Just prior to "Darkness At Noon"
(Extreme Ghostbusters First and only Season)
"Darkness at Noon, Part One" (XGB-101)
Parapsychology 101, being taught by former Ghostbuster Egon
Spengler: Kylie Griffin, new age enthusiast; Garrett Miller, paraplegic athlete;
Roland Jackson, electronics whiz; and slacker Eduardo Rivera. Janine Melnitz
surprises Egon during thier first class. City construction drills into a sealed
chamber and releases an entity; Spengler's equipment detects the release, but
Mayor McShayne derides him as a fraud. Egon tries to confront the entity, but
the equipment is too old and underpowered to be effective, and he's infected
with a strange disease. Eduardo, Garrett, Roland, and Janine find him in the
run-down Ghostbuster headquarters; there's no way he can battle the creature
now...
"Darkness
At Noon, Part Two"(XGB-102)
Garrett, Eduardo, and Roland search the city;
they find Kylie, acting strange, and discover that she was posessed by the
spirit. Again, the aged Ghostbuster equipment proves ineffective. Egon
identifies the spirit as a Sumerian disease goddess, Akkyra; he and Roland
subject the proton packs and ECTO-1 to upgrading, and create a micronized proton
pistol and a radically different ghost trap design. Roland, Garrett, Kylie, and
Eduardo take up the mantle of Ghostbusters, and using the new equipment
apprehend Akkyra easily, clearing up the infection suffered by Egon and hundred
of others.
"The True
Face of a Monster"(XGB-103)
A Jewish mystic summons up a golem to deal with
some neo-Nazi lowlifes
"Fear
Itself"(XGB-104)
A night club owner uncovers a series of catacombs which are
protected by a ghost who can make people's fears into reality. Garrett must
triumph over his claustrophobia to stop it.
"Deadliners"(XGB-105)
Eduardo recognizes a monster as Crainiac,
character from J.N. Kline's young-reader horror novels. The other Ghostbusters
tease him mercillessly (Roland:"You read J.N Kline books?" Kylie: "You
read?")until the monster answers to the name; the team discovers that the
creatures are called the Vathek, and have imprisoned Kline to write them "into
reality"
"Casting
the Runes"(XGB-106)
A small-time hood steals a pouch of ancient runes and
learns that he can use them to mark people to be taken to the other side by a
demon. Eduardo is sucked into another dimension to become the slave of the
Nordic god Kahlil
"The
Infernal Machine"(XGB-107)
Luko, a Greek spirit of invention, compels Roland
to build a really strange device.
"Home is
Where the Horror Is"(XGB-108)
A haunted house is more than haunted: the
entire house is a soul-sucking demon!
"Killjoys"(XGB-109)
A gang of vampire clowns is going around
town attacking people, and "embrace" a new recruit: Eduardo Rivera!
"The
Unseen"(XGB-110)
A rash of missing eyes leads to Tinnebraug, guardian of the
Eye of Moldova, who is compelled to suck the eyes out of everyone who looks at
the "sacred stone". Meanwhile, some thugs steal Eduardo and Kylie's proton packs
and go on a crime spree.
"The
Crawler"(XGB-111)
Cojilla, Incan god of evil insects, escapes his crypt and
goes to New York, posing as "Gregor Samsa", looking for a mate. He runs into
Janine Melnitz, in a round of dispair over Egon Spengler's inattention, and is
flattered by his efforts to cheer her up. But things turn sour when Cojilla
kidnaps her and mutates her into an insect creature worth of being his "queen";
in a telling move, Egon leads the Ghostbusters into the attack on Cojilla,
breaking through to Janine and turning her back to normal.
For those who didn't know...the name "Gregor Samsa" is an in-joke to the great story by Franz Kafka, "Metamorphosis", about a guy who wakes up one morning thinking he's turned into a bug.
"The Pied
Piper of Manhattan"(XGB-112)
"The Piper" deals with a supernatural
infestation, but when McShayne stiffs him on the bill he summons children to be
dumped into the sea. The Ghostbusters intervene, discovering that the Piper was
behind the infestation in the first place. With the help of Roland's tuba, they
trap him.
"Be
Careful What You Wish For"(XGB-113)
Duophines offers everyone their fondest
wishes, with evil twists. Eduardo, for example, wishes Kylie would treat him as
well as she treats her can Pagan, and ends up stuck in the cat's body.
"Grease"(XGB-114)
Two FBI agents investigate the Ghostbusters
and arrest them, until a troublemaking imp sabotages the plane they're on.
