I’m very happy that we’re kicking off another great and iconic animated show from the 80s. So without much ado, I’ll jump right into the episodes:
Citizen Ghost
I saw this episode for the first time a couple of moths ago when Mark recommended it to me along with a few very good ones. It’s a very nice story and helps to connect the movie to the show, which before this episode seemed to have been inspired by the movies rather than a continuation of it. The Ghostbusters going up against ghost versions of themselves is a cool concept, and the apparitions do seem genuinely menacing. But the real hero in this episode (as confirmed by the news reporter in it) really is Slimer. I liked to finally get to know how he - a ghost- came to live with a bunch of guys whose job is to catch ghosts. And (for those who are familiar with the series) it is usually Slimer who messes things up or causes trouble and Peter blows his fuse, wanting to blast the green critter. Here the tables are turned and Peter is the one responsible for the ghosts while Slimer helps to defeat them. The news report at the end reminded me of one of the pilot episodes of TMNT in which April winks and the four Turtles argue over which one of them she was winking at. She then reveals that she was winking at Splinter. 
On a separate note, maybe we should have had a similar ThunderCats episode explaining how Snarf came to become a ThunderCat?
Ghosts ‘R’ Us
This along with the next episode were the first two episodes I ever owned and saw. They were included in a VHS of mixed cartoons that my dad had bought from someone. They were my introduction to Ghostbusters as at that time I had not yet seen the movies. Just in my review above I was talking about Slimer’s tendency to mess things up and here he is doing just that! I find it hard to describe the three ghosts that Slimer accidentally ends up releasing. They appear to be equally scary, grotesque and funny. And it really is an ingenious plan that they cook up to open up a rival ghostbusting service and put the real ones out of business.
Of course the real trouble starts when they awaken a class 10 ghost in the abandoned factory. Everything about that scene still gives me the creeps. The eerie and desolate setting, the design of the ghost as well as its ghoulish voice. The final battle on the bridge is nothing short of epic! I really like the inclusion of the Ecto-2 (of which I had a toy too). And once again, Slimer comes to the aid of the Ghostbusters.
Mrs Rogers’ Neighbourhood
A haunted house episode. It’s a pity that there weren’t many Ghostbusters episodes set in haunted houses. The claustrophobic environment always adds to the scare factor. In this episode, it’s not an ordinary house inhabited by ordinary people that becomes haunted. The entire house is a a product of the occult. This is genuinely - in my humble opinion- the scariest episode of the series. The design of the ghosts as well as the setting and music really push the scare factor to the limit. And the image of a possessed Peter is enough to give any kid nightmares (it did give me some!).
Knock, Knock
“Do not open until Doomsday!”. Why would anyone ignore a warning like that? Especially when it is uttered by a demonic looking door??? But that’s just what some construction workers did, and unleashed the ghost population that were supposed to take over the earth post-doomsday, a la Pandora’s box. Here the problem is on a much bigger scale than the previous episodes. It’s not just a person or a house or a city, but the entire world that is at stake. There is a little bit of humor in the story as well but it never overpowers the direness of the situation. The Ghostbusters are even willing to sacrifice themselves to stop the catastrophe.
My copy of the episode had the song “Boogieman” playing when the Ghostbusters are in the train, firing all around, but I came across the same episode somewhere else and it instead had the Ghostbusters theme playing during that scene. I prefer the first version.
These are some of the best and scariest episodes of the entire series and I wish that the creators had maintained this level throughout more episodes. But unfortunately, many of the episodes that followed were toned down considerably (maybe for fear of alienating children who might get too frightened?). But then again, the same thing has happened in pretty much all cartoon series of that time. The Mutants became less scary in ThunderCats and the same thing happened to Shredder and Krang in TMNT.
