Talk:Beetlejuice/Archive 1

songs?

what about the songs? when someone shortened the plot thay deleted the reference to some of the songs in the movie. like the part when the dance to the Banana Boat Song? maybe someone could mention this in the plot? or when Lydia starts dancing in the air to Jump in the Line (Shake Senora) by Harry Belafonte in the endo of the movie--128.194.171.141 (talk) 02:30, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Uk Rating

• uhm what rating is this film in the uk and why is there no explenation of the other charecter like lydia?????--Wwjd333 11:20, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

The current rating in the UK is PG. Or at least, that's what the DVD sitting on my shelf is labled. - JohnDoe244 (talk) 16:59, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Recently deceased ghosts?

What a minute! "Recently deceased ghosts" ? I don't remember the film very well but it seems too improbable. Even for this one.

Well, they are recently deceased people, who have recently become ghosts. Adam Bishop 21:04, 10 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Well this was the phrase used in publicity for the film (I think). See the comment on my edit. IanM 15:35, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)

In the film - its the guide for the recently deceased.

"Handbook for the Recently Deceased" if memory serves Tomsalinsky 12:07, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Bloopers

I don't understand this example: "Maybe because of the limited budget, the film features some notable inconsistencies and bloopers, some more obvious than others. One remarkable example is a scene where the deceased character draws a door on the wall with chalk." Franciscrot 21:07, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Name Confusion Unnescessary

The Name confusion section seems very unnecessary and lacks a neutral point of view, I’m deleting it. Caleb 04:49, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Inspiration for (some of) the premise?

There's an episode in the first season of Amazing Stories called "Boo!", in which a respectable ghost couple stumble through a hamhanded haunting to evict a crass, obnoxious couple that has just moved into their house. The similarity really ends there, and it's quite possible that this premise is more common in American film/TV than I'm aware of...but as this aired only two years before Beetlejuice was produced, I thought it was an interesting similarity. Anyone ever see or here a reference connecting the show with this film? Postdlf 14:46, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Seems more likely to be Oscar Wilde's "The Canterville Ghost" to me; the similarities are quite strong although not exact. --RichardNeill 01:45, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Dick Cavett

During the scene where "Banana Boat Song" is played, I seem to remember Dick Cavett dancing. Correct?

Names?

What was the characters name? Beetlejuice or Betelgeuse? We have half the references as "Beetlejuice", one quarter as "Betelgeuse" and another quarter as "Beetlegeuse" or "Beteljuice". Lunarctic 08:36, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

The character's name as seen in-movie is "Betelgeuse." This can be seen during the sceen in which the Maitlands watch his advertisement on TV. --Spooky Skeptic 07:37, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

While I agree that the name represented in the movie is 'Betelgeuse', wouldn't it be fair to postulate that he has no ability to represent his actual name as "Beetlejuice" and has to resort to alternate spellings and pantomimes to trick people into saying his name? Not to mention the fact that his overall character is disgusting and rude rather than reminiscent of a literary source. --BlaculaDave 11:46, 29 May 2007 (CDT)

No; it would not be fair. If we were to assume that to be true, there are far more obvious alternate spellings. The movie title "Beetlejuice" seems to be a reference to the "charades" scene with Lydia Deetz; also "Betelgeuse" is hard to pronounce (as shown by Adam Maitland). His "overall character" is centuries old and Harvard-educated.ChristophMartel 07:16, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

Beetlejuice - as Michael Keaton's character is credited as being called in the credits (and on the Internet Movie Database) - is unable to say his own name. As such, the assumption that he cannot write it on an advert is more than conjecture. The film is called Beetlejuice. It's about Beetlejuice. - JohnDoe244 (talk) 16:57, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Agreed...from some other similar discussions in other articles, the credits take precedence over the in movie ad, so as the credits use Beetleguide, the article should use it as well. AnmaFinotera (talk) 21:36, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Plot synopsis rewrite

The Plot section needs a rewrite, it's currently very oddly written and there seems to be a good amount of original research. It doesn't follow the standard plot synopsis. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mcr29 (talk • contribs) 04:30, 29 January 2007 (UTC).

