While Beetlejuice is undoubtedly back in the public eye and bigger then what it ever was before thanks to the release and success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. It has been a good while since anything from the animated series has been talked about and well I thought that now was a solid enough time to talk more about this show as it's one that doesn't really get alot of attention and so then join me as I review the episodes that let the juice loose with the episodes in question being called simply just ""Stage Fright" and "Spooky Tree enjoy.
The plot of "Stage Fright" us when her school puts on a production of Romeo & Juliet and her audition is ruined Lydia sets out to get revenge on the culprit during opening night and in "Spooky Tree" when her favorite tree is due to be demolished Lydia starts a protest while Beetlejuice gets something from his home world that lets the tree walk away. Now then interms of what I( personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good with the best plot going to "Stage Fright" just because it was a really inventive plot that made the most of it' set up whilst "Spooky Tree" whilst it wasn't a bad plot in it's own right it's one that just felt generic like it could have been pulled from any spooky kids animated TV show and it would have worked out just the same with plots being some really fun filled plots that do a good job of telling there respective stories and being fun and a little bit spooky but in a kid friendly kind of way with both of these episodes in all honesty being a really good way to get into horror as both plots are scary but not so scary that it'll cause them to have nightmares with both of these plots also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in these episodes is Stephen Ouimette as Beetlejuice , Alyson Court as Lydia Deetz and voice acting legend and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic star Tara Strong as Bertha and Claire Brewster. Also starring in these episodes is My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic star Tabitha St. Germain as Prudence , Roger Dunn as Charles Deetz , Len Carlson as The Foreman and Messy Jesse and Elizabeth Hanna as Delia Deetz and Miss Shannon.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. Which is not something that's all that new given that "Stage Fright" does have two really good voice actors in it's already staked cast both of whom are really good in these episodes as well with the same thing also being true for all of the actors that are in both of these episodes as they all turn in some really solid performances and while the actors that are playing the characters from the films will of course never be able to top what the actors in the films did with those characters they did a good job of holding the candle for them between the two movies that they could be considered THE voices for those characters as that's just how good that they are not only in these two episodes but in the show as a whole as well and while they won't be who people think when they think of those characters chances are that they will be the voices that people hear when there seeing lines from those characters with the acting that's in these very episodes also being helped by the fact that the scripts for these episodes is just so good that all these actors really have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance really will come out of them naturally which is something that really does raise the overall quality of the acting that's in these very episodes.
Doing the animation for these episodes is Wang Film Productions Company and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Nelvana. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty not that bad for a nineties kids TV show as both of the episodes do have some really trippy looking animation to them in certain which does help with the light horror aspect of the show and yet when the episodes need to get comedic then that do have some really zany and fast paced animation which is something that comes into play whenever Beetlejuice is up to something and it is something that does help make the jokes all that more funnier as it allows for some really creative character designs that feel true to the spirit of Tim Burton and while the animation in not only both of these episodes might look dated in certain areas like the lack of a detailed background as seen in alot of the scenes in both of these episodes considering that this a show that's based off of a movie and those kinds of shows don't typically have good animation to them the fact that we managed to get very quality animation not only in these two episodes but in the show as a whole is well and truly a good thing to behold.
All throughout the first movie we are told never to say Beetlejuice's name three times in a row otherwise he can then cause havoc in our world and yet in the show up until this point nobody had really said his name three times in a row. Which is something that changed in "Stage Fright" and it was something that made sense as the character that said it Clair is bit of an airhead as she even miss pronounced Juliet's name several times in the episode with her also being the school bully and as such when she does say his name three times in a row us the audience just want to see Beetlejuice just let loose on her and that's exactly what he does and it's glorious to see as it's something that felt earned and the fact that the show held off on this aspect of the character for a good while does say that the makers of this show were either waiting for the right story to come along before doing it or they were waiting for a truly hateful character to come along as then they could still have Beetlejuice come across as being the good guy when in the movie he was firmly the bad guy and heck they even got right the fact that if Lydia says his name three times when he's in our world then he does get sent back to his world and can't really enter our world until someone says his name three times in a row again which is something that could have over looked as it's such a small detail but the fact that they included that aspect of the films lore as well does say that the makers of this show were huge fans of the film which does make sense given that the films director Tim Burton and it's original producer David Geffen also served as executive producers on this show as well.
