Beetlejuice cartoon

I've recently been revisiting this show, and i have to say its pretty good, especially for its time. I know its completely different from its source material, but it would be impossible to make a cartoon out of that. Theres lots of great surrealistic stuff in this show and interesting set designs, paticularly in the netherworld. It's kind of odd that its more or less forgotten now, especially since it was a huge hit when it was airing.

The lack of reruns might be a factor in that. I don't think the show has run here since the end of the 90s. And shows without reruns usually go into obscurity - see most of the Fox Kids lineup.

For those who do remember - and there are quite a few - it's available on DVD via Shout Factory. It's expensive, though.

Anyway, I haven't seen much of the show. There were 3 episodes on the recent DVD of the film. From descriptions I've read of the other episodes... I do want to check it out.

Love this cartoon. I think that it's better then the movie.

As a kid I saw the cartoon series first and then later the movie. I actually liked the cartoon series better largely because it was focused more on Beetlejuice instead of that dopey dead couple. It was the first cartoon I remember that used toilet humor.

I remembered watching this show when I was little and I used to be so scared of the theme song when it came on. But nowadays, I look at the theme song fondly and I really enjoyed this show for its bizarre nature and not being too mature in humor like the movie. I also liked the fact that Beetlejuice and Lydia were friends in this cartoon instead of enemies like in the movie.

I take the opposite approach. I can't watch the show anymore after seeing the movie, because I keep thinking, "This guy tried to kidnap and MARRY Lydia, why is she keeping him around?!" It's creepy as heck, and it ruins the whole thing.

Maybe the show takes place in an alternate universe from the film. That make you feel better?

No, because the first episode mentions the events from the film as taking place about a year ago.

Shit. I'd never seen that episode, so you got me there.

When all else fails, "It's just a show, you should really just relax..."

Also, they had to make this more kid-friendly (since having Beetlejuice mention about how he tried to marry Lydia wouldn't be good for the series).

The first episode says that Ledia's known Beetlejuice for a year, but that doesn't mean that the events of the movie are canon with the cartoon.

And this was all made because this show was made pre-Ren And Stimpy, which pretty much changed EVERYTHING about what's allowed on a kid's show. If it was post-Ren And Stimpy, they might have mentioned more of Beetlejuice's more untoward actions.

They would never get away with that even after Ren and Stimpy came out.

The ghosts of the dead couple aren't around anywhere or are even mentioned, and Lydia's attitude is highly different from the one she has in the movie, so I always assumed it was an Alternate Universe. Heck, even BJ's portrayal doesn't mesh that well with that of Michael Keaton's.

IIRC, Lydia's parents already knew about BJ by the movie's end, but they are unaware of his existence in the cartoon, as well.

I also tend to look at this as an alternate universe to the movie, since the movie would have been too mature for smaller kids to handle, although I tend to look at this as what Beetlejucie would be like if it was geared towards children.

I'm actually surprised that the Maitlands aren't mentioned at all in this series, since they were major characters in the movie. I guess the creators found out that the Maitlands took too much screen time away from Beetlejuice that they had to take them out of the cartoon series in order to make Beetlejuice the major character.

The Maitlands had a complete character arc in the movie, and frankly there wasn't that much left to do with them after that.

You do have a point there! Even if the Maitlands were in the cartoon, what could they do? They can't opposed Beetlejuice even if they wanted to since Beetlejuice would be best friends with Lydia at that point and they could have taken away Beetlejuice's spotlight again if they did appear in the cartoon, so I guess there would be no reason to have them in the cartoon, although they could have mentioned them a bit in the cartoon.

Aside from the intro, this was a very disturbing cartoon based on a disturbing movie. I did not like it one bit when I was younger.

Well, mes amis, I finally stopped pussy-footing around and finally watched the complete series DVD of this show I bought several months ago...

And what do I think? Pretty damn good for its time - and that's not a putdown...

You have to admire something that throws everything it can at you - fourth-wall jokes, bad puns, extremely squashy and stretchy slapstick, pop culture humor, gags only adults will get... This is a compliment, by the way. A lot of other good cartoons did the same.

And it manages to translate the character of Beetlejuice pretty well into toon form - he's about as madcap and energetic as he was in the film. This is probably due to the animation, which is some of the best I've ever seen for a cartoon of its period; it squashes and stretches and moves with no remorse.

And wouldja believe the show was dubbed "the worst ever" for mindless violence by some parent censor group? I don't see that; there's a hell of a lot of slapstick but it's harmless. There's also some gross-out humor here, even before Ren And Stimpy burst onto the scene.

Overall, for what it is, it's highly enjoyable! Though I have noticed some differences in the ABC and Fox Kids iterations of the show, and I kind of prefer the Fox Kids version... still, both are enjoyable.

EDIT: A bit of a historical note - this was one of the first voice roles for Tara Strong, who played Lydia's rival, the Alpha Bitch.

edited 13th Oct '14 3:03:36 PM by Aldo930

"Though I have noticed some differences in the ABC and Fox Kids iterations of the show,"

It was intentional.

Funny story I was familiar with the cartoon (when it was being syndicated on, I believe, Nickelodeon) before I saw the movie. So I thought the movie was a live action adaptation of the cartoon. Especially since I first caught the movie on tv around the exorcism scene/Beetlejuice's proposal to Lydia so I thought Beetlejuice had "gone bad" and was taking his crush on Lydia to the next level by trying to marry her.

And given that Lydia's either younger in the cartoon or just looks like a kid there, that means that Betelgeuse's obsession and kidnapping of her is now so much creepier.

Hey, is anyone reading the new Edward Scissorhands comic book miniseries? ^note  Yes, there really is a comic book miniseries detailing what happened after the events of that movie. Google "edward scissorhands idw".

If so, did the artstyle remind you guys of the Beeteljuice cartoon?

The one where Edward falls in love with the granddaughter?

???

Er, don't know if that does happen, but yes, the granddaughter is featured prominently.