Deadliners

Infobox Television episode
Title = Deadliners
Series = Extreme Ghostbusters


Caption = The Vathack (Corpuscle, Crainiac and Gristle)
Season = 1
Episode = 5
Airdate = September 5, 1997
Writer = Duane Capizzi
Episode list = "Extreme Ghostbusters" episodes
Prev = Fear Itself
Next = Casting the Runes

"Deadliners" (a pun on the term "deadline") is the fifth episode of "The Real Ghostbusters" spin-off, "Extreme Ghostbusters".

Synopsis

In a filthy, dark room, a diner worker named Jimmy is strapped to an operating table by alien-looking restraints. As Jimmy struggles to break free, three mutilated, freakish creatures enter the room, wheeling a cart covered in surgical instruments. Surrounding the increasingly panicking Jimmy, the creatures refer to him, more specifically, his flesh, as "a blank canvas". Grabbing an instrument resembling a warped bone, the leader of the creatures, an obese being with a saw imbedded in its head, begins "the procedure" on Jimmy, who is left screaming.

In the fire station, Eduardo and Slimer are watching a news report on J.N. Kline, a horror novelist on par with Stephen King who writes "gore fests" for children; when Kylie begins to complain about how J.N.'s books have no basis in reality, Eduardo promptly hides the book he was looking through under a couch cushion, scaring Slimer off in the process. Garrett eventually appears and, asking if there has been any calls, ignoring a sarcastic remark by Eduardo about his question. Saying that he meant personal calls for him, from the horror magazine Hair Raising Tales who he submitted a manuscript to, much to everyone else’s surprise. Garrett goes on to say that his manuscript, a copy of which he has, will go on to make him rich, famous and appear on "Late Night with David Letterman". As Garrett brags, Slimer turns the volume up on the TV, which announces that J.N. Kline hasn't been seen or heard from in months. After the TV announcer says this and shows a shot of J.N.'s mansion, Egon appears to announce that there's been a ghost sighting.

As Roland drives the Ecto-1, Eduardo reads through Garrett's manuscript, which has him, Roland and Kylie in it, dying on the first page "squealing for mercy", and Kylie responses, "What a shock." Although Roland don't seem to mind, Garrett retaliates to Kylie's negative opinion about this by saying that the book was more commercial with one hero, that later in the book he avenges their deaths and that they can come back as ghosts in the sequel. The Ghostbusters soon arrive at a diner, and begin to question the traumatized chef there, who repeatedly claims that the creatures who took his employee Jimmy didn't see him. Irritated by the chef's repeating of the same thing over and over, Kylie shakes him and gets more information, that three monsters took Jimmy, one of who, had a saw in its head, which reminds Eduardo of Crainiac, the main villain of J.N. Kline's books; Kylie proceeds to reprimand Eduardo for thinking of children's books, which Eduardo claims he reads to children to cover up the fact he enjoys the books. At that point, Roland reminds that his brother read J. N. Kline as well.

Down the road at an inn, a maid is making a bed when she bumps into Jimmy, who has been changed into a lumbering, Frankenstein's Monster-esque creature. Fleeing from the snarling Jimmy, the maid runs down the hall, and encounters the three beings that changed Jimmy, who advance on the maid while saying she will become one with them. In the diner, Garrett is comforting a disheartened Eduardo who, as a horror fan, he asks to grade Garrett's manuscript. As Eduardo tells Garrett that his writing stunk, Roland and Kylie look for clues about the ghouls the chef mentioned, but find nothing, but do get a call from Egon, who says that there's been another ghost sighting, half a mile up the street. After Kylie gets Garrett and Eduardo (who claims Garrett's writing is nothing but forty pages of him blasting ghosts and chasing skirts) the Ghostbusters drive to the new ghost sighting, passing J.N. Kline's mansion on the way.

Arriving at the inn from earlier, the Ghostbusters, after meeting a man fleeing from the inn, enter it and find several people bound by restraints, which attack Kylie when she tries to remove them. After Kylie tries to help the captured people, Jimmy appears and attacks her, which prompts Garrett to prepare and blast him, only to be stopped by Kylie, who reveals the creature is Jimmy. Thinking Kylie is crazy; Garrett is stopped by Eduardo, who thinks Kylie is right, and also believes Jimmy is in this condition due to Crainiac's tampering, which Kylie scoffs at. Hearing someone say his name, Crainiac appears, and Kylie (who is shocked by this) apologizes to Eduardo for not believing him and coming to the fact that Kline's books have no basis in reality. Crainiac is then promptly blasted apart by Garrett; as Roland laments that the Proton Pack isn't supposed to make ghosts explode like it did with Crainiac. Unfortunately, Crainiac reforms and is joined by his two assistants, who Eduardo reveals are named Corpuscle and Gristle. As the rest of the Ghostbusters battle Crainiac and his followers, Kylie tries to reason with Jimmy, who at first appears to listen to her, but simply leaves with the captured people in a potion-induced cloud after this hesitation.

