Plot
The episode opens with the Ghostbusters pursuing Louie, a ghost styled as a classic movie gangster. He fails to scare the team off and is trapped without much trouble. Back at the firehouse, Peter discovers Slimer sleeping in a bed again and tries to scare him off with the Ghost Bomb, an unfinished prototype Egon designed to disintegrate all ectoplasmic matter within a 50-yard radius. The device is missing a sufficient power source and remains dormant.
Two walk-in clients, siblings Megan and Kenny Carter, arrive wanting to hire the Ghostbusters. The standard fee of $1,500 stops the conversation until Egon, unusually, offers to take the case for free the moment the Boogieman is mentioned. At the Carter home, Egon's PKE Meter picks up intense paranormal activity inside the bedroom closet. At midnight the Boogieman bursts through. The Ghostbusters blast it back into the portal, but Megan and Kenny's parents are skeptical and unconvinced.
At the firehouse, Egon explains the situation: the Boogieman is a Class 7 Repeating Corporeal Entity that selects its victims deliberately rather than haunting at random. The team decides to lure it in by renting an apartment and converting it into a child's bedroom. Ray, voted most childlike by the group, acts as bait. The plan works but the Boogieman escapes again. The Ghostbusters blast the portal open and follow it through, briefly emerging in Hollywood before chasing it through closets across New York as children cheer them on from their bedrooms.
The chase leads the team deep into the Boogieman's personal dimension, where Egon devises a use for the unfinished Ghost Bomb: powered by all four Proton Packs set to overload, it can trigger a hyperspatial implosion and seal the Boogieman inside his own realm. The Carter children have followed the team and stand up to the Boogieman directly, buying the Ghostbusters the moment they need to escape before the bomb detonates. The portal seals and the Boogieman is imprisoned. Back at the firehouse the next morning, something grabs Peter's jumpsuit from a closet, which turns out to be Slimer pulling a prank.
Characters
Main Cast
Peter Venkman
Egon Spengler
Ray Stantz
Winston Zeddemore
Janine Melnitz
Slimer
Guest Characters
Louie the Gangster -- a ghost patterned after James Cagney's classic movie-gangster roles. He appears only in the cold open and is dispatched quickly. His line "You'll never take me alive, coppers!" followed by Egon's deadpan "Of course not, you're a ghost" became a memorable bit.
Megan and Kenny Carter -- the two children who bring the case to the Ghostbusters. Their courage at the end of the episode, standing up to the Boogieman so the team can escape, turns them from victims into active participants. Voiced by guest actors Louisa Abernathy and Susan Blu.
Mr. and Mrs. Carter -- the children's parents. They investigate the commotion in their kids' bedroom but remain skeptical of the Ghostbusters' claims about a Class 7 entity in the closet.
The Boogieman
The Boogieman is a Class 7 Repeating Corporeal Entity that terrorizes children by opening portals through bedroom closets. Unlike most ghosts, it selects its victims deliberately. Its portals are not permanent openings: the entity chooses when and where they appear, making standard trapping approaches ineffective without drawing it out first. The Boogieman also maintains a personal dimension, a dangerous and disorienting realm accessible through its closet portals.
The episode reveals that the Boogieman had haunted Egon as a child. That childhood encounter was the reason Egon dedicated himself to studying the supernatural, specifically to find a way to stop it. Egon's unusually strong personal investment in the case drives much of the episode.
The Ghost Bomb detonation seals the Boogieman inside its own realm, though Egon hedges that it "might just seal the Boogieman forever," leaving the outcome open. The character returns in the later episode "The Bogeyman Is Back" (note the alternate spelling used in that episode's title).
Voice Cast
This episode was one of seven early-season episodes re-dubbed with Dave Coulier and Kath Soucie replacing Lorenzo Music and Laura Summer. The redub version aired as part of season four. The original recording is the version included on the DVD release; the redubbed version was not included. Multimedia samples of the alternate recording are documented on Spook Central's Alternate Episodes page.
Equipment
Trivia
- The episode title is a reference to Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh.
- The episode was recorded on June 24, 1986.
- Egon's revelation that the Boogieman visited him as a child was what piqued his interest in the supernatural.
- The Boogieman reappears in "The Bogeyman is Back," with the character's name spelled differently in that episode's title.
- Peter's standard fee for ghost capture and containment is stated as $1,500, considerably less than the $5,000 charged to catch Slimer in the first film.
- When expressing frustration about living in New York, Peter refers to the city by its old nickname "Fun City."
- Peter invokes the "Mountain to Mohammed" story when proposing the bait-room plan: "If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain."
- The Dopey Dog stuffed animal, later seen in "Who're You Calling Two-Dimensional?", appears in this episode. Its design here differs notably from that later appearance, suggesting the character went through revisions similar to other animated characters.
- While fleeing through the Boogieman's realm, the Ghostbusters run a path that traces the infinity symbol.
- Ray's warning that using Proton Streams in the Boogieman's domain might be more dangerous than crossing the streams is a callback to the first film.
- Before jumping into the Boogieman's portal, Egon shouts "KHAN!" -- Captain Kirk's famous line from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Peter responds "You and what Starfleet?"
- As Peter jumps through the portal he tells Egon "See you on the other side, Egon" -- a line that echoes Peter's words to Ray just before crossing the streams to defeat Gozer in the first film.
- Louie the ghost is based on characters played by James Cagney.
- In an animation error, Peter changes instantly from pajamas to uniform after Egon suggests they investigate.
- In a second animation error, two Peters exit Ecto-1 at the Carter house.
- The audio is slightly out of sync when Egon slams his fist on the table while discussing the Boogieman.
- This episode was adapted into a View-Master reel set, released both as a gift set with viewer and as standalone reels.
- The episode features the song "The Boogieman" by Tahiti.
- On page 7 of Ghostbusters Vol. 2 Issue #12 (IDW Publishing), a Post-It note on the tack board shows the air date number, DVD episode number, and production number from this episode.
- The trailer for the Boogieman character in Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed ends with "The Boogieman Cometh" on screen, a direct nod to this episode.
Quotes
: Peter Venkman: Watch out for that hot dog cart Winston. Don't hit that newsstand!
: Winston Zeddemore: Ray, we should've put another wheel in the back seat for him.\
: Louey the ghost: You'll never take me alive coppers!
: Egon Spengler: Of course not, you're a ghost!
: Louey the Ghost: Oh yeah. I keep forgetting!\
: Peter Venkman: Another ghost, another dollar.\
: Winston Zeddemore: Boy I'm exhausted.
: Peter Venkman: Yeah, I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna sleep like the dead.
: Egon Spengler: Possibly not the most appropriate metaphor Peter, considering our line of work.\
: Winston Zeddemore: Remember, as long as you're not afraid, he can't hurt you.
: Ray Stantz: Hmph! I want a glass of water.
: Peter Venkman: (Hands Ray a glass of water) Here, now go to sleep!
: Ray Stantz: Peeteerr.
: Peter Venkman: What?!
: Ray Stantz: Tell me a story.
: Winston Zeddemore: He's just getting into the role.
: Peter Venkman: He's gonna be in a bodycast if he keeps this up! (Looks over at Ray and starts telling a story) Once upon a time there were four Ghostbusters who had a job to do, only they couldn't do it 'cause one of them wouldn't go to sleep! THE END!!! (Slams door)
: Ray Stantz: Thppt!!\
: Egon Spengler: Go! I'll hold him off!
: Peter Venkman: Oh Yeah? You and what Starfleet?\
