Plot
While Egon examines Slimer's layers through the Spectral Differentializer, popcorn that Slimer has eaten overheats and floods the lab. Janine hands the team a new case from Walt Fleischman Studios. The Ghostbusters are excited to take it, since many of them grew up on the studio's classic cartoons. Winston in particular was a devoted Fleischman fan as a child. A studio representative reports strange noises coming from Walt Fleischman's private studio, where the cartoonist vanished decades earlier. When Peter hears the caretaker describe the strange sounds, he quips that it must be MTV.
As the team investigates, Egon picks up a paranormal surge. A mysterious door appears and pulls them all in, transporting them to a dimension that runs on cartoon physics. There they meet Ricky Roach and Conqueror Duck, and discover a factory where the villainous Winchester Wolf has been holding Walt Fleischman captive, forcing him to suffer the same slapstick abuse Walt once inflicted on his own cartoon creations. Notably, Proton Pack particle throwers do not function inside the Cartoon World.
A rescue attempt drops the Ghostbusters through a trap door into a barren desert. Ray summons his childhood hero, Dopey Dog, who explains what has happened. Walt's mind created a dimension where all his characters were real; he photographed them and became famous, then created more. One of them, Winchester Wolf, grew too powerful and pulled Walt into the cartoon world. With Dopey Dog's help, the Ghostbusters use cartoon logic to free their teammates and march to the edge of the world, recruiting other cartoon heroes along the way. They rescue Walt and escape via the sprockets of a giant film projector, jumping out as the Cartoon World fades. Dopey Dog and the others tear up the edge of the film itself, which breaks the contract that gave the dimension its existence, and the characters and their world vanish.
Back home, a grateful Walt sends Ray a package. It turns out to be a giant Dopey Dog doll, to the rest of the team's dismay.
Characters of the Cartoon World
All of the following characters are one-episode creations existing only within the Cartoon World dimension. They appear in no other RGB episode.
Walt Fleischman is the fictional animator whose mind unconsciously created the Cartoon World. He was imprisoned there for forty years without aging, tormented by his own creation, Winchester Wolf. He is voiced by Don Messick, a veteran voice actor best known for Scooby-Doo and the role of Dr. Benton Quest in the original Jonny Quest. Messick died in 1997.
Winchester Wolf is the episode's main antagonist and the archenemy of Dopey Dog. He was among the later characters Walt created, and grew too powerful to control. Within the Cartoon World he possesses near-godlike authority: he can manipulate the environment, make objects appear from thin air, teleport, alter his form, and grow to enormous size. His character is a likely reference to Disney's villain Pete. He is voiced by Frank Welker.
Dopey Dog is Walt Fleischman's biggest star and Ray's childhood hero. Ray summons him with a jingle, and Dopey leads the rescue effort despite initially doubting his own courage. His superhero costume, complete with a lightning-bolt arrival, is similar to the one worn by DC Comics' Captain Marvel. His white fur, eyepatch, and accent also evoke the British cartoon hero Danger Mouse. His name may be a nod to Goofy, whose original working name was Dippy Dawg. Dopey is voiced by Maurice LaMarche. An earlier, generic-looking stuffed Dopey Dog doll appeared in the RGB episode "The Boogieman Cometh," suggesting his design evolved between that appearance and this episode. The character also makes non-canon cameo appearances in several IDW Ghostbusters comics, including as Ray's stuffed animal on page six of Ghostbusters Issue #1, and as a doll on the cover of Issue #6.
Conqueror Duck is one of Winchester Wolf's minions, dispatched to stop the Ghostbusters. Dressed as a Viking, he is a reference to Disney's Donald Duck. He attempts to drop Peter, Ray, and Winston from a cliff but fails. Like Dopey Dog, Conqueror Duck makes a non-canon IDW cameo: he appears as a costumed theme-park employee in Ghostbusters Issue #5. He is voiced by Maurice LaMarche.
Felicia Feline is a cartoon cat among the heroic animal characters who join Dopey Dog's march to the edge of the world. She sacrifices herself along with the other good characters when they destroy the Cartoon World to free Walt and the Ghostbusters.
Foxey is a cartoon fox, voiced by Arsenio Hall, who joins Dopey's rescue group and likewise sacrifices himself when the Cartoon World is destroyed.
Ricky Roach, Ronald Rooster, Sinclair Squirrel, and George Gopher are among the other named animal heroes recruited during the march to the edge of the world.
Cast
The regular voice cast includes Lorenzo Music as Peter Venkman, Maurice LaMarche as Egon Spengler, Frank Welker as Ray Stantz and Slimer, Arsenio Hall as Winston Zeddemore, and Laura Summer as Janine Melnitz.1 Within the Cartoon World cast, LaMarche also voices Dopey Dog and Conqueror Duck, Welker voices Winchester Wolf, Hall voices Foxey, and Nancy Kulp and Don Messick appear as guest voices.1
Equipment
Equipment appearing in this episode includes Ecto-1, the Spectral Differentializer (used to examine Slimer's layers), the Dimensional Inverter, P.K.E. Meters, Proton Packs with Particle Throwers, Ghost Traps, and Electrical Gloves. As noted above, the Particle Throwers are non-functional inside the Cartoon World.
Production
The episode carries production number 76012 and was recorded on October 1, 1986.2 In an episode introduction recorded for The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection DVD set, Straczynski confirmed the story was a tribute to the old Disney and Fleischer cartoons that he loved.1
The names are built around real animation history. Walt Fleischman and Fleischman Studio combine the names of Walt Disney and the brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, whose studio produced Betty Boop and Popeye shorts.3 In a closing gag, Ray's gift is labeled "Thanx Max" rather than "Walt," another nod to Max Fleischer.
The episode includes a number of animation-aware gags. The Ghostbusters explicitly break the fourth wall while inside the Cartoon World, a cartoon-within-a-cartoon. When the caretaker at Fleischman Studio returns to check in and the Ghostbusters arrive back in the real world, Ray and Peter are briefly drawn with each other's hair colors, an animation error possibly intended as a joke about the kinds of drawing mistakes that appear in classic cartoons.
Connections
This episode shares its central idea, a ghost or being manifesting through a cartoon character, with the later Real Ghostbusters episode Stay Tooned. In the broadcast order, it follows Rollerghoster and precedes Dairy Farm. A full episode listing is in the Real Ghostbusters Episode Guide.
References
