Extreme Ghostbusters Episode Reviews

From September 1st to December 8th 1997, Ghostheads were treated to the first new Ghostbusters media since The Real Ghostbusters aired its last original episode in September 1991. Back in the '90s, everything was EXTREME! So, naturally, we'd get EXTREME GHOSTBUSTERS!!! Yeah, the title was dumb even back then, but at least they weren't "super". The series saw a new crew of young 18- and 19-year-olds being mentored by an older Egon and Janine, who were the only original team members left after the city's influx of spiritual energy ran dry years ago.

A lot of Ghostheads disliked the show at the time, as they wanted to see Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston; not Eduardo, Kylie, Garrett, and Roland. Those who stuck with it - assuming they could find it, as Sony dropped it into the shittiest syndication deal possible at the time - found a show that was a lot more mature than the "kiddie" stuff ABC was peddling with The Real Ghostbusters in the latter years. I rewatched all 40 episodes last year, and was surprised by how well the show has held up 20+ years later. The writing is sharp, the acting in on point, and the character designs are fantastic. The only thing that sucks is the piss-poor animation. Sorry animators, but flickering back and forth between Photoshop filters is not how you animate proton streams.

Spook Central is giving you the chance to learn more about this semi-forgotten piece of Ghostbusters lore all throughout the month of October. Every day leading up to Halloween, I will provide a little bit of commentary about one or two episodes. (2024 UPDATE: All month-long posts have been grouped into this one and repurposed into mini-reviews of all 40 episodes. Also, an official DVD release now exists.) So, sit back, relax, and let's get EXTREME!!!!!

A ghostly ghoul named Achira is released by unsuspecting subway tunnel construction workers and she's ready to spread her disease through the whole city! Who ya gonna call? Actually, the only Ghostbuster still in town is Egon, teaching at New York City College. His class of only four students soon gets the field trip of their lives when they have the opportunity to help Egon bust the spook. The show leaves us hanging with Kylie's possesion by Achira!

The premiere episode which, ironically, was not shown to those of us in New York due to a pre-emption by the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. If the Extreme Ghostbusters themselves were tuning it, they would have had to have waited until the following Sunday, September 7th, to see how their story started. Anyway, "Darkness At Noon" sets a clear tone that this was not your kid brother's Ghostbusters. We had mature themes and dialog that would not have passed the censors at ABC. The inclusion of a wheelchair-bound character reeked of political correctness, and I still question the practicality, but the wheelchair never seemed to get in the way.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: Ghosts walk among us.
Eduardo: And so do weird chicks.

Egon realizes that the old equipment just isn't strong enough for this new breed of ghosts. He constructs new equipment for the gang and sends them out, ready to kick some ghost butt. While searching for the host that Achira is possessing, Eduardo meets back up with Kylie (still possessed by Achira). We now learn of their unshown love for each other. The episode ends by the new Ghostbusters crew receiving dozens of phone calls. The Ghostbusters are back!

The dialog in the conclusion sets up the series-long relationship between Eduardo and Kylie, including a rather PG exchange in which a possessed Kylie seduces Eduardo. Just as they are about to lock lips, Roland and Garrett arrive to stop the smooch, leading Eduardo to remark that Kylie's "legal". The implication being that she's 18 years of age or older (though 17 is the age of consent in New York), and thus he could do a lot more than just kiss her if he wanted to. This half of the story also gives us the only utterance of "Spook Central" in the series, spoken by Eduardo.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: Are you happy to see me, Eduardo?
Eduardo: Ahh, sure.
Kylie: Because I'm really happy to see you. From the first time I saw you in the lecture hall, I felt an attraction. Did you feel it too?
Eduardo: Well, I don't know, sort of. I mean, you could stand to put on a couple of pounds.
Kylie: A good looking guy like you who's really hard to resist. Kiss me Eduardo. I want you to.
Roland: Back off Eduardo.
Eduardo: Why? She's legal.
Roland: She's a ghost!

A rash of a racist vandalism against a Jewish temple results in the appearance of a Golem monster, which hunts offenders and traps them in clay cocoons. The Golem, created by the Rabbi's son to protect the temple, soon grows violently out of control, and the Extreme Ghostbusters must devise a way to defeat the seemingly unstoppable ghost before it hurts anyone else.

