Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream

Episode 7 - Season 1

What an astonishing episode of the Real Ghostbusters we have here!  This one could possibly be my most favorite of the entire series.  I love the story and the dialogue is very well written.  The Sandman as an enemy is one of those rare treats in a series that truly lifts up other episodes that lack such a classic villain centerpiece.  It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of this one so let’s run through it to raise it on a pedestal.

The great American scene occurs at the beginning with a young man rejecting a tennis offer with his girlfriend.  He opts to emerge himself into old comic books.  Is that such a bad decision?  In this case it nets him an appointment with the supernatural so possibly not.  The Sandman shows up but you don’t quite see his true form as he dusts the young man with his sleeping powder.  A being from the comic books springs to life as the young man dreams of it.  The girlfriend screams promptly enough and you get the sense the Ghostbusters will have a call.
Hangover 3 - Starring Peter Venkman

 Peter wakes up and lethargically walks to the breakfast table.  He mumbles some stuff as Egon humorously translates, “He says, back off or eat flaming death.”  Where do you think up such a funny line?  Egon also adds, “He said he wants coffee, possibly cookie.”  I’m sure it’s just the way Peter wanted to wake up, getting burned by Egon.  Peter states he had a nightmare of sorts about a guy in a cloak with glowing eyes.  It’s possible the Sandman can appear in dreams when he’s in the vicinity.  That’s not mentioned but it’d be a neat theory.  Ray explains you can tell yourself it’s not a dream so you can take control of it.  Will that play any significance in this episode?  No, no Ray is just being Ray at this point right?  Janine rings the alarm while Peter complains he doesn’t move until he’s had his breakfast.  Slimer then eats his donut and Peter passively awards Slimer this contest.
Dreams brought to life can be dangerous!

The Ghostbusters fly out of the firehouse with the theme music sounding off!  You have to love it!  The Sandman mysteriously appears as they drive away but you only see his back, spooky.  They arrive at the call site and notice its super quiet, I wonder why?  They encounter the being and blast it after altercating their throwers, causing the being to dissolve.  Winston states as he fires, “You learn by doing” or you learn by shooting first and considering all else second.  Winston tends to be that way.  They notice the floating sleeping people and all the strange manifestations in the immediate area; naturally Egon concludes it’s the results of a Sandman.  Winston doesn’t want to believe it at first, really after all this time?  You’ve seen Gozer, a painting come to life, the Boogieman and quite a few others so now you don’t believe it?  He comes around quickly though so no worries.
Enter the Sandman, sleep tight.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man makes a cameo as a dream representation of a small boy who apparently scarf’s down marshmallows, in private, in the alley.  It must be his secret fetish; he escapes his parents grasp and stuffs his face with them.  The Sandman makes his appearance before the Ghostbusters as he stays atop a ledge looking down on them.  He proclaims he is no ordinary Sandman but one who wishes to end violence by putting humans to sleep for 500 years with his extra potent sleep dust!  Is that such a terrible idea?  He is a visionary!  On the other hand I wouldn’t want to imagine the muscle atrophy after such a lengthy nap.  In the end the Sandman thinks the Ghostbusters are laughing at him so he sets them as his primary targets.  The Sandman then escapes so they must track him down.
1 down, 3 to go!

Upon catching up to the Sandman, Peter says, “Alright then, let’s show this guy nobody tells us to go to bed.”  Winston nearly gets dusted then almost snares the Sandman with his thrower.  However now the Sandman’s pissed at them for being so difficult and turns all the crazy dreams into terrifying nightmares instead!  The guys haul some tail away from the nightmares and decide to get to ecto-1 and possibly head back to the firehouse?  They don’t mention why their heading for ecto-1.  I’d think the more confined a space the more likely it’d be to be put asleep.  Ray must face a giant rabbit using a carrot as a club near ecto-1.  He thinks it’s the Easter bunny and doesn’t want to blast it, grow up Ray, its funny though.  They “hop” in the car but it won’t start, as Ray checks under the hood the Sandman gets him!  He dreams of pizza as it lands on ecto-1 in a heap.  I like the explanation that the dreams go poof because the thrower streams disrupt their molecular density.
2 down, 2 to go! It's all happening so fast!

The remaining Ghostbusters track down the Sandman on the PKE meter.  They come across a huge sleeping dragon.  Winston is gung-ho and is ready to fire but Egon stops saying, “Every time we take out one of those things it’s like holding up a sign saying, “here we are”.”  Hmm, so they tip-toe by it but Egon ends up blasting it anyway.  Winston, as he darts inside, says, “Quit dragon-ing your feet and let’s go!”  Egon believes Winston has been hanging around Ray again.  It’s a cheesy joke Egon lighten up.  Their cover is blown but they head inside the building to get the Sandman.  Peter is the next Ghostbuster to take a nap as the Sandman sneaks up behind and dusts him.  Egon & Winston arrive in the room to see Peter in a gold car winning numerous awards.  Just before that, outside the door, they heard a thud.  Winston questions, “Was that a thud?”  Egon’s downtrodden reply, “That was a thud.

Winston must save them.
Eventually Egon interprets Ray’s theory on dreams but gets dusted before he can share this information with Winston.  Winston gets down that he’s not a scientist and how could he figure out what to do?  This is no time for a pity party buddy; you’re the only hope for a world facing a 500 year time out!  Albert Einstein, Egon’s dream, provides a bit of insight into helping him figure it out.  He darts back to the firehouse hoping Janine is still awake.  Winston gives Janine instructions but we the viewer still don’t know this secret plan to beat the Sandman.  Janine is given the last proton pack to use as defense.  The Sandman barges into the firehouse in emphatic fashion!  I love that moment, the Sandman is incredibly wicked.
I love a woman in uniform.

There is a tussle before the action begins, you notice when Janine first fires she gets a surprising kick from the thrower.  The Sandman dusts Janine and its sleep time for her now.  The Sandman turns 100% of his attention, which is at least 1% too much, towards Winston.  Janine seemingly springs awake but in fact she sports the Ghostbuster jumpsuit as her own dream manifestation!  Is it just me or does the original Janine kick it in that outfit?  The Sandman says to Winston to say goodnight which Janine replies, “Say goodnight yourself buster.”  Ha!  Surprise attack from the back as the theme music triggers again!  The Sandman tries and pulls away from the stream but the hero Winston reels him in.  It’s a fantastic capture sequence with a fitting end to the Sandman.  It’s one of my top scenes in the Ghostbusters series.
Time for your own nap, in the containment unit.

In the end Winston sleeps with Slimer as the only two who didn’t get any rest.  I would have liked to include more photo's but I would have probably included nearly every clip in the episode had I done so.  I haven’t reviewed many of these so far but this one is going to be awfully difficult to unseat as my number one episode thus far.

Rating: 10 of 10

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