| “ | IT'S SHOWTIME! | „ |
| ~ Beetlejuice's catchphrase. |
| “ | Ah. Well. I attended Juilliard. I'm a graduate of Harvard Business School. I traveled quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and I had a pretty good time during that. I've seen The Exorcist about 167 times! And it keeps getting funnier EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT! NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TALKING TO A DEAD GUY! NOW, WHAT DO YOU THINK?! You think I'm qualified? | „ |
| ~ Beetlejuice on his qualifications. |
| “ | Here's a tip, hotshot. Never trust a dead guy. | „ |
| ~ Beetlejuice to Robin in Teen Titans Go! |
| “ | What do you think of this? (shows a scary face to Barbara and Adam) You like it? | „ |
| ~ Beetlejuice to Barbara and Adam Maitland |
Betelgeuse, also publicly known as Beetlejuice, is the titular main antagonist of the 1988 live-action film and titular protagonist of the animated cartoon of the same name. He is the main antagonist of the film, but has a more heroic role in the cartoon as the main protagonist.
He is voiced by Stephen Ouimette in the cartoon, he also is played by Michael Keaton in the movie.
Appearance
Beetlejuice's appearance is consistent with what a deceased corpse generally looks like: his skin is decayed with a pale chalky coloring and his yellow eyes are surrounded by thick black rings of decay. Furthermore his teeth and fingernails are severely decreased and discolored. He also has unkept green hair. His outfit consists of matching black and white striped pants and a blazer, with a white undershirt and black necktie.
Personality
Beetlejuice's pranks on many seem to cause them great embarrassment or damage, but for Lydia, his pranks are only done to tease her, not to cause harm, which shows he cares for her. In fact, Lydia seems to be the only person who has any control over Beetlejuice. He even said in one episode he would do anything for her, and she, in turn, reciprocates his feelings.
Beetlejuiceis also constantly coming up with get-rich-quick con schemes to get money, as he dreads having to get a job, and in later episodes (particularly in the second half of the fourth season), Beetlejuice's greediness becomes so intense that he starts to overlook his friends and family, and even when Lydia openly scolds him, Betelgeuse shows unbelievable reluctance or unwillingness to give up of his schemes. His favorite foods are insects of various types, especially beetles, and worms.
Beetlejuice also loves causing mayhem in the Neitherworld and being filthy, and this last makes Beetlejuice have a pathological and psychotic hatred of baths (at one point, when Poopsie once waters him (Betelgeuse) with a hose, Beetlejuice went berserk with fury and was nearly going to eat Poopsie). Despite this cynical and childish attitude, Beetlejuice proves to be a profound and insightful person, frequently reciting quotes of philosophical and humanitarian importance (but of course, Beetlejuice rarely follows his own lessons and lectures).
The things he hates include Sandworms, cleanliness, and anything "cute". He expresses his likes and dislikes via variations on a single catchphrase, as in "Nerd humor you know I love it!" or "Sandworms you know I hate 'em!" Betelgeuse's origins are rather fuzzy. On one hand, he frequently claims to be dead, a ghost, (having died centuries before—though his references are often hundreds of years apart, which implies that he lived a long time ago.
History
He is the oldest son of Nat and Bea Geuse (who nag him to get a job and to keep clean, and who always address his as "Junior"), and he has a "disgustingly cheerful" younger brother, called Donald "Donny" Geuse (who, whether he realizes it or not, gets on his older brother's nerves).
At times, he must pause to think of exactly how to use his powers to escape a precarious situation unscathed. Due to what is later described in the series as his "juice" (his inborn source of magic), whenever Beetlejuice utters aloud a figure of speech, he or his surroundings change to act on the pun (for example, if he says he is tired, he will transform into a tire; if he says he is flat broke, he transforms into a flat disc that falls to the ground and shatters; on one occasion, in reference to his own power, he declares "This literal translation stuff slays me!" and giant letters reading "Literal Translation Stuff" then fall from the sky to crush him).
Almost all of his transformations maintain the black-and-white striped pattern he wears on his suit, although sometimes the stripes are colored depending on the transformation. Though many Neitherworld denizens have some magic, it is Beetlejuice's greatly superior power (no real cause for it is ever given) that affords him the title—albeit mostly self-asserted—of "The Ghost With The Most" (another line borrowed from the movie); in fact, on multiple occasions Beetlejuice was able to effortlessly subdue a number of supernatural beings, and his dis-corporeal, self-sentient brain once claims that Beetlejuice's power is more than enough to conquer the whole Neitherworld. Because of that power, almost everyone in the Neitherworld is fair game for his pranks, though no more so than he himself, since he is not immune to careless use of his power.