Further proving that Extreme Ghostbusters is more than just "kid's stuff", this episode deals with the subject of racism and prejudice. I'm pleased that we finally got some Jewish mythology in Ghostbusters media. This is one of the few times in which the Ghostbusters deal with an entity that is not a ghost and can't be contained in a Ghost Trap. I enjoy these types of entities as it means that there has to be a creative way to resolve the conflict instead of the old zap and trap.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Eduardo: Hey dude. You don't like it here, go back and hang with your dumb jock homeboys.

A night club owner uncovers a series of catacombs which are protected by a ghost who can see into people's fears and turns them into reality. The gang has to pull together to face each other's fears and end up finding in the long run that the ghost's fear is human beings.

A chance to explore the characters personalities and their worst fears. Garrett is claustrophobic, Kylie is afraid of maggots, Eduardo has a fear of death, Roland is afraid of his equipment failing, and Slimer is afraid of broccoli. Eduardo says his "Maybe, he's dead" catchphrase twice, while Garrett utters the famous "I ain't afraid of no ghosts" line twice, as well. There were a few catchphrases in the series, most of which originated in the two-part premiere. The series was also keen on referencing dialog from the greater Ghostbusters lore from time to time.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: Why is it everyone thinks I'm Vampira!
Garrett: Black hair.
Roland: Black nail polish.
Eduardo: Likes Nine Inch Nails.

A novelist is possessed by a demon, causing him to create several ghostly characters which come to life and terrorize New Yorkers. Eduardo is instrumental in solving the case, since he is a fan of the writer's book.

It's Ghostbusters meets Hellraiser, with R.L. Stine thrown in for good measure. A rather dark episode that kinda feels a PG-ish at times. One of my favorites.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: I am not a squealer.

After a small-time hood steals a pouch of ancient runes, he learns that he can use them to mark people to be possessed and taken to the other side by a demon. The Extreme Ghostbusters must not only track down the thief but also rescue his victims before the victims are trapped on the other side for all eternity.

One of great things about Extreme Ghostbusters is that, from time to time, we get to see the team hanging around the firehouse in their spare time. Here, we get to see Eduardo challenge Slimer to a game of chess, while Kylie is using her free time to study up on the paranormal.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Eduardo: Good move Captain Cranium.

In the middle ages an alchemist releases a demon which requires a mechanical host. The demon re-appears in present-day New York and puts Roland under its spell, causing him to create a deadly mechanical vehicle for its destructive purposes. The Extreme Ghostbusters must destroy the ghost in the machine before it destroys all existence.

Usually the singlar black character feels like an afterthought in the Ghostbusters franchise. It's nice that this episode centers on Roland and his mechanical inclinations. Much like The Real Ghostbusters episodes "Moaning Stones" and "The Brooklyn Triangle", it spotlights a character who tends to be "forgotten".

FAVORITE QUOTE
Garrett: This better be good. I was in the middle of a dream about Christy Brinkley.
Eduardo: Huh? I was dreaming about Christy Turlington. [tiger growl]
Kylie: Shut up. [dramatic pause] Christian Slater.
Eduardo: How 'bout you, Roland?
Roland: Gee, I don't know. Do square people, with square lives and square trash even have dreams?

The Extreme Ghostbusters try to rid a house of its ghosts only to learn the house itself is the ghost, and they must defeat it before it feeds on the two captured children and makes dessert of the Extreme Ghostbusters.

Finally, a haunted house episode! I've always liked haunted house ghost stories, though this one has the twist of the house itself being the evil entity. It reminds me, a little bit, of The Real Ghostbusters episode "Mrs. Roger's Neighborhood".

FAVORITE QUOTE
Len: Alright!
Frankie: Are you Batman?
Roland: I'm his cousin. Ghostbuster Man.

A group of paranormal clowns that feed on laughter stalk New York City. The Ghostbusters chase one of them down and Eduardo traps a clown in a heartbeat, there's only one catch. Eduardo must replace the clown which he trapped by turning into one!

