Beetlejuice (TV series): Difference between revisions

{{About|the TV series|the film|Beetlejuice|the video game|Beetlejuice (video game)}}

{{Infobox television

| show_name = Beetlejuice

==Plot==

===Episode formula===

Episodes generally centered on the ghostly con-man Beetlejuice, his best (and only true) friend Lydia, and their adventures together in both the Neitherworld and the "real world", a fictional [[New England]] town called Peaceful Pines ("Winter River" in the film). As in the film, Lydia could summon Beetlejuice out of the Neitherworld (or go there herself) by calling his name three times, sometimes as part of a set chant:

 

 

==Series run==

The series was a breakout hit for [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] in its initial season, and later became one of the first animated series to air on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]'s weekday afternoon [[Fox Kids|children's lineup]]. This led to a situation whereby ''Beetlejuice'' was being seen Monday through Friday on Fox while still remaining on ABC's Saturday morning schedule, making it one of the few shows in American television history to be aired concurrently on two different broadcast networks. ''Beetlejuice'' has aired in re-runs on [[Nickelodeon]] and [[Cartoon Network]] (where the film was a frequent presence), and aired on Warner Bros. and [[AOL]]'s new broadband internet channel [[In2TV|Toontopia TV]]. The series aired on [[Teletoon Retro]] in Canada from fall 2009 until June 2011, but came back in April 2013.

 

