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Description
download for a better view! I worked hard all week on this piece you've got to tell me what you think dammit!! kidding kidding
closer look here

hey kids, wanna follow misadventures and psychological struggles of a suicidal psychic goth teenager as she questions purpose of her exsistence, and a middle-aged horny dead guy who's weirdly attracted to her?? cause i know you do!
In seriousness, I've been thinking a lot about possible reboot of these show/franchise for a while now and recently came up with an idea of a somewhat more dark, serious and gritty animated show based on Bettlejuice, - the one where there could be actual character development of main leads as they try to find compromise with each other, where there would be an exploration of concepts of death, afterlife, where Lydia would fight with her suicidal thoughts, facing harsh reality, suffering bullying because of her psychic abilities, where conflict between our two leads would be clear just like in the movie but would soften up with passing (inshow) time. All that interesting stuff, not forgetting comedic black-comedy adventures and accidents that our lead would face! That would make a really awesome show! I'm not actually that positive that someone would remade the show with such premise, turning it into something 'darkier and edgier', but I'd be overjoyed if this dream will come true! After all, maybe when I'm older and more experienced I'll have a chance of my own and reboot the show myself. For now I can only share my humble concepts and hope someday I'll be able to do it for real.
How about some characters summary? I'm sure I'll find something new to tell, since I've made few changes not only in characters' designs, but added backstories, personalities and quirks so they would feel more 'fresh', 'in-depth', but still recognizable. Used more 'stylized' and cartoon-y design for each character, less details, clearer shapes, and I've got to say it's not my in comfortable zone. Haven't got used to such drawing but hope my experiment works still!

First we have our main lead, miss Lydia Deetz - a fourteen y/o teenager of sharp mind and tongue. Lydia is probably the most faithful definition of a word "goth" - her sarcastic and honest talk, sullen everyday look, dark and sinister appearance, love of black clothing and macabre, weird fixation about death, psychic powers and ability to sense ghosts are few of reasons why people usually avoid talking to her. She's broody, somber, quite shy and insecure with people and doesn't get especially delighted at the idea of socializing, considering everyone around her dumb and gormless. In order to gain her trust or win her over one must be really patient and sincere, - Lydia is not kind of a girl who easily lets others into her very depths of a soul, attentively feeling lies and falsity in people, but is sure to surprise once she gets you to a personal level. The girl sure seems tough and determined when it comes to achieving something, and she likes seeing strong, indepedent people by her side, being bold, honest and upstanding herself. Underneath reachless facade Lydia appears more helpless, irresolute and lonesome, but tender, careful and soft at the same time. She is afraid of opening up and suffers from a thought that no one understands her emotional state, thus pushing others away in order not to feel painfully misunderstood, what makes her even more lonely. After death of a beloved mother, Evelyn Deetz*, Lydia finds comfort in afterlife-related, dark things and even suicidal thoughts, accepting guise of gothic culture and focusing interest on macabre stuff; her father doesn't take that especially well, but he literally has no word over a moody, sharp teenager. The situation worsens when father finds a new wife, and family moves into a suburban Connecticut town, where bitter girl faces new unknown before realities - making friends with ghosts and experiencing disturbing accident revolving them. The misadventure taught Lydia to be careful and thoughtful, putting emotions aside over a strategic mind, and she noticeably becomes more open-hearted and saucy, having someone to share her thoughts and feelings with. However after mysterious dissapearing of her new-found friends, the Maitlands, Lydia decides to seek help in face of her worst and most fearful enemy - nasty and cruel Beetlejuice, who insensibly uses her to get away of afterlife. Girl has hard time relying on his honesty and acts very gruffly with a cunning ghost, but as fate seems to always bring them together, she learns to see more of her new companion and to eventually trust him more. Lydia is seen eccentric and quirky by many, but her originality and ingenuity is what draws Beetlejuice to her, having alike minds, views and thoughts. Few of Lydia's bizzare interests include photography, designing, reading horror/classic literature (E.A.Poe, Shakespeare, S.King, to name few), watching scary/cheesy/B-movies ("Night of the living dead" in favourites), observing various kinds of insects and overall everything gothic/macabre/creepy/old-fashioned. She's not the type of person to reveal her hobbies and likes to others, but when someone does take intrest she gladly shares her feelings and opinions, and that is pretty unusual to her, as she's hard to get talking or to smile. Currently attends Miss Shannon's Private Girls School (7-8th grade) in Peaceful Pines (former Winter River) and lives with her father, Charles Deetz, and stepmother, Delia Deetz; at one point owned a cat named Percy (deceased).
