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"Troll Bridge" is the fifth episode of the first season of The Real Ghostbusters. It first aired on October 11, 1986. The story follows a troll who tires of life under the Queensboro Bridge and slips into the city looking for a good time, only for his fellow trolls to seize the bridge and demand his return, bringing in the Ghostbusters.1 The episode was written by Bruce Reid Schaefer.
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The episode carries production number 75007.2 It was recorded on June 17, 1986.2 As with the rest of the first season, the score draws on the show's soundtrack album; "Troll Bridge" uses the song "Party On His Mind" in two places.
The original recording featured Lorenzo Music as Peter Venkman and Laura Summer as Janine Melnitz, alongside regular cast members Frank Welker, Maurice LaMarche, and Arsenio Hall. Guest voices were provided by Sheryl Bernstein and William E. Martin.
This is one of seven early-season episodes later re-dubbed with Dave Coulier and Kath Soucie replacing Music and Summer. The redub was rebroadcast as part of the fourth season and was not included on the DVD release.
A lone troll sneaks away through the sewers, dodging his comrades, and climbs out of a manhole to hide in a trash can. After some garbage is dumped on him, he emerges wearing clothes, watches a group of street dancers, and happily imitates them.
The next day, a truck stalls on the Queensboro Bridge as several trolls appear. At the firehouse, Peter wakes up to find Slimer has slimed him. The alarm sounds, and a news flash reports the bridge has been seized with no demands issued. Egon is intrigued that the culprits are trolls and briefs the team on the creatures from a copy of Tobin's Spirit Guide on the way over. Peter is volunteered to make contact; Egon warns that their proton streams might turn trolls to stone or only make them bigger and meaner. The troll leader emerges from a car and eats Peter's white flag. Egon speaks to the leader in the trolls' own language and learns they have lost a member of their group and want him back. The leader issues an ultimatum: return their friend within twelve hours, or he will send fireflies to destroy the city.
Peter and Egon check the Holland Tunnel while Ray and Winston search Times Square. With less than an hour left, the leader targets the Empire State Building. Ray realizes the runaway troll is drawn to music, and the team heads to Club Kat. The leader unleashes the fireflies and drives off in a monster truck. The Ghostbusters' throwers prove useless against the fireflies, so they disperse them with water from a manhole and a water tower. Out of time, the team ducks into a lawn decoration store and pays the owner to produce a troll statue. Peter pretends they were forced to fire and turned the runaway to stone. The leader believes him and sadly carries the statue away. The Ghostbusters then ship the still-living troll off by train to one of Peter's partying friends in Chicago, who owed Peter five dollars anyway.
Ray references "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," a Norwegian fairy tale that features a troll. Peter notes early on that it is Monday morning, which places the events roughly between a Sunday evening and the following Monday evening. Egon can both speak and understand the trolls' language, allowing him to translate. A Times Square billboard reads "Fony," a play on Sony.
A later episode, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Ghost?," puts a reference to the trolls on the Ghostbusters' business card. The pajamas Egon and Winston wear in this episode reappear in IDW Publishing's 35th Anniversary: The Real Ghostbusters one-shot.
Eatock, James and Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 4. CPT Holdings, Inc. The original logline lists the Brooklyn Bridge, but the main story identifies the structure as the Queensboro Bridge. ↩
Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Troll Bridge" (1986). ↩ ↩2