Killer Klowns from Outer Space is one of my favorite "out there" horror comedies. I'm surprised that it took this long for the Ghostbusters to finally have to deal with some killer clowns - aside from the Chiodo Brothers-created ones in the Universal stage show. There are also some nice moments for the Eduardo/Kylie relationship.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Eduardo: [singing] Ecto-Man got a clown in the can. Ecto-Man taught the clown, who's the man?

A mysterious orb never seen by the public is on display at the Manhattan Museum of Natural History. The only problem is that once someone lays eyes on the orb, an entity appears and takes away their sight by pulling their eyes out!

Even after 20+ years, I vividly remember the main ghost, Tenebraug, and his mantra of "Oh, sacred seal you did partake. Now your sight you must forsake." A ghost that can take your sight is pretty scary on a basic level. There's a Scooby Gang-type of splitting up with Roland and Garrett (Shaggy and Scooby) dealing with Tenebraug, while Eduardo and Kylie (Fred and Daphne) try to find Kylie's missing Proton Pistol.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Eduardo: I almost took an Ecto-Grenade for you lady. I practically saved your life.
Kylie: Don't call me lady!

A bug demon (Cohila), who is capable of taking human form, looks for a female host to be the Queen of his bug kingdom, which will take over New York City. Janine is meanwhile trying to get Egon to notice her, and to make him jealous, she accepts a date with Cohila, only to be almost transformed into the bug queen before the Extreme Ghostbusters step in to rescue her.

If you're one of those people who loved the Egon/Janine relationship from The Real Ghostbusters, this is the episode for you! It feels like a natural follow-up to that previous animated series, and helps to get that nasty taste of Ghostbusters II's Louis/Janine relationship out of your month.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Egon: That's it, Janine. Kiss me. Ah, give me some sugar, baby.

When New York City suffers an epidemic of pesky ghosts, that even the Extreme Ghostbusters can't seem to defeat, the Mayor calls on a Pied Piper who claims he can rid the city of its demons. When the Piper's demands grow too outrageous and the Mayor refuses to comply, the Piper reveals himself to be a ghost, and lures the city's children away and into danger. The Extreme Ghostbusters must stop the ghost and rescue the children.

A twist on the classic "Pied Piper of Hamelin" legend featuring a great vocal performance by Roger Rees, best known as the Sheriff of Rottingham in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) and Robin Colcord in the television series Cheers.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Piper: [singing] The mayor is going to rue the day he refused to pay the Piper. [maniacal laughing]

A ghostly salesman arrives in Grand Central Station and twists peoples' hopes and dreams into terrifying incarnations. Eduardo falls prey to the Salesman's spell and is turned into Kylie's cat, and the Extreme Ghostbusters must figure out how to outsmart the ghost before he leaves town forever.

Besides going with the age-old "twisted wish" trope, as best seen in the various "Monkey's Paw" retellings and the Wishmaster film series, this episode features my favorite dirty joke in the entire Ghostbusters franchise. What makes it even more fun is that it's an implied joke, so it was easy for writers Lara Runnels and Patricia Carr to slip it past everyone. Eduardo talks to the Salesman and, the next thing he knows, he's inside Kylie's cat, Pagan. What could Eduardo have wished for that could have resulted in that? Well, you could easily think of an innocent "clean" answer, but what immediately popped in the minds of myself and my friend Doreen Mulman, was that Eduardo said that he "wanted to be in Kylie's [insert feline euphemism for female body part]".

FAVORITE QUOTE
Garrett: Maybe he's dead.
Eduardo: Hey! That's my line.

A Gremlin sets out to destroy all the communications, transportation and power companies throughout New York City, and the Extreme Ghostbusters successfully try to convince the authorities they have a ghost on their hands. Instead of being thanked, though, the Extreme Ghostbusters are arrested and put on an airplane, where they have a final confrontation with the gremlin.

Reminiscent of The Real Ghostbusters episode "Don't Forget The Motor City", the Ghostbusters face off against gremlins and Men in Black-esque FBI agents. What I liked most about this episode were the not-so-subtle digs at the internet, which was still in its mainstream infancy at the time.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: You don't wanna surf the Net, anyway. The government uses it to keep tabs on everyone. While you're looking at it, it's looking at you.