I agree. Having never seen the movie myself, it's quite hard to grasp the actual storyline of the movie rather than a description of the universe in which it takes place.60.240.122.80 01:44, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Possible additions

Is Otho really so inconsequential that an article this long doesn't mention him by name at all? He isn't onscreen a lot but he is the "anti-Beetlejuice", and his aborted exorcism shows the potential danger the Maitlands face even as ghosts, convincing them that they need Beetlejuice despite their earlier misgivings and Juno's warning. In other words, he's a plot point. I would also reference the running gag pointing out that the Handbook for the Recently Deceased "reads like stereo instructions", seeing how popular that exact phrase has become. Asat 05:26, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Script Changes

Anyone have any ideas on how to cite sources for the script changes section? I've read the 2nd draft of the Beetle Juice script (there used to be a company in California that sold copies of movie scripts and drafts that I bought it from) and know the Cathy and Lydia bit is true as of that version. It is dated 1 June, 1985. --Sobekneferu 08:07, 27 August 2007 (UTC) Also added some more information about the plot as of the 2nd draft.--Sobekneferu 08:45, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Flags

I did a bit of editing on the plot summary, which was full of redundancies and poor punctuation. I wonder if this is sufficient to have the quality standards flag removed?--Sobekneferu 08:45, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Setting?

Where was this filmed? If anybody knows, please email me j.l.barthel@gmail.com Thanks :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.240.231.44 (talk) 17:31, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Portrayal of the afterlife

this section does not belong here. Even if it is not original research (and it certainly reads like it is), it still is far too trivial for wikipedia. DiggyG 05:26, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Portrayal of the afterlife

Beetlejuice seems to be inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist novel Les jeux sont faits (1952), which prominently features death as meaningless bureaucracy, albeit presented in a much less morbid fashion. A baital, in ancient Indian lore, is an evil spirit that inhabits dead bodies, and is perhaps the origin of both the name Beetlejuice as well as the name for the beetle insect. Also, as in the LucasArts adventure game Grim Fandango, people who commit crimes in life are forced to work off their time at the nightmarishly bureaucratic "Department of Death". An interesting contrast can be made with Burton's later work Corpse Bride, where the afterlife is vibrant and exciting, and the land of the living is grey and boring. All these are examples of Bangsian fantasy. Various esoteric and magical elements, such as exorcism, incantations, and seances, are prevalent in the afterlife as portrayed in this film. Religion occupies almost no identifiable role in the film, aside from fleeting references to Heaven and Hell.

Removed "Pop Culture" Section, pruned "Trivia Section"

These are also completely unnecessary; WP:NOT#DIR, I also pared the trivia section down to a single entry and renamed it "Planned Sequel" DiggyG 05:34, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I see some items have been integrated into the prose of the article, but some are missing. I am in favor of re-instating the pop culture and trivia sections to include these items or else integrate them elsewhere in the article. Here is a link to the removed sections. Ozmaweezer (talk) 14:34, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

See WP:TRIVIA. Unless they actually are encyclopedic, they do not belong. Can you point to specific items from the lists that you feel are encyclopedic and worth including? AnmaFinotera (talk) 15:49, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

If they are worthy of inclusion, it should be in the article, not a separate "trivia" section.Murderbike (talk) 20:50, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

I still think the trivia and In pop culture sections should be re-instated. See this for my reasons. Ozmaweezer (talk) 11:15, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Whether or not there is a "trivia section", the specific things that I deleted are not encyclopedic, and should not be restored.DiggyG (talk) 19:26, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Ghost of Canterville

Beetlejuice seems to have drawn at least some inspiration from Ocar Wilde's famous novella The Ghost of Canterville: For instance the theme of some ghosts unsuccessfully trying to spook a bunch of awfully annoying and decadent living folks - that unfortunately enough won't let themselves be impressed by any hocuspocus - out of their house ist clearly rooted in the Wilde story. Might be worthwile mentinoning —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.142.250.28 (talk) 20:35, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Questions

Was there ever any indication on how Beetlejuice died or what he was before he died? 66.65.244.151 22:25, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Closed captioning error?

I am watching the movie right now on Bravo (television network). The Closed Captioning spells the family's name "Deitz" (plural: the "Deitzs.") NBK1122 (talk) 02:00, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Budget?

Was the budget 13 million or 11 million? 71.242.236.237 (talk) 22:07, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Good article review

GA review (see here for criteria)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose): b (MoS):

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

   Congratulations, this article meets the Good article standards, so therefore I have passed it as Good article.

Zenlax ^{T C S} 19:22, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Disputed listing

I'm afraid I do not agree that this article meets the GA criteria. In particular the prose is not of an acceptable standard. A few examples:

• "She personally recommends the Maitlands not to accede the help of Betelgeuse."

• "The obnoxious "bio-exorcist" Betelguese sitting on tombostones"

• "While it is demonstrated that all ghosts are capable of bizarre supernatural 'talents' ...". Capable of talents?

• "The film would eventually gross $73,707,461 in North America". Tense.

• "... Smith passed on in favor of Superman Lives". Smith died?

• "The show broadcasted on ABC from 9 September ...".

• "Michael Keaton expressed high enthusiasm of returning in January 2005 ..".

I'll leave the GA listing for a few days to allow time for the prose to be tightened up. --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 19:54, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

OK all of that stuff has been passed. Now what. —Wildroot (talk) 20:58, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

They were just some examples. What about: "Considering the scale and scope of the effects, which included stop-motion, replacement animation, make-up effects, puppetry and blue screen, it was always Burton's intentions to make them similar to the B movies Burton grew up with as a child." Does that make sense to you? As a supplementary question, do you consider IMD to be a reliable source? --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 22:17, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

As my concerns have not been addressed, I've delisted this article. If you disagree with my decision, please free to request a review at WP:GAR. --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 15:26, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Put "Theme Park Attraction" here

Because there are no links for this section, I have decided to move it on the talk page.

The success of the film had spawned stage attractions at the Universal Studios Theme Parks. The show is currently playing at both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Japan.

The show opened at Universal Studios Florida in 1992 under the name of "Beetlejuice's Rock 'N' Roll Graveyard Revue. It replaced "An American Tail Live" Show which opened in 1991 and closed in early 1992 to make way for the production. The show plays at the Amphitheatre at the San Francisco Area in Florida. The show originally featured a cast which included the Universal Classic Monsters such as; Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and The Phantom of The Opera performing a mixture of songs from the 70's, 80's and the 90's. In 2002, the show went through a refurbishment such as set pieces, costumes, choreography, special effects and songs to keep up with the state-of-the-art music. The Phantom of The Opera was replaced by 2 new characters named Hip & Hop who serve as back up dancers in the show.

The show opened at Universal Studios Japan as part of the grand opening on March 31 2001. The show is currently playing at the Hollywood Area in Japan. The show is similar to the Florida Version except it is performed entirely in Japanaese and it plays under the name of "Universal Monsters Live Rock And Roll Show".

The show opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in the Summer of 1992. It originally played on a small outdoor stage near the current site of the Terminator 2:3D Attraction before transferring to the Castle Theatre at the Upper Lot in 1995. The show featured all of the Original Classic Monsters and was considered a successful attraction at the Park. Despite the show's success among visitors and tourists, the attraction closed in September 1999. The building remained dark for 2 1/2 years until it was replaced by a new Musical based on Spider-Man (2002-2004) and Fear Factor Live! (2005-2008). A new musical based on Creature From The Black Lagoon will open at the Theatre in Spring 2009. Wildroot (talk) 03:26, 4 July 2008 (UTC)