The Ghostbusters and Slimer are catching a flower-themed ghost at a flower market. It's a bit of a struggle, especially since Peter and Slimer both have hay fever, but they manage to catch it. On the way home, Peter thinks that there should be an easier way of catching ghosts, and considers making a machine to attract them to the firehouse, which he thinks will land them more money. However, Egon thinks that would be scientifically impossible.
While a giant entity rises up and starts destroying buildings, Peter builds a machine that's supposed to be a "ghost attractor". It doesn't attract Slimer, but when ghosts start showing up to the firehouse, Peter thinks that his machine must work. Egon, however, is unsure how it can be working, since it doesn't appear to have any properties that would make it work as advertised.
However, soon there are too many ghosts to fit in the containment unit, so Peter turns his machine off, but they keep coming. Peter tries telling them to leave, but they just spit ectoplasm at him and continue to arrive. Slimer talks to them, and determines that they're just chanting, "Mee-Krah". Egon determines that this is the name of the entity seen earlier, and it's a monster who eats ghosts and turns places into deserts.
The Ghostbusters fly off in their helicopter to deal with Mee-Krah, but it's immune to proton streams. Egon determines it will arrive in New York at midnight unless stopped, so Peter suggests leading it away by leaving a trail of ghosts leading to the ocean.
They try this, but Mee-Krah changes direction after some ghosts flee into the helicopter and mess up the controls. They then try firing at it full-stream, but it doesn't work either. When Mee-Krah goes towards the containment unit, Egon realises that Peter's machine isn't attracting ghosts, but rather storing their energy. He then determines that, if triggered, the device would send energy towards Mee-Krah, killing it. Peter taunts Mee-Krah, tricking him into activating the machine, and the plan works. However, the machine breaks and they can't rebuild it as Peter never took any notes.
This episode provides examples of
- Accidental Discovery: Peter accidentally builds a device to store ghost energy while trying to build a ghost attractor.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: A blue rabbit is seen at one point.
- Bait-and-Switch: Peter apparently stops Slimer from sneezing, only for him to sneeze later anyway.
- Batman Gambit: Peter teases Mee-Krah so it'll get angry and attack the machine.
- Bittersweet Ending: Heavily downplayed. Sure the machine is broken and can't be rebuilt, and Peter and Slimer were mistaken when they thought their allergies were cured, but New York has been saved from being turned into a desert, which far outweighs any negatives.
- Cat Scare: At the flower market, Peter thinks he hears the ghost, but it's just birds.
- Chekhov's Gun: The machine Peter builds ends up being used to kill Mee-Krah.
- Cyclops: Mee-Krah and some of the ghosts have one eye.
- Darkest Hour: None of the Ghostbusters' conventional equipment so much as slow Mee-Krah down. It's this close to claiming the Containment Unit and destroying New York City in the process.Ray: I don't think we have enough science to beat this one, guys.
- Dem Bones: One of the ghosts looks like a skeleton.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Exploited — Peter teases Mee-Krah to get it to attack the machine.
- The Dreaded: Mee-Krah is feared by all ghosts so much that they volunteer to be trapped. Just hearing the name makes Slimer squirm.
- Dressed to Plunder: One ghost wears a pirate hat and an eyepatch.
- Ectoplasm:
- Being a ghost, Slimer's hay fever makes him secrete ectoplasm out of his nose instead of snot.
- When Peter tells the ghosts to leave, they spit ectoplasm at him.
- Extra Eyes: Some of the ghosts have several eyes.
- False Cause: Peter thought the machine was attracting the ghosts, but it wasn't; they were just fleeing from Mee-Krah.
- Foreshadowing: The machine not really working as a ghost attractor is foreshadowed by it not affecting Slimer and Egon not being able to determine how it would work.
- Ghostly Animals: One of the ghosts is a dog.
- Gone Horribly Right: Subverted. It seems like Peter's machine worked in attracting ghosts but got too many, but then it turned out not to work at all (except for storing energy).
- Horrifying the Horror: Mee-Krah makes ghosts fly off in fear.
- Ill-Timed Sneeze: At one point, Peter misses the ghost due to sneezing while trying to shoot it.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Mee-Krah eats ghosts despite apparently also being a spirit.
- Inflating Body Gag: Trying to hold in a sneeze makes Slimer blow up like a balloon.
- It Runs on Nonsensoleum: Peter's machine works to store spectral energy despite being made of random household objects.
- Kill It with Water: Subverted. The army tries to kill Mee-Krah by dousing it with water, but it doesn't work.
- Lesser of Two Evils: From the ghosts' perspective, it's better to be trapped in the Containment Unit than be devoured by Mee-Krah.
- Mythology Gag: Peter calls Slimer a "spud", like Ray did in the movie.
- Noodle Implements: Peter's machine is made from speaker parts.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: It literally never occurred to Peter to make any of these, so they can't recreate the machine.
- No-Sell: Mee-Krah is immune to proton streams.
- Percussive Maintenance: Peter tries to get his machine to work by kicking it.
- Plot Allergy: Peter and Slimer are revealed to both have hay fever.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: The episode reveals that ghosts can suffer from allergies, but that allergies make ectoplasm, as opposed to snot, run out of their noses.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Mee-Krah, the dangerous entity, has one red eye.
- Red Is Violent: Mee-Krah is red and eats ghosts and devastates landscapes.
- Regional Redecoration: The more Mee-Krah eats, the higher his temperature becomes, which has an adverse effect on his surroundings. According to Egon's research, most of the world's major deserts are the result of Mee-Krah visiting those locations while looking for ghosts to feed on.
- Sneeze Interruption: At one point, due to his allergies, Peter sneezes in the middle of a sentence.
- Tentacled Terror: Mee-Krah, the ghost-eating, landscape-destroying monster, has tentacles.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The main theme plays as Mee-Krah is being attacked.
