A couple months ago I got the complete "Real Ghostbusters" box set, and have been steadily making my way through the discs. This set has the series in its entirety, including the ABC Saturday morning episodes, the syndicated shows and all of the "Slimer" shorts.

I didn't really see many of the Saturday shows, to be honest, as I had cello lessons on Saturday mornings. My viewing pleasure rested with the syndicated run.

One thing I've noticed, and the commentary has confirmed, is that the syndicated stories had a bit more freedom with their writing. They could make scary ghosts, death-defying adventures, and references to H.P. Lovecraft. The Saturday shows, watched over heavily by ABC, weren't as lucky.

The first season of ABC's show was pretty successful, and similar in spirit to the syndicated run. Unfortunately, the network decided to pass on notes to production before the second season. They wanted more kid-friendly humor, less scary stories. They wanted lessons learned to be more apparent. They wanted kids in the show. They wanted Janine to look less interesting, essentially. And they wanted more Slimer - to the point that it nearly kills the show.

The point of the Real Ghostbusters is the Ghostbusters - Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston. With the second season's influx of Slimer-related stories, it became more "Slimer gets into trouble and the Ghostbusters, in the five minutes they're on camera, save the day." I mean, in just the 10 episodes of season two I've watched, Slimer is kidnapped in at least half of them. Oy.

Basically, what we end up with is lazy writing. Take, for instance, the episode I watched last night "Big Trouble With Little Slimer." No, it has nothing to do with Kurt Russell or exploding Chinese Gods. Instead, Walter Peck (the "villain" from the first movie) returns as an employee of the Bureau of Unidentified Flying Organisms (what?) and, in an attempt to lure the Ghostbusters into a trap to shut them down, gets a court order to arrest Slimer, as he is an Unidentified Flying Organism. Course, we could save a lot of trouble at this point by mentioning he's been identified as a focused, non-terminal repeating phantasm, or a Class 5 full roaming vapor, named Slimer. "And a real nasty one at that."

Peck takes Slimer back to the BUFO HQ, where he bars the Ghostbusters from entering, and submits Slimer to tests to see if he's a danger to mankind. Somehow, despite their "tests" (what does he eat, what is he thinking, etc.) they conclude he is a threat and they should vaporize him in the Recyclotron. Wait, let's back up here. First, Slimer can't escape through the walls because they're lined with lead. Since when can't ghosts pass through lead? Then they're going to "send him back where he came from" in some sort of high energy washing machine. I thought the Ghostbusters would be the foremost authority on how to dispose of ghosts...

Meanwhile, since they're barred from entering the premises, they decide to break in. BREAK IN, kids. Let's commit a felony! Woo! And they arrive just in time to press a wrong button that overloads the system, and they have to fire their proton blasters at the machine to keep it from blowing up. What?! Double oy. And somehow, because of all this, they get congratulations from the military and the staff of this building (what?) and Peck is fired (WHAT?!) Triple oy.

This is a pathetic episode. Definitely not their best, and probably their worst. Although, I still have 4 more seasons to go through, as well as the Slimer shorts, so that honor is still up for grabs. Wish me luck.