Beetlejuice Description
The premise of the animated series was greatly changed from the film, to the point where one only superficially resembled the other. Where in the film, Beetlejuice is the antagonist who ends up nearly marrying a disgusted Lydia, in the series they are best friends, and Lydia, socially misunderstood in the living world, frequently visits him in the afterlife. The Maitlands, the most significant characters in the film, are nowhere to be found in the series. Unlike the mind-numbing bureaucracy of the movie, the afterlife was converted into the "Neitherworld", a bizarre and humorous parody of the real world, with the fact of it being the afterlife only rarely mentioned.

Episodes generally centered around the ghostly con-man Beetlejuice, his best (and only real) friend Lydia, and their adventures together in both the Neitherworld and the "real world", a fictional New England town called Peaceful Pines ("Winter River" in the film). Beetlejuice's core character, that of a ghostly con artist, remained the same, although in the cartoon he did not display the adamant lechery he did in the film outside of occasionally asking for a kiss. Lydia's character went through comparatively greater change; she became far less "goth" than she was portrayed as in the movie and was presented as an upbeat girl who simply liked "weird" things such as spiders and horror movies (although, ironically, she tends to dress more gothically in the show than in the movie.) As in the film, Lydia could summon Beetlejuice out of the Neitherworld (or go there herself) by calling his name three times or as part of a chant:

"Though I know I should be wary,
Still I venture someplace scary;
Ghostly hauntings I turn loose ...
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!"

Occasionally, there are other effects of this chant (for example, Lydia's room changing to a gothic castle, or instead of Beetlejuice appearing, sometimes she goes to the Neitherworld}.

The show's humor relied heavily on sight gags and wordplay, some of which was fairly sophisticated for its intended target audience, making it a favorite of a wide range of age groups. Many episodes, especially towards the end of the run, were parodies of famous films, books, and TV shows. He kept it clean (figuratively) in that he didn't involve drugs or alcohol outside of mentioning that an old western town didn't have a saloon because of the time slot.

Throughout the series, Beetlejuice would often try to scam residents of the Neitherworld -- and, sometimes, the "real world" as well (Lydia's parents were occasional unwitting victims of his pranks) -- through various means, whether it be via baby-sitting (in which he actually sits on the babies) or trying to beat them in a race. Only Lydia, it seemed, was immune to his tricks; it was explicitly stated at several points that she was the only person Beetlejuice couldn't deceive. It is also revealed that Beetlejuice is afraid of one thing more than anything else: Sandworms. This was hinted at in a single line of dialogue in the movie but expanded on greatly here. They appear as purple and green snake-like creatures with two pairs of eyes on top of each other and stegosaurus-like spines on their backs. Beetlejuice also has a major problem with nice things.

EPISODE GUIDE

1. Critter Sitters
2. A Dandy Handy Man
3. Out of My Mind
4. Stage Fright
5. Spooky Tree
6. Laugh of the Party
7. Worm Welcome
8. Bad Neighbor Beetlejuice
9. Campfire Ghouls
10. Pest o' the West
11. Bizarre Bazaar
12. Pat on the Back
13. Poopsie
14. It's the Pits
15. Prince of the Neitherworld
16. Quit While You're a Head
17. Cousin B.J.
18. Beetlejuice's Parents
19. Dragster of Doom
20. Scare and Scare Alike
21. Spooky Boo-tique
22. Driven Crazy
23. Scummer Vacation
24. Bewitched, Bothered & Beetlejuiced
25. Dr. Beetle & Mr. Juice
26. Running Scared
27. The Really Odd Couple
28. A-Ha!
29. Uncle B.J.'s Roadhouse
30. Scarecrow
31. The Son Dad Never Had
32. Mom's Best Friend
33. Back to School Ghoul
34. Doomie's Romance
35. Ghost to Ghost
36. Spitting Image
37. Awards to the Wise
38. The Prince of Rock and Roll
39. A Ghoul and His Money
40. Brides of Funkenstein
41. Beetledude
42. The Farmer in the Smell
43. You're History
44. Raging Skull
45. Sore Feet
46. Fast Food
47. Queasy Rider
48. How Green is My Gallery
49. Keeping Up With the Bonses
50. Pranks for the Memories
51. Caddy Shock
52. Two Heads Are Better Than None
53. Beauty and the Beetle
54. Creepy Cookies
55. Poe Pourri
56. Ear's Looking at You
57. Beetlebones
58. Smell-a-thon
59. The Miss Beauty-Juice Pageant
60. Sappiest Place on Earth
61. Brinkadoom
62. Foreign Exchange
63. Family Scarelooms
64. Them Bones, Them Bones, Them Funny Bones
65. Hotel Hello
66. Goody Two Shoes
67. Vidiots
68. Ship of Ghouls
69. Poultrygeist
70. It's a Wonderful Afterlife
71. Ghost Writer in the Sky
72. Cabin Fever
73. Highs-Ghoul Confidential
74. Rotten Sports
75. Mr. Beetlejuice Goes to Town
76. Time Flies
77. To Beetle or Not to Beetle
78. A Star is Bored
79. Oh, Brother!
80. Snugglejuice
81. In the Schticks
82. Recipe for Disaster
83. Substitute Creature
84. Ghoul of My Dreams
85. Prairie Strife
86. Moby Richard
87. The Unnatural
88. Forget Me Nuts
89. The Birdbrain of Alcatraz
90. Generally Hysterical Hospital
91. Super Zeroes
92. Beetle Geezer
93. A Very Grimm Fairy Tale
94. Wizard of Ooze
95. What Makes BJ Run
96. The Chromazone
97. It's a Big, Big, Big, Big, Ape
98. The Neitherworld's Least Wanted
99. Don't Beetlejuice and Drive
100. Robbin Juice of Sherweird Forest
101. Midnight Scum
102. Gold Rush Fever
103. Relatively Pesty
104. King BJ
105. Catmandu Got Your Tongue
106. Journey to the Centre of the Neitherworld
107. Not So Peaceful Pines
     

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