The Ghostbusters drive out of NYC to see a carnival, which boasts various mythological animals, including the eponymous goblin. They watch the show, during which the goblin attacks a belly dancer, and Egon determines that it is in fact real. The guys evacuate the tent then are about to shoot at Drool, but the woman in charge, Madame LaFarge, stops them and claims he's part of the show. She has him do "tricks", like shapeshifting and flying. On the way home, the car breaks down, then a wire comes to life and tries to zap them, and Drool shows up.
The Ghostbusters stay at a boarding house, where Ray meets a cat who barks and a St. Bernard who meows. Then, the room service gives Egon mud instead of coffee, Winston finds a room full of floating objects and then floats himself, and Peter finds that ketchup is coming out of the shower instead of water.
The next morning, the Ghostbusters leave, and then it starts raining hominy. Then, Drool as a flying monster attacks, but the Ghostbusters can't shoot at them, so they run away. They go to a laundromat and the monster catches up to the Ghostbusters, so Peter shoos it away. However, Drool, now as a different monster enters the laundromat.
They run into a garage, and decide they must catch the monster. They use Peter as the bait and when he arrives as a giant roach, they fire at it but can only scare it away. They then return to the circus and tell Madame LaFarge, but she insists Drool is friendly. They try to zap Drool, but then Madame LaFarge comes in, claiming there's a monster outside. Peter thinks she's trying to distract them, but she's not. Winston concludes that if the monster isn't Drool, it must be another shapeshifter that got away last week. Drool clings onto the monster to distract it, allowing it to be trapped, but getting himself trapped along with it.
This episode provides examples of
- Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted — Egon thinks all goblins are dangerous, but Drool turns out to be good.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Subverted — Peter seems like he doesn't believe in goblins despite having met ghosts, demons, etc. However, it then turns out that he just doesn't believe that a sleazy carnival could contain a real goblin, rather than believing goblins can't possibly exist.
- Are We There Yet?: At the beginning, Peter in the car whines, "Are we there yet?", and when Ray responds in the negative, Peter replies, "Well, how much further?!".
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: One of the shapeshifter's forms is a huge cockroach.
- Big "NO!": Peter yells, "NO!" when Ecto-1 breaks.
- Bittersweet Ending: The monster is gone, but so is Drool, who Madame LaFarge loved.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The Ghostbusters' (except Peter) list of the monster's forms ends on an incubus, which are male sex demons.
- Chewing the Scenery: When Ecto-1 breaks down, Peter kneels down and rants.
- Covered in Gunge: Peter ends up coated in ketchup after it comes out of the shower.
- Creepy Cockroach: One of the shapeshifter's forms is a giant cockroach, which scares the Ghostbusters, especially Peter.
- Dem Bones: One of the shapeshifter's forms is a walking skeleton monster.
- Evil Laugh: Both Drool and the evil shapeshifter are prone to devilish laughter.
- Faux Horrific: Peter responds in terror to the shapeshifter appearing as... a cockroach.
- Fear Is the Appropriate Response: Egon, then later everybody, says that the only logical response to the monsters is to run away.
- Flight: Drool can fly, as can the evil monster.
- Fluffy Tamer: Madame LaFarge keeps Drool, a shapeshifting goblin, as a circus animal.
- Fusion Dance: Ray claims that Drool and the monster will merge together due to being in the same trap.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Downplayed — Drool doesn't die, but he does get himself trapped for the greater good and can't return home.
- Hope Spot: Peter shoos away the shapeshifter... who then comes back as a different monster.
- The Hyena: In a lot of Drool's appearances, he's laughing like a lunatic.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: When the guys are running from the shapeshifter, Peter says, "I can't go any faster... yes I can!".
- Instantly Proven Wrong:
- Ray says that it'll at least be a pleasant ride home, only for it to rain hominy.
- Peter says he's scared the shapeshifter away, only for him to return.
- Peter says that Madame LaFarge is only trying to distract him and the others with her tale of a monster, but then the monster can be heard roaring.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Peter snarks at Ray for his hominy pun.
- Long List: The non-Peter Ghostbusters go on a rambling list of Drool's forms.
- Meaningful Name: Drool is at one point seen with saliva dripping from his mouth.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Drool is one of the, if not the, only good goblins.
- Oh, Crap!: Peter looks nervous, stammers, "What is this?", and screams when he sees the monster in the laundromat.
- Pun: When Egon identifies the "rain" as hominy bricks, Ray says, "Hominy bricks are there?".
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: One of Drool's forms has red eyes.
- Shout-Out: When Peter doesn't push the car, Ray says, "Peter, push or I'm getting out the Kryptonite", which is a type of Applied Phlebotinum from Superman.
- Silly Animal Sound: Played for Horror — a dog meowing and a cat barking are signs something paranormal is afoot.
- Speak in Unison: Ray says there's only one logical thing to do when encountering the humanoid form of Drool, and then everyone yells at once, "RUN AWAY AGAIN!".
- Succubi and Incubi: Discussed when Ray mentions an incubus as something the monster could turn into.
- Tastes Like Feet: Before finding out that the "coffee" was actually mud, Egon says, "You call this coffee?! It tastes like mud!".
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Drool can shapeshift, as can the baddie.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Peter is revealed to be afraid of giant cockroaches despite not being afraid of ghosts.
