Back in the 80s, syndication was at its peak. For any successful show, one would try and get as much out of it as they could, and for syndication, standards are much looser there, and are guaranteed for more episodes.
For perspective, a network season order would ordinarily consist of 13 episodes, whereas the standard for syndication is 65. No one would've been happier to go through with this than J. Michael Straczynski.
The syndication package came around the same time as the initial network run, and by the second season, ABC reared their heads in as part of a desperate attempt at fixing their ratings. Not wanting to put up with their changes because let's face it, they were idiotic, Michael focused more on the syndication package and only came back occasionally to write for the network season.
In a way, this is the last hurrah for the show's true heyday.
I picked Chicken, He Clucked because based on Phelous' description, I'm interested to see how it plays out. This episode was notable for being considered crazy at the time, unless 80s cartoons truly were that conservative. So, the key to this is to determine just how batshit the script was viewed to be.
Bock
The plot centers on a man who is driven mad with the ever presence of chicken, not helping that he lives by a chicken shop. Based on his appearance, I imagine childhood trauma and mockery is a fuel behind this, but for now I can at least see him as sympathetic.
I like how they provide context to the chicken man being in the line of sight of the Ghostbusters, it's all at the library, and a book on conjuring is a clue on how the man wants to go about getting rid of the chicken problem.
Knowing this is the last season we hear Lorenzo Music and have Peter's initial personality, I feel that it incorporating some childish elements to him isn't such a bad idea. Here, he's reading a pop-up book nonchalantly, which goes to show that even the most juvenile of interests can have some universal enjoyment.
Our demon, Morganon, is introduced and we get the implication that, given the man looks like a chicken, he'll become one by the end of this or serve as a demon forever, we'll find out soon enough.
Owing to the writing, we get a great exchange, where Morganon is heavily perplexed over chicken man's silly desire and tries to sway him to a bigger prize. So chicken man is granted the ability to bring whatever he wishes to another dimension.
One issue I have with episodes like these is that, in order to avoid line-by-line summaries, I have to skip around a lot. Not that it takes away the enjoyment, it's the best of 80s cartoon comedy.
In a descent to a jagged grave, after ruling out ways to cushion the impact they're saved by Morganon who's as determined as the Ghostbusters to end this chaos. Not to mention, the fact that I can actually see why Phelous is adamant in his dismissal of Dave Coulier really goes to show its objectivity, there was a Peter line at this point and the delivery made it work.
Here, I love how they try to give sympathy to a demon, and we get to see a shred in humanity in their doing. Some like to strike willy nilly, some have a rep to protect. It's nice to see grey rather than black and white and goes to show what you can do with good writing.
At this point, everything seems sensible, I'll explain when we get to the final thoughts.
After returning to their domain, the Ghostbusters create fake chickens to trick the chicken man, and as the chickens are, well, fake. I'm a little confused, I would think he'd go crazy since the condition of his powers would only work for literal chickens, but they all just return after the spell is a bust.
So beyond all expectations, perhaps the end would be the point behind a phone-call Michael received on his well-being after submitting the script, well, there is irony to the end...
He's sent to an asylum and served chicken for dinner. I give props for subversion and the build-up, it would've been too obvious if he was turned into a chicken or forced to serve the demon world, I mean the point to it was to break the deal so that wouldn't have made sense and ruined the grey aspect to a demon's motives.
Final Thoughts
Apparently this episode was so twisted, J.Michael Straczynski was phoned asking if he was mentally sound, but honestly... this wasn't as twisted as I thought. I guess they were so dumbfounded over how such a crazy premise could've been made to work so well they themselves went crazy. I'm willing to assume the 80s had much more twisted cartoon episodes from then.
I really have nothing more to say about this, it's yet another point in the golden era of The Real Ghostbusters.
Next time, I'm going into the lesser seasons, but I wanna stick with Straczynski's episodes just to see how well he can work with a suffocating network like ABC. Also apparently positive content is a necessity apparently.
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