The Ghostbusters and Slimer are on a plane, with most of them fighting over who can see the Aurora Borealis, but Egon dismissing them as childish. When talking to a flight attendant, he reveals that they've been asked to talk about their job at a Soviet institute.
When they get there, they meet their sponsor, Katerina Novachenka. She shows them an exhibit of paranormal artifacts, then introduces them to two scientists named Vladimir and Dmitri. However, they're unfriendly, insult the Ghostbusters for being American, and scoff at their job for being a mere lightshow compared to what they're currently working on.
At the conference, Vladimir talks about his theory that Elvis sank the Titanic, despite him not even being born yet when it sunk. He gets laughed off the stage, then the Ghostbusters demonstrate their proton packs. However, Vladimir storms in and declares someone stole something from the exhibit, accusing the Ghostbusters. The Ghostbusters and Slimer inspect the area, and find that most of what was stolen was harmless, but one stolen object was very dangerous: a book that's so evil, even saying its name is bad.
Vladimir bring in Police Inspector Faden, who forbids the Ghostbusters from leaving the institute. Ray and Egon explain to Katerina that the Nameless Book is one of two books that can summon evil entities known as the Old Ones. Katerina reveals that Vladimir has been obsessing over the book, making the Ghostbusters realise that he was the real thief and pinned the blame on them to evade punishment. The Ghostbusters, Slimer, and a reluctant Katerina drive off to stop the Old One, with Faden tailing them.
While Vladimir and Dmitri meet up with a cult, the Ecto-1 gets shot, so the heroes have to hitch a ride in a horse-drawn carriage. The cult starts chanting from the Nameless Book, and when everyone arrives, Egon reveals that he has an invention that could help but it's at home. He has Slimer fly as fast as he can back to the firehouse and deliver a box labelled, "Big Trouble".
Katerina and the guys descend a giant staircase, while Slimer almost gets shot down by the military. The Ghostbusters and Katerina run into some monsters guarding the Old One. They trap them easily, but the traps explode due to not being built to contain those monsters. As Slimer brings back the Big Trouble box, Katerina and the guys find the temple where the cult is, where they finish the chant. Vladimir reveals that this particular Old One is named Yibb Tstll, and he made a deal that allowed Vladimir to rule the world. The Ghostbusters shoot at the book, but Yibb is already awakening. They scare the cultists away by shooting near them, then Slimer arrives with the "Big Trouble" box. Egon hooks the proton packs up to the machine inside the box, and then Peter throws the device into the pit, which defeats Yibb. Faden arrests the cultists, then Katerina kisses everyone on the cheek.
This episode provides examples of
- Ambiguously Evil: While Dmitri is smug and prejudiced against Americans like Vladimir, it's never revealed if he was supportive of Vladimir summoning Yibb.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Egon says that the institute needed a responsible group to talk to... but they were busy, so they called the Ghostbusters instead.
- Bears Are Bad News: A polar bear attacks Slimer.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Katerina calls Peter "Peoter", he thinks it's a compliment. When Egon says, "It's Russian for 'Peter', Peter!", Peter says, "Peter Peter. I like it!".
- Continuity Nod: Ray mentions they will be getting rid of an Old One "again", referencing the time they dealt with Cthulhu in "The Contact Call of Cathulhu". Ray mentions the Nameless Book as being one of two books that can summon the Old Ones; the other one is the Necronomicon, which is what was used in the aforementioned episode.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Despite Yibb being a powerful demon, Peter still yells at him, "Eat this!".
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The Ghostbusters, with help from Slimer and Katerina, manage to blow up Yibb, despite him being one of the world's most powerful demons.
- Ditzy Genius: Vladimir is smart enough to be a scientist, but dumb enough to believe that Elvis sank the Titanic, despite him being born decades after it sunk.
- Evil Is Hammy: Vladimir shouts and makes wild gestures a lot.
- Fat Bastard: Played for Horror — Vladimir, who's quite large, wants to summon a demon.
- Forgot About His Powers: When driving to the temple, Slimer pounds on the car window and begs to be let out, forgetting that he can go through walls and thus doesn't need to be let out.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: One of the guardian monsters has glowing eyes.
- Green and Mean: One guardian monster is green.
- Hope Spot: Subverted — Slimer nearly gets shot down, then he escapes... only to meet a polar bear. However, he easily escapes the polar bear too.
- Hypocritical Humor: Egon berates Peter for wanting to fight Vladimir and Dmitri, only to fight them himself when they insult Einstein.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Egon says that the proton streams are safe to humans... usually.
- Insufferable Genius: Vladimir and Dmitri are smug, prejudiced against Americans, and claim that their theory would trump the Ghostbusters', and even Einstein's, work.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Vladimir and Dmitri wear lab coats and they're scientists.
- Lightmare Fuel: The cultists are summoning an ancient demon that's a lot more powerful than most other demons on this show... and yet they do it with a chant that includes silly lyrics like "sis boom bah".
- Mad Scientist: Vladimir is a scientist and he wants to rule the world with the assistance of a demon.
- Mistaken for Thief: Subverted — it seems like Vladimir thought the Ghostbusters stole some artifacts, but actually, he stole them himself and lied.
- National Stereotypes: Vladimir and Dmitri are depicted as hating Americans, wearing red, and having the stereotypical "V = W" speech impediment. Katerina is less stereotypical, but she does (along with all the other Russians in the episode) call everyone "comrade".
- No Indoor Voice: Vladimir yells a lot.
- Not So Stoic: Egon becomes very aggro when Vladimir and Dmitri diss Einstein.
- Oh, Crap!: Slimer looks nervous when he sees the torpedo and the bear.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The guardian monsters have red eyes.
- Red Is Violent: Vladimir wears a red shirt, and Yibb and one of his guardians are red.
- Platonic Kissing: At the end, Katerina kisses everyone on the cheek.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Peter yells, "Eat this!" before throwing the machine into the pit.
- Pun-Based Title: The title puns on "Russian" and "rushing".
- Purple Is the New Black: The cultists wear dark purple robes instead of the stereotypical black robes.
- The Scottish Trope: The Nameless Book is so-called because it's so evil that saying its actual name is dangerous.
- Shout-Out: Katerina says, "Oh my" after Egon and Ray list three types of Old One, referencing the famous "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" scene from The Wizard of Oz.
- Stock Foreign Names: While Katerina isn't that common of a name used on Russian characters, Vladimir and Dmitri are pretty standard.
- Take Over the World: Vladimir wants to rule the world.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The theme tune plays when Yibb is being blown up.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Nameless Book contains spells used for summoning the world's greatest evils.
- The Watson: Katerina asks what the Nameless Book is, prompting Ray and Egon to explain it.
