Cartoon Sunday: Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

How's it going lurkers? I don't have any Easter specials to share, unless this qualifies:

Mallrats "Jay & Silent Bob Attack The Easter Bunny" (1995)

 

Please forgive me Lord, for I have sinned just before you arise from the grave and fight the Easter Bunny on your day. I hope you don't swear vengeance on me.

Meanwhile, this Cartoon Sunday, I present to you Beetlejuice!

Beetlejuice [Cartoon] (1989)

In case you haven't already heard, nearly 3 decades later, Tim Burton is working on a sequel for the movie, Beetlejuice.

Beetlejuice [Movie] (1988)

Burton has been trying to make the sequel, since 1990. However, the filmmaker's plans have always been backburned. He created 22 FILMS, since 1990. When Burton did not assign his screenwriters to write for different movies, there were other screenwriters, who rejected his idea of making a sequel called, Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian.

In fact, Kevin Smith rejected Warner Bros. Entertainment's offer to rewrite the script 18 years ago. Smith asked, "Didn't we say all we needed to say in the first Beetlejuice? Must we go tropical?"

Kevin Smith has a valid point. Regardless if Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian would've been made 2 decades ago, it would've sucked ass. It's not that I hate watching all of Tim Burton's films because I don't. 

The man has produced some brilliant movies, over the years. At the same time, Burton has this tendency to turn something classic into a contrived laughingstock.

Take the original 1966 Gothic Soap Opera Dark Shadows, for example. Not every show or novel is meant to be a Comedy. Tim Burton should learn when to leave something alone by NOT ruining it with contrived tomfoolery.

Luckily, Beetlejuice was never meant to be a Drama. The movie and the cartoon both had their moments in history.

Why create a sequel almost 30 years later? Is he that desperate for cash?

Apply those same questions to every single reboot/remake, that has been released throughout this last decade. Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder may be excited to reprise their roles as Beetlejuice and Lydia Deetz, but I don't think they want their characters and acting careers to be total jokes. 

Winona really doesn't need and want anymore public humiliation. Wasn't her shoplifting scandal enough?

Since we are on the topic of Beetlejuice, the cartoon was somewhat different from the original Beetlejuice movie. Some characters were removed and some character roles were reassigned. 

Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis played The Maitlands, in the movie yet were non-existent in the cartoon.

Originally, The Maitlands were Lydia Deetz's dead friends, who pranked her father and step-mother's friends. Even though The Maitlands and several other characters from the movie were removed, they were replaced by additional characters in the cartoon.

All the while, Beetlejuice became Lydia's dead prankster friend and his character was softened in the cartoon. In the movie, Beetlejuice was her perverted and antagonistic groom. Lydia Deetz also went from originally having more of a pessimistic, Emo Goth personality to being more optimistic.

On the other hand, Lydia's parents went from originally being aware of Beetlejuice's existence in the movie to being oblivious to him, in the cartoon. At least Burton kept Beetlejuice as being a scamming, shapeshifting, Poltergeist, Lydia as a kooky Goth photographer with a fascination for what was called all things "strange and unusual," and kept her father and step-mother's characteristics the same.

When Beetlejuice released in the movie theaters, I was nearly 6 years old. By the time the cartoon originally premiered on ABC, I was 7. Beetlejuice falls under the categories of Dark Humor, Slapstick, and Horror Fantasy Adventure.

Honestly, I believe that Beetlejuice overall triggered my "inner Goth," at an early age. 

Just like I dressed as Pizzazz from Jem for Halloween during the 1980's, I dressed as Lydia Deetz for Halloween as well as, during the early '90s.

BTW: I still have my talking Beetlejuice doll, that my mother bought for my 7th Christmas in 1989.

Mike Mozart's Talking Beetlejuice Doll Review (2011)

Woah! It's like my life just flashed before my eyes. With all that I've said, this Cartoon Sunday, I present Beetlejuice's pilot episode, "Critter Sitters." Simply click on the following link:

Beetlejuice Pilot "Critter Sitters" (1989)

As a bonus, I'll leave you all with the dinner scene from the movie, Beetlejuice. In the following scene, The Maitlands possess Lydia's parents and her step-mother's friends.

Beetlejuice Dinner Scene (1988)