This was the very last episode of The Real Ghostbusters to be written by J. Michael Straczynski, around the time the show was starting to reach critical mass. It was also at this season the show would be outsourced to Korea when previously it was sent to Japan. For the former, that's reserved for much cheaper shows and by then the producers' allowance had dwindled due to the show no longer being popular enough for higher maintenance. It's almost as if Q5 destroyed the show by alienating its initial audience.
I'd make a crack about the riots, but even an apology wouldn't do anything.
This was one of two episodes written by Straczynski during this season, the previous being Janine, You've Changed which addressed Janine's excessive redesigns but proved to make no impact for episodes after as it went by his vision, while another vision carried for every episode after. Russian About was treated as a footnote, so for curiosity sake, I'd like to see what Straczynski did here.
Colluding
We start with Aurora Borealis, at this time of year, at this time of day, in that part of the company, localized entirely in this scene. And I'm saying this because I'm already seeing it, while Ray, Winston and Slimer try to. We also get clued in to shortcuts the animators took with the shortened budget.
Peter here is more immature, at least at this point, and since this is a Straczynski, I have to call him on slipping to bad habits. Also apparently he doesn't know the right name for Rock, Paper Scissors. Maybe here they'd throw in a squirrel neck.
One thing I noticed here is the odd mix of English and phonetic Russian terms, I know because the Russian alphabet has specific characters, but then again I don't know much of Russia.
Back on the supposed idiocy of Peter Venkman, I feel the need to bring it up here because 1., this was a Straczynski episode and 2. Okay so it's more apparent in the much later seasons, and the network cracked down hard. Also, Peter was more or less on the up and up in The Halloween Door, so I imagine the dialog would be the least the network had to worry about.
I'm noticing some rapid cuts between scenes, the copy I have was sourced from a Fox Family airing, but I doubt anything in the show at this point was sus enough to be edited out.
We then meet who I assume would be our antagonists here or a big thorn in their sides. At best Straczynski had good writing in his sleeve, but even he can dip when it comes to obvious set-ups with Russians. Either he's a die-hard patriot or he just likes stereotyping here.
But nevertheless, when a good joke is made, it hits well, especially when it comes to irritating the level-headed Egon. But when a bad joke is made, it hits just as well too.
We go from Egon losing his shit over a Russian guy badmouthing Albert Einstein to said Russian guy claiming the Titanic was sank by Elvis Presley. Like, what's the joke here? Russians are stupid? If we spent three whole years stressing over supposed collusion they must be smart enough to press our buttons.
Egon comes up to demonstrate the proton beams, this was for a science conference, and it goes poorly because Winston throws a trap without a petal. Scratch that, Winston demonstrates one of many hiccups the animation has due to the lower budget. You get the feeling Straczynski wanted to go the rest of the episode with Slimer kept in the trap, but either the network pushed back or he felt it was too obvious.
While not ever discussed, this episode was alluded to by Phelous when it came to network interference, for those who saw that video and want to know which episode it is, this is the episode alluding to the Necronomicon.
The book in question is never mentioned by name because the network was adamant that the book actually exists. Guess they have a point, they were the network evil enough to give us Jay Sherman, they're bound to have the Necronomicon in their library.
Straczynski at the very least humored them and gave a reason for why it can't be called by name.
But for the sake of plot convenience, we get a lead for someone who believes in the properties the book holds. I'm hoping for a twist here, spoilers, he's the guilty one.
Also, cult-like imagery is perfectly fine, but a name is a no-no apparently.
Nothing happens with the Ghostbusters beyond road trouble and sudden convenience, but they're just in time as a cultish ceremony starts. We then get an implication on what creature the cult's trying to awaken, and some Slimer shenanigans which may or may not go anywhere. Blame the network on the latter?
They kill a sense of suspense when they capture guardian demons who can easily break out of traps. You know, a scare never killed anybody.
But then we get the reason behind the cult's being. Vladimir (the guy) wants to rule the world. That's it, no layer of absurdity or complexity. Is this meant to be a stab at Cold War politics? This was a year or so before the USSR collapsed. What're you going for Michael?
Oh, and I wonder if his little sidekick is gonna make Vlad eat his words for icing him out point blank.
Also some more animation hiccups, where the position of the characters change but the background doesn't.
And more for how Peter isn't as bad as people made him out to be, he is willing to risk his life to throw an experimental weapon into the pit for which the beast awakens. At this point he goes from smooth sarcastic dope, to lovable doofus. Or maybe I was just incredibly lucky with my episode picks in those that make Peter look good?
Things end lukewarm, they thwart the villain and the cult is arrested. I'm not expecting a bang, but this left much to be desired.
Final Thoughts
In hindsight, this wasn't a good episode for Michael to leave off on, but then again he was probably too hurt for how much the series has been effed with to give more effort. By then anything he does would not hold, so it seems he couldn't care enough to try.
Compared to what he's capable of, this feels ordinary, though I have a feeling the network pushed back hard against his ideas, so there's a possible reason.
Ordinarily it seems like the show would end here, but somehow, some way, one last season exists, and with that, we're almost at the end.
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