In Station Identification, ghosts start coming out of televisions across New York, taking the form of famous TV characters! The Ghostbusters race against time to stop the spirits, while Slimer must save Peter's life.[2]
Cast
Equipment
Items
Locations
Plot
It's been three weeks and the Ghostbusters haven't had a single job. Slimer interrupted Peter and Winston's match after he ate the ping pong ball. Peter berated Slimer for ruining the game and his life. Janine stepped in with her old television set but they noticed something strange. The show "Leave it to Woodchuck" was in color. All the shows were recorded in black and white, and that Janine's television was a black and white set. Woodchuck came out of the TV in a monstrous form. Egon and Winston trapped Woodchuck but the TV was still on. After they trapped Glorp, a toothpaste brand, they pulled the plug out. Egon noticed the TV was set to channel one, something that doesn't exist. The guys soon realized that images from televisions across New York were coming to life as ghostly manifestations.
The Ghostbusters get a call and headed out. Slimer flew into Ecto-1 and tried to get Peter to forgive him. The Ghostbusters trapped the ghosts but the nearby Bobo's Restaurant opened for business. Its recording advertised the eatery owned the biggest TV west of the Hudson River. The Ghostbusters ran in to try and stop the proprietor but it was too late. Power Guy emerged and attacked. During the battle, Power Guy formed a vortex from his chest. Peter was about to get sucked in when Slimer saved him by sticking him to a wall with Ectoplasm. However, Slimer gets sucked in as a result. Power Guy then turned into a vortex himself then flew through the roof.
Ecto-1 is on the move following a very strong P.K.E. trail. Egon theorized the ghosts came together to form a pirate TV station called WBOO, the Big Boo, to use TV sets as doorways. They stopped when a tremendous power surge was detected. A ghostly television tower manifested in the center Central Park and the Ghostbusters bravely entered. They found out that the leading ghost, the Unreal Shriek Squeal was planning on broadcasting ghostly television signal to the whole world at midnight. Egon announced Slimer was 100 yards straight in. The team was split up and encountered many ghostly versions of TV characters, including Gumbo and the Star Patrol.
The team eventually met up and found Slimer by following their noses. They proceeded to track down the station's power source and disconnect it. They followed a power cord to the dynamo and fought Shriek Squeal. Egon realized that their Particle Throwers were having little effect on the ghost, who encased itself in thousands of television sets. He told the guys to aim for the dynamo that was powering the signal, and they destroyed it before the world broadcast initiated. Upon the destruction of the signal, the Unreal Shriek Squeal was dispersed and the broadcast tower dissipated. The Ghostbusters and Slimer vacated just in time.
Quotes
| Janine: I can't believe it, we're gonna be killed by a rerun! |
| Bones (Star Trek parody): We're dead, Jim. |
| Winston: WBOO, the Big Boo, is off the air. |
Trivia
- The episode was recorded on August 4, 1986.[3]
- At the beginning, Peter and Winston played ping pong.
- "Leave it to Woodchuck" is a parody of "Leave it to Beaver".
- Winston jokingly asked Janine if she got her TV from the "Outer Limits," a 60s sci-fi show.[4]
- Moreover, the series' episode titled "Don’t Open Till Doomsday" was a key phrase in "Knock, Knock" uttered by the a Doomsday Door.
- A "six-pack" is using six ghost traps at once.[5]
- "Power Guy" is a parody of He-Man.
- Interestingly enough, the children at the birthday party in Ghostbusters II mention He-Man when complaining about the Ghostbusters being at the party.
- Marc Scott Zicree, previously worked as a writer on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
- There is a reference to "Star Trek" when Winston meets the Star Patrol, a skeletal version of the Star Trek away team.
- Marc Scott Zicree, in turn, was a writer and consultant for "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."
- The ghostly Bones reads his medical tricorder just like Dr. McCoy.
- The television character Gumbo is a parody of both the film character Rambo and the television character Gumby. Also, Gumbo mentions he is looking for an orange horse, a nod to Gumby's horse Pokey.[6]
- The Star Patrol Ship transforming into a bird is a reference to the show "Battle of the Planets" where the ship transforms into Fiery Phoenix, a flaming bird.
- Due to the language barrier at the time of production, the Japanese team thought a scripted "taco monster" was an octopus monster as "tako" was Japanese for octopus.[7]
Animation Errors
- When the Ghostbusters are shooting at the killer tube of toothpaste, Winston is colored exactly like Ray. The order they're standing in also changes between shots.
- Just before Winston decides to throw the 'six-pack' he is shown in the background, while another Ghostbuster's legs walk into frame in the foreground wearing the same color jumpsuit as Winston.
- After the Ghostbusters enter the ghost Television tower, Egon (shown only from the waist down) is wearing the same color jumpsuit as Ray in one shot.
- All four Ghostbusters are sliding towards the camera; just after Egon slides out of frame, Peter suddenly becomes Egon (the animators miscolored Peter's hair and jumpsuit using Egon's color palette).
References
- ↑ Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "Station Identification" (1986).
- ↑ Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 6. CPT Holdings, Inc.
- ↑ Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "Station Identification" (1986).
- ↑ Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Station Identification" (1987) (DVD ts. 05:04-05:06). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "What show did'ja win that on, Janine? The Outer Limits?"
- ↑ Winston Zeddemore (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Station Identification" (1987) (DVD ts. 06:00-06:01). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "I say this calls for a six pack."
- ↑ Gumbo (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Station Identification" (1987) (DVD ts. 14:30-14:33). Time Life Entertainment. 'Gumbo says: 'Yo, I'm looking for an orange horse."
- ↑ Benjamin, Troy & Goldberg, Craig (2025). The Real Ghostbusters: A Visual History, p. 66. Dark Horse Books, Milwaukie, OR USA, ISBN 9781506749273. Ken Duer says: "In one of the episodes, the final script came in from LA and there was a sequence where a giant taco monster runs amok in the city, and the Ghostbusters must fight it. In Japan in the mid-'80s, no one ate Mexican food and [they] didn't have any idea what it was like. In Japanese, tako means 'octopus.' So they automatically thought it was a giant octopus monster. Marek was so angry at first, thinking the Japanese director had changed it from a taco to an octopus without our approval. I had to explain to him that it got lost in translation, and it wasn't their fault. We all laughed and asked Higuchi-san to change it. Later when the studio wanted to take me out to dinner for my birthday, I told them I wanted Mexican food. They found the only Mexican restaurant in Tokyo, and that's where I showed them what a taco was. And we all had a big laugh again."
Gallery
Collages and Edits
Episode Screen Caps
RGB DVD Boxset Features
| Previous Episode | Based on | Next Episode | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egon on the Rampage | Air Date | Hanging By a Thread | ||
| Knock, Knock | DVD Order | Play Them Ragtime Boos |