Peter, Ray, and Winston are watching Egon test a machine on Slimer that will allow them to see his insides. They find a bunch of uncooked, swallowed popcorn, that then pops in Slimer's stomach and he regurgitates it and fills the room, just as Janine is entering with a job.
The Ghostbusters drive off to their job, which is at a studio where cartoons are made. They learn that the cartoons' original creator disappeared years ago. The old woman lets the Ghostbusters examine a room in which she's heard moaning and rattling chains, and eventually a strange door shows up. They open it, and it sucks them into a void.
Winston turns on a light switch, revealing a blank white area, and then one of the cartoon characters, Conqueror Duck, runs past. Egon determines that they're in a "cartoon world". Then, an anthropomorphic cockroach in a car shows up and asks for directions, scaring Peter, who jumps unrealistically high. Everyone decides that they must look for an exit.
While making their way through the cartoon world, the Ghostbusters discover that they have an audience, and hear a voice calling for help. It turns out to be the cartoon creator, Walt Fleischman, who's been taken hostage and made to fall down trap doors by one of the show's villains.
They enter, but the villain dumps them into a desert and threatens to imprison them. Ray wonders where the good guys are, and realises that one of them, Dopey Dog, always comes if you say a particular summoning rhyme. So he does, and an anthropomorphic superhero dog arrives. Dopey explains that the world came to being because Walt Fleischman wanted so desperately for it to be real, but then he created the baddie, Winchester Wolf, who kidnapped him.
Conqueror Duck shows up and makes a cliff appear, taking up all the Ghostbusters except Egon, then lets them down by knocking the cliff. Luckily, however, a portable lake is nearby, so Dopey and Egon save the others with it. Then, everyone walks off, bringing other cartoon characters with them, to travel to the edge of the world.
They meet up with Fleischman and Winchester and everyone fights Winchester, eventually pushing him off into the void. In the void, there is a piece of film that leads to the normal world, which the Ghostbusters and Fleischman ride on to get home. Then, Fleischman thanks Ray with a life-sized Dopey Dog doll.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Winchester Wolf wears a cape and gloves, while Conqueror Duck wears a hat, collar, trunks, and leg warmers, and several background animals are seen wearing just accessories.
- Alliterative Name: Some of Ray's favourite cartoon characters include Dopey Dog, Winchester Wolf, Felicia Feline, Roger Rooster, George Gopher, and Ricky Roach.
- And I Must Scream: Fleischman's plight. Imprisoned in the cartoon world he himself created, he effectively can't die, but that doesn’t mean that the slapstick Winchester puts him through isn’t painful.
- Animated Actors: Dopey Dog claims he isn't really a hero; he just plays one.
- Arbitrary Skepticism:
- Peter is dubious about the idea of a cartoon dimension, despite being a paranormal investigator.
- Egon is aghast by the Toon Physics that cartoon dimension runs on and refuses to believe it even when he sees it. This is coming from a scientist open-minded enough to believe in and study the paranormal, not to mention having ventured into alternate worlds with their own internal logic in the past.
- Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: Peter asks Egon if he's sure the experiment won't hurt Slimer. However, when Egon replies in the negative, Peter acts disappointed.
- Big Ball of Violence: One of the fights is shown in a dust cloud.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The whole cartoon universe exists simply because Walt Fleischman wanted it to be real.
- Creating Life Is Unforeseen: Fleischman accidentally brought his fictional creations to life just from wishing it.
- Creepy Cockroach: One of the villains of the cartoon is an anthropomorphic cockroach named Ricky Roach.
- Dark Is Evil: Winchester Wolf wears navy blue.
- Distressed Dude:
- Fleischman is kept in his own cartoon universe and made to fall down trapdoors.
- Peter, Ray, and Winston almost die from a fall from a cliff and have to be saved with a portable lake.
- A Dog Named "Dog": The duck is named Conqueror Duck.
- Dogs Are Dumb: Implied by a cartoon character with a name like Dopey Dog.
- Evil Laugh: The bad guy laughs maniacally after dumping the Ghostbusters in the desert.