Next is her supernatural companion and the eponymous character, Beetlejuice - a 600-something y/o (died at 38 y/o) mighty powered and highly dangerous poltergeist, who is strangely connected to Lydia and world of the living. Insidious, vicious, threatening, savage, manipulative, cunning and overly-possesive, those are just few adjectives folks use to describe this hated ghost's dubious nature; his deceitfulness, guile craftiness and subtlety weirdly combines with capricious, almost child-like skitish mind. Being self-confident, stubborn and determined man he is, Beetlejuice is headstrong and always gets what he wants, no matter the cost, and altough he is certainly not the most pleasant person around, he posseses strange wayward charm and attraction, that often helps him achieving his goals. He is sure the most lively and up-beat guy in any company, wanted or not: he loves being in center of everyone's attention, putting up shows, grand introductions, - everything that makes him stand out, proving his egoistic and selfish nature. He definitely doesn't prefer sharing anything, be it focus of the crowd of any material thing, greedily pushing others aside to make himself seen. Nonetheless underneath mask of nastiness and bad reputation, Beetlejuice often feels alone and hopeless wherever he ends up: folks not accepting him into society, threatening with police and judgement, only worsens situation up, once he experiences a bad day from time to time. Lonely ghost is widely hated and misunderstood, and people don't seem to care whether he's really feeling inside; just like Lydia, he is insecure and hesitant of what to do with himself. After going through heartbreak and killing himself long time ago, via hanging, Beetlejuice finds no comfort in afterlife, clinging to every chance to get out to the world of living and leaving hateful Neitherworld behind, but every escape is forbidden and near impossible. Once he finds a way to get into Lydia's trust he does everything in order to win her over and use her to get out of afterlife, but strangely finding connection with this extraordinary girl with passing time. To Beetlejuice Lydia is literal perfection - bold, honest, mysterious, head-strong and interesting, not without streak of innocence, delicate and caring girl, who is the only one to understand bitter old ghost without friends. In fact, Lydia seems to be the only human being that has any control over him: no one is allowed to harm or harass goth-girl, when her supernatural companion is around, protecting and watching over her all the time. And in the Neitherworld he has to watch her a lot more carefully with numerous foes all around - most deceased seem to be pretty displeased with living girl visiting their world, breaking laws and raking around their usual after-lives, especially Juno, Beetlejuice's ex-boss of afterlife chancellery, is disgruntled with poltergeist putting harmony of the world in danger with his and Lydia's friendship. Little does anything stop him: when it gets to defending his only loyal friend, pretty much nothing can hold him back. Like Lydia, Beetlejuice takes interest in unusual and bizzare stuff with tints of macabre: dark humour, horrors, vicious pranks, creepy films ("Exorcist" is favourite"), insects, snakes, death-related things. Currently is in the Neitherworld, occasinally transporting to the living world with Lydia's calls and hanging out with her most of the time.

After main leads we meet supportive cast, with introduction of Bertha and Prudence - Lydia's classmates and closest (living) friends. Seems unlikely how such different personalities would ever harmonize: Bertha's perky, happy-go-lucky but unpretentious girl, who gets easily excited with latest news with love of popular, hyped stuff, while Prudence is more modest, shy and indecisive person who finds comfort in reading and exploring things no one expresses favor of. As Bertha takes interest in fashion, magazines, comics and anything that is considered fashionable/popular enough, Prudence enjoys more interesting, unusual stuff, like recherche literature and films, extraordinary finds and scientific studies. They get along with each other surprisingly good and are rarely seen apart, spending time together in and out of school and helping in any way they can; two of them find Lydia exceptional, but alike girl, making friends with her pretty easily and trusting each other's thoughts and secrets. Lydia herself considers them most familiar and relative persons to her and values their friendship pretty much.
