Up Close and Too Personal

3 min read

Air Date: February 18, 1989

Production Number: 166027A

DVD: Vol. 5, Disc 4 (Episode 11a)

Season: Season 1

Voice Cast: Frank Welker (Slimer), Danny Mann, Charlie Adler

"Up Close and Too Personal" is the 24th aired episode of the Slimer! segments from Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters. Written by Bob Forward, it first aired on ABC on February 18, 1989. In it, Slimer picks up a video camera and inadvertently pesters Manx while trying to help Luigi drum up business for his restaurant, ultimately producing the world's biggest pizza.

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Characters

Slimer (voiced by Frank Welker) - lead
Manx - Slimer's recurring feline antagonist
Luigi - owner of the Ritz Cafe
Rafael - Luigi's demanding landlord or boss

Locations

The Firehouse - Slimer's home base, where the episode opens
Ritz Cafe - Luigi's pizza restaurant, the central setting for the episode's second half

Plot

Slimer emerges from the Firehouse with a video camera and begins filming passing traffic. He spots Manx rummaging through a garbage can and decides to shoot a "nature piece." Manx is immediately annoyed, slapping half an orange over the lens. The two get into a razz-berry standoff before the smell of pizza pulls them both toward the Ritz Cafe, where a pizza is cooling on the back windowsill. Slimer startles Manx before he can grab it and Luigi reclaims the pizza, chasing Manx off and rewarding Slimer with the pie.

Inside, Luigi's associate Rafael gives him one hour to fill the cafe with customers or face consequences. Slimer volunteers to shoot a commercial. His attempt to film Luigi singing and dancing goes sideways when Manx sneaks in and cranks the record player to full speed, sending Luigi into a frenzied spin that ends with him landing on Slimer. Undaunted, Slimer suggests Luigi do what he does best and make a massive pizza.

Luigi loads ingredients into a cement mixer, warning Slimer not to add too much Yonkem Yeast. Manx slips in and dumps an entire box of yeast into the mixer. The expanding dough launches Luigi and Slimer out of the cafe, and when they push it back in the mixture erupts out of the chimney and lands on the hot pavement, cooking into a giant pizza. Manx hooks the pizza with a motorcycle and drags it through the streets, but the massive pie rolls over him and carries him down a subway entrance. The pizza crashes back down the cafe chimney just as Rafael arrives at the five o'clock deadline. A crowd drawn by the spectacle stampedes past Rafael and floods the restaurant. Luigi and Slimer join the rush. Slimer flies out clutching a wad of cash.

Trivia

The episode was recorded on August 24, 1988. The Ghostbusters were originally scripted to appear in this episode.
At the beginning of the episode (visible in the title card), the No Ghost logo is positioned at the center of the Firehouse above the doors, matching its placement in the films rather than the off-to-the-left position seen in most Real Ghostbusters episodes.
Slimer calls Luigi "paizon," Italian/Sicilian slang for a close friend.
The truck Manx crashes into is labeled "Avery Movers," a nod to legendary animator Tex Avery, whose anarchic cartoon sensibility heavily influenced this series.

References

Fandom, "Up Close and Too Personal" (Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters episode article)
Spook Central, "Slimer! Episode Guide: Up Close and Too Personal" (Production #166027A listing)

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Characters

Locations

Plot

Trivia

References