En route to a convention in Atlantic City, the Extreme Ghostbusters are attacked by the legendary Jersey Devil, and are forced to defend a small town without any of their ghostbusting equipment.

It's cool when the team gets out of the city and deals with supernatural shenanigans on a small-time level. What's special about this episode is that it features vocal performances by the father and son duo of Eddie Albert and Edward Albert, both of whom are no longer with us. Eddie is best known for his portrayals of Oliver Wendell Douglas on the television series Green Acres and as the dastardly Warden Hazen in The Longest Yard (1974). An avid environmentalist, his birthday of April 22nd is the reason why that day was designated as "Earth Day". Somewhere, Elon Spengler is happy about that.

The Extreme Ghostbusters battle a ghost who travels through the water system of New York and sucks all water out of his victims.

The series does their take on famous marine researcher Jacques Cousteau with the character of Francois Rousseau, voiced by Steven Weber of Wings fame.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Eduardo: It's touching me, man, it's touching me!

The Extreme Ghostbusters track down a Banshee, whose destructive vocal power endangers the entire city. Their mission hits a snag when Roland comes under the spell of the Banshee's sister, Syren, a paranormal being who uses her identity as a rock singer to hypnotize her listeners and then drain away their youth.

The Real Ghostbusters encountered a Banshee in "Banshee Bake a Cherry Pie?", and now it's the Extreme team's turn. This time there are TWO to deal with, and they are voiced by Melissa Disney and the late great Mary Kay Bergman. Mary Kay is best known for providing the voices of every female character on South Park and the Bigger, Longer and Uncut theatrical movie until her untimely death in 1999.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Garrett: Ladies and gentlemen, Elvira has left the building.

A temporal disturbance lands Kylie in the New York City of a fallen future, when humanity's supremacy has been usurped by Paranormal Beings. She joins a band of freedom fighters in a battle against the Paranormal leader, Tempus, a ghost who can simultaneously exist in two separate time-planes. Separated by nearly a century, Kylie must find a way to work along with the Extreme Ghostbusters, who are battling Tempus in the present. Unless they can find a way to unite in battle, Tempus cannot be defeated.

As someone who has always adored Kylie, it was quite a joy to find out that she would become the well-loved savior of the future. Our "John Connor" as it were. (I'm just gonna ignore the retconned toxic feminist mess known as Dark Fate which kills off John so as to put a new female character in his place for no other reason than, "YAY! Feminism!")

FAVORITE QUOTE
Future Guy: Kylie Griffin. The prophecies ARE true. You've come back to us. To deliver us from the tyranny of Tempus.
Kylie: There's a pick-up line I've never heard before.

When a drought threatens the livelihood of a small country village, they reluctantly call upon the Harasvelg, a spirit which brings rain but also much fury. The Harasvelg flies to New York City, where a rash of extreme weather ensues, and the Extreme Ghostbusters must conquer the fury of the ancient spirit.

Not one of the most memorable episodes, so not much to say. While I didn't care for it, I bet it was Sam Sparks' favorite Extreme Ghostbusters episode.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Garrett: Hey, it's Frosty the idiot boy!

A seed containing an ancient Amazon spirit is inadvertently released in New York City and threatens to turn the entire city into a jungle if the Extreme Ghostbusters don't stop it first. But is the spirit a benevolent protector of the rainforest or a malicious demon bent on the destruction of humanity?

Mix The Real Ghostbusters episode "A Ghost Grows in Brooklyn" with Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and you'll get this episode written by Richard Mueller. Mueller wrote the Ghostbusters: The Supernatural Spectacular novelization, as well as many episodes of The Real Ghostbusters, and the later Extreme Ghostbusters episode "A Temporary Insanity".

FAVORITE QUOTE
Eduardo: Oh man, Garrett got Cabbage-Patched.

A Leprechaun, who is released during the renovation of an Irish society house, uses a Shillelagh to suck his victims into his "pot of gold." Garrett's simultaneous string of bad luck jeopardizes the Extreme Ghostbusters ability to catch the Leprechaun. But after he secretly kisses the Blarney Stone, Garrett successfully leads the Extreme Ghostbusters to rescue Mayor McShane at the height of the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Not since Warwick Davis has there been such a delightfully-evil leprechaun. A fun episode, and great to pair with The Real Ghostbusters: "Scaring of the Green".