This episode was a wealth of biographical details, including the new Ghostbuster's last names and other background details--including about Eduardo's brother, who is not seen until "Rage"
"The
Jersey Devil" (XGB-115)
The Ghostbusters road trip uncovers the Jersey Devil
"Dry
Spell"(XGB-116)
Famous oceanographer Francois Rousseau steals a dangerous
water spirit from the Ghostbusters, intending to study it--before it, of course,
gets out of his control.
"Sonic
Youth"(XGB-117)
Roland falls for the bewitching muse Syren. But Syren has a
dark secret: she is one of the Glostic sisters, and Banshee is compelling her to
steal people's life forces.
"Ghost
Apolocalyptic Future"(XGB-118)
Kylie changes places with a man thirty years
in the future, and learns of the horror that has transpired since the demon
Tempus took over the world. But the switch provides them a unique opportunity to
prevent that future, if the present day Tempus is prevented from killing Egon
Spengler and opening the containment unit
"Bird of
Prey"(XGB-119)
The Harasfelg, a Norse dragon spirit, is playing havoc with
the weather.
"Seeds of
Destruction"(XGB-120)
A blob goes around sucking people's life forces,
including Garrett's; at first, the Ghostbusters think it's a confused but
benevolent entity called Coojah, thought they quickly learn their error: it's a
much meaner critter called Shambahok.
"Luck of
the Irish"(XGB-121)
The Leprechan is taking revenge on the descendants of
the Irishmen who bound it--and Edwin McShayne, Mayor of New York, is on the list
"The
Ghostmakers"(XGB-122)
A monster is using a mystic mirror to entrap souls in
his dimension, sending minions to inhabit the "empty" bodies--including Eduardo
and Garrett's
"Slimer's
Sacrifice"(XGB-123)
Slimer is accidentally trapped and contained (and
Venkman isn't here to see it...), but as an accomplice of the Ghostbusters, is
chased and tortured by the inhabitants of the containment unit. Slimer is found
by the demon Surt, who hopes to use Slimer to escape the containment unit and
free Fenris, bringing about Ragnarok. Eduardo enters the containment unit to
foil Surt and free Slimer.
Surt had been imprisoned by the original Ghostbusters, but there is no time frame given for that battle. I conjecture that that battle happened "off camera" as part of the bigger battle in "Ragnarok and Roll"
"Grundlesque"(XGB-124) Roland's bratty younger brother Casey falls
into the sway of the Grundle, which confuses the rest of the Ghostbusters, as
the Grundle had been contained by the original Ghostbusters in 1985. Kylie
releases the original Grundle to get answers, and discovers that the new Grundle
was her childhood friend Jack, put into suspended animation by the old Grundle
twelve years earlier.
This episode states that the original Grundle was contained "ten years ago", which would either invalidate some of the chronology's precepts and place the battle in 1995, or we can assume that Egon was rounding off the number of years. Of course, the real explaination is that this episode aired ten years after "The Grundle", part of the 1987 ABC run. This is also the only direct Extreme Ghostbusters sequel to a Real Ghostbusters story.
"In Your
Dreams"(XGB-125)
Morpheus, lord of Dreams, tries to make veryone's dreams
come true.
"Moby
Ghost"(XGB-126)
The embittered, Ahab-esque Markob tries to catch his ancient
foe, the great beast Lotan
"Fallout"(XGB-127)
Ghosts and nuclear power plants do not mix.
"Eyes of
the Dragon"(XGB-128)
A Chinese crime lord tries to lean on the owners of a
small shop to give him the Eyes of the Dragon, which will allow Gu-Moh to be
awakened
"Till
Death Do Us Start"(XGB-129)
A man unwittingly releases a ghost-bride from an
old boarded-up wishing well. He hires the EGB to protect him from becoming her
groom on the other side. A spirit called "The Wishgiver" is behind this...
"Glutton
For Punishment"(XGB-130)
Rovanna the Raksasha goes on an eating spree that
makes Slimer look like an anorexic supermodel.
"Ghost In
the Machine"(XGB-131)
An ancient spirit that has been trapped for years
escapes when an abandoned oil mine is reopened. The ghost possesses vehicles and
makes them look like demons.
"Dog
Days"(XGB-132)
A ghost dog turns all of the dogs in New York into it's
slaves
"Mole
People"(XGB-133)
Persephone, one of the dwellers in an underground
civilization, incurs the wrath of her people in calling in the help of
"outsiders"--namely, the Ghostbusters--in dealing with a gang of "power demons".
Things get worse when she falls for Garrett.
"A
Temporary Insanity"(XGB-134)
Janine takes some vacation time, so Egon hires
a temp, Lilith, when things fall completely apart at HQ. But, of course, Lilith
isn't what she seems, and Janine returns in time to save the day with Venkman's
old proton pack.
