A boat skipper is shocked to find a green tsunami with three strange creatures surfing on top of it and chanting a rhyme, calling themselves the "Mean Green Teen Machine". They start flying on their surfboards, then start talking about wanting pizza and notice the Statue of Liberty and change how she's standing.
At the firehouse, meanwhile, Egon has invented a machine that will allow the user to control their dreams. He demonstrates the machine on Peter, in "observer mode" (allowing the others to see his dream on a screen). They get a call to a pizzeria, where the Mean Green Teen Machine is running rampant. The Ghostbusters fire at them, but the Mean Green Teen Machine throws pizza at them and gets away. They order even more pizza, then when a truck delivering pizza shows up, the teens steal it. The Ghostbusters get out of the car and fire at them, but the teens again escape.
Later, Peter baits the Mean Green Teen Machine with a balloon shaped like pizza, while Ray and Slimer stand by disguised as a woman and a baby respectively and Winston and Egon stand by disguised as construction workers. When the Meen Green Teen Machine shows up, the Ghostbusters and Slimer spring into action, but the teens again escape due to disarming them with thrown pizza.
That night, the Mean Green Teen Machine decide to mess with the Ghostbusters and Slimer, who they now review as spoilsports. At bedtime, Egon hooks himself and the other Ghostbusters up to the dream machine, then the Mean Green Teen Machine see it and decide to enter it to give them all nightmares. They start levitating, and Slimer enters and freaks out. He sees the teens on the screen.
Peter's dream involves him on a pizza-related game show, then the Mean Green Teen Machine enters. They catapult him onto a giant pizza and spin him around. In Ray's dream, he is a Tarzan-esque jungle man, but then the river turns into pizza and the apes accompanying him turn into the Mean Green Teen Machine. Slimer tries to wake the Ghostbusters up with musical instruments, but fails.
Then, we see Winston's dream — he's the captain of a spaceship, when the Mean Green Teen Machine shows up and gets into a fight with the spaceship crew, causing the ship to crash. Finally, Egon is dreaming about giving a lecture within somebody's bloodstream and being chased by a white cell and then the teens.
Slimer bangs the dream machine, accidentally causing sparks to fly and Winston to appear in Egon's dream. He teleports the teens away, and Egon reveals that they can't wake up since the dream machine can only accommodate five users. Peter falls into Ray's dream, and then the Mean Green Teen Machine shows up and starts attacking. Luckily, Peter and Ray run off into the country.
Slimer again short-circuits the machine, bringing forth Egon and Winston. The four of them change into their uniforms and try to attack the mean green teens, but they have trouble since the teens can turn everything into pizza (since it's a dream world). Egon then tricks the teens into going near a giant pizza, which has a trap attached, so they end up trapped. They go surfing on the flying surfboards, then wake up, hungry as it's now around noon.
This episode provides examples of
- Anchovies Are Abhorrent: Egon particularly hates how the pizza the Mean Green Teen Machine threw at him has anchovies.
- Badass Bookworm: The Meen Green Teen Machine lampshades the Ghostbusters' status as intellectuals by referring to them as "geeks" and "nerds".
- Bald of Authority: Subverted. In Winston's dream, he's the captain of a spaceship and it seems that he's now bald, but then it turns out he's wearing a cap.
- Big Eater: The Mean Green Teen Machine won't stop eating pizza.
- Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: Peter calls the teenage ghosts "pizzaface", "cheesehead", "pepperoni-heads", "cheese-heads", .
- Buffy Speak: According to Egon, Peter calls blood "red stuff".
- But You Were There, and You, and You: An alien on the spaceship in Winston's dream resembles Ray, and he's next to a man who resembles Peter.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The trio of villains self-identify as "mean".
- Civilised Animal: Ray's dream features (non-human) apes that talk and wear accessories, but also live in the jungle.
- Dagwood Sandwich: Slimer stacks himself a very tall sandwich.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
- Peter says to one of the green teens, "Think that's funny, huh, pizzaface? Well, eat some of this!".
- Later, he says, "Hey, cheesehead! Take one to go!".
- When Winston goes to attack the teens, he says, "Try my recipe, dudes!", then Peter addresses them as "punks".
- Disguised in Drag: Ray disguises himself as a woman when baiting the Mean Green Teen Machine.
- Earthy Barefoot Character: In Ray's dream, he's a jungle-dweller who wears a fur outfit and no shoes.
- Ectoplasm:
- The Mean Green Teen Machine leaves green slime everywhere, and even surfs on it.
- Slimer also leaves slime on Ecto-1's windshield.
- Edible Ammunition: The Meen Green Teen Machine are sometimes seen throwing pizza at their opponents.
- Erotic Dream: Implied — Peter's dream is described as "mushy" by Slimer, and Egon, looking slightly disgusted, turns the machine off saying that they've seen enough.
