The Ghostbusters and Slimer are working at a TV store, and despite Ray and Slimer being distracted by one of the televisions, and a bit of a mess being made due to a few misfires and slippery ectoplasm, they manage to trap the ghost. The store owner offers to give them a large, fancy TV (into which a small glowing object had bounced during the scuffle) as payment instead of money, which Ray accepts, which pleases Slimer but ticks off the other Ghostbusters as they would've preferred money.
That night, Ray and Slimer stay up late to watch their new TV. They fall asleep, but are woken at 2:31 in the morning by a glow coming from the set. Then, the TV shows the Ghostbusters working at a warehouse and being washed away by water. Ray tries to tell the others, but they don't believe him and angrily throw pillows at them. At breakfast, the Ghostbusters get called to a warehouse, so Ray puts on rain clothes and sure enough, the ghost breaks a water tank, washing everyone away. Egon thinks this is just a coincidence, but Slimer isn't so sure.
That night, Ray wakes up at one in the morning and records what happens on TV. This time, it shows the Ghostbusters battling ghost pirates on an old sailing ship. Ray and Slimer tell the others, and while they do throw pillows at them again, they also look into the situation the next morning. Egon wonders if something is up with the TV and tries to look at it, but gets zapped with electricity despite it not being plugged in. The Ghostbusters are called to a maritime museum, and sure enough, end up attacking ghost pirates on a ship. They catch them, but find themselves unable to get home since the rudder and mast were rendered useless. Luckily, they manage to use their proton packs to project themselves back home.
At home, Egon scans the TV and gets a PKE reading. Peter wants to throw it out, but Egon and Ray want to study it. They take it to the lab and do so, and then decide to watch it again. However, this vision shows the Ghostbusters seemingly dying in a storm on the roof with the television.
Just then, a storm does start, and Egon realises that since all the visions involved water, the entity inside the TV is probably a water elemental and deliberately made the predicted circumstances happen. They're about to put the elemental into the containment unit, but then the power blacks out. The unit is powered by a generator so the ghosts won't escape, but putting another entity in might overpower the generator. Egon decides they must put the TV on the roof despite the risks, lest the city be endangered. They put the TV on an antenna (because water elementals are weak to electricity) but it doesn't work because a lightning rod is nearby, and the elemental escapes. However, Peter shoots the rod, which zaps the elemental and saves the day. Inside, Ray is scared off watching TV and reading stories about storms, so he instead reads a fairy tale book.
This episode provides examples of
- Big "SHUT UP!": The non-Ray Ghostbusters yell at him and Slimer to "BE QUIET!" when he wakes them at night the second time.
- Books vs. Screens: Downplayed at the end — Ray wants to read instead of watching TV, but only because he was scared off watching TV due to the experience, and he likely only chose reading a book as the alternate activity because he's a bit of a Bookworm anyway.
- Buffy Speak: Peter refers to the research Egon and Ray are doing on the TV as "science stuff".
- Comically Missing the Point: When Winston says the stern of a ship is "the opposite of the bow", Ray replies, "I thought the opposite of a bow was a curtsy".
- Conforming OOC Moment: Two involving Egon:
- First, he's among the people who throw their pillows at Ray (though downplayed, as he would've been sleepy from being woken in the middle of the night and thus it'd make sense that he'd be testier than usual).
- Second, he screams alongside the others when the ghost pirates send the Ghostbusters into the water.
- Covered in Gunge: At the beginning fight, Winston is covered in purple ectoplasm.
- Death by Irony: The elemental that was haunting the TV and broadcasting ominous predictions gets blown up because Ray told Peter to blast the lightning rod. Ray knew it would work because he previously saw something like it on TV.
- Dinner Deformation: When Slimer swallows a waffle whole, he becomes shaped like said waffle, causing Peter to joke that he looks like a waffle iron.
- Dressed to Plunder: The ghost pirates wear pirate hats and long coats.
- Ectoplasm: Played for Laughs twice:
- First, Winston gets coated in purple slime from a ghost, which Peter then slips on, causing him to misfire.
- Then, when Slimer throws his pillow at Ray, it's covered in goo.