A ghost living in the mirrors decides to inhabit New Yorkers by sucking people's souls out and possessing their bodies. Eduardo falls victim to this body snatching ghost, and the Extreme Ghostbusters must rescue their teammates's "spirit" as they, too, are sucked into the mirror. Finally, only Kylie remains herself, and it is up to her to save them and New York.

Again, this has a bit of Invasion of Body Snatchers to it. It was fun seeing Slimer turned into a ghost again, and Garrett walking!

FAVORITE QUOTE
Eduardo: Wait a second. If I'm a ghost. Then, that makes you a ghost ... of a ghost.
Slimer: Say what?
Eduardo: You're dead.
Slimer: Again! [crying]

During a mishap trapping a demon hound, Slimer is accidentally trapped inside the Ghostbuster's Containment Unit. Now incarcerated along with all the ghosts that he helped capture, Slimer is made to pay for his "crimes". Donning a protective suit, Eduardo enters the Containment Unit to rescue Slimer, while the other Ghostbusters must extinguish the threat of the demon hound, who is loose in -- of all places -- the Firehouse.

This episode aired as the 23rd episode, but chronologically, it takes place after "Moby Ghost", which was the 26th episode. The whale ghost from "Moby Ghost" appears in the containment unit. Should Sony ever decide to release this series onto DVD (or Blu-ray), I hope they correct the order of these two episodes.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Egon: Looks like we'll have to try the manual shutdown system.

Kylie takes it upon herself to "consult" with the most powerful entity in the containment unit in order to stop a ghost, who looks remarkably like a childhood friend of Kylie's who disappeared. Things go from bad to worse, however, when the entity gets loose, and the two ghosts team up. The Extreme Ghostbusters must recapture the Grundel and release Kylie's friend from a seven-year spell.

Oh, YES! The Grundel from The Real Ghostbusters returns, and turns out, Kylie has a childhood connection to him. This is easily one of the highlights of the series.

FAVORITE QUOTE
The Grundel: Come out and play, child. Come out and play.

When a series of nightmares lead to strange, actual physical injuries, the Extreme Ghostbusters find themselves battling a surreal spirit bent on dominating the waking world.

We get to see the team's inner dreams, including Eduardo dreaming of Kylie to further that relationship. I'm always keen on stories that feature Kylie.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: Hey, Eduardo. Nice hairdo.
Eduardo: Oh man! It's bad enough you had to see it in the dream.
Kylie: You, dream about me?
Eduardo: It was a nightmare, OK.

The Extreme Ghostbusters come up against a deadly ghost whale, that is terrorizing New Yorkers. When the ghost proves impossible to stop, they team up with an Ahab-like ghost, who has been obsessed his whole afterlife with capturing the ghost whale. Together, they must defeat the ghost whale, thereby allowing "Ahab" to find eternal peace.

The Ghostbusters take on Herman Melville's 1851 book "Moby-Dick", an epic sea story of Captain Ahab's voyage in vengeful pursuit of Moby Dick, a sperm whale who bit off Ahab's leg at a previous encounter. Featuring the voice of the legendary Tony Jay as Maiikrob.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Eduardo: You speak Egonics. What's he saying?

The Extreme Ghostbusters battle a ghost which feeds on radioactive energy, thus rendering their ghostbusting equipment useless. The ghost grows more powerful as it consumes more energy, and the Extreme Ghostbusters must devise an alternate way to stop the ghost before it destroys the city.

Well, it took them long enough. FINALLY, the Ghostbusters come out to Long Island, my homeland. It out took a radioactive ghost to get them out here.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Garrett: Kylie just radioed in and said our day-glow friend is heading for the boonies of Long Island.
Egon: Long Island? What could possibly ... of course! The South Shore Nuclear Power Plant.

The Extreme Ghostbusters investigate the mysterious disappearance of a Chinatown merchant, who they learn was possessed by an ancient bone-stealing demon.

Despite the series coming off as being politically correct, I do appreciate that the series had diversity in where it pulled its stories from. Earlier, we have "True Face of a Monster" using Jewish mythology, and now we have Asian mythology coming into play - even if it may not be based on anything real.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Janine: Ghostbusters. Now offering Physics tutoring at reasonable rates.

