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Surely You Joust is an episode of The Real Ghostbusters. An ethereal baby dragon pulls the Ghostbusters into a real fairy tale, complete with an evil wizard and a climactic duel that sets ancient sorcery against ghostbusting technology.1 It first aired on November 25, 1989 as part of the show's fifth season. The episode runs about 15 minutes.
The episode was written by Tony Marino and carries production number 201011.2
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At lights out, Ray Stantz reads Slimer a story from a pop-up fairy tale book while Egon Spengler and Peter Venkman sleep. Ray gets tired and calls it a night, settling down with his Stay Puft Marshmallow Man plush doll, but Slimer wants to keep going. He takes the book and slips out of the bunkroom, sliding down the fire pole past Winston Zeddemore, who is watching a horror movie in the rec room, and hiding from Janine Melnitz at the front desk. Slimer settles in the basement in front of the Containment Unit to read.
A portal opens at the staircase and a dragon stumbles out, startling Slimer. The creature asks for help against a wizard who is hunting it. The two hide behind the Containment Unit as a pair of armored ogres arrive, sniffing the dragon out. Slimer and the dragon phase through the floor and flee the basement.
Slimer alerts Janine to the ogres, who appear at her desk. She hits the alarm and the Ghostbusters blast the ogres' clubs into kindling, but one ogre grabs Janine as a hostage. Egon calls off the team's fire, and the ogres teleport away with her. The dragon explains that it is the last dragon and comes from a place called the Realm of Fantasy, where a wizard named Orlox needs a dragon's heart to finish a potion of invincibility.
The Ghostbusters, Slimer, and the dragon head down into a subway station, and the dragon opens a portal into the Realm of Fantasy. On the other side, the team spots a Pegasus and a posted notice offering Janine's hand in marriage to whatever knight delivers the last dragon to Orlox. Egon hatches a plan. While several knights bathe in a lake, the Ghostbusters steal their armor. Winston hands Slimer a ghost trap and tells him to open it on their signal.
At Orlox's castle, the disguised team presents the dragon to the wizard, who bridges the chasm to the stairwell and teleports down with Janine. Slimer drops the trap, and Orlox attacks with his staff. The Ghostbusters draw their throwers, go to "full netronus with mazer assist," and open fire, but Orlox disarms them and corners them against a wall. Slimer charges, only to be blasted, his tail singed. With Orlox distracted, the team recovers their throwers, and it takes all four streams to barely confine him before Slimer slams the trap pedal.
With Orlox trapped, his cauldron disintegrates, the ogres turn to stone, and the castle is restored to match the bright Realm of Fantasy around it. The Ghostbusters, Slimer, and Janine return through the subway station and bid the dragon goodbye, melting back into a crowd of ordinary New Yorkers. Back at the Firehouse, Ray offers to finish the fairy tale, but Slimer declines, saying he already knows the ending. Ray realizes he means the day's events, and they both go to sleep.
The voice cast features Dave Coulier, Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, Buster Jones, Kath Soucie, and Rodger Bumpass. For this episode Bumpass does not reprise Louis Tully, instead providing two incidental voices.2
The story introduces several one-off creatures and figures of the Realm of Fantasy, including the last dragon, the wizard Orlox, his ogre knights, a Pegasus, a horned lion, and the bathing warriors whose armor the team borrows.
Dave Coulier recorded his lines alone on June 12, 1989, and the rest of the episode was recorded on June 28, 1989.2
As in the earlier episode Once Upon a Slime, Slimer makes off with a book to read on his own after Ray is too tired to keep reading. Orlox's armored knight minions bear a passing resemblance to the goblins seen with Samhain. A "No Ghost" advertisement appears on the wall of the subway station before the team crosses into the Realm of Fantasy. Peter name-checks J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and Winston admits he is rusty after playing a horn rather badly.
By air date and DVD order, "Surely You Joust" follows Transcendental Tourists and precedes Kitty-Cornered.