- The End: Played for Horror — the third prediction ends with "THE END" being onscreen, which implies that the Ghostbusters die.
- Evil Laugh: The warehouse ghost has a sinister chuckle.
- Foreshadowing: The TV having the supernatural influence is foreshadowed by a glowing item falling into it.
- From Bad to Worse: First the elemental is revealed, then the power goes out and they have to take it to the roof (which might kill them) instead of the containment unit.
- Godzilla Threshold: The Ghostbusters must take the TV to the roof despite that being what kills them in the prediction, since otherwise, the water elemental may destroy New York.
- Good News, Bad News: After the third prediction, Peter says that the good news is they can predict the future, but the bad news is that said future might be short for them.
- Go-to-Sleep Ending: Slimer falls asleep at the end.
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Conversed — Ray is scared off reading a book because it begins on a dark and stormy night and he's too scared to read about storms after nearly being killed in one.
- It Won't Turn Off: After seeing the second prediction, Egon takes a look at the TV and gets an electrical shock. When Winston points out he should've unplugged it first, Egon demonstrates it is unplugged.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Downplayed. When Egon and Ray study the TV, Egon puts on a lab coat, but not Ray.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: After the guys get cleaned up, Peter asks Egon to again explain how exactly how they averted the final prediction.
- Making a Splash: The water elemental can make it rain and seemingly manipulate ghosts into making watery things happen.
- Mythology Gag: Ray calls Slimer "spud", which he called him in the original movie.
- The Needs of the Many: The power outage forces the guys to take the elemental up to the roof, as trying to deposit something into the Containment Unit now would drain too much of the back-up generator's power. When Peter points out what's likely to happen to them on the roof, Egon counters by saying the entire city is at risk.
- Not So Stoic: Egon snaps at Ray upon being awakened at night, then screams when stranded on the pirate ship.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The Ghostbusters get looks of fear in their eyes when they realise the rudder and mast on the pirate ship are broken.
- Upon opening up the TV and seeing what's inside, Egon can only say, "Uh-oh." Peter and Winston hate it when he says that.
- One-Liner: When the first ghost is caught, Winston remarks that it's time to "put this puppy to bed".
- Pie in the Face: One of the shows Ray watches on TV has a woman being pied in the face.
- The Pratfall: When Peter slips on some ectoplasm, he falls on his butt.
- Pun-Based Title: The title comes from the Ghostbusters' tension about the foreseen future.
- Shout-Out:
- Ray can be seen watching a Godzilla movie.
- When Ray says, "You were there!" regarding what he saw on TV, Peter jokes that Winston was the Scarecrow and Egon was the Tin Man, referencing the ending scene of The Wizard of Oz.
- On the pirate ship, Ray mentions Captain Blood.
- Show Within a Show: Ray watches two shows called Muffy and the Meatheads and The Incredible Radioactive Gerbil from Outer Space.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: The Ghostbusters can't put the elemental in the containment unit, as that uses too much power when the emergency generator is running.
- Speak in Unison: When Ray tries to tell the other Ghostbusters about the second prediction, they yell, "Be quiet!" in unison.
- Talk Like a Pirate: The ghost pirates use slang like "avast".
- Taught by Television: It was Ray who suggested that Peter blast the lightning rod. When Winston asks how he knew that would work, Ray says he saw it on TV once.
- Tempting Fate: After the first prediction comes true, Egon remarks that it's just a coincidence. It's really not.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The main theme plays during the fight with the water elemental.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Winston says a deadpan "Uh-oh" when the ghost pirates send the ship into the water, then again when the storm starts.
- Toilet Humour: When Slimer first hears the phrase "poop deck", he's confused, obviously thinking of the other meaning of "poop".
- Tongue-Out Insult: Slimer sticks his tongue out at Peter for saying he looks like a waffle iron.
- Trauma Button Ending: At the end, Ray goes to find a book to read... only to put it down when it begins on a "dark and stormy night", since it was a storm that nearly killed him and his friends.
- Water Is Blue: Egon realises that the water elemental is blue because blue is "the universal colour of water".