After unwittingly releasing a dangerous ghost-bride from an old boarded-up wishing well, an ex-yuppie -- trying to make sense of his life -- hires the Extreme Ghostbusters to protect him from becoming her permanent groom on the other side.

Another episode with mature scenes that pushes the Eduardo/Kylie relationship further. There's no way that The Real Ghostbusters would get away with Janine seducing Leonard Bates, the tax accountant from Long Island, as Kylie does here. The scene is made all the better thanks to Tara Charendoff/Stong's sexy voice :-)

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: I got an idea. Umm, you have the most amazing eyes, umm.
Eduardo: Hey, this is stupid, man.
Kylie: Eduardo, work with me here. Maybe you can help me with my taxes sometime. My financial needs are SO neglected.
Leonard Bates: Well, I think I could fit you into my schedule.
Kylie: Oh, Leonard. Umm.
Eduardo: Hey!

When dozens of New Yorkers go on sudden, unexplained feeding frenzies, the Extreme Ghostbusters find themselves against a ghost bent on world domination, as well as one of his victims: Slimer!

Slimer has always been a glutton, and this episode plays off of that. Not much more to say.

An ancient, buried spirit trapped for years escapes when an abandoned oil mine is reopened. The ghost possesses vehicles such as cars, buses and airplanes and makes them look like demons.

The main story here is about a ghost that possesses vehicles, which is fun, though done already in The Real Ghostbusters episode "Follow That Hearse". What I liked most is the side story involving Janine and her bad cooking. Janine really adds a lot to this show.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Janine: I've decide to start a little side business. Janine's Pralines and Miscellaneous Baked Good Dreams.

The Extreme Ghostbusters battle a demonic canine who has turned all of New York's dogs into his own personal slaves. The Extreme Ghostbusters finally capture the powerful entity, only to face its much more powerful master.

Man, those Ghostbusters have the worst luck with dogs. At least Roland gets another spotlight.

The "Mole People," a tribe of humans who live beneath the subways of New York, are being blamed for a rash of power outages. But a young girl who is one of the Mole People comes to the Extreme Ghostbusters for help, and they discover the true culprit is a quartet of ancient lightning demons. A beauty and the beast like relationship develops between Garret and the girl, who must ultimately return to her subterranean home.

Garrett gets a girlfriend. Her name is Persephonetheus, and she's voiced by Jenna Leigh Green, best known at the time as Sabrina's nemesis Libby Chessler in Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: Ecto-Emergency!

Fed up with being taken for granted, Janine takes a long overdue vacation, and the Firehouse falls apart without her. The Extreme Ghostbusters hire a temp, Lilith, who appears to be even better than Janine, but is in fact an energy-sucking ecto-leech queen bent on destroying the Extreme Ghostbusters from within.

I always love it when the ladies, Kylie and Janine, get the chance to shine. This episode, along with "The Crawler", are the de facto "Janine episodes" of the series. Please tell me again, Paul Feig, why you think YOU created female Ghostbusters?!? I think Janine, and Kylie, would like to have a few words with you.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Lilith: Who are you?
Janine: The question is, who are YOU, twinkie?

When the firehouse has to be sprayed for bugs, Egon temporarily moves in with Eduardo, and these roommates make an odd-couple match. All the while the Extreme Ghostbusters battle a nasty brood of replicating trolls while Eduardo tries to hide the fact that he's a Ghostbuster from his brother.

Trolls make a reappearance since The Real Ghostbusters episode "Troll Bridge", and we get to meet Eduardo's family. Great stuff.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: Hey Egon, nice jammies.

An old colleague of Egon's turns out to be behind a rash of ghost crimes. Egon and the team confront him in his subterranean lair, where he plans to open a gateway to the ghost dimension.

While the series primarily focuses on the youngsters, it's great when Egon gets a little attention. Here we meet a colleague from his past: Edward Kirilian, voiced by Star Trek: The Next Generation's John De Lancie. Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the peek into Kylie's sordid history :-)
ORITE QUOTE
Garrett: Kylie Griffin. Eight grade Cheerleader of the Year! [laughs]
Eduardo: Trouble, huh? Ooh, yeah. Looks like you were a real rebel.
Kylie: That was long ago, in a galaxy far away.

