It's no secret that Peter Venkman received the worst degradation in The Real Ghostbusters. I blame no one but the networks. But I have a theory, Peter and Winston were borderline interchangeable when it came to making quips, though one was more aloof, the other was more down to earth. They already got heat for reducing Winston to basic grunt work, so I imagine they didn't want any further heat for making him the defacto idiot, so for the sake of keeping up with a simplistic writing atmosphere, someone needed a lobotomy.
Except, not really. At best Peter no longer had good lines and was helmed by writers who were basically starved for good ideas. Lorenzo Music is the superior Peter, but I feel like setting the record straight.
This was written by Len Janson and Chuck Menville, who became the show's script supervisors at this point, and as history shows it wasn't for the best. I haven't seen what they're capable of, but as we learned later on they didn't like what they would ultimately create.
Trap Does What?
Here's a funny thing I noticed, our introduction to the Ghostbusters proper in this and another Janson/Menville episode, Big Trouble with Little Slimer is that it begins with a Ghostbuster singing, though to be fair Egon's less tone-deaf.
Through a crap 50s surfer tune, Ray begins to wax nostalgic over an era he was never part of, the 50s. Oh gee, I wonder if this is going to foreshadow where the plot would go? I- would read the title and have to assume. I find it funny that anyone would want to return to the 50s in this day and age. Now sure, the 60s was where shit hit the fan, but in the 50s, everything was more... authoritarian, people were blind to social issues, it'd breed asshole fathers the world over.
Come to think of it, Q5's alterations to the show harken back to the restraining nature of the 50s. You wanted to drive the point home here?
We see Janine is a sobbing wreck, you wanted to drive the point home how well she has fallen too? I will say this, of all her constant design changes, I'd rate Janine's 89 depiction as the second best Janine.
Anyhow, the drive here is... one of those tearing down old properties for an expressway deals. Now granted, I hate traffic as much as the next guy, I'm in the state notorious for them, but this kind of plot is always forced. Sorta like how the rest of the plot would be.
The Ghostbusters syphon off the energy from their traps, then a disgruntled Peter pulls the plug too early. Now, at times I feel Phelous' points on the Coulier take on Peter is exaggerated, but Peter is one of three Ghostbusters who happen to be a scientist, you'd think he'd know better. I'll give it this, he does apologize.
So with that blunder, Peter loses his soul. No? Well then the Ghostbusters get sucked into a realm where ghosts are cont- no, they all get put in the Containment Unit. They're... in purgatory or something close to it?
Apparently, the trap would send the ghosts back in time? Okay, there had better be a reason for this all, otherwise... I dunno, I'll complain about it?
So, no explanation yet, and Ray has the eagerness of a closeted homophobe who found an outlet to voice his hatred of the fs in Topeka. Points for those who figure out who I'm referring to.
As you'd expect, Ray has an obsession with this era almost as much as anyone's obsession with Infinity Train.
Winston takes the badge of stupidity briefly when he finds the base for the Ecto-1, a hearse, and Peter's the one who knocks him down to size, though Winston still assumes otherwise.
Apparently, 1959 was when ghosts truly began to surface in New York, so there could be an interesting plot here where the Ghostbusters find the originator of these hauntings and destroy it, but come to a moral quandary where in doing so, they'd lose any reason to remain together. I'm reaching here.
But apparently, this was caused by the Ghostbusters coming to the 50s. Now sure, by not being in the era this could've prevented them from taking on the ghosts, but how could ghosts be their fault if... Sputter-cough-dead.
Okay, so apparently their premise is the cause of all this. Still confused, and they do a horrible job on making it make sense.
It seems Coulier Peter is smarter than Phelous would give him credit for. If not for coming up with an idea to disguise the Ghostbusters as firefighters as that was what the firehouse used to be in 1959, he actually finds a way to recharge the trap the Ghostbusters have and sways them to carry on in fixing the situation.
He still has crappy lines though.
So right to the source of the ghosts, they use a high pressure water hose to hold them back... no comment, either I'd be nitpicking or I'd be ignorant to how it works in the show, while Egon charges up the trap, and since we're close to the end, success.
Oh, and it turns out the expressway plan was a bust, but... they actually explain this better than their presence being the source of a ghost invasion. Because the Ghostbusters aided the firemen in holding back the ghosts from the portal, they are credited to stopping the crisis and the firehouse they're affiliated with is hence considered a historical landmark.
Also if you want to further levy how dumb Peter supposedly became, he manages to spout the right year to Janine who couldn't figure it out.
Final Thoughts
I went into this with low expectations, and my views based solely on what I learned from Phelous, and I gotta say, I was proven wrong. It was kinda hokey, how could a trap send anyone back in time and how could one's presence bring catastrophe. As mentioned early on, Ray was born the year the Ghostbusters were sent back to.
However, in terms of my expectations for a potentially devolved Peter, I was proven wrong here too. Turns out what would've been his biggest bout of idiocy proved to be beneficial in the long run. Or maybe I just got lucky with my episode pick here.
In terms of time travel episodes, I prefer this to Teen Titans' take on the formula, I had no major expectations for how the plot would go here.
Next up, I go for my final J. Michael Straczynski episode, and I can hardly consider myself drained.
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