Beside Bertha and Prudence closest person of intrest to Lydia is, probably, Claire Brewster - her classmate and one of most 'popular' girls at school, straight-A student. As much as Claire is seen proud and perfectionist by others she is also a pretty friendly, hard-working and honest girl, who aspires to be ideal and perfect in any way possible: in her behaviour, school marks, actions, looks. Having strict parents made Claire ambitious, confident, workful and obedient, so not to upset them or their high expectations of daughter; this way Claire is forced to always look good, do good and never deceive her parents, what often causes her to also hide her own wishes and emotions in favor of 'perfection'. She is loved by her friends, but is very sensitive to lies and insincerity and often feels that people don't truly value her for who she is, what causes her to seek for solitude sometimes. She makes good friends with understanding Lydia after acting quite neutral with her but opening up to each other after hard school day.
After coevals we move to the elder characters, with Charles Deetz - Lydia's father and a real estate worker. Easily distracted and irritated, pragmatic Charles experiences nervous breakdowns at least thrice a day: he is restless, often anxious and gets completely frustrated when something he planned goes out of hand. Despite unsure and squeamish nature, he tries to hide his fears and doubts, acting coolly and soberly whenever he can; it is not especially easy for Charles, as nicety and fastidiousness get in way and most people just aren't as proper as him. He is a decent man, who values honesty and diligence in others and is hard-working himself. Loves his daughter more than anything, but is not an especially responsive father, often not understanding teenager's behaviour and misinterpreting it as something "regular", "temporal", but surely does everything for Lydia's well-being and peaceful life. After his dear wife Evelyn's death, Charles could not find comfort in loneliness and married Delia, who expressed special interest in him, after which moving from stuffy New York to serene Peaceful Pines (Winter River) with new-built family. Charles takes interest in ornithology and used to play baseball in younger days, which he enjoys simply watching now.
Delia Deetz - is Charles' second wife, Lydia's stepmother and an aspiring sculptor. Delia's enthusiasm and lively spirit is what usually keeps sleepy husband and step-daughter busy; as much as she's an eccentric art genius she's a strict and relentless housewife, who demands decency, discipline and precision in everything. Delia is easily excited by anything new and prefers to follow trends and fashion despite being artistic person, that usually are creative and independent on their own. Hyped and promoted things are what usually burst her imagination, and she doesn't disdain ripping off existing ideas or outright plagiarizing - as long as it isn't too obvious. Delia is pretty sensitive to critisism and gets fractious when something goes off hand, she's not the best person to handle her boiling emotions. She isn't the best mother around, acting pretty strained with the step-daughter but not entirely antagonizing her (she's no child-lover either); as a matter of fact she can be equally tense with husband Charles, as she married him in order to get money promotion from his side, - and probably because phlegmatic Charles is the person who keeps her calm and safe enough.
From Outer-living-world we temporarily move to the Neitherworld, and introduce to Juno - an afterlife caseworker of the Maitlands, who helped them dealing with their death experience, and later became somewhat-mentor-figure for emersed in the Neitherworld Lydia. Juno is elderly wise, but witty, sarcastic, somehow harsh and clever woman, who appreciates honesty and obedience. By newcoming deceased she assistants Juno's seen bold, straightforward, spicy and even indelicate, but is pretty helpful when it comes to sharing wisdom and explaining how afterlife works, having been around for long time. She commited suicide by slicing her throat after learning she's having a lung cancer (of smoking you bet) and became civil servant in the Neitherworld's chancellery, quite succeding in her new job of a caseworker. That is until she gets an unwanted assistant, Beetlejuice, who not only brings numerous problems to the whole office with outrageous behaviour, but even revolts against afterlife rules by breaking into the living world. Since then Juno pretty much detests anything that includes/revolves around him. Juno's not a sweet-talker, but always knows what to say and do in any situation.
Our lovely lovebirds, Adam and Barbara Maitlands - a pair of deceased newlyweds who are only getting used to being dead. Seems like these two were intended to be together by heaven's order: Adam's quiet, shy, peaceful and utterly sweet guy who enjoys plain pleasures of keeping a supply store and creating sculptures and Barbara is friendly, humble, honest and motherly-caring girl, that wants to see everyone in peace and loves children. Always together and compassionate of each other, these two prove that genuine and true love exists on earth and one can enjoy simple and tranquil life without asking for much; before dying in car iccident, the Maitlands desperately tried to have a child on their own but failed, although keeping things positive and not complaining much. After their house was suddenly occupied by the eccentric Deetzes, Adam and Barbara made good friends with lonesome Lydia, becoming her additional parental figures and helping her in any way they could. After they mysteriously dissapear for two weeks, Lydia, driven by her loyalty and affection to them, goes to the Neitherworld in order to find them.