A sphinx preys on the intellectuals of New York, turning them into slobbering idiots when they cannot answer its riddle. The Extreme Ghostbusters must stop the ghost before it attacks a meeting of the world's most powerful minds at the United Nations.

As we're on the home stretch to the end of this 40-episode series, the ordering gets a little wonky due to episodes being aired when they were completed, instead of where they best fit chronologically (see also "Slimer's Sacrifice" and "Moby Ghost"). As aired, episodes 38 & 39 were the two-part "Back in the Saddle". However, those episodes were meant to air last, as the season finale. So, for the sake of righting that wrong, and ending this month-long series on a high note, I have moved those two episodes to tomorrow's Part 30 article. Ideally, "The Sphinx" should go immediately before "Back in the Saddle", as the former is about Egon feeling "old", and he celebrates his birthday in the latter, so it makes better sense in that order. That said, I'm leaving it as "The Sphinx" and then "Witchy Woman", and not the other way around.

As for the episode itself, "The Sphinx" features Egon going through a mid-life crisis, and I found it refreshing that the show would tackle this subject matter. it's almost like the producers of Extreme Ghostbusters said to themselves, "The kids who watched The Real Ghostbusters are older now, so let's give them more 'grown up' stories." To that, I say, "Thank you!"

FAVORITE QUOTE
Egon: Look, just because my hair is turning grey, and I'm getting flabby, my eye sight and hearing have diminished, my metabolic rate has slowed down, and I'm no longer producing brain cells, doesn't mean I'm getting old.

The Extreme Ghostbusters confront a trio of teen witches who try to recruit Kylie into their ranks.

Okay, so this episode is, pretty much, a rip-off of The Craft (1996). Hey, if you're gonna plagiarize, steal from something good. What's fun here is the casting of the three witches. We have Jenna Leigh Green as Wanda, Allyce Beasley as Bess, and Linda Blair as Celine. Jenna, who was previously in "Mole People", was the nemesis of the titular witch on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Allyce is well known to TV viewers of the '80s as rhyming receptionist Agnes DiPesto on the Bruce Willis/Cybill Shepherd hit Moonlighting. Linda made heads spin as the possessed little girl, Regan, in the horror classic The Exorcist (1973); which also starred the voice of Vigo, Max von Sydow, as her savior Father Merrin.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Celine: Cernunnos said we needed a fourth.
Wanda: And as a Ghostbuster, he must be a believer.
Bess: But he's a guy.
Wanda: Nobody's perfect.



In addition to her voice role in the "Witchy Woman" episode, Linda Blair also appeared as Rebecca Royce, a successful author with a multiple personality disorder, in the PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal episode "All Hallow's Eve". Rebecca's hit novel "All Hallows Horror" has inspired a copycat killer who is murdering his victims in the same fashion as the characters in her book. The O.S.I.R team must race to discover the connection between Rebecca's novel and the murders before the killer strikes again! Here is an extended clip of Linda's multi-faceted performance in the episode.


PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal is a Canadian series that ran for four seasons from 1996-2000 with a total of 88 episodes. It aired in syndication here in the United States. Each 45-minute episode details a case of supernatural phenomena being investigated by a science team working for the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R). The series was co-created by Peter Aykroyd, whose older brother Dan appears as the host before and after each episode. (Dates listed below came from TV.com, which seems to be more accurate than IMDB for this series.)

I distinctly remember when this series originally came out in the mid-to-late 1990s. The Ghostbusters Online Community (trademark pending) was still in its infancy at the time, and without much in the way of anything Ghostbusters being out there, we clung to the news of this new series as if it was something truly important. It's a decent show, though I have no doubt that it was created to capitalize on the popularity of The X-Files.

Here is the show opening and Dan Aykroyd's intro & outro for the episode "All Hallow's Eve".


Here is Dan's intro & outro for the episode "Y2K". In this episode, the team investigates the gruesome death of two programmers who were working on a Y2K bug patch for a big security firm. Their brains were somehow destroyed by a strange computer virus.

