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Beetlejuice Season 1 Episode 1

Critter Sitters

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 9/9/89

BJ needs some cash to buy Lydia a present so when she gets a job baby-sitting, he follows suit. But Neitherworld babies are a bit more of a handful than Outerworld ones, and BJ gets dragged before Judge Mental for a long string of offences. Can Lydia keep him from getting thrown to the Sandworms?moreless

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (3)

Welcome back to Beetlejuice\'s world... It\'s a real scream and a half...

7.5

By ShengLong2005, Dec 01, 2006

Well, How do you do a cartoon based on Beetlejuice...

First things first, they set up that, obviously, Lydia let BJ off on the marriage thing, since the spell and Lydia\'s acceptance of him indicates he\'s not such a bad guy... He\'s a supernatural con-man, sure, but she did genuinely like him...

Anyway, This is the first episode, so we get introduced to Lydia\'s new uber-summon, which makes a bridge between the worlds out of her bedroom, and we meet BJ again, as he tries a con to make enough money to buy Lydia a gift to celebrate it being one year, in the universe, since they first met.

My opinion of the show is that it doesn\'t lose any of it\'s charm even though it\'s a series that has expired...

Well, Most of the cast were dead to begin with, so that\'s not a problem... Anyway, Watch it again, if you can, but don\'t ask for it by name... You don\'t know what could happen...moreless
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It was the first episode I've seen in years. Ever since I was little I used to watch it all the time, but I barely remember most of the episodes.

10

By Akiyalover, Apr 09, 2006

You can post episodes Of Beetlejuice on You Tube. com. But enough about that I liked the true friendship that is shown on this episode. Like when he had to tell his secret about giving his present to Lydia on their anniversary. He looked soooo sad. It was the cutest thing ever! If you have any episodes of Beetlejuice please put them on You Tube I'm dying to see them!
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Not to be missed, the pilot of Beetlejuice delivers messages of responsibility and friendship.

10

By NeitherSparky, Jul 23, 2005

It's the one-year anniversary of the day Beetlejuice and Lydia met, and BJ's broker than a china plate at a flea market. Desperate to earn some scratch so he can buy Lydia a present, he copies Lydia's newest endeavor and becomes a babysitter. Only...he thinks you're supposed to SIT on the babies! Lydia - along with the baby she's sitting, "Little Arlo" - hurries to the Neitherworld to help out. But when Beetlejuice accidentally juices himself into a baby with a badly-worded phrase, and he and the other Neitherworld infants wreck the Shocking Mall before juicing himself back, he finds himself at the buisiness end of Judge Mental's gavel in the Neitherworld Court. Can Lydia convince the judge and jury that Beetlejuice deserves a second chance, or will he get thrown to the Sandworms for the last time?

This episode clearly defines the rock-solid friendship between the unlikely pair of human, goth-girl, good-hearted Lydia and the greedy, outcast, misbehaving ghoul Beetlejuice. They've got a good thing going, which is made clear by both's efforts to earn money to buy the other a present, not to mention celebrate their one-year anniversary as friends. As it is the pilot episode, we also get brief glimpses at the life (or afterlife!) each character leads. Lydia, who attends the private Miss Shannon's School For Girls, lives with her artsy-fartsy stepmother Delia, nervous father Charles, and literal scaredy-cat Percy, in an architecht's nightmare of a modern home. Beetlejuice abides in the ramshackle "Road House" along with housemates Jacques the skeleton and Ginger the spider (their own personalities were not covered until the following episode, "Skeletons In the Closet".

In "Critter Sitters" it is made plain that the Neitherworld at large dislikes Beetlejuice; that he has constant run-ins with the law and even goes so far as to torment the local governing official. He seems carefree and rogueish, constantly daring anyone to oppose him - and yet we are also informed that he is terrified of Sandworms and loses his considerable ghostly powers whenever he is in the vicinity of one of the beasts. With Lydia's help, Beetlejuice learns in this episode to control his fear, at least to an extent, and regain use of his powers when the baby Little Arlo is in trouble, thus convincing Judge Mental and the jury to release Beetlejuice to roam the Neitherworld once again.

As a pilot, "Critter Sitters" establishes the series firmly. It shows us the extremely different personalities of the two main characters plainly, and at the same time convinces us that these two are the loyalist of friends, and will likely remain so for a long time. As an episode, "Critter Sitters" entertains, delivering both comedy and drama, as well as a full-blown song-and-dance routine smack-dab in the dreary Neitherworld Courtroom. And so the stage is set for a fascinating, creative series.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Harvey Atkin	Lipscum
Tara Strong	Claire Brewster / Bertha / Little Miss Warden
Roger Dunn	Charles Deetz
Keith Knight	Additional Voices
Len Carlson	Additional Voices
Elizabeth Hanna	Delia Deetz / Ginger

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (3)
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- Featured CGI portion: A commercial for "Scream Puffs"
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- On the one year anniversary that Beetlejuice and Lydia met, Lydia gives BJ a pair of pants (actually two panting mouths in a box!), and BJ gives Lydia a spider brooch.
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- In this, the pilot to the series, we learn that the red, spider-web-patterned shroud that Lydia wears while visiting the Neitherworld spends the rest of its time as an ordinary tablecloth.
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QUOTES (3)
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- *Repeated Line*
  Lydia: Though I know I should be wary, still I venture someplace scary; ghostly hauntings I turn loose...Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!
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- Lydia: You haven't changed since the day we met.
  Beetlejuice: Hey...I like this suit.
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- Delia: Now, Lydia, every day can't be Halloween.
  Lydia: It is for me.
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NOTES (0)
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- Another allusion to the movie: Both Beetlejuice and Lydia were singing "Day-O," a song which was used in the movie. Although here, they were each singing it slightly differently, depending on what were they thinking or planning.
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- The show writers obviously didn't want us to forget what movie this cartoon was based on: When Beetlejuice is in the cage in Judge Mental's courtroom, he delivers the line, "Look, I've got a problem, maybe you can help me out...I got these freinds I said I'd meet and it's the kind of thing where you gotta be there in person, you know..." This is a near-direct quote from the live-action version of the character in the film.
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