Jacques LaLean - is a deceased French skeleton body-buider, who happens to be one of few loyal to Beetlejuice's friends and neighbours. Altough living in not the most peaceful area of Neitherworld, Jacques keeps his upbeat energy for excercising every day, persistently acting calm, collected and hard-working. He is friendly and tries hard to keep his neighbourhood sane enough, by cutting off conflicts and helping afterlife-friends out. Before Neitherworldian life, Jacques was a French begginer body-builder living in 1950s, who trained very insistently and excessively in order to win a body-builder competition in his small native town, but eventually exhaused himself to death; even after that he never refuses to stop excercising or take a break of sports, considering it his (after)lifestyle and healthy way of living.
Ginger Rogiers** - is a deceased American tap-dancer and actress, one of Jacques and Beetlejuice's neighbours. Despite her unsetlling looks, Ginger is the most pleasant and amicable person around, having a generous heart and a big soul. She's passionate, genuine and homelike girl who likes having friends and guests over to enjoy their company, but also comes across as a bit capricious and sensitive; better not to her hurt her feelings if you don't want to see teary-eyed spider in front of you, as she's a little clingy and demanding in terms of attention seeking. Before dying of spider's poisonous bite while abroad, Ginger used to be an aspiring young tap-dancer and occasional actress in New York of 1930s. She still takes interest in dancing and gets overjoyed when someone asks her to perform a step or two.
A bit distracting from the deceased, we meet Otho Fenlock - an experienced interior designer and Delia Deetz's close friend, who still occasionally visits the Deetzes. Otho's personality can be described as borderline narcissism, an excessive self-confidence and genuine belief in his ways and opinions; he likes seeing himself more than he actually is, considering himself successful and proficient in what he does, no matter what he does. Otho comes across as arrogant and often talks indulgently with individuals of lower status or self-respect, deftly seeing through falsity and hollowness of people, being rather astute and a sweet-talker himself. Otho loves playing with other's minds, craftly telling lies and ecouraging people to do things he wants them to do. Despite that he is pretty insecure in times of real emergency and is prone of avoiding any risk or danger, cowardly and quietly leaving the place when it gets just too much for him. Otho's got rather refined taste in fashion and designs and enjoys fine, thoughtful and sleek works of art any given time; he also took special interest in paranormal things in his youth, trend that he lives by even by. Vaguely is in certain relationship with Delia Deetz, as he's sometimes seen courting her tete-a-tete (Lydia believes that Otho is Delia's lover, but it's unclear).
And back to the dead, we have Prince Vincent the Second/Vince - a deceased blueblood of medieval-early Renaissance Europe. Vince is probably the most dramatic and dismal person around: having died at relatively young age (15-16 y/o), he views world as a dangerous and cruel place where nothing good could ever happen without a price, and all people are naturally selfish. He's brooding, melancholic, very dreamy and romantic young man who hasn't quite grew up of his child-like innocence and naivety. Coming across as capricious and demanding, prince Vince can't put up with a thought that he cannot always get what he wants or has to share anything, what makes him egoistic and especially moody. He doesn't prefer doing any actual work though, having been raised in an atmosphere of festive idleness. Prince Vince was the only heir to his controversial and shattered kingdom's throne, and eventually was secretly poisoned by somene of his own court, then getting to the Neitherworld, stlll finding no peace in afterlife, but only depression and dismay.
The Monster Across the Street (real name unknown) - is a deceased cowboy from American frontier of 1900s, Beetlejuice's unfriendy neighbour of street's other side. Monster comes across to many as hostile and dissocial mysterious guy, who doesn't talk or do much outside of sitting in his home alone, silently, peacefully. He's not the most hospitable around and doesn't like being bothered by strangers, but that doesn't mean he'd turn a back to someone in need, proving himself honest, humble and pretty helpful guy. Monster is known for being violently dangerous when pissed off and highly merciless to nasty and annoying individuals (like Beetlejuice lol), thus giving away his severe monstrous nature. Underneath it all he is actually pretty careful, thoughtful and gentle when he wants to be and clearly appreciates people like himself - strong and confident but humble and true. After being bitten by a werewolf and painfully dying, Monster finds himself occassionally missing his past life and everyone he knew, not finding himself welcomed in the Neitherworld. The only hapiness he finds is reminiscing of good ol' days, playing banjo or guitar and spending time with Pops, his loyal dog. Having always been Monster's faithful friend back in the living world, Pops (or Poopsie affectinately) found his beloved master in the Neitherworld, after having bolled water poured on him accidentally and dying, and keeps him company ever since.

