Review of Beetlejuice

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??