- Flashy Teleportation: Winston makes the Mean Green Teen Machine teleport in a flash of blue light.
- For the Evulz: The Mean Green Teen Machine start out with no real plan for anything; they just cause trouble on a whim and want to eat pizza. They only set out for revenge because the Ghostbusters kept getting in their way.
- Giant Food: Several giant pizzas feature in the dreams, including one that's bait.
- Goo Goo Getup: When Ray is disguised as a woman, Slimer disguises himself as "her" baby, complete with baby onesie.
- Green and Mean: The three main villains are green and they cause chaos wherever they go.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal:
- Two of the members of the Meen Green Teen Machine wear no pants.
- One of Ray's dream apes wears a shirt.
- He's Got a Weapon!: When one of the mean green teens whips out a proton pack, Peter yells, "He's got a thrower!".
- Hollywood Cuisine: This episode plays into the "New Yorkers love pizza" stereotype, since the Mean Green Teen Machine specifically invade New York to get pizza.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: Egon enjoys reciting a quantum physics textbook. Winston, upon learning this, says, "I don't think that's my idea of a good time".
- Inevitable Waterfall: Ray's nightmare involves going down a river of pizza sauce and over a waterfall.
- I Was Having Such a Nice Dream: Peter complains about getting woken up by the alarm in the middle of a "sensational" dream.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Egon's nightmare involves him giving a lecture in a lab coat.
- Lean and Mean: One of the mean, green teens is skinny, and he's no less mean than his pals.
- Like Is, Like, a Comma: The Mean Green Teen Machine favours the word "like".
- Lizard Folk: The eponymous monsters appear like lizards, with green skin, scales, and tails.
- Mocking Sing-Song: One of the teens sticks his tongue out at Slimer and sings to the tune of Ring Around the Rosy, "Nee nur nee nur nee nur!".
- Mythology Gag: Egon and Winston remember the last time they drilled through the street, which made a mess of the subway. This happened in Ghostbusters II.
- Narrative Shapeshifting: Slimer morphs into one of the mean green teens when explaining that they're nearby.
- Nightmare Sequence: Invoked when the Mean Green Teen Machine deliberately turn the Ghostbusters' dreams into nightmares.
- Not Quite Flight: The Mean Green Teen Machine has flying surfboards.
- Not So Stoic: Egon laughs when Peter wakes up from his "mushy" dream, then later screams during his nightmare.
- Oh, Crap!: Slimer says, "Uh-oh!" and then starts yelling at the Ghostbusters to wake up when he sees them levitating in their sleep.
- One-Liner: When money falls from the ceiling, Peter says, "Nothing like getting paid in advance!".
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Slimer is clearly recognisable as a ghost even in his baby disguise.
- Parody Assistance: In this Take That! against Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Guggenheim is voiced by Cam Clarke (Leonardo on the 1987 cartoon).
- Platonic Kissing: When the Ghostbusters wake up, Slimer kisses Egon.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Two of the mean, green teens have red eyes.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Mean Green Teen Machine are rowdy, destructive, lizard-like monsters.
- Revenge: The Mean Green Teen Machine decide to get back at the Ghostbusters for spoiling their fun by giving them nightmares.
- Rhyming Title: Mean Green Teen Machine.
- Rump Roast: The skinny ghost gets shot briefly but it only burns his butt.
- Say My Name: Slimer yells, "PETER!" upon seeing his nightmare.
- Sex Shifter: The Mean Green Teen Machine is usually all-male, but two of them appear female in Peter's nightmare.
- Shout-Out:
- Peter's dream shows him in a Batman suit.
- He later dreams about being in a game show where you answer with questions, in the style of Jeopardy!.
- Ray dreams of being a jungle-dweller like Tarzan.
- The spaceship in Winston's dream resembles the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Series and is called the "Starship Exercise".
- Solid Clouds: Winston's dream involves lying on a cloud.
- Speak in Unison:
- The Mean Green Teen Machine like to chant in unison.
- At one point, the Ghostbusters and Slimer chant, "Monsters! Monsters! Monsters!" in unison.
- Take That!: The villains are green, teenaged, and obsessed with pizza, referencing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Peter flirts in his sleep, at one point mentioning "we're both Scorpios".
- Teens Are Monsters: The eponymous Mean Green Teen Machine is a group of teenage ghosts who cause mass destruction just for kicks or to get food.
- Tongue-Out Insult: One of the mean green teens waggles his tongue at Slimer.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The Mean Green Teen Machine's main reason for invading New York is to get pizza.
- Trauma Button Ending: At the end, Peter asks the others what they want for lunch. When Slimer suggests pizza, an unknown Ghostbuster, now sick of pizza from the whole ordeal, throws pillows at him.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Mean Green Teen Machine can change form at will.
- Wild Take: Slimer's eyes bulge when he sees the Mean Green Teen Machine on the screen.
