Peter accidentally grabs Slimer instead of a towel after showering, much to his disgust. Then, he gets a phone call from his father in Alaska, claiming he found something weird buried under the ice that has to do with something called "Hob Anagarak".
Even though Peter's dad is a conman and might be lying, Egon says Hob Anagarak is so potentially dangerous that if the elder Venkman really has found him, the Ghostbusters have to fly to Alaska. On the plane, Egon explains that according to a legend, Hob Anagarak was a demon created before humanity, who was then imprisoned in a block of magic black ice.
In Alaska, Peter's father takes the Ghostbusters to the block of magic ice via a dogsled, where it turns out to be melting. Egon determines it's a very high-tier demon and may be indestructible, but Charles Venkman says that he doesn't want it destroyed; he wants it trapped so he can sell it to a museum. Peter argues that would be impossible. That night, the Ghostbusters are discussing how to get rid of Hob, when things start floating around the room. The next morning, the Ghostbusters go to try to kill Hob, but Charles still doesn't want them to. They seemingly zap the ice block to oblivion, but after they leave, it's revealed that Charles swapped the ice block for a fake.
Back in New York, the Ghostbusters catch four ghosts, then Janine walks up and shows the guys a newspaper which reveals that Charles Venkman did sell Hob to a museum, and is about to unveil him. Then, it's revealed that Charles is working with Dr. Bassingame, the phony psychic from "The Spirit of Aunt Lois".
Everyone heads off to the museum, where Charles announces that Bassingame will free Hob, but then imprison him in his own device. He succeeds in freeing him, but not containing him, so everybody screams and runs. Hob escapes the building, then escapes to Central Park, and the Ghostbusters give chase.
They fire at Hob, and he does disintegrate, but then he comes back to life, so Egon determines that he needs to be "bound" first before he can be zapped. He finds a binding ritual that calls for six men (who will in this case be the Ghostbusters, Charles, and Bassingame) and a woman (a reluctant Janine). One man has to be a "sorcerer" who will do the actual binding (Bassingame), and another has to be a trickster/con artist (Charles).
They do the ritual, and Hob vanishes, then Charles leaves, wanting to go to Hollywood to buy the movie rights for the incident.
This episode provides examples of
- All Myths Are True: Hob exists, despite his origin story being thought to be a legend.
- Applied Phlebotinum: The properties of the ice aren't explained beyond being "magic".
- Are We There Yet?: Played for drama when Peter asks on the dogsled, "How much longer until we—-?" but it triggers an avalanche.
- Artistic License – Physics: The North Pole is said to be cold because of an absence of fire demons. In reality, it's cold because it hardly gets any direct sunlight.
- Breath Weapon: Hob breathes fire.
- Call-Back:
- Charles Venkman getting sent to Alaska in "Venkman's Ghost Repellers" is the driving force of this episode, where the episode establishes him there.
- Dr. Bassingame, the villain of "The Spirit of Aunt Lois", is back and working with Charles Venkman.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Peter says to Charles, "You conned me! ME! Your own son!".
- Captain Obvious: The Ghostbusters rush to Madison Square Gardens to prevent Hob Anagarak being awakened, and arrive just in time to see crowds of screaming people spilling from the exits.Egon: Something tells me we're too late.
Peter: What gave you that idea? - Compressed Vice: Ray claims to hate going on planes, even being bent over and groaning, despite having had no problem with flying on one in "Apocalypse — What, Now?!".
- Crying Wolf: Downplayed — the Ghostbusters are wary of Mr. Venkman's claims of the Hob since he's a known liar, yet they do investigate them anyway.
- Dark Is Evil: Hob is dark grey.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: To get Hob's attention, even though he's a powerful demon, Ray calls him a turkey and Wisnton makes a Your Mom joke to him.
- Ectoplasm: When Peter tries to dry his face with Slimer, he gets green slime on his face.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Putting a demon that nearly destroyed the Earth on public display at Madison Square Gardens and deliberately releasing him from his prison was not the brightest idea Charlie Venkman ever had.
- Failed a Spot Check: Peter accidentally grabs Slimer instead of a towel.
- Fear Is the Appropriate Response: When Ray asks Peter what to do, Peter responds, "Run away!".
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Hob can make his eyes glow.
- Hurricane of Euphemisms: When Charles says he wants to take Hob to a museum, Peter says, "No. Uh-uh. Impossible! Forget it! Not a chance!".
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Discussed when Peter and a policeman note that despite his Con Man antics, Charles Venkman isn't ultimately bad.
- Lightmare Fuel: Hob is a very powerful, lethal demon but he still sticks a moose head on Ray and knocks him to the floor comedically.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": When Hob is released, everyone screams, runs, or gets a fearful expression.
- Mind over Matter: Hob has telekinesis.
- Mythology Gag: Peter threatens to put the three unpaid-for ghosts back, the same threat he made in the first movie.
- Never My Fault: When Peter berates his father for conning them, Charlie snaps that it's all Bassingame's fault, as his fence designed to hold Hob Anagarak didn't work.
- Playing with Fire: Hob can breathe fire and generate fire from where he steps.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Before attacking Hob, Peter says, "Let's put this puppy on ice!".
- Pun:
- Peter says, "This better be good, Dad; if this is another wild ghost chase..."
- He then says, "Let's put this puppy on ice!", referring to Hob, who was frozen in ice.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Hob was frozen in a block of ice.
- Slapstick:
- When the Ghostbusters get out of the plane, everyone except Venkman falls into the snow instead of stepping into it.
- When Hob makes items float, it sticks a moose head on Ray's head and knocks him to the floor.
- Split-Screen Phone Call: The phone call between the Venkmans is shown on a split screen.
- Tempting Fate:
- Ray says about the floating objects, "This is great!", right before getting a moose head on his head and knocked to the floor.
- After the Ghostbusters apparently zap the magic ice block, Ray says, "That wasn't so hard, was it? So much for magic ice!", but then later, it's revealed that the ice block they zapped was a fake.
- Term Of Endangerment: Janine insults someone in the crowd by calling them "pal".
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Egon says that "binding" Hob will be "tricky", Winston says, "I hate it when things are tricky!".
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Ah, Janine. Even by Manhattan standards, she sets a new bar for having Seen It All:Cab Driver: (watching the screaming crowds fleeing Madison Square Gardens) So, uh, what do you think we should do?
Janine: (unruffled) Can you call in an air strike? - Your Mom: Winston says to Hob, "Did your mother have any monsters in bed?!".
