Monday, March 26, 2012

Killerwatt

Episode 2 – Season 1  'Killerwatt'

An interesting concept of ghosts manipulating electricity makes this a worthy episode already.  We’ve seen what these writers did last episode but they improve quite a bit on this one.  A grand ghost by the name of Killerwatt (voiced by James Avery) takes control of New York City’s power supply.  The Ghostbusters need to act quickly and decisively in order to put a stop to all the possessed electrical machines in the city. 

'Ghost-disposal'
The opening scene is hilarious and possibly one of the best in the running of the show.  Ray makes dinner which looks quite disgusting and says it’s an old family recipe.  The guys comment its old alright based on the appearance of the soup.  Slimer gets put to good use here as he tricks Ray to look under the table for his napkin while the rest of the guys let Slimer eat their portions.  As Ray returns to the table he asks if they’d like more but are thankfully saved by a call.  It’s a comical opening.

Haunted hardware!
The Ghostbusters are sent to a mall which is levitating and obviously infested with ghosts.  They get a chanting welcome from a crowd of people outside as if once again they’re heroes.  It’s a decent introduction to the scene.  Now one of my favorite all time scenes in this show are when they are busting the ghosts in the hardware department of the store.  Egon figures out the ghosts have entered the electrical wiring and things get supernatural quick.  A line I’ll never forget is when some possessed drills come crashing down in front of the guys and Egon states that they’re dealing with some haunted hardware.  In comedic reply Peter says, “Then let’s test their warranties.”  It gets me every time.  The theme music triggers in a unique slower pace and carries on for the duration of the scene which makes it even more enjoyable to watch.  It ends with Ray mistakenly blasting Slimer claiming the last ghost is his.  It’s funny to see Ray do it as opposed to anyone else since he likes Slimer most.

Now that's cardio training
They return to the firehouse and that’s when more electrical disturbances occur.  A backup generator kicks in to save the meltdown of the containment unit until it gets possessed and takes off.  Egon patiently counts down the time to their death for some reason while the others manage to rig a bicycle powered generator in less than 50 seconds.  I don’t see that happening, couldn’t they have made it more like, and in 10 minutes meltdown will occur?  It was a tad farfetched for me but it still works.  Janine gets stuck pedaling the contraption while the guys go chase down the cause of the black outs.

Possessed Ecto-1
                The episode falters a bit as ecto-1 dies on the top of a hill looking down on a power plant.  They all get out and stand directly in front of the car as it begins to roll down the hill.  Did you think to put the car in park?  I’m assuming that’s the case unless it just did it by itself.  Either way they go crashing down the hillside all the way to an abrupt stop as Peter gets the brake just in time.  They finally meet Killerwatt and learn he is the leader of the ghosts.  It possesses ecto-1 and attacks the guys with Ray insisting they don’t blast the car because it’s like one of the family.  They instead opt to run for it into the power plant.  Ecto-1 crashes itself into a pole possibly because its inner carburetor sensed Ray’s compassion and wanted to give them mercy.  That sounds good to you?  It does me, let’s continue.

A questionable capture indeed, Killerwatt is electric
The final scene has Killerwatt all juiced up and ready to destroy our guys.  They figure out Killerwatt fuels on power so if they shut it off they’ll be able to have a chance.  After Peter blasts Killerwatt to no effect since the electricity is acting like a sponge surrounding him Slimer pulls the plug to speak on Killerwatt.  For the second episode in a row it takes a ghost to beat a ghost I guess.  I don’t like Slimer saving the guys all the time as its lame.  Killerwatt gets captured easily enough and the simple plug gets put back in the wall to restore power to the entire city.  I wonder if a plug really does power all of New York City.  As a kid I still found that odd.

They get a victory parade for their efforts the next day seemingly since its day time so didn’t they ever go back to the firehouse to tell Janine she could stop pedaling?  I’m guessing they might have been out drinking in celebration and never went home.  It could have been a funnier ending if they took the consideration to cut the parade scene and have the guys relax at the fireplace completely forgetting about Janine.  All in all this is one of the better episodes.  Uncle Phil heads to the containment unit!

Rating: 8 of 10

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