- Exact Words: Conqueror Duck lets the Ghostbusters (except Egon) down like Peter asked... by knocking over the cliff.Peter: "Not like THAT!"
- Foul Waterfowl: One of the villains is an anthropomorphic duck.
- Fourth Wall Psych: Winston asks where the audience is, and Ray points at the screen. Then, it's revealed he's referring to a fictional audience, not us.
- Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Dopey Dog and Ricky Roach wear full clothes.
- Funny Animal: The cartoons show anthropomorphic animal characters, like Dopey Dog and Conqueror Duck.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: One squirrel is shown with just overalls and another with just a skirt.
- Heroic Dog: Parodied — Dopey Dog's role is a superhero, but he claims he only "plays" one.
- Implied Death Threat: When Peter insults Egon for his machine making Slimer cough the popcorn up, Egon threatens Peter by saying that he knows how to set his proton pack to explode someone.
- It Amused Me: Winchester only tortures Fleischman because he thinks it's "fun".
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: One villain is Conqueror Duck.
- Not Allowed to Grow Old: Parodied — Walt Fleischman never aged while trapped in the cartoon world, since "no one grows old in cartoons".
- Oh, Crap!: Winchester freaks out when he realises he will soon cease to exist.
- One-Liner: Peter yells, "You had to ask!" (because Egon asked where the door went) as he's being sucked into the portal.
- Pie in the Face: At one point, Winchester throws pies at Fleischman with a machine.
- Pun:
- When Ray asks if Slimer will be okay with the heat the machine emits, Peter asks, "Are you kidding? He spends most of his time in hot water".
- When Ray asks for a match because it's dark, Peter says, "Yeah, Ray — your face and mine."
- Pun-Based Title: The title plays on the double-meaning of the expression "two-dimensional".
- Questioning Title?: The title is in the form of a rhetorical question.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Conqueror Duck has red eyes.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Implied — when Ray sees Walt Fleischman, he says, "He's still alive after all!", implying that when he initially disappeared, Ray thought he died.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted — Egon, fed up with the bad logic, decides to leave... only to realise he doesn't know how.
- Species Surname: One cartoon character is Dopey Dog, one is Winchester Wolf, one is George Gopher, one is Conqueror ‘’Duck’’, one is Felicia Feline, one is Roger Rooster, and another is Ricky Roach.
- Soft Water: In addition to the lake being portable, landing in it cancels out the lethality of the fall.
- Superheroes Wear Capes: Dopey Dog wears a super-suit, complete with cape.
- Tempting Fate: Played with — Winston says nothing will stop him and the others, but then some obstacles do show up (with Peter even lampshading it by telling them not to say stuff like that). However, they don't ultimately stop them.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: A female squirrel is shown with a skirt and hairbow.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The theme tune plays during the main fight.
- This Is Gonna Suck:
- Fleischman groans “Oh, no…” as Winchester opens another trap door under him.
- Peter sighs and says nothing good will come of it when Winston decides to save Fleischman.
- This Is Reality: Egon claims that he and the others are only cartoons when they're in the other dimension.
- Toon Physics: The laws of physics are explicitly cartoony in the other dimension. Ray even notes that "real logic doesn't work here; only cartoon logic".
- Traveling-Pipe Bulge: Happens when Fleischman and the Ghostbusters fall down Winchester's trap doors. Interestingly this example demonstrates the Rule of Perception as, athough it’s implied that the characters are too big for the pipes in the exterior shots, we get a view of the interior, and the pipes are clearly wide enough for all four Ghostbusters to fit into.
- Tulpa: The Cartoon Dimension and its inhabitants came into existence when Fleischman willed all of it into being.
- Water Is Dry: Downplayed — the lake does get the Ghostbusters (except Egon, who never fell into it) wet, but all it takes for them to dry off is to walk out of frame and back in.
- White Gloves: One anthropomorphic fox wears white gloves.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Zigzagged — Peter jumps in fear from Ricky Roach, but it's unclear if he's afraid of cockroaches or just scared by the idea of a talking one. He finds a real cockroach gross, but that's not the same as being afraid.
- You Can Talk?: Peter fearfully jumps upon realising that the cockroach can talk.
