Tim Burton Tribute: Beetlejuice: The Animated Series

The movie Beetlejuice became a critical and financial success for Tim Burton. With a budget of $15 million dollars, he was able to turn Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren's story about a crazy and devious "bio-exorcist" into an instant hit and making over $73 million dollars. For many people, Beetlejuice was the movie that put Tim Burton on the map. So, when you have a huge hit such as Beetlejuice or any other movie in the 80's, what's next? Why, make it into an animated series, of course! So on September 9, 1989, three months after the release of Batman, Tim Burton created, developed, and executive produced an animated series simply known as Beetlejuice.



The show is about a goth girl named Lydia Deetz who is a bit abnormal among the real world. She goes to an all girls' school called Miss Shannon's School for Girls where she is seen as odd and eccentric compared to the other girls. Afterwards, she goes to her room and says a chant that ends with her saying "Beetlejuice" three times and she ends up calling him and entering into the Netherworld. Beetlejuice is portrayed as a crazy, eccentric, over-the-top conman who is hated by everyone in the Netherworld, except Lydia and his neighbors. His neighbors consist of Ginger, a sweet, kind, tap-dancing spider, Jacques LaLean, a French skeleton, and The Monster Across the Street, a tall hairy monster who dislikes Beetlejuice, but likes and respects Lydia. In each episode, Beetlejuice and Lydia travel around the Netherworld seeing all the crazy, spooky creatures that live there. Also Beetlejuice ends up getting into trouble whether he's trying to scam a monster or does something crazy to make money and Lydia scolds him for being manipulating. However, Beetlejuice and Lydia continue to be the best of friends.



So yeah, if you were a huge fan of the movie, you can plainly see that the series has almost little to nothing compared to the movie. First of all, in the movie, Beetlejuice was the antagonist of the series and only knew Lydia because he wanted to forcefully marry her to have the ability to cause chaos in the real world. In the cartoon, Beetlejuice and Lydia are best friends. In the cartoon, there are no mentions of Adam and Barbera Maitland, Otho, Juno, or The Handbook for the Recently Deceased, the book that was Lydia used to communicate with the dead in the first place. Also Lydia's parents have no idea about Beetlejuice or the Netherworld, while in the movie they do know about it. Beetlejuice is portrayed as a goofier, more joking con artist in the cartoon compared to the movie. He was toned down due to the cartoon being for kids.

Also the cartoon focuses its humor on gags and movie/TV references as oppose to the movie which had a touch of dark comedy. The Netherworld looks completely different as well. We don't even see the afterlife office and the desert where the sandworms are has been expanded. Also, every town and section of the Netherworld contains different terrains of land that is oddly drawn and animated.



However, just because it's almost nothing like the movie, it doesn't mean you shouldn't watch it. It's actually a pretty good animated series on its own. I mean, sure it's not like The Real Ghostbusters in which it continues the story from Ghostbusters seeing our heroes fight more ghosts, Beetlejuice contains some really unique and creative aspecs that make it stand on its own. First and foremost, the opening song to the show is awesome! It's truly one of my favorite openings to any cartoon ever. Danny Elfman, who did the music for the movie, did the music for the animated series and it's captures perfectly the strangeness of the show. Also, Tim Burton did the designs of the characters and the Netherworld which are strange, odd, and creepy at the same time. It has his style written all over it. Not to mention some of the jokes and gags can be pretty funny. The jokes are really clever and can ride over kids' heads when seeing it. It was only when I was older when I understood what they meant.



The show lasted for 4 seasons ending its run on May 7, 1992. Overall, if you were a fan of the movie and you skipped on the cartoon, give it a chance. While the cartoon has no connections to the movie, it does have enough original ideas and quirkiness to stand out on its own. A lot of people were introduced to the Beetlejuice cartoon first and had built an interest of seeing the movie. At least Tim Burton was responsible for having the ability to do a cartoon based on his movie. Trust me, it could've been worse. It could've been a crappy movie based cartoon in which it has none of the charm from the source material.



My point exactly.

I would recommend checking this cartoon out. It's one of the best animated series based on a movie.



That's all for now. Tune in next time as head over to Gotham City with Batman.



Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Tim Burton Tribute: Beetlejuice with Kevin G.

Hey everyone, welcome back to our tribute of the eccentric Tim Burton. Today's next movie is the 1988 comedy horror classic Beetlejuice.



After the huge financial success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Burton had gained the reputation of being a "bankable" director. While he was working on a new script of a new Batman movie with Sam Hamm, he was giving more scripts for him to direct on. Still uninspired and uninterested due to their lack of originality and imagination, he refused on a good majority of them. One of the scripts he was given to direct was the 1988 comedy Hot to Trot.



Thank God Burton refused to direct this movie because if he did, his career would have slightly tarnished with that awful comedy and we may not have gotten Batman. More on that movie some other time.