Two items of interest: one, that this episode was in many ways a re-tread of "Till Death Do Us Part" (Janine goes on vacation, ghost chick gets designs on Egon). Two, that a mannequin of Venkman is seen in the display case, but his face is digitized out. I've wondered if some licensing restriction is in place, keeping Adelaide from using the exact character designs from DIC's cartoons, as Egon, Janine, and the other original Ghostbusters (seen in "Back In The Saddle") have been redesigned at least slightly.
"Rage"(XGB-135)
Renovations at Ghostbuster HQ force Egon to
temporarily relocate to Eduardo's house. The main problem is that it isn't
Eduardo's house, it's space he's renting from his hard-headed cop brother Carlos
(and Carlos's wife Beth), who goes ballistic when he finds out Eduardo is a
Ghostbuster. Eduardo redeems himself and the other Ghostbusters when he and
nephew Kevin save the city from trolls taking over the Brooklyn Bridge.
"Heart of
Darkness"(XGB-136)
A Toltec crystal skull, on loan from the Russian government, is stolen. A similar skull is stolen from rich collector Wilhelm Reichart. Egon knows the third skull of the set is posesed by a former colleague, Edward Kirillian.
But it turns out Kirillian is controlling the ghosts stealing the skulls, in
hopes of completing the set and opening a dimensional gate, from which will pour
a horde of ghosts under Kirillian's control. Instead, Kirillian falls into the
dimension and faces eternal torment.
Trivia: Kirillian was voiced by John DeLancie, "Q" of Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Sphinx"(XGB-139)
The Sphinx is going around lobotomizing
intellectuals who can't solve it's riddle. Egon, meanwhile, is having a midlife
crisis (he's thirty-nine, and birthday number forty is looming), and tries to
prove himself by behaving like Rambo. Ending up trapped in a UN elevator with
Garrett, he comes to a better sense of peace with himself, and solves the
Sphinx's riddle, banishing it and restoring the minds of all of it's victims.
This episode gives Egon's age as 39. I place it before his birthday in "Back In The Saddle" because Janine goes to the extraordinary length of bringing together the original Ghostbusters, a feat worthy of a 40th birthday celebration, and because Egon no longer seems to dread his age in that story, and in fact tries to prevent his old comrades from hasty antics of the type he does in "Sphinx" Plus, having Egon's 40th birthday in 1997 would be consistant with the 1957 birthyear I derived years ago.
"Back In
The Saddle, Part One"(XGB-137)
Janine takes Egon out for his fortieth
birthday, and back at the firehouse there's a big surprise waiting for him. Or,
more accurately, three surprises: Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Winston
Zeddemore, the original Ghostbusters! They meet the new Ghostbusters and
reminisce about old times, and when a call comes in Venkman fires the old team
up and they go out and just kick butt. Venkman, Ray, and Winston start talking
about regrouping permanantly; Egon is clearly caught in the middle, trying to
remind his old friends that "the torch has already been passed" The two teams of
Ghostbusters put thier differences behind them and work together to defeat a
swarm of "feeder" entities, but Egon's PKE readings ominously fortell a larger
menace to come...
This, of course, was the episode that brought all of the Ghostbusters, old and new, together for the first time. To make it complete, Dave Coulier, Buster Jones, and Frank Welker reunited as well to voice Venkman, Winston, and Ray. (Too bad they couldn't have gotten Lorenzo Music and Arsenio Hall) One inexplicable detail: Venkman and Winston wear their old Ghostbuster uniforms, but Ray is wearing one of Egon's!
"Back In
The Saddle, Part Two"(XGB-138)
Peter Venkman's cruise about Hudson Bay is
rudely interrupted by something approaching New York, something big...the
Ghostbusters must work with thier legendary predecessors to stop a massive entity that turns out to be the Bermuda Triangle gone bad.
After defeating the entity, the original Ghostbusters stay for
Thanksgiving dinner.
As if context clues didn't establish it enough, Janine had said on Egon's birthday "I hope you guys will stay for Thanksgiving next week" (November 28, 1997)
"Witchy
Woman"(XGB-140)
A coven of college witches dedicated to the charismatic
Cernunous casts evil spells on the pretty, popular girls and try to recruit
Kylie into thier group, in hopes of completing thier "Circle of Power"; they
fail and recruit the hormonally deranged Eduardo, and Cernunous completes
transferring his life force to Earth. But the Circle, realizing they've been
used, band together and help the Ghostbusters defeat the demon.
As of this writing, this is the last official Ghostbusters adventure that followed the pseudo-realtime continuity begun with the first movie