  * According to early Michael McDowell's "Beetlejuice" script (found here ), "Evelyn" is name of Charles's first wife and apparently Lydia's birthmother (she was alive in that version tho).
  ** Misspelled variant of Ginger Rogers' surname (the person Ginger was 'based' of)

So that's pretty much all I have for now, phew that took long..
Don't forget to leave comments, feedback, opinions, even your headcanons, suggestions I could add, no problem!

Idea/art © me
Characters © Tim Burton

Description
download for a better view! I worked hard all week on this piece you've got to tell me what you think dammit!! kidding kidding
closer look here

hey kids, wanna follow misadventures and psychological struggles of a suicidal psychic goth teenager as she questions purpose of her exsistence, and a middle-aged horny dead guy who's weirdly attracted to her?? cause i know you do!
In seriousness, I've been thinking a lot about possible reboot of these show/franchise for a while now and recently came up with an idea of a somewhat more dark, serious and gritty animated show based on Bettlejuice, - the one where there could be actual character development of main leads as they try to find compromise with each other, where there would be an exploration of concepts of death, afterlife, where Lydia would fight with her suicidal thoughts, facing harsh reality, suffering bullying because of her psychic abilities, where conflict between our two leads would be clear just like in the movie but would soften up with passing (inshow) time. All that interesting stuff, not forgetting comedic black-comedy adventures and accidents that our lead would face! That would make a really awesome show! I'm not actually that positive that someone would remade the show with such premise, turning it into something 'darkier and edgier', but I'd be overjoyed if this dream will come true! After all, maybe when I'm older and more experienced I'll have a chance of my own and reboot the show myself. For now I can only share my humble concepts and hope someday I'll be able to do it for real.
How about some characters summary? I'm sure I'll find something new to tell, since I've made few changes not only in characters' designs, but added backstories, personalities and quirks so they would feel more 'fresh', 'in-depth', but still recognizable. Used more 'stylized' and cartoon-y design for each character, less details, clearer shapes, and I've got to say it's not my in comfortable zone. Haven't got used to such drawing but hope my experiment works still!

First we have our main lead, miss Lydia Deetz - a fourteen y/o teenager of sharp mind and tongue. Lydia is probably the most faithful definition of a word "goth" - her sarcastic and honest talk, sullen everyday look, dark and sinister appearance, love of black clothing and macabre, weird fixation about death, psychic powers and ability to sense ghosts are few of reasons why people usually avoid talking to her. She's broody, somber, quite shy and insecure with people and doesn't get especially delighted at the idea of socializing, considering everyone around her dumb and gormless. In order to gain her trust or win her over one must be really patient and sincere, - Lydia is not kind of a girl who easily lets others into her very depths of a soul, attentively feeling lies and falsity in people, but is sure to surprise once she gets you to a personal level. The girl sure seems tough and determined when it comes to achieving something, and she likes seeing strong, indepedent people by her side, being bold, honest and upstanding herself. Underneath reachless facade Lydia appears more helpless, irresolute and lonesome, but tender, careful and soft at the same time. She is afraid of opening up and suffers from a thought that no one understands her emotional state, thus pushing others away in order not to feel painfully misunderstood, what makes her even more lonely. After death of a beloved mother, Evelyn Deetz*, Lydia finds comfort in afterlife-related, dark things and even suicidal thoughts, accepting guise of gothic culture and focusing interest on macabre stuff; her father doesn't take that especially well, but he literally has no word over a moody, sharp teenager. The situation worsens when father finds a new wife, and family moves into a suburban Connecticut town, where bitter girl faces new unknown before realities - making friends with ghosts and experiencing disturbing accident revolving them. The misadventure taught Lydia to be careful and thoughtful, putting emotions aside over a strategic mind, and she noticeably becomes more open-hearted and saucy, having someone to share her thoughts and feelings with. However after mysterious dissapearing of her new-found friends, the Maitlands, Lydia decides to seek help in face of her worst and most fearful enemy - nasty and cruel Beetlejuice, who insensibly uses her to get away of afterlife. Girl has hard time relying on his honesty and acts very gruffly with a cunning ghost, but as fate seems to always bring them together, she learns to see more of her new companion and to eventually trust him more. Lydia is seen eccentric and quirky by many, but her originality and ingenuity is what draws Beetlejuice to her, having alike minds, views and thoughts. Few of Lydia's bizzare interests include photography, designing, reading horror/classic literature (E.A.Poe, Shakespeare, S.King, to name few), watching scary/cheesy/B-movies ("Night of the living dead" in favourites), observing various kinds of insects and overall everything gothic/macabre/creepy/old-fashioned. She's not the type of person to reveal her hobbies and likes to others, but when someone does take intrest she gladly shares her feelings and opinions, and that is pretty unusual to her, as she's hard to get talking or to smile. Currently attends Miss Shannon's Private Girls School (7-8th grade) in Peaceful Pines (former Winter River) and lives with her father, Charles Deetz, and stepmother, Delia Deetz; at one point owned a cat named Percy (deceased).