I'm including this because I love how wrong everyone was about the "Y2K Bug", including the writers of this show. That said, Dan was right when he said that "the new Millennium will bring chaos on a grand scale". He was just TWENTY YEARS TOO EARLY with that prediction!


Patreon-Exclusive Halloween Treat: Spook Central supporters will get to see these two PSI Factor episodes in their entirety on the Spook Central Patreon page.

In the U.S., the series was released on DVD by one of the shittiest companies ever, the now-defunct Echo Bridge Home Entertainment (formerly Platinum Disc Corporation). You'll find episodes of the series crammed onto discs in various configurations, including as bonus features for movies that would otherwise go unpurchased. At Dollar Tree, I purchased the amateur movie Remote Viewing (2018) because the "bonus disc" included six Season 3 episodes of PSI Factor. Also crammed onto that "bonus disc" are two episodes of the unaired Boris Karloff 1958 series The Veil and an old sci-fi movie named Phantom From Space (1953). Yeah, quality may not be the greatest due to cramming seven hours of material onto one DVD, but for $1.00, I can't complain. It even came with a slipsleeve!

As for DVD releases of PSI Factor itself, it seems that Echo Bridge did not release the first two seasons. These are their only releases: 8 Episodes, Season 3, Season 4, and Seasons 3 & 4 (combo set).

North of the border, the series was released by Alliance Atlantis, who put out all four seasons: Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, and Season 4. I have no doubt that the episodes are spread out onto more discs and the quality is better. So, it would be in your best interest to import these sets instead of anything from Echo Bridge. Canada is the same DVD region as the U.S., so the discs will play just fine.

Ray, Winston and Peter return for Egon's birthday celebration and decide to bust some ghosts, just for nostalgia's sake. But then they decide they've "still got it," and the Extreme Ghostbusters now feel that they are the obsolete ones. That is, until the Real Ghostbusters get in trouble, and the Extreme Ghostbusters must save their butts.

We've reached the end of this journey, and what better way to end it then with a family reunion. Yes, the two "Back in the Saddle" episodes originally aired two spots earlier, but they were meant to be the finale. We started with a two-parter, and that's how I'm ending this.

Frank Welker (as Ray), Buster Jones (as Winston), and Dave Coulier (as Peter) all return to reprise the characters they voiced in The Real Ghostbusters. They're all a little older, and a little out of shape, but they still have what it takes to get the job done. As a Ghosthead, this was a pure dream to have the original guys back AND teaming up with the new kids.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Peter Venkman: Suit up boys, we're back in the saddle.

The old team sticks around to help battle the largest threat the Ghostbusters have ever faced: a huge, foglike, growing, amorphous mass of ectoplasm, which contains the ecto center of the Bermuda Triangle, heading toward New York and devouring everything in its path.

The story concludes, and it's bittersweet since this would be the last Extreme Ghostbusters episode, EVER! The characters did return in some of the IDW comic books, but it's not the same. With next year's Afterlife reportedly going to feature a return of the original Ghostbusters and a new team of ghostbusting kids - literally "kids", as they are all much younger than the 18- and 19-year-olds in Extreme Ghostbusters - I hope that we'll get the warm-fuzzy feelings again that we got from this two-part finale.

FAVORITE QUOTE
Kylie: You are a Ghostbuster. You're on a case. Whip out your PKE and get to work.

If you'd like to give money to Sony, you can support them by buying the official Extreme Ghostbusters: The Complete Series DVD set that was released in 2024. As originally written here in October 2020... You can also support Sony by buying the Ghostbusters 1 & 2 4K/Blu-ray 5-Disc Steelbook Set. Oh, wait... no, you can't. Sony made that a true "limited edition" and it was out-of-print less than two months after release. I guess there's always The Real Ghostbusters: The Complete Collection. Oh, yeah. That was made by TimeLife, whose license to the property has since expired, thus making that set out-of-print, as well. There's always Sony's The Real Ghostbusters 10-Disc 75% of the Complete Series DVD Set, but you probably want ALL of the episodes, not MOST of them. I guess that leaves the Ghostbusters 1 & 2 2014 Digibook Blu-ray Set, but if you're on Spook Central, you probably have that already. Sony, why do you have to make it so hard for Ghostheads to give you their money for disc-based media?