While "Stage Fright" is easily the better of the two episodes "Spooky Tree" is also a really solid in it's own right as well. As that episode does try to make Lydia more of a normal girl by having her care about something in the real world and when that thing is threatened she does try to defend it and get's visibly upset when she notices that her efforts are failing but at the same time tho that doesn't make for an interesting episode as the character up until that point had been presented as being anything but a normal girl with her frequently taking visits to Beetlejuice's home world and taking part in other spooky activities and so to have suddenly be presented as being this normal kid does feel out of place for her character and heck even in the first movie she presented to as being new kid in town who is a bit of an odd ball and while this episode does indeed lean into that aspect of her character the fact that she is an odd ball isn't played up as much while both "Spooky Tree" and Stage Fright" could have been perfect ways to show of just much of an odd ball that she is as while yes granted she does bring in her own spider's for a show and tell type event in "Stage Fright" that's really all she does and in "Spooky Tree" she doesn't really do anything that odd at all as starting a protest to help to save something that you love isn't an odd thing to do and if both of these episodes did make Lydia more of an odd ball then it would have made both episodes more interesting to watch and it would have made the fall of both bad guys in both stories all the more worth while and really fun to watch as well.
One of the things that "Spooky Tree" does that was actually kind of interesting was show us just how far Beetlejuice is willing to go to make Lydia happy. As in this show they are meant to be best friends and yet in alot of the episodes up until this episode it's always been Beetlejuice causing trouble and Lydia and has to find a way to bail him out of it and yet here we see that he really does care for Lydia with him even using something from Neitherworld to try and help her out and while yes it does end up causing trouble for Lydia as the tree grows legs and goes on a rampage around town not wanting to be replanted it is also something that does show us that he really care for for her as even in "Stage Fright" it could very well be argued that he only did what he did because of the fact that his name was said three times in a row and not because Lydia was angry or sad about it where as here it quite clearly because she was upset the possibility of loosing her favorite tree and Beetlejuice was trying to help her out in his own way and while the movie version of the character would only look out for himself unless it meant that Lydia would indeed marry him here it's because the two of them really are the best of the friends and that fact that this episode did explore that aspect of the duo was what made what was an otherwise generic episode at least seem to be somewhat interesting as it was something that show really hadn't explored up until now.
Now then the first segment has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twelve minuets and five seconds and the second segment has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twelve minuets and four seconds. With "Stage Fright" having the better of the two running times as even tho it's only a second longer then "Spooky Tree" it does have more then enough there interms of pot to really cover that amount of running time where as "Spooky Tree" really doesn't have alot there interms of plot to really cover it's amount of running time with that segment having just enough plot for about six minuets at best which means that the episode has just over six minuets worth of filler as not alot that's in that segment has much of an impact on the actual plot of the segment where as it's the opposite that's true for "Stage Fright" as that episode really does make some good use of it's running time by actually giving us characters that we either love or hate and even the one off characters like the schools drama teacher do all have there moments to shine as well but tho "Spooky Tree" did take the time to fully develop as much of it's premise that it really could have done it just needed a much more stronger premise and that's really it while the first segment didn't have any filler scenes in it whatsoever and as a result of that of that is the fact that all of the scenes in that segment was all about advancing the plot of the segment where as the second segment didn't get much of that at all but I really will admit that both segments really do have some really good pacing to them both tho.
So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. With both of these episodes having some really painfully funny moments in them with alot of the best jokes from both of the episodes being jokes that you don't really see coming as while the joke about Clair always mispronouncing Juliet's name is a good joke the best joke in that episode is actually the fact that Clair does say Beetlejuice's name three times in a row as we the audience the know that he's about to cause some chaos and surely enough he wastes no time in causing chaos for that school play and in "Spooky Tree" it's just the fact that this one tree doesn't want to replanted again even after he's seen Lydia which was the one thing that e really wanted to do just because of the fact that that idea is such a weird idea that you can't help but smile at it ad just go along with for the ride but with that being said tho both of the segments don't have alot of funny jokes in them which it makes all the more rarer when you do see or hear one that is painfully funny which even then it's only funny because the rest of the segments jokes just aren't that funny to begin with in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall these were a pair of really solid episodes but "Spooky Tree" could have been alot more better given it's fun premise and "Stage Fright" despite it clearly being the better of the episodes wasn't as fun as it really could have been but at the same time tho both of these episodes were also alot more better then what they really could have been as on paper both episodes could have been really bad in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in these very episodes in this very review and as such that really does mean that "Stage Fright" really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me and "Spooky Tree" really does itself a grand old score of exactly a 5.5 out of 10 from me and both of the episodes as a whole really do earn themselves a combined score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got al pf the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Beetlejuice fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very post being the really great the official Beetlejuice fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes with alot of them being better quality then what'd think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Beetlejuice fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.