Next is her supernatural companion and the eponymous character, Beetlejuice - a 600-something y/o (died at 38 y/o) mighty powered and highly dangerous poltergeist, who is strangely connected to Lydia and world of the living. Insidious, vicious, threatening, savage, manipulative, cunning and overly-possesive, those are just few adjectives folks use to describe this hated ghost's dubious nature; his deceitfulness, guile craftiness and subtlety weirdly combines with capricious, almost child-like skitish mind. Being self-confident, stubborn and determined man he is, Beetlejuice is headstrong and always gets what he wants, no matter the cost, and altough he is certainly not the most pleasant person around, he posseses strange wayward charm and attraction, that often helps him achieving his goals. He is sure the most lively and up-beat guy in any company, wanted or not: he loves being in center of everyone's attention, putting up shows, grand introductions, - everything that makes him stand out, proving his egoistic and selfish nature. He definitely doesn't prefer sharing anything, be it focus of the crowd of any material thing, greedily pushing others aside to make himself seen. Nonetheless underneath mask of nastiness and bad reputation, Beetlejuice often feels alone and hopeless wherever he ends up: folks not accepting him into society, threatening with police and judgement, only worsens situation up, once he experiences a bad day from time to time. Lonely ghost is widely hated and misunderstood, and people don't seem to care whether he's really feeling inside; just like Lydia, he is insecure and hesitant of what to do with himself. After going through heartbreak and killing himself long time ago, via hanging, Beetlejuice finds no comfort in afterlife, clinging to every chance to get out to the world of living and leaving hateful Neitherworld behind, but every escape is forbidden and near impossible. Once he finds a way to get into Lydia's trust he does everything in order to win her over and use her to get out of afterlife, but strangely finding connection with this extraordinary girl with passing time. To Beetlejuice Lydia is literal perfection - bold, honest, mysterious, head-strong and interesting, not without streak of innocence, delicate and caring girl, who is the only one to understand bitter old ghost without friends. In fact, Lydia seems to be the only human being that has any control over him: no one is allowed to harm or harass goth-girl, when her supernatural companion is around, protecting and watching over her all the time. And in the Neitherworld he has to watch her a lot more carefully with numerous foes all around - most deceased seem to be pretty displeased with living girl visiting their world, breaking laws and raking around their usual after-lives, especially Juno, Beetlejuice's ex-boss of afterlife chancellery, is disgruntled with poltergeist putting harmony of the world in danger with his and Lydia's friendship. Little does anything stop him: when it gets to defending his only loyal friend, pretty much nothing can hold him back. Like Lydia, Beetlejuice takes interest in unusual and bizzare stuff with tints of macabre: dark humour, horrors, vicious pranks, creepy films ("Exorcist" is favourite"), insects, snakes, death-related things. Currently is in the Neitherworld, occasinally transporting to the living world with Lydia's calls and hanging out with her most of the time.

