Considering this year saw the reemergence of Mr. Betelegeuse in movie form, it felt appropriate to talk about the late ’80s/early ’90s cartoon show that bore the ghost with the most’s rarely repeated name. This is one of those Halloween episodes (like say, The Addams Family) that feels a bit redundant, since Beetlejuice’s vibe has always been particularly geared toward this season, hence the release of the recent sequel in September. So I’m not sure that this was a standout episode of the TV show, but I’m also not sure that this was a standout show in general, since the fact that the first episode aired barely a year and a half after the film was released makes it feel a bit like a cash-in. Still, it does capture how fun of a guy The Juice is to hang out with, especially when you take away a bit of the scummy menace he exudes in the movies.
As you may or may not be aware of, the TV show Beetlejuice takes place in a universe where Beetlejuice helps Lydia navigate the shenanigans of being a tween girl and is not out to make her family’s life a living hell. Well, when he can help it. The episode takes place in the run-up to Halloween, and Lydia wants to throw a party in order to show up her arch nemesis, the WASP-y Claire, who definitely was not a character a movie. Lydia invites several of her friends (more characters who were not in the movie) for her Halloween bash, but enlists Beetlejuice to make the party really come alive.
Beetlejuice convinces Lydia’s parents, Charles and Delia Deetz (who of course were in the movie), that he should be their party planner by disguising himself as Mr. Beetleman (not the cleverest disguise), an expert in the field of throwing spooktacular parties. Beetlejuice uses the Deetz’s money to conjure up all sorts of underworldly party supplies and treats, while using a device called “party in a can”. When he opens it, a bunch of monsters from the underworld pop out of it and it forms a vibrant party atmosphere. Lydia’s party guests are at first impressed, including Claire, though she then runs screaming from the party once she realizes everyone at the party are actual monsters and not dressed up as them, which then leaves Beetlejuice with the task of returning them all to the can from whence they came.
I mentioned the quick turnaround from the Beetlejuice movie to making this TV show, and I suppose it shows in the animation. I wouldn’t say it’s terrible, it’s just a little bland, though probably not that different from the other cartoons shown on basic cable that I grew up on. What I will say is the opening sequence is great, knowing what the Batman animated series knew, which is that you might as well use an already existing Danny Elfman theme instead of trying to create your own.
The other thing that stuck out to me about revisiting this cartoon is the way it has to make what is not entirely a kids’ movie into a kids cartoon. Sure, the movie Beetlejuice certainly had plenty of kid appeal with its inventive special effects and Lydia Deetz’s status as being many people’s entryway into goth-dom. But at the same time, most of the movie centers on the adults vying for control of the property haunted by Beetlejuice, and doesn’t give a ton of attention to whatever’s going on in Lydia’s world. Well, the show clearly dives into that a bit more, giving her typical young girl problems while also the character gets sanded down just a little bit.
While this episode felt like pretty humdrum kids stuff, I will say there was something fun about getting to spend this much time with Beetlejuice the character. I’m guessing this episode alone features about just as much Beetlejuice in terms of running time as the Tim Burton film, so getting to see him get into additional highjinks is always fun, even if the sequel gave us maybe a little more of the character than we really needed. Voice actor Stephen Ouimette does quite the convincing Micheal Keaton impression while throwing in a lot more “hey, babes” than I remember in the movie, hamming it up just as much as I’d want (there’s a literal drum hit whenever he makes a corny joke). So even if this show is fairly unremarkable in what it brings to kids’ animation, at least it does deliver the goods in delivering the guy everybody wants to see despite avoiding saying his name in order to do so.