I’m a sucker for anything Tim Burton, so when I discovered the animated Beetlejuice series last August I was thoroughly stoked and also thoroughly disappointed that I wasn’t exposed to this masterpiece as a child. It’s all good, because now I have my entire adult life to overwatch and get sick of it. It’s my own personal Halloween tradition to watch the Beetlejuice movie on Halloween and I’ve been doing so for as long as I have memories of this holiday. Previously I had to wait anxiously for the entire month of October to watch one of my favourite movies. Well, now all my problems are solved because I can throw on a 20-minute episode of the animated Beetlejuice to satisfy my appetite.
The characters Beetlejuice and Lydia are not voiced by Michael Keaton or Winona Ryder, like in the movie, but their replacements, Stephen Ouimette as Beetlejuice and Alyson Court as Lydia, do a good job of sounding the same. The show features Beetlejuice and Lydia’s adventures in the “Neitherworld” and the normal world, with Beetlejuice often helping Lydia through her problems in school, and alternatively, Lydia being a voice of reason during Beetlejuice’s immature and wild adventures.
While targeted at kids, this show is great to watch at any age. Lydia retains her mature, collected, and intelligent demeanour while Beetlejuice is his usual sassy, cheesy pun-filled self. (I would make a rough estimate that 80 per cent of his dialogue is puns; there’s actually a 40-minute compilation video of all them on YouTube.) Often he shapeshifts to match up with his puns, like in the episode “Snugglejuice,” when he claims that he’s really got to “catch up” and turns himself into a bottle of ketchup. The plot of the show progressively gets weirder and more obscure as the seasons go on, starting with everyday issues in the early episodes and more political and social commentary as the show aged.
What I really love about the show is the friendship between Beetlejuice and Lydia. Beetlejuice affectionately refers to Lydia as “Babes” and is genuinely very attached to her, knowing that he’s pretty lost without her guidance while also bringing some goofy joy to Lydia’s life.
The animation in Beetlejuice is creative and innovative. Often different styles are used. On TVs in the Neitherworld, for example, digital animation is used to depict super creepy characters often trying to sell ridiculous products such as worm deodorant or exploding thermometers that can be bought at “inconvenient stores.” The TV often borders on surrealist short clips and is sometimes oddly disturbing though you can’t quite place your finger on why. For example, in the episode “Prince of the Underworld,” Lydia and Prince Victor go see a film called The Crying Clown, which features close-up shots of a low-budget, 3D-animated clown crying in front of a pepperoni pizza. Something about it just doesn’t seem right, but it’s still funny. This short, random clip really does sum up the essence of the series quite well. Beetlejuice is well worth the watch for all ages and is a Halloween month classic.
Darien Johnsen is a UFV alumni who obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with double extended minors in Global Development Studies and Sociology in 2020. She started writing for The Cascade in 2018, taking on the role of features editor shortly after.
She’s passionate about justice, sustainable development, and education.
