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| Episode 7 - Season 1 |
What an astonishing episode of the Real Ghostbusters we have
here! This one could possibly be my most
favorite of the entire series. I love
the story and the dialogue is very well written. The Sandman as an enemy is one of those rare
treats in a series that truly lifts up other episodes that lack such a classic villain
centerpiece. It’s no secret I’m a huge
fan of this one so let’s run through it to raise it on a pedestal.
The
great American scene occurs at the beginning with a young man rejecting a
tennis offer with his girlfriend. He
opts to emerge himself into old comic books.
Is that such a bad decision? In
this case it nets him an appointment with the supernatural so possibly not. The Sandman shows up but you don’t quite see
his true form as he dusts the young man with his sleeping powder. A being from the comic books springs to life
as the young man dreams of it. The
girlfriend screams promptly enough and you get the sense the Ghostbusters will
have a call.
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| Hangover 3 - Starring Peter Venkman |
Peter
wakes up and lethargically walks to the breakfast table. He mumbles some stuff as Egon humorously
translates, “He says, back off or eat flaming death.” Where do you think up such a funny line? Egon also adds, “He said he wants coffee,
possibly cookie.” I’m sure it’s just the
way Peter wanted to wake up, getting burned by Egon. Peter states he had a nightmare of sorts
about a guy in a cloak with glowing eyes.
It’s possible the Sandman can appear in dreams when he’s in the
vicinity. That’s not mentioned but it’d
be a neat theory. Ray explains you can
tell yourself it’s not a dream so you can take control of it. Will that play any significance in this
episode? No, no Ray is just being Ray at
this point right? Janine rings the alarm
while Peter complains he doesn’t move until he’s had his breakfast. Slimer then eats his donut and Peter
passively awards Slimer this contest.
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| Dreams brought to life can be dangerous! |
The
Ghostbusters fly out of the firehouse with the theme music sounding off! You have to love it! The Sandman mysteriously appears as they
drive away but you only see his back, spooky.
They arrive at the call site and notice its super quiet, I wonder
why? They encounter the being and blast
it after altercating their throwers, causing the being to dissolve. Winston states as he fires, “You learn by
doing” or you learn by shooting first and considering all else second. Winston tends to be that way. They notice the floating sleeping people and
all the strange manifestations in the immediate area; naturally Egon concludes it’s
the results of a Sandman. Winston doesn’t
want to believe it at first, really after all this time? You’ve seen Gozer, a painting come to life,
the Boogieman and quite a few others so now you don’t believe it? He comes around quickly though so no worries.
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| Enter the Sandman, sleep tight. |
The
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man makes a cameo as a dream representation of a small
boy who apparently scarf’s down marshmallows, in private, in the alley. It must be his secret fetish; he escapes his
parents grasp and stuffs his face with them.
The Sandman makes his appearance before the Ghostbusters as he stays
atop a ledge looking down on them. He
proclaims he is no ordinary Sandman but one who wishes to end violence by
putting humans to sleep for 500 years with his extra potent sleep dust! Is that such a terrible idea? He is a visionary! On the other hand I wouldn’t want to imagine
the muscle atrophy after such a lengthy nap.
In the end the Sandman thinks the Ghostbusters are laughing at him so he
sets them as his primary targets. The
Sandman then escapes so they must track him down.
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| 1 down, 3 to go! |
Upon
catching up to the Sandman, Peter says, “Alright then, let’s show this guy
nobody tells us to go to bed.” Winston
nearly gets dusted then almost snares the Sandman with his thrower. However now the Sandman’s pissed at them for
being so difficult and turns all the crazy dreams into terrifying nightmares
instead! The guys haul some tail away
from the nightmares and decide to get to ecto-1 and possibly head back to the
firehouse? They don’t mention why their
heading for ecto-1. I’d think the more
confined a space the more likely it’d be to be put asleep. Ray must face a giant rabbit using a carrot
as a club near ecto-1. He thinks it’s
the Easter bunny and doesn’t want to blast it, grow up Ray, its funny
though. They “hop” in the car but it won’t
start, as Ray checks under the hood the Sandman gets him! He dreams of pizza as it lands on ecto-1 in a
heap. I like the explanation that the
dreams go poof because the thrower streams disrupt their molecular density.
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| 2 down, 2 to go! It's all happening so fast! |
The
remaining Ghostbusters track down the Sandman on the PKE meter. They come across a huge sleeping dragon. Winston is gung-ho and is ready to fire but
Egon stops saying, “Every time we take out one of those things it’s like
holding up a sign saying, “here we are”.”
Hmm, so they tip-toe by it but Egon ends up blasting it anyway. Winston, as he darts inside, says, “Quit
dragon-ing your feet and let’s go!” Egon
believes Winston has been hanging around Ray again. It’s a cheesy joke Egon lighten up. Their cover is blown but they head inside the
building to get the Sandman. Peter is the
next Ghostbuster to take a nap as the Sandman sneaks up behind and dusts
him. Egon & Winston arrive in the room
to see Peter in a gold car winning numerous awards. Just before that, outside the door, they
heard a thud. Winston questions, “Was that
a thud?” Egon’s downtrodden reply, “That
was a thud.”
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| Winston must save them. |
Eventually
Egon interprets Ray’s theory on dreams but gets dusted before he can share this
information with Winston. Winston gets
down that he’s not a scientist and how could he figure out what to do? This is no time for a pity party buddy; you’re
the only hope for a world facing a 500 year time out! Albert Einstein, Egon’s dream, provides a bit
of insight into helping him figure it out.
He darts back to the firehouse hoping Janine is still awake. Winston gives Janine instructions but we the
viewer still don’t know this secret plan to beat the Sandman. Janine is given the last proton pack to use
as defense. The Sandman barges into the
firehouse in emphatic fashion! I love
that moment, the Sandman is incredibly wicked.
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| I love a woman in uniform. |
There
is a tussle before the action begins, you notice when Janine first fires she
gets a surprising kick from the thrower.
The Sandman dusts Janine and its sleep time for her now. The Sandman turns 100% of his attention,
which is at least 1% too much, towards Winston.
Janine seemingly springs awake but in fact she sports the Ghostbuster
jumpsuit as her own dream manifestation!
Is it just me or does the original Janine kick it in that outfit? The Sandman says to Winston to say goodnight
which Janine replies, “Say goodnight yourself buster.” Ha!
Surprise attack from the back as the theme music triggers again! The Sandman tries and pulls away from the
stream but the hero Winston reels him in.
It’s a fantastic capture sequence with a fitting end to the
Sandman. It’s one of my top scenes in
the Ghostbusters series.
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| Time for your own nap, in the containment unit. |
In the
end Winston sleeps with Slimer as the only two who didn’t get any rest. I would have liked to include more photo's but I would have probably included nearly every clip in the episode had I done so. I haven’t reviewed many of these so far but
this one is going to be awfully difficult to unseat as my number one episode
thus far.
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