==Characters==

===Main characters===

* '''Beetlejuice''' (voiced by [[Stephen Ouimette]]) - A [[ghost]], [[ghoul]], and/or [[poltergeist]], and the main and title character of the show. He enjoys eating bugs and is known throughout the Neitherworld as a prankster. He is the oldest son of Gnat and Bee Juice (who nag him to get a job and to keep clean, and who always address his as "Junior"), and he has a "disgustingly cheerful" younger brother, called Donny Juice (who, whether he realizes it or not, gets on his older brother's nerves). Beetlejuice takes more after his mother in looks, (but he is taller than her), and inherits his crooked teeth from his father. Beetlejuice's usual attire consists of a matching suit with vertical black-&-white stripes, a [[magenta]]-colored shirt and a black tie, and a pair of [[beatle boot]]s. His name-proper is "Beetle Juice Jr.", but is known better throughout the Neitherworld as "Beetlejuice" (all one word); his name derives from the star, [[Betelgeuse]], which – coincidentally, given Beetlejuice's love of foul odours and "armpit music" – is the ''armpit'' of the constellation [[Orion (constellation)|Orion]]. Beetlejuice, (often addressed as ''Beej'' or ''BJ'' by Lydia for simplicity's sake, and because the results of his name being said aloud three times), is able to change shape, transform and conjure objects, teleport, and perform other feats of magic, although his powers can be reduced by various circumstances, such as encounters with Sandworms (despite the fact that he has enough power to subdue or [[Odor|repel]] them with ease) or when his head becomes separated from his body. At times, he must pause to think of exactly how to use his powers to escape a precarious situation unscathed. Due to what is later described in the series as his "juice" (his inborn source of magic), whenever Beetlejuice utters aloud a [[figure of speech]], he or his surroundings change to act on the pun (for example, if he says he is tired, he will transform into a tire; if he says he is ''flat broke'', he transforms into a flat disc that falls to the ground and shatters; on one occasion, in reference to his own power, he declares "''This literal translation stuff slays me!''" and giant letters reading "'''Literal Translation Stuff'''" then fall from the sky to crush him). Almost all of his transformations maintain the black-and-white striped pattern he wears on his suit, although sometimes the stripes are coloured depending on the transformation. Though many Neitherworld denizens have some magic, it is Beetlejuice's greatly superior power (no real cause for it is ever given) that affords him the title—albeit mostly self-asserted—of "The Ghost With The Most" (another line borrowed from the movie); in fact, on multiple occasions Beetlejuice was able to effortlessly subdue a number of supernatural beings, and his dis-corporeal, self-sentient brain once claims that Beetlejuice's power is more than enough to conquer the whole Neitherworld. Because of that power, almost everyone in the Neitherworld is fair game for his pranks, though no more so than he himself, since he is not immune to careless use of his power; for example, he was once tricked by his enemies into saying "I'm coming apart at the seams!" which caused him to break into several pieces, which his enemies then stole and scattered to different places in the Neitherworld rendering him helpless (as Beetlejuice can only use his powers when all of his body parts are together). Also, if all of his body parts are not reassembled by sundown, he will "melt away". Thankfully, with Lydia's help, he soon gathered all of his body parts and was able to "pull himself together". Sometimes Beetlejuice will mix up one of his transformations, due to [[homophone]]-based confusion (when Lydia told him to turn into a stake to fight off Count Me-In, he turned into a flank steak). At times, various of his body parts (including his feet and his entire torso) manifested minds of their own, independent of Beetlejuice's control, with his brain and even his entire [[skeletal system]] having abandoning him once. Beetlejuice's main pastime is pulling various pranks on the other denizens of the Neitherworld such as Jacques, Ginger, The Monster Across the Street, Poopsie, the Mayor and in the Living World it is Lydia's rival Claire Brewster, Lydia's parents or sometimes Lydia herself. In the episode "Scary Fools Day", Beetlejuice and Lydia had a Scare War with each of them playing pranks on each other throughout the episode. Lydia only succeeded in scaring Beetlejuice once with the prank that his mother was coming to stay with him for a month, but Beetlejuice successfully pranked Lydia at least four times using his much more effective powers. These pranks included popping out of her desk drawer as a jack-in-the-box, pretending to shred her school essay, disguising himself as Claire Brewster who would be staying with her while her parents were on a six-month holiday, and using a sock puppet and a lamp to create the illusion of a Sandworm. Beetlejuice's pranks on many seem to cause them great embarrassment or damage, but for Lydia however, his pranks are only done to tease her, not to cause harm, which shows he cares for her. Lydia in fact, seems to be the only person who has any control over Beetlejuice. He even said in one episode he would do anything for her, and she in turn reciprocates his feelings. Beetlejuice is also constantly coming up with get-rich-quick con schemes to get money, as he dreads having to get a job, and in later episodes (particularly in the second half of the fourth season), Beetlejuice's greediness becomes so intense that he starts to overlook his friends and family, and even when Lydia openly scolds him, Beetlejuice shows unbelievable reluctance or unwillingness to give up of his schemes. His favourite foods are insects of various types, especially beetles, and worms. In one episode, however, he gets a job as a scarecrow on a beetle farm. When he finally gets his chance to eat the beetles one is cheering his name in admiration and Beetlejuice, overcome with guilt, finds he cannot eat them. Acts like this prove that Beetlejuice has more of a heart than he likes to think. Beetlejuice also loves causing mayhem in the Neitherworld and being filthy, and this last makes Beetlejuice have a pathological and psychotic hatred of baths (at one point, when Poopsie once waters him (Beetlejuice) with a hose, Beetlejuice went berserk with fury and was nearly going to eat Poopsie). Despite this cynical and childish attitude, Beetlejuice prove to be a profound and insightful person, frequently reciting quotes of philosophical and humanitarian importance (but of course, Beetlejuice [[Hypocrisy|rarely follow his own lessons and lectures]]). The things he hates include Sandworms, cleanliness, and anything "''cute''". He expresses his likes and dislikes via variations on a single [[catchphrase]], as in "''[[Nerd]] humour...you know '''I''' love it!''" or "''Sandworms...you know '''I''' hate 'em!''" Beetlejuice's origins are rather fuzzy. On one hand, he frequently claims to be dead, a ghost, (having died centuries before—though his references are often hundreds of years apart{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}}), which implies a prior life in the "real world". Yet some episodes show his parents residing in the Neitherworld, and it is apparently there that he was born to and raised by them: there are, for example, photos of him in the Neitherworld as a baby—-showing him with his stock ghostly complexion and bizarre snake-like tongue—-and tales of his youth already manifesting his trademark personality. One possible explanation may relate to his saying something about his parents "making him feel like a kid again" and being unsure how to fix it without his growing up all over again; another is that continuity was not of key importance in the series. He have in fact have been 'reborn' in the Neitherworld after his death in the real world. More likely, the creators probably changed it to avoid scaring off viewers; (in later airings, he is shown in new animation in the opening leaving his grave as a corpse; the original opening for the first three seasons featured him producing stripes on his clothes), or the writers simply were not keeping track of plot details. A number of times, Beetlejuice interacted with Lydia's parents in the "real world" of Peaceful Pines, always under the name of "Mr. Beetleman", and in a couple of instances, he performed a gender change on himself to become a teenage girl about Lydia's age at Lydia's school as "Mr. Beetleman's" younger female relative "Betty Juice", along with once or twice appearing as the male gender "Cousin BJ" claiming to be on Delia's side of the family. In "Out of My Mind" it is revealed that Beetlejuice loves to pull pranks with [[spaghetti]]. In one fourth-season episode ("Substitute Creature"), he appeared at Lydia's school as visiting teacher "Professor Beetleberg".