One day, David Geffen had given Burton a script of Beetlejuice written by Michael McDowell. Burton loved the script and agreed to direct the film. With me today is a huge Tim Burton fan and the co-founder of this very blog, my buddy Kevin G. How are you today, Kev?

Kevin- Pretty good, Pat. Let's get started.

Patricia- Alright then. When did you first watch Beetlejuice?

Kevin- I first saw it on VHS that my mom rented on a video store. I saw it and I fell completely in love with it. Ever since then, I would say that it is one of my favorite movies of all time: my top 5.

Patricia- I first saw it on TV when I was 6-years-old. It was the strangest movie I had ever seen. I had never seen anything like it. The monsters, the ghosts, the decorations, the effects, it was so creepy, yet so funny at the same time. So let's see if this movie still has the creepy and hilarious chops as we discuss Beetlejuice.



I know that you're not a big fan of discussing a movie word for word, Kev, so I'll give a quick synopsis on what the movie is about. Then we can talk about our favorite things about it.

Kevin- Sounds good to me. That way if people are interested in it, they can see it for themselves and we can talk about what we love about it.

Patricia- Sounds good. The story is about a couple named Adam and Barbara Maitland (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis). After moving in to a nice town in Massachusetts, they settle into a nice home and go out for a nice drive. However, they get themselves into a car accident and are now dead. They don't realize that they're dead until a few years later when many things have changed. An eccentric family moves in to their house and decorate it in a strange way that Adam and Barbara don't find appealing. They decide to scare the family away, but it turns out more difficult. They ask for the assistance of a ghoul named Beetlejuice. They would call his name three times and there he would appear in front of them. He was a psychotic nut job who can scare anyone like there was no tomorrow, but at the same time very threatening, pervertic, and funny. Throughout the entire movie, we are introduced to the characters, the different worlds, and the relationship between the couple and the family's daughter Lydia.



Kevin- Agreed. Beetlejuice was always fun to watch. He would always steal the scene everytime he made an appearance. Michael Keaton did a great job portraying this insane character. I especially love the scene in which he met Barbera and Adam for the first time.



Patricia- What did you think of the soundtrack, the designs, and the stop motion effects?

Kevin- I absouletely love the soundtrack to Beetlejuice. I even have it on my iPod alongside with the soundtrack to Pee-wee's Big Adventure. I love Danny Elfman's music: it perfectly complements everything that the movie shows. The designs are true Burton-esque giving a really creepy atmosphere. From the underworld to our world, he seems to bring about his style into every scene. The stop motion effects were truly ahead of their time: the scenes with the sandworms and Beetlejuice turing into a snake scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. Looking at it now, it still looks absouletely amazing and creepy. There's a reason why Tim Burton is one of my favorite filmmakers.

Patricia- Well said, Kev.

Kevin- As for the casting, it was absolutely great. Interesting fact about Winona Rider. She didn't need to audition for the role of Lydia. When she was waiting to be called in to audition, she sat down to a strange looking man whom she assumed to be one of the producers. They sat down and talk about metal bands for the past 20 minutes. Little did she know that the man she was talking to was Tim Burton himself. He found something special about her and gave her the role of Lydia.



Patricia- I did not know that. Thank you for sharing, Kev.

Kevin- Sure thing, Patty.

Patricia- There was also an animated series of Beetlejuice that Burton had produced after Beetlejuice was released. Despite it being completely different, I find the series to be really cool.

Kevin- I do too. As a kid, I had loved everything about it. I loved the opening song, the designs, the new characters, and the humor. While Beetlejuice and Lydia are portrayed as best friends in the cartoon, they had really good chemistry together.



Patricia- So Kev, do you recommend Beetlejuice?

Kevin- Without a doubt! Beetlejuice is a combination of funny humor, scary scenes, beautiful designs, incredible music, memorable characters, and fantastic stop motion animation. When it came out, it was ahead of its time. Nowadays, it's an undeniable classic! If you haven't seen this movie, stop reading this review and watch it NOW!!!!!

Patricia- There was supposed to be a sequel to Beetlejuice called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. However, it has been in developmental hell for over 20 years. Now there's rumors that it will finally be greenlit. What do you think of it?

Kevin- Well, I heard that Michael Keaton will return as Beetlejuice, which is awesome! But Seth Graham Smith, the guy who wrote those books Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is doing the script. I have mixed feelings now that I know he's doing this script since Dark Shadows and the movie adaptation of Vampire Hunter didn't do so well on the box office. But I'm hoping it will be awesome! We'll just see.

Patricia- That should do it. Kevin, thank you so much for joining me in this review.

Kevin- Sure thing, Pat.

That's all for now. Tune in next time as we continue the tribute with a look at Beetlejuice: The Animated Series.



Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia and Kevin