An experimental NASA spaceship has just completed the first day of a mission. Their captain, Captain Kirov, is making a log entry, when an alarm sounds. A guy named Lt. Sato notes that the "platform" has been hit, a woman named Lt. Irahqua notes that the communication systems are being interfered with, and the power turns off. A woman named Yeoman Witney and a man named Commander McTavish both claim to have seen a ghost, so Kirov calls the Ghostbusters.
The Ghostbusters go to space to meet the NASA people, and Peter is excited to get some government money, but Ray is more concerned about how the equipment will work in space. They meet the crew and then look up the alleged ghost, but can't find it in the guide and Egon does get some kind of reading, but it doesn't seem ectoplasmic, suggesting that the entity isn't really a ghost.
McTavish escorts the Ghostbusters to the engine room, where they meet the creature (a blob monster with many eyes and mouths) but when they open fire, it's not only immune to the proton streams but it feeds on them. The entity feeds on the ship's power, at one point turning off the artificial gravity, and it grabs Winston but isn't a danger to him and only wants to feed on his proton pack.
The Ghostbusters then turn off the power (with Ray talking to it to distract it), allowing them to trap the creature, and the crew thanks them and arranges for them to be taken back to Earth.
This episode provides examples of
- Ambiguously Human: The old science officer the crew keeps mentioning is said to have had pointy ears, and is clearly based on Spock, a character who was half-alien, yet Ghostbusters doesn't usually deal with aliens.
- Answer Cut: Irahqua asks Kirov who he's calling, then we cut to the Ghostbusters answering the call.
- Artificial Gravity: The spaceship has artificial gravity, which fails at some points making people float up into the air.
- Badass in Distress: Subverted when the creature grabs Winston, but then it's revealed it didn't want him anyway.
- Blob Monster: The main villain is an amorphous monster.
- Conforming OOC Moment: At one point, all the Ghostbusters gasp, and at another point, they all laugh, including the normally-stoic Egon.
- Distressed Dude: Subverted when the blob grabs Winston, but isn't interested in him; it just wants to feed on his proton pack.
- Extra Eyes: The villain has lots of eyes all over its body.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Kirov says that the mission will be uneventful, seconds before the alarm sounds.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Irahqua references the theme song by asking Kirov, "Who are you gonna call?".
- Nice Kitty...: When Ray tries to talk to the creature, he tries to be extra polite to butter it up.
- No-Sell: Exaggerated — not only is the creature immune to proton streams, it feeds on them.
- Not So Stoic: Egon gasps and laughs in two separate scenes.
- Pointy Ears: Discussed when, in keeping with the Star Trek theme, Irahqua remembers an old science officer as being "pointy-eared".
- The Pratfall: At one point, the ship swerves and knocks several people onto their backsides.
- Pun-Based Title: The title puns on the word "necessarily".
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The entity has red irises and is a danger to the humans.
- Running Gag: The crew commenting on Egon's resemblance to an old science officer.
- Shout-Out: The episode contains many references to Star Trek: The Original Series:
- Kirov references both Kirk (he's the captain and makes log entries) and Chekov (he has a heavy Russian accent).
- The women wear red dresses, earrings, and beehives, and one of them mentions "frequencies", referencing Lt. Uhura.
- A Yeoman is named Witney, referencing the actress Grace Witney, who played Yeoman Rand.
- The engineer is Scottish and the helmsman is Japanese, referencing Scotty and Sulu respectively.
- The Star Trek intro is referenced when Ray mentions that the crew will be "exploring strange new worlds", and Kirov reveals the mission will take five years.
- The crew mentions that their previous science officer was serious like Egon and had pointy ears, referencing Spock.
- Slapstick: At one point, the Ghostbusters are shown crashing to the ground after the artificial gravity turns back on.
- Space Episode: The episode shows the Ghostbusters going into space to deal with an evil creature on a NASA ship.
- Tentacled Terror: The creature has many long, tentacle-like appendages.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The main theme plays as the monster is being trapped.
