the most capable of the three bounty hunters and the episode's primary antagonist from its midpoint onward. Voiced by Maurice LaMarche, Dark's true form is a large centipede-like ghost, though it disguises itself as a mohawk-wearing man modeled on the cover of a Punk Cinema magazine. Dark uses a small white orb to cast the shrinking spell that traps the Ghostbusters at six inches tall, and proves intelligent enough to work around their improvised security measures by hypnotizing Janine through the security camera. Dark is only defeated when a growth spell inadvertently enlarges Slimer enough to physically smother it, breaking its concentration and exposing its true form.
Notes
The ghost captured at the start of the episode appears in the end credits of Extreme Ghostbusters. The episode also has an additional "story by" credit at the beginning, separate from the standard title screen.
This is the first of three appearances of the Ghostmaster, who was originally conceived as the series' recurring main villain. He is classified as a Class 11 entity in "Who's Who in the Spirit World," placing him above Gozer and Samhain in the hierarchy used by the show. The name "Ghostmaster General" is a play on the title Postmaster General, the head of the United States Postal Service. He later turns up in a cameo in "Jailbusters" (where the Prosecutor ghost displays his picture to the Ghostbusters) and returns a final time in "Revenge of the Ghostmaster."
An animation error appears in the Book of Annoying Beings, where Winston's surname is misspelled "Zedmore" instead of "Zeddemore."
Air order
"Short Stuff" follows "Robo-Buster" and precedes "Follow That Hearse" in both air-date and DVD order.
References
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Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 31. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1988). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Short Stuff" (1988).
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Spook Central, "Short Stuff."
