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Murray the Mantis[2] is the main antagonist of the episode "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis". He's a fictional cartoon character in the Ghostbusters universe. A Thanksgiving float in his likeness was once possessed and fought the Ghostbusters and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

History[]

Murray the Mantis is the star of a popular Saturday morning cartoon where he is the sheriff of a garden who keeps the peace, including chasing away the bad Roach Brothers and the evil Hypno-Snake. He's friends with the gardener's misunderstood daughter, Posey.[3][4][5][6] Ray Stantz and Egon Spengler watch a lot of episodes of the cartoon. When questioned why they do so by Peter Venkman, Egon claimed it was because he is a good scientist and keeps his mind open to anything.[7]

On the night before a Thanksgiving Day parade, a crew was preparing a balloon float based on Murray in an old warehouse in the Upper West Side.[8][9] Unfortunately, since the warehouse used to be a city morgue, the commotion caused the release of death force energy and it possessed the balloon.[10]

During the parade, the float holders had a hard time handling the float as it rose into the air out of control. After Peter Venkman shot the float with his Particle Thrower, the death energy reformed as a giant corporeal mantis entity. The mantis went on a rampage and was finally defeated when the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man battled the entity and weakened it enough for the Ghostbusters to destroy it.

Powers[]

During the first encounter with Murray, Egon cross calculates the constant half-life breakdown rate of all ectoplasmic entities with the known P.K.E. pulse. He guessed Murray could have a life energy as high as Gozer's.[11][12] At the Firehouse, he cross indexes the dimensions of a standard Praying mantis, the 120-feet dimension of the float, and the ecto energy quotient of an average Class 3 Non-Transitory Specter. Egon concludes Murray the Mantis had an energy level of 45 x 10 to the 14th power Mega Watts.[13][14][15][16]

Classification[]

Because of its power being comparable to Gozer's, Murray's classification was Class 7 or higher.

Trivia[]

  • Both the balloon and the ghost of Murray the Mantis had only four legs, while real Praying mantis' have six. This makes Murray appear much more humanoid than a normal mantis.
  • When Egon explained how powerful the creature was, Peter joked about it by saying that they might stand a chance if Darth Vader loaned them the Death Star.[17]
  • Ironically, Murray attacks a red Volkswagen Beetle.
  • Murray is referenced in What in Samhain Just Happened?! on page 14. A Murray the Mantis doll, as it appeared in its cartoon, is seen to the left of Janine Melnitz.
  • On page six of Ghostbusters Issue #6, a Murray doll can be see in the Fantastic Land stand. They also appear on the Cover RI variant.
  • On page six of Ghostbusters Issue #15, Murray the Mantis makes a non-canon cameo on the Thanksgiving Day Parade advertisement.

Appearances[]

The Real Ghostbusters

References[]

  1. Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1986).
  2. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 05:40-05:42). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "Hey. It's Murray the Mantis."
  3. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 05:45-05:46). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "It's...uh...a television character."
  4. Ray Stantz (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 05:47-05:50). Time Life Entertainment. Ray says: "The Murray the Mantis show is the biggest thing on Saturday morning cartoons, Peter."
  5. Ray Stantz (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 05:51-05:59). Time Life Entertainment. Ray says: "Murray lives in this garden, see? And he keeps the peace. Sort of a sheriff. He chases away the Bad Roach Brothers and the Evil Hypo Snake."
  6. Ray Stantz (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 06:14-06:19). Time Life Entertainment. Ray says: "Right! And Murray is the best friend of Posey, the gardener’s little girl who misunderstood by the other children."
  7. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 06:00-06:03). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "It's a form of predator control on the range."
  8. Harlan (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 03:57-04:05). Time Life Entertainment. Harlan says: "Well there's a good reason for that. Yeah, before the company bought this place and turned it into a warehouse. Used to be a city morgue."
  9. Anne Lawson (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 09:00-09:04). Time Life Entertainment. Anne says: "We filled the balloon in an old warehouse in the Upper West Side."
  10. Ray Stantz (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 09:08-09:12). Time Life Entertainment. Ray says: "That's it! A release of death force energy held dormant. An ecto surge across the continuum!"
  11. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 09:53-10:02). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "Considering a constant half-life breakdown for all ectoplasmic entities... cross calculating with the known ecto pulse... I'd say we're in an extraordinary amount of trouble."
  12. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 10:05-10:08). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "It could have a life energy as high as Gozer's."
  13. Anne Lawson (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 11:13-11:15). Time Life Entertainment. Anne says: "120 feet nose to tail."
  14. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 11:16-11:24). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "Cross index with the dimensions of a standard preying mantis... figuring the ecto energy quotient of your average Class 3 Non-Transitory Spectre..."
  15. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 11:33-11:35). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "The energy level is 45 Mega Watts."
  16. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 11:37-11:39). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "Times 10 to the 14th power."
  17. Peter Venkman (2009).The Real Ghostbusters- "The Revenge of Murray the Mantis" (1987) (DVD ts. 11:40-11:45). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "It means if Darth Vader is willing to loan us the Death Star, we might have a chance."

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