After the success of Tim Burton‘s belated Beetlejuice sequel, Michael Keaton’s ghost with the most is set to return again for a third big-screen outing in the near future. That a threequel is so inevitable now is impressive, considering it took 36 years for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to come out (via a couple of false starts). But if you’re a big enough fan of the franchise – and perhaps if you were watching kids’ TV at the end of the 1980s, you’ll know that Hollywood’s most famous poltergeist actually returned to screens one year after the original movie.
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Starting in 1989, Beetlejuice made the most unlikely cartoon star across 94 episodes, 4 seasons, and a little over 2 years. His self-titled animated show aired initially on ABC, and then Fox for the longer final season, and now, finally, the show is returning to streaming, thanks to a bumper Tubi animation deal. As officially confirmed by the streamer, Beetlejuice will join the streaming platform’s line-up in the coming months, and fans will be able to watch for free.
Beetlejuice is Different from the Movie, But It’s Still Great
When you think about it, the idea of Beetlejuice as a cartoon doesn’t exactly work on paper, especially with the titular character elevated to the starring role. Burton’s movie was outrageous, somewhat perverse, and considerably darker than you’d expect from a kids’ show. Some of the supernatural elements – and particularly Burton’s grotesque afterlife waiting room segment – were legitimately the stuff of nightmares. I know this because I watched it when I was way too young. But I was strange and unusual, and shouldn’t be used as a model for bringing up your kids. Naturally, the cartoon was toned down considerably, and the version of Beetlejuice here was actually more of a hero.
He also wasn’t played by Michael Keaton: the cartoon brought in voice actor Stephen Ouimette, and alongside him, Alyson Court played Lydia Deetz in place of Winona Ryder (she’d later go on to voice Jubilee in X-Men: The Animated Series and Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil games). Both were excellent, and Ouimette’s Beetlejuice voice is actually a lot more like the version used in the modern musical than Keaton’s gruffer version.
The cartoon didn’t shy away from Burton’s weirdness, and in fact, the animation allowed for some more imaginative sequences than even the director’s fondness for mixed media and live-action did. Decades on, it’s still a joy, and the fact that it’s been impossible to stream for a while was always a bit of a tragedy. Now, thanks to Tubi, we’ll all get to relive the glory days of the series as we wait for another movie.
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