For example, he was once tricked by his enemies into saying "I'm coming apart at the seams!" which caused him to break into several pieces, which his enemies then stole and scattered to different places in the Neitherworld rendering him helpless (as Beetlejuice can only use his powers when all of his body parts are together). Also, if all of his body parts are not reassembled by sundown, he will "melt away". Thankfully, with Lydia's help, he soon gathered all of his body parts and was able to "pull himself together". Sometimes Beetlejuice will mix up one of his transformations, due to homophone-based confusion (when Lydia told him to turn into a stake to fight off Count Me-In, he turned into a flank steak). At times, various of his body parts (including his feet and his entire torso) manifested minds of their own, independent of Beetlejuice's control, with his brain and even his entire skeletal system having abandoned him once. Beetlejuice's main pastime is pulling various pranks on the other denizens of the Neitherworld such as Jacques, Ginger, The Monster Across the Street, Poopsie, the Mayor and in the Living World it is Lydia's rival Claire Brewster.
Yet some episodes show his parents residing in the Neitherworld, and it is apparently there that he was born to and raised by them: there are, for example, photos of him in the Neitherworld as a baby—-showing him with his stock ghostly complexion and bizarre snake-like tongue—-and tales of his youth already manifesting his trademark personality. One possible explanation may relate to his saying something about his parents "making him feel like a kid again" and being unsure how to fix it without his growing up all over again; another is that continuity was not of key importance in the series. He have in fact have been 'reborn' in the Neitherworld after his death in the real world. More likely, the creators probably changed it to avoid scaring off viewers; (in later airings, he is shown in new animation in the opening leaving his grave as a corpse; the original opening for the first three seasons featured him producing stripes on his clothes), or the writers simply were not keeping track of plot details.
In other media
Teen Titans Go!
Beetlejuice made a guest appearance in the Teen Titans Go! Halloween episode "Ghost With The Most" with Alex Brightman voicing him.
LEGO Dimensions
Beetlejuice appears as a playable character in LEGO Dimensions, obtainable through the 71349 Fun Pack. He also appeared in the Teen Titans GO! in-game episode as an antagonist. Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice
In the film, Beetlejuice was darker and more openly malicious than he would become in the cartoons, arguably being one of the main antagonists, though he also acted as a benefactor of sorts to the heroes; though there was no attempt to hide the fact that Betelgeuse was not meant to be a nice character, even the heroes who summoned him knew that he was, pretty much, a demon. But Beetlejuice was still used as a force of (relative) good, as his chaos was directed largely at a group of human antagonists, though he was still rude, obnoxious, and hostile towards the heroes as well, not to mention the fact that he also tried to force one of the main characters to be his unwilling bride, much to her disgust though it wasn't out of any attraction merely as a means to escape into the mortal world indefinitely.
Beetlejuice: The Animated Series
In the animated series, Beetlejuice was depicted as being more heroic (though he would still be a bit dishonest sometimes). He is often referred to as "BJ" for short. A recurring gag has him using figures of speech and idioms and then changing himself and/or his surroundings to match the pun (e.g., if he says something bugs him, he will turn into an insect).
Beetlejuice: The Musical
In Beetlejuice: The Musical, he remains basically the same as his in movie counterpart, with the exception of that he is actually Juno's son, and might have turned into a demon.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Beetlejuice will also appear as a supporting character in the upcoming live-action/animated film Space Jam: A New Legacy, which will also be distributed by Warner Bros.
Gallery
Trivia
- Beetlejuice was named after the star Betelgeuse. Beetlejuice, (often addressed as Beej or BJ by Lydia for simplicity's sake, and because the results of his name being said aloud three times), is able to change shape, transform and conjure objects, teleport, and perform other feats of magic, although his powers can be reduced by various circumstances, such as encounters with Sandworms (despite the fact that he has enough power to subdue or repel them with ease) or when his head becomes separated from his body.
- The spelling varies and up to debate as the film implies it is Betelgeuse instead of Beetlejuice but at the same time the cartoon changed it to Beetlejuice instead. As a result both have been used by fans as to debate which is "true" yet most tend to lean towards how pronounced for simplicity especially given the recurring nickname "BJ". That said the cartoon does make his real name Betel Geuse Jr. as a reference to the star and the film's implied spelling.
See Also
- Beetlejuice on Villains Wiki