Regrouping after battling the creatures, who prove to be immune to the Proton Packs, the Ghostbusters can only watch in disdain as the creatures escape using a teleporting potion, cryptically saying that "If it is not written, it cannot be done" as they leave. Kylie asks Eduardo if he knows about that quote, knowing that he's the expert, but he says that it's not written in the books. Wanting to rescue the captured people, Roland rushes into the cloud made by the creatures' potion, which causes him to vanish. Right after Roland disappears; his screams and begging for help are heard through the remaining Ghostbusters' radios, before being promptly silenced. Later, outside, the Ghostbusters are trying to think about how the supposedly fictional Crainiac, Corpuscle and Gristle came to life, when Kylie surmises they are entities known as the Vathack, entities of ghosts which can be brought into the living world through the act of writing, and that whatever the text says, it comes true; thinking J.N. Kline to be responsible for the Vathack, the Ghostbusters go to his mansion. Inside Kline's mansion, the Ghostbusters find nothing but victims of the Vathacks mutilations, who they decide not to injure, as they are real people and aren't responsible for their actions and, presumably won't revive if hit with a Proton Beam. In the basement of the mansion, Roland, held captive, can only listen to the screams of agony coming from the Vachacks current patient. Finishing changing the maid, the Vathacks exit their makeshift operating room and drag Roland into it.

Following the sound of a typewriter being used, the Ghostbusters find Kline in the mansion library, restrained in a stocks-like device and typing the current actions of the Vathack on an extremely long piece of paper. Asking Kline why he is doing this, Garrett gets the response from him that they have to forget about him and save Rolland, and also claims he can't stop typing. Tearing the most recent writings of Kline out of the typewriter (which briefly causes the Vathack to pause) Kylie learns that Rolland is in the basement’s mansion and rushes there with Eduardo, while Garrett stays behind. Knocking Kline's hands away from the typewriter, Garrett begins to write, changing the Vathacks' operating knife into an egg. Realizing there is an intruder, the Vathack float to the library, fending off Garrett's attempts to stop them (a trio of rabid, tire iron wielding monkeys he wrote into existence). The Vathacks, entering the library, surround Kline, who has begun typing again, with a ring of fire to stop Garrett from getting near him. Down below, Kylie and Eduardo find and release Roland, only to encounter the Vathacks' victims.

Ordering Kline to write Garrett's demise, the Vathacks reveal they control him and that he is merely an instrument of their will; forced to type, Kline begins arguing with the Vathacks, saying hurting people wasn't a part of his deal with them and that they tricked him into bringing them to existence. Saying that Kline should be grateful, gaining wealth and fame due to them, the Vathack brag that once Kline finishes typing his latest book, the Vathack will win, completely. After saying this, the Vathack watch as their victims bring the rest of the Ghostbusters in and proceed to command that their servants bow to them for the book to be finished. Managing to break free from the Vathacks' minions, Eduardo climbs a ladder on to the top of a bookshelf as Garrett uses a Vathack servant as a ramp to reach Kline and the typewriter and text. As Garrett struggles to think of something to write, Eduardo decides to simply to blast the typewriter and text and does so, as Garrett, after knocking Kline away from the typewriter, takes cover. Once the typewriter and text, which anchored the Vathack to Earth, is destroyed, the Vathack vanish and their victims (including Jimmy) return to normal. Back at the Fire Station, Garrett, after receiving another rejection notice about his book, mulls over the success that J.N. Kline has had with his new one, which the Ghostbusters are in. Eduardo admit that he liked it, and Roland says that his brother liked it too. Kylie is even impressed by it, admitting to becoming a new fan by saying it's a 'somewhat more realistic depiction of demonology' than Kline's earlier work. Garrett rebutts this, saying that they're all in it alive. Even though Garrett knows he's in the book, it refers to him as "the loud-mouthed guy in the wheelchair", much to his discomfort. [ cite episode| title = Deadliners | series = Extreme Ghostbusters | credits = Duane Capizzi (writer) | network = SCI FI Channel | airdate = 1997-10-05 | season = 1|number = 5 ]

Production

The horror novelist J.N. Kline is a reference to R. L. Stine, whose "Goosebumps" series of young-adult horror novels were extremely popular at the time the episode first aired.

The Vathack creatures featured in "Deadliners" are extremely similar to and possibly inspired by author Clive Barker's fictional characters the Cenobites from the novel "The Hellbound Heart" and the "Hellraiser" film series; being otherworldly creatures with severe mutilations who seek only to torture and change people into beings like them. The plot of the episode is also similar to the storylines of "In the Mouth of Madness" and "Wes Craven's New Nightmare", about entities brought into reality by a writer, taking on the form of his characters.

The episode's Production Supervisor Shannon Muir revealed that a large amount of changes had to be made in the episode, mostly involving the scenes involving the Vathack's "operations". Additionally, the surgical instruments used in the episode, instead of being alien in appearance, were originally normal looking; this was changed due to being deemed innapropriate and the episodes' storyboards were revised accordingly before being sent overseas to be animated. [http://www.tv.com/extreme-ghostbusters/deadliners/episode/67668/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;4 Extreme Ghostbusters: Deadliners - TV.com ] ] The episode was also stated to originally be darker and have a TV-13 rating but was altered to gain a lower one. [http://www.ghostbustershq.com/extremeghostbusters/episodeguide/ep5.php]

Reception

"Deadliners" has a score of 8.2 (Great) on TV.com

External links

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References