Eric the Red and Brunhilda



Eric The Red & Brunhilda are antagonists on the 1975 Saturday Morning Live Action kids show, The Ghost Busters. They are featured in the show's thirteenth episode, The Vikings Are Coming. Like most of the antagonists on this show, they were on a quest to achieve a goal, returned from the afterlife in this case to prevent an old antagonist, named Lothar The Hun from claiming credit for discovering a new land in ancient times, one that they actually found.

The episode begins with the ghosts emerging in the cemetery, proclaiming their goals while Brunhilda's summoning horn annoys Eric The Red, who is easily put off and prone to bluster. Part of their goal is to find their ancient ship's flag and plant it so that Lothar The Hun's claim against the discovered land (said to be the area the show is set in) can never go forward. As all villains in the series do, they make for the old castle or mansion nearby to stage their search.

At Ghost Busters HQ, Jake Kong has annoyances of his own in the form of Eddie Spencer making his usual inept efforts, in this case to teach Tracy The Gorilla how to play a musical instrument. Tiring of this slapstick quickly, Jake sends them to fetch their next assignment from unseen employer/mentor Zero, this in the form of a tuba which tells them the returned Vikings must be stopped before Lothar The Hun returns as well, consequences of which are never related. Showing off one of his odd skills, Tracy manages to knit a banner which just so happens to carry the exact same crest worn by this version of Eric.

At the cemetery, the two groups encounter each other, each trying to do out-do the other in cowardice, incompetence and general brainlessness, a struggle the Vikings win when Brunhilda's summoning horn bowls Eric over, letting the Ghost Busters flee. Back at their office, Eddie now struggles with their arcane filing drawers, forcing Tracy to scale the outside of the building to force one open. Jake finally gives up and decides to go the local library to learn about their foes, leaving gullible Eddie to uncomprehendingly greet the ghosts, who want the banner Tracy knitted. Despite a clever effort by Tracy to hide the banner in the impossible-to-open filing cabinet, the ghosts obtain it, forcing the Ghost Busters back to the cemetery, where they realize the ghosts will use the castle to raise and fly the banner.

Once inside, living and dead engage in a game of Scooby Doors as the ghosts attempt to raise their banner and the heroes try to banish them. The chase leads back into the cemetery, where the banner is successfully raised, just as Jake gets the drop on them with the Ghost De-Materializer. As a courtesy, Tracy pulls out the makeshift rowboat Eric and Brunhilda used to get around, so that they can stand in it and face their end 'at sea'. Now the only menace for the Ghost Busters is Eddie's effort to teach Tracy to dance--and then Tracy's actual dancing.

Lothar The Hun never shows up, which means the ghosts succeeded, and although Eric describes having a ghostly ship and crew, only he and Brunhilda are ever seen.

Trivia

 * Eric The Red was a Viking ruler of skill and competence from roughly the turn of the first millennium. Brunhilda was a Valkyrie of legend and opera, though here she is simply a female warrior. The characters here, as to be expected, have almost no connection to them at all. That said, some versions of the Siegfried legend, of which Brunhilda is a part, have a character called Etzel, a legendary/fictionalized version of Atilla The Hun, so at least some truth managed its way in.
 * Eric's face and voice need no introduction for whole generations of viewers. He was played by Jim Backus, the actor for Gilligan's Island character Thurston Howell, who at least in one episode had an evil impostor. He was also the voice for the nearsighted (and stubborn) Mister Magoo in a long-running series of cartoon shorts, including a turn as the soon-to-be-reformed Ebenezer Scrooge.
 * Brunhilda was played by actress Lisa Todd, said by IMDB to be a veteran of numerous B-Action Films in the 1960's and 70's.