After main leads we meet supportive cast, with introduction of Bertha and Prudence - Lydia's classmates and closest (living) friends. Seems unlikely how such different personalities would ever harmonize: Bertha's perky, happy-go-lucky but unpretentious girl, who gets easily excited with latest news with love of popular, hyped stuff, while Prudence is more modest, shy and indecisive person who finds comfort in reading and exploring things no one expresses favor of. As Bertha takes interest in fashion, magazines, comics and anything that is considered fashionable/popular enough, Prudence enjoys more interesting, unusual stuff, like recherche literature and films, extraordinary finds and scientific studies. They get along with each other surprisingly good and are rarely seen apart, spending time together in and out of school and helping in any way they can; two of them find Lydia exceptional, but alike girl, making friends with her pretty easily and trusting each other's thoughts and secrets. Lydia herself considers them most familiar and relative persons to her and values their friendship pretty much.
Beside Bertha and Prudence closest person of intrest to Lydia is, probably, Claire Brewster - her classmate and one of most 'popular' girls at school, straight-A student. As much as Claire is seen proud and perfectionist by others she is also a pretty friendly, hard-working and honest girl, who aspires to be ideal and perfect in any way possible: in her behaviour, school marks, actions, looks. Having strict parents made Claire ambitious, confident, workful and obedient, so not to upset them or their high expectations of daughter; this way Claire is forced to always look good, do good and never deceive her parents, what often causes her to also hide her own wishes and emotions in favor of 'perfection'. She is loved by her friends, but is very sensitive to lies and insincerity and often feels that people don't truly value her for who she is, what causes her to seek for solitude sometimes. She makes good friends with understanding Lydia after acting quite neutral with her but opening up to each other after hard school day.
After coevals we move to the elder characters, with Charles Deetz - Lydia's father and a real estate worker. Easily distracted and irritated, pragmatic Charles experiences nervous breakdowns at least thrice a day: he is restless, often anxious and gets completely frustrated when something he planned goes out of hand. Despite unsure and squeamish nature, he tries to hide his fears and doubts, acting coolly and soberly whenever he can; it is not especially easy for Charles, as nicety and fastidiousness get in way and most people just aren't as proper as him. He is a decent man, who values honesty and diligence in others and is hard-working himself. Loves his daughter more than anything, but is not an especially responsive father, often not understanding teenager's behaviour and misinterpreting it as something "regular", "temporal", but surely does everything for Lydia's well-being and peaceful life. After his dear wife Evelyn's death, Charles could not find comfort in loneliness and married Delia, who expressed special interest in him, after which moving from stuffy New York to serene Peaceful Pines (Winter River) with new-built family. Charles takes interest in ornithology and used to play baseball in younger days, which he enjoys simply watching now.
Delia Deetz - is Charles' second wife, Lydia's stepmother and an aspiring sculptor. Delia's enthusiasm and lively spirit is what usually keeps sleepy husband and step-daughter busy; as much as she's an eccentric art genius she's a strict and relentless housewife, who demands decency, discipline and precision in everything. Delia is easily excited by anything new and prefers to follow trends and fashion despite being artistic person, that usually are creative and independent on their own. Hyped and promoted things are what usually burst her imagination, and she doesn't disdain ripping off existing ideas or outright plagiarizing - as long as it isn't too obvious. Delia is pretty sensitive to critisism and gets fractious when something goes off hand, she's not the best person to handle her boiling emotions. She isn't the best mother around, acting pretty strained with the step-daughter but not entirely antagonizing her (she's no child-lover either); as a matter of fact she can be equally tense with husband Charles, as she married him in order to get money promotion from his side, - and probably because phlegmatic Charles is the person who keeps her calm and safe enough.
From Outer-living-world we temporarily move to the Neitherworld, and introduce to Juno - an afterlife caseworker of the Maitlands, who helped them dealing with their death experience, and later became somewhat-mentor-figure for emersed in the Neitherworld Lydia. Juno is elderly wise, but witty, sarcastic, somehow harsh and clever woman, who appreciates honesty and obedience. By newcoming deceased she assistants Juno's seen bold, straightforward, spicy and even indelicate, but is pretty helpful when it comes to sharing wisdom and explaining how afterlife works, having been around for long time. She commited suicide by slicing her throat after learning she's having a lung cancer (of smoking you bet) and became civil servant in the Neitherworld's chancellery, quite succeding in her new job of a caseworker. That is until she gets an unwanted assistant, Beetlejuice, who not only brings numerous problems to the whole office with outrageous behaviour, but even revolts against afterlife rules by breaking into the living world. Since then Juno pretty much detests anything that includes/revolves around him. Juno's not a sweet-talker, but always knows what to say and do in any situation.
Our lovely lovebirds, Adam and Barbara Maitlands - a pair of deceased newlyweds who are only getting used to being dead. Seems like these two were intended to be together by heaven's order: Adam's quiet, shy, peaceful and utterly sweet guy who enjoys plain pleasures of keeping a supply store and creating sculptures and Barbara is friendly, humble, honest and motherly-caring girl, that wants to see everyone in peace and loves children. Always together and compassionate of each other, these two prove that genuine and true love exists on earth and one can enjoy simple and tranquil life without asking for much; before dying in car iccident, the Maitlands desperately tried to have a child on their own but failed, although keeping things positive and not complaining much. After their house was suddenly occupied by the eccentric Deetzes, Adam and Barbara made good friends with lonesome Lydia, becoming her additional parental figures and helping her in any way they could. After they mysteriously dissapear for two weeks, Lydia, driven by her loyalty and affection to them, goes to the Neitherworld in order to find them.
Jacques LaLean - is a deceased French skeleton body-buider, who happens to be one of few loyal to Beetlejuice's friends and neighbours. Altough living in not the most peaceful area of Neitherworld, Jacques keeps his upbeat energy for excercising every day, persistently acting calm, collected and hard-working. He is friendly and tries hard to keep his neighbourhood sane enough, by cutting off conflicts and helping afterlife-friends out. Before Neitherworldian life, Jacques was a French begginer body-builder living in 1950s, who trained very insistently and excessively in order to win a body-builder competition in his small native town, but eventually exhaused himself to death; even after that he never refuses to stop excercising or take a break of sports, considering it his (after)lifestyle and healthy way of living.
Ginger Rogiers** - is a deceased American tap-dancer and actress, one of Jacques and Beetlejuice's neighbours. Despite her unsetlling looks, Ginger is the most pleasant and amicable person around, having a generous heart and a big soul. She's passionate, genuine and homelike girl who likes having friends and guests over to enjoy their company, but also comes across as a bit capricious and sensitive; better not to her hurt her feelings if you don't want to see teary-eyed spider in front of you, as she's a little clingy and demanding in terms of attention seeking. Before dying of spider's poisonous bite while abroad, Ginger used to be an aspiring young tap-dancer and occasional actress in New York of 1930s. She still takes interest in dancing and gets overjoyed when someone asks her to perform a step or two.
A bit distracting from the deceased, we meet Otho Fenlock - an experienced interior designer and Delia Deetz's close friend, who still occasionally visits the Deetzes. Otho's personality can be described as borderline narcissism, an excessive self-confidence and genuine belief in his ways and opinions; he likes seeing himself more than he actually is, considering himself successful and proficient in what he does, no matter what he does. Otho comes across as arrogant and often talks indulgently with individuals of lower status or self-respect, deftly seeing through falsity and hollowness of people, being rather astute and a sweet-talker himself. Otho loves playing with other's minds, craftly telling lies and ecouraging people to do things he wants them to do. Despite that he is pretty insecure in times of real emergency and is prone of avoiding any risk or danger, cowardly and quietly leaving the place when it gets just too much for him. Otho's got rather refined taste in fashion and designs and enjoys fine, thoughtful and sleek works of art any given time; he also took special interest in paranormal things in his youth, trend that he lives by even by. Vaguely is in certain relationship with Delia Deetz, as he's sometimes seen courting her tete-a-tete (Lydia believes that Otho is Delia's lover, but it's unclear).
And back to the dead, we have Prince Vincent the Second/Vince - a deceased blueblood of medieval-early Renaissance Europe. Vince is probably the most dramatic and dismal person around: having died at relatively young age (15-16 y/o), he views world as a dangerous and cruel place where nothing good could ever happen without a price, and all people are naturally selfish. He's brooding, melancholic, very dreamy and romantic young man who hasn't quite grew up of his child-like innocence and naivety. Coming across as capricious and demanding, prince Vince can't put up with a thought that he cannot always get what he wants or has to share anything, what makes him egoistic and especially moody. He doesn't prefer doing any actual work though, having been raised in an atmosphere of festive idleness. Prince Vince was the only heir to his controversial and shattered kingdom's throne, and eventually was secretly poisoned by somene of his own court, then getting to the Neitherworld, stlll finding no peace in afterlife, but only depression and dismay.
The Monster Across the Street (real name unknown) - is a deceased cowboy from American frontier of 1900s, Beetlejuice's unfriