In a town with a stereotypical "Wild West" vibe, ghosts emerge from a portal. The lead ghost says that he wants the town for his own, and wants the humans gone by noon on Saturday "or else". However, the humans aren't having it, and the mayor promises a bag of gold as a reward for whoever removes the ghosts. Two men volunteer, and one (Wendell) isn't so sure, but then the other (Dwayne) reveals his plan: to call the Ghostbusters.
Meanwhile, the Ghostbusters and Slimer are apprehending a red ghost, when Dwayne and Wendell show up. They try talking to the Ghostbusters, but the red ghost gets away. Dwayne and Wendell tell the Ghostbusters they have a job for them, but Peter isn't interested until they offer the bag of gold. They discuss the situation over dinner, and Dwayne and Wendell reveal that the reason Black Bart wants the town is because the town is literally sitting on a goldmine, and Bart is greedy.
Black Bart goes back to the town and charges himself up with "spectral energy", but then senses humans nearby — it's the Ghostbusters, Dwayne, and Wendell arriving. They see Black Bart, who breaks Ecto-1 and fires balls of energy at the humans and Slimer. The Ghostbusters try to fire, but an unknown "force" deflects their streams. They fight in a bar, then Egon has Black Bart fire holes into a washtub, he and the others stick their throwers through the holes, and they fire again. This allows them to push the ghosts along, but the power is too low to trap them. Black Bart and his minions leave, but Bart promises to return for the final showdown.
The other townsfolk show up, but they distrust the Ghostbusters for being strangers and having a pet ghost, and point out that they only made Black Bart madder. Egon puts on some special goggles and uses them to try to detect what Black Bart wants, which turns out not to be the gold after all, but rather a power source in the mine.
The Ghostbusters and Slimer enter the mine to get a reading, but Slimer is pulled towards the power source. It temporarily makes him bigger, however, when the Ghostbusters reach it, the power weakens and Slimer returns to normal size. Ray and Egon conclude that humans make the power weaken.
While Egon tinkers, Peter and Slimer train the humans not to fear the ghosts. Black Bart arrives on a hellish train and tries to draw power from the "spectral well" again, but cannot. The Ghostbusters show up, followed by the townsfolk and Slimer. However, Black Bart summons more ghosts, and he makes paranormal lightning, which scares away the humans. Black Bart then powers himself up again, which causes him to turn into a demon.
Ray decides they need more people, and as if on cue, a tour bus arrives. The presence of humans turns Black Bart back into a ghost, and the Ghostbusters trap him. The mayor rewards the Ghostbusters with cowboy hats, which pleases most of them, but disappoints Peter as he always gets sulky when he doesn't get paid.
This episode provides examples of
- Alliterative Name: The villain is Black Bart.
- Alliterative Title: Dwayne's magazine is called Rollin' Rook.
- Bat Scare: In the mine, Slimer disturbs some bats, who fly out and scare him away.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Ray's friends say to him when he wants to reference a cowboy movie, "Shut up, Ray!".
- Bittersweet Ending: Heavily downplayed — the town is saved, but Peter is in a bad mood.
- Color Character: Black Bart is the baddie.
- Cowboy Episode: The episode focuses on the Ghostbusters assisting some cowboys in an old Western town.
- Dark Is Evil: Black Bart wants to take over a town and eradicate the humans within, and he has "Black" in his name and wears black.
- Death Glare: Slimer glares at "Red" for calling him creepy.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Peter calls the red ghost "flyboy" to its face, then later he calls Black Bart (who's at least a Class 7, in other words, very powerful) and his minions "slimeballs" to their faces.
- Ectoplasm: Played for laughs when Slimer gets some of his goo in the whistle.
- Evil Laugh: The red ghost and Black Bart both laugh demonically.
- Evil Wears Black: Black Bart, the evil ghost, wears a black hat and pants.
- Fat and Skinny: The two cowboys who volunteer consist of a lanky man (Dwayne) and a wide man (Wendell).
- Greed: Subverted — the townsfolk think that Black Bart wants the gold from the mine, but he actually wants a power source in the mine.
- Happy Dance: A fat guy dances for joy when Black Bart is trapped.
- Implied Death Threat: Black Bart says, "Say your prayers, humans! You've seen your last sunset!".
- Layman's Terms:
- Egon says, "We have vast knowledge in terms of paranormal elimination, and our levy for said services is quite reasonable". A group of townies say, "What did he say?!", so Wendell says, "They get rid of ghosts, and they work for cheap".
- When Egon says, "This town is of inadequate size for our combined forces," Ray says, "What he means is 'this town ain't big enough for the both of us'."
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Peter references the theme by having the townspeople say, "We ain't afraid of no ghosts".
- Mass "Oh, Crap!":
- The townspeople all run in fear when the portal opens.
- Dwayne, Wendell, the Ghostbusters (except Ray), and Slimer all look scared when they see Black Bart.
- Mythology Gag: Peter calls Slimer "spud", which Ray called him in the original movie.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The bad guy is named Black Bart.
- Not So Stoic: At one point, Egon is seen with a scared expression.
- Only One Finds It Fun: Most of the humans, plus Slimer, are scared when they see Black Bart, but Ray enthuses that it's a "real Wild West showdown".
- Our Demons Are Different: The episode reveals that at least some demons start off as ghosts before becoming more powerful.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: It's revealed that sufficiently powerful ghosts can become demons.
- Psychic Powers: Black Bart can sense the presence of humans.
- Race-Name Basis: Black Bart calls Peter "human".
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: Ray says, "What more could you possibly ask for?", and Peter starts listing golden items.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Dwayne assures Wendell that the Ghostbusters genuinely are the Ghostbusters and that failing to shoot at Black Bart was part of their plan. He's wrong about that, but right that they're really the Ghostbusters.
- Running Gag: Ray keeps geeking out about being in a cowboy scenario.
- Showdown at High Noon: Played for Horror — the Ghostbusters are fighting against an evil ghost in a cowboy town at noon.
- Skewed Priorities: Peter is more concerned about losing the money than any danger when the red ghost escapes.
- Snarking Thanks: Peter insincerely "thanks" Slimer for having the townies yell.
- Speak in Unison:
- When the redheaded guy says, "Are we gonna take this sitting down?", the others say, "Heck no!" in unison.
- After hearing some Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness from Egon, a crowd says at once, "What did he say?!".
- Peter has the townies say, "We ain't afraid of no ghost".
- Peter, Egon, and Winston yell, "Shut up, Ray!" in unison when he tries to compare the situation to a cowboy movie.
- Theme Music Power-Up: The theme tune plays when Black Bart is trapped.
- Title Drop:
- Dwayne says to the Ghostbusters, "You boys are the real Ghostbusters, right?".
- When the throwers don't work, Wendell says, "Are you sure these are the real Ghostbusters, Dwayne?".
