Plot
At a darkened hospital room, the Ghostbusters open fire on a strange-looking ghost and trap it, then bring up the lights. The whole thing was a staged show to entertain the children's ward, with Slimer playing the "ghost" under a sheet. Egon explains that they used low-level lasers during the demonstration so the equipment would not cause any harm. Dr. Perkins tells the team that the children's ward is in financial trouble and needs $50,000 by the end of the week. The Ghostbusters want to help but do not have the money. As Ecto-1 returns to the firehouse, a man watches from a parked car.
Janine Melnitz greets the team at the firehouse as they explain their predicament. The man follows them inside and introduces himself as Marty Tillis, president of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Company. He wants to feature the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in a commercial. The team is reluctant, but Tillis offers $50,000 if the shoot goes well and promises to invite the hospital's children to watch. Peter agrees and shakes on the deal.
In the basement, the Ghostbusters puzzle over how to bring Stay Puft out of the Containment Unit without releasing everything else. They volunteer Slimer, who is terrified but agrees to go in for the children's sake. Fitted with a transmitter pack, Slimer is trapped by Egon and placed inside the unit, where he runs into several captured ghosts before finding Stay Puft. Stay Puft agrees to help and heads for the grid, unaware that the Phantom has hidden under his collar. The team loses Slimer's monitor feed when a neighbor's blender causes line interference.
Egon releases three escaped ghosts back into a trap outside the firehouse and switches on a homing signal to guide Stay Puft toward the commercial site. As Stay Puft follows Ecto-1, the Phantom reveals itself, harassing the marshmallow man and scorching the roof of the car. Ray recalls that the Phantom can burn holes through cement. Stay Puft swats at the ghost and causes heavy property damage, then gets wedged between two buildings while chasing it. The Phantom kidnaps Slimer and corners Egon and Ray in an alley, stealing their proton packs, but Peter and Winston fire on it from aboard Ecto-2, freeing Slimer.
The team lassos Stay Puft from Ecto-1, and Slimer squeezes in to grease him with slime so the car can pull him loose. Egon strengthens the homing signal and finally draws Stay Puft to the commercial set at Battery Park. Below ground, the Phantom melts the street with its pyrokinetic powers, miring Ecto-1 and Stay Puft. The ghost welds the car's doors shut and uses a construction crane to toss Ecto-1 into the harbor; Winston activates the car's water raft and they surface. Stay Puft grabs the crane and catches the Phantom by the tail while Slimer mans the crane controls to reel it in, and the Ghostbusters trap it. Tillis, thrilled with the footage his cameraman captured, writes a $50,000 check and hands it to Dr. Perkins as the children play with Stay Puft and Slimer.
Characters
The Phantom
The Phantom is the episode's main antagonist, voiced by Arsenio Hall (who also plays Winston Zeddemore). It is a large, black manta ray-shaped ghost with orange eyes, a long tail, and bird-like feet, capable of producing intense heat, enough to burn through cement, and of flying at high speed. The Phantom had previously been captured by the Ghostbusters at a warehouse. Recognizing Slimer from that encounter, it used the extraction of Stay Puft as an opportunity to hide under the marshmallow man's collar and escape the Containment Unit.
During the Battery Park showdown, the Phantom melted the street to trap Ecto-1, welded the car's doors shut with heat, and operated a construction crane to dump the car into New York Harbor. Stay Puft ultimately hauled the crane back to snag the Phantom by its tail, with Slimer at the controls, and the Ghostbusters confined and trapped it. A ghost resembling the Phantom later appears among Boogaloo's army in "The Halloween Door", and the character is seen in flashback in "Deja Boo".
Marty Tillis
Marty Tillis, voiced by guest actor Douglas Johnson, is the president of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Company. He approaches the Ghostbusters at the firehouse with a straightforward business proposition: let the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man appear in a commercial in exchange for $50,000. Tillis is depicted as easygoing and generous, accompanied by two silent assistants who produce chairs and water on cue. He keeps faith with the team even as the shoot goes badly off course, and ultimately gets something more dramatic than any planned commercial: his cameraman captures the full Phantom bust on film. Tillis cuts the $50,000 check for Dr. Perkins on the spot. He appears again in flashback in "Deja Boo", and his name surfaces in a partial IDW headline in Ghostbusters Issue #4 (page 22). A non-canon cameo also places him in the audience at the Metropolitan Opera in IDW Ghostbusters Issue #13.
Dr. Perkins and the Hospital Children
Dr. Perkins, voiced by Janet May, is the physician running the children's ward. She informs the Ghostbusters that the ward needs $50,000 by week's end or some patients, including those requiring urgent care, will be sent home. Among her patients is a girl named Jill, also voiced by Janet May, who Slimer takes a particular liking to. Tillis invites the children to watch the commercial shoot, and after the Phantom is captured, they spend time playing with Stay Puft and Slimer on the Battery Park set. Dr. Perkins receives a non-canon reference on a fundraiser banner outside the Metropolitan Opera House in IDW Ghostbusters Issue #13.
Production
"Sticky Business" was written by Richard Mueller, who contributed several scripts to the series. The episode's recording session took place on May 27, 1987, with the broadcast following that October.2 On home video it appears on The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection box set in Volume 3, Disc 4.
Notes
The episode reuses the Ecto-1 water raft conversion when the Phantom hurls the car into New York Harbor. While searching the Containment Unit, Slimer passes earlier captured entities, including Ghash and Precious, recolored green rather than their original red. The Phantom's escape connects this episode to the larger roster of recurring ghosts in The Real Ghostbusters. On Cover RI of Ghostbusters Year One Issue #2, the Ecto-1 water raft first seen in this episode is visible in the background behind Ray.
Several of Peter's lines lean on period pop-culture references. During the Phantom's pursuit he quips that the attacker "sure wasn't the Red Baron," nodding to the World War I German flying ace best known in pop culture as Snoopy's imagined enemy in the Peanuts comic strip.3 When Stay Puft becomes stuck between two buildings, Peter calls the group "a bunch of fluffernutters," a play on the peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwich. He also jokes that ruin will leave them "running a fruit stand in Toledo," and remarks that he has always hated goodbyes.456
References
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Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 26. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1987). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Sticky Business" (1987).
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The Real Ghostbusters, "Sticky Business" (1987). Time Life Entertainment DVD release (2009). Peter's line: "Sure wasn't the Red Baron!"
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The Real Ghostbusters, "Sticky Business" (1987). Time Life Entertainment DVD release (2009). Peter's line: "Yeah and we'll be running a fruit stand in Toledo."
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The Real Ghostbusters, "Sticky Business" (1987). Time Life Entertainment DVD release (2009). Peter's line: "I've always hated goodbyes. I think I know why now."
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The Real Ghostbusters, "Sticky Business" (1987). Time Life Entertainment DVD release (2009).
