Beetlejuice

As a kid, Beetlejuice: The Animated Series was my gateway into the weird and wonderful. I didn't fully grasp the Tim Burton film it was based on, but the cartoon? That was my jam. It was spooky without being scary, funny without being too grown-up, and just the right amount of bizarre to keep my little brain buzzing.

Looking back now, I'd give it a solid 7/10. The show takes the skeletal framework of the movie and spins it into something entirely its own. Beetlejuice is less menacing and more mischievous-a fourth-wall-breaking, pun-slinging ghost with a flair for the theatrical. His friendship with Lydia is oddly wholesome, even if their adventures in the Neitherworld are anything but.

The animation is bold and surreal, with twisted landscapes and grotesque characters that feel like they crawled out of a haunted sketchbook. As a kid, I loved how unpredictable it was-one minute you're in a sandworm-infested desert, the next you're at a monster beauty pageant. It didn't always make sense, but that was part of the fun.

Rewatching it now, I appreciate how clever some of the writing is, even if the humor leans heavily on wordplay and slapstick. It's not deep, but it's inventive. Lydia's goth-girl intellect and Beetlejuice's chaotic energy make for a dynamic duo that somehow works, even when the plot goes off the rails.

It's not for everyone, but if you like your cartoons with a dash of macabre and a whole lot of personality, Beetlejuice delivers. For me, it's a nostalgic ride through the weird side of childhood-one I'm glad I took.

Want to dig into more spooky animated series or explore how cartoons handled the supernatural back in the day? I've got a few eerie picks up my sleeve.

I love Beetlejuice it is so funny I wish they bring it back just the repeats. It was on cartoon network then they stop showing it. My favorites are when BJ made this cologne.That changes people to a new person. It made BJ from a nasty ghost to a clean ghost. It changed Lydia from girl to bad girl that drove the neitherworld crazy. Another one was when she had a halloween party to scare a snobby girl at her school named Claire. BJ decorated the party from stuff from his world. Plus he bought a product called Party People in a can. That turned to giant monsters on a full moon. The show is just plain funny I hope they put it on DVD soon I will buy it for my kids to watch.

I remember when i was little i used to watch this show all the time, and from what i can remember of it It was a great show. Taking after the great movie. I mean most of the time when you make shows after movies they suck but this show was really great!

This show is largely responsible for making me the twisted person I am today. Where to begin? First off, don't expect a whole lot of resemblance to the movie. A few elements carried over, like the Sandworms, but there are no Maitlands, Lydia is much younger, and Beetlejuice has been rewritten from a sleaze-ball into...well, okay, he's still a sleaze-ball, but a LOVABLE sleaze-ball. He is Lydia's best friend (though how they met is never explained) and in addition to being able to summon him by saying his name three times, she can also send herself into his world, the Neitherworld, which introduces us to new characters such as Jacques the fitness-crazed skeleton, Ginger the tap-dancing spider, and the Monster Across the Street. Of course the real reason to watch the show is Beetlejuice himself.

The quality of the animation itself is superb, especially considering that this was a late eighties/early nineties cartoon. Compare the quality of the animation to other Saturday morning shows at the time and you'll see that this was top-notch. Heck, they even made use of CGI years before it became commonplace. The writing, too, has held up surprisingly well over the years. True, the show relies a lot on puns and sight gags, so if you don't like that sort of thing, this isn't for you. But they also happen to be GOOD puns and sight gags.

All in all, it's definitely more than a worthy successor to the movie. Why hasn't it been released on DVD yet??

I remember when I was around 7 years old, I got to watch the cartoon version of Beetlejuice. Boy, I loved that show! I miss it so much.

I loved the way Beetlejuice was drawn as a cartoon character. He looks a lot like the Beetlejuice character from the live-action movie (take note that the movie version was made BEFORE the cartoon series).

Lydia was a cute goth-girl character. I hate to say this, but she looks a lot cuter as a cartoon character than in the movie. But this doesn't mean that I like the cartoon series better than the movie; I think both the cartoon & the movie are equally great.

And best of all, this show was even created by Tim Burton, the director of the original Beetle Juice movie! It's very rare that directors would actually be a part of a TV show that is based on their films.

I wish I could say more about this show, but I haven't seen enough episodes and it's been a long time since I've seen this show. Hopefully the show's episodes will get released on DVD, because I will definitely buy the episodes.

I give this show a 9/10.