Plot
Slimer hovers over a toy train set as a locomotive passes through him, and Winston scolds him for sliming it. The alarm cuts the moment short. Peter reports a call at Penn Station involving what sounds like a Class 5 haunting a steam engine. When the team arrives, they find that Madison Square Garden has been replaced by the long-demolished original Penn Station. Egon is troubled, since a Class 5 should not have the power to bring back the old station.
A genuine steam locomotive pulls in, and a ghostly conductor tells the team that something is waiting for them in the caboose. Once the Ghostbusters and Slimer board, the train races off. The Player introduces himself, and Egon's meter explodes registering a reading above Class 10. The team's particle throwers fire only pop-gun flags. The Player, an obsessive gamer who has turned his attention to trains, wants the Ghostbusters to populate his train set. He offers a deal: reach the engine room and stop the train before it enters his Ghost World, and they go free. They have thirty minutes.
Behind Door Number One is an interdimensional swamp where a six-armed monster only taps Ray rather than attacking. Egon works out that the creature is built to play Tag and is too elusive to catch. The team ignores it and tags each other instead until the lonely monster asks to join, at which point they tag it and Door Number Two appears. The second room turns out to be a giant pinball machine; they have to beat a high score of one million from a standing start of 100 points. Winston directs the others to the bumpers, and Slimer's slime trail jams the ball between two bumpers to rack up the score, shattering the board and revealing the next door.
In the engine room, Winston pulls the brake but a slot machine appears: a jackpot is needed to stop the train. Ray and Peter fail, until Egon realizes the trick and has Slimer try. Slimer hits the jackpot, the train stops, and the Player departs vowing to play again someday. Penn Station turns back into Madison Square Garden, and the team is greeted by a cheering crowd. Back at the firehouse, Slimer is found happily eating in the train set's dining car.
Cast
The regular voice cast included Dave Coulier, Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, and Buster Jones. Janine does not appear in this episode.
Production
The episode's first draft was completed June 20, 1989.3 The cast recorded on July 26 and 31, 1989, with Coulier recording alone on the later date.2
The first draft differed from the finished episode in several respects. In it, the train set that Winston and Slimer play with at the start was a gift sent by Winston's father, Ed Zeddemore: a set the two had built together when Winston was a boy, described as his first and best train set.45 The draft also handled the Tag Monster differently, with the team launching Slimer at its head and Ray springing out of a pile of leaves to tag it, rather than drawing the monster in by ignoring it.6 In the episode introduction recorded for The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection, Hickey and McCoy noted that this episode had its most important scene cut.
A small gag survives in the finished cut: after the Player explains the game and leaves, a gargoyle imitates Porky Pig, closing with "That's All Ghosts!" in place of the familiar "That's All Folks!"7
Home video
Slimer Streak appears on The Real Ghostbusters: Complete Collection, on Volume 4, Disc 3. By air-date order the episode falls between Loose Screws and Janine, You've Changed; in the box set's DVD running order it sits between Venk-Man! and The Halloween Door.
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Eatock, James and Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 36. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1989). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Slimer Streak" (1989).
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McCoy, Dennys and Hickey, Pamela (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Four, Disc Five, "Slimer Streak" Script title page. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Dennys McCoy and Pamela Hickey (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Four, Disc Five, "Slimer Streak" First Draft Script (6/20/1989), p. 3. CPT Holdings, Inc. Ray says, "But isn't it great that your Dad sent your old train set to you!"
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Dennys McCoy and Pamela Hickey (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Four, Disc Five, "Slimer Streak" First Draft Script (6/20/1989), p. 3. CPT Holdings, Inc. Winston says, "Me and Dad put this together when I was a kid. It was my first and best train set."
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Dennys McCoy and Pamela Hickey (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Four, Disc Five, "Slimer Streak" First Draft Script (6/20/1989), p. 22. CPT Holdings, Inc. Line reads: "A pile of leaves at the Monster's feet suddenly stirs and Ray pops out of it and touches the monster."
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Dennys McCoy and Pamela Hickey (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Four, Disc Five, "Slimer Streak" First Draft Script (6/20/1989), p. 16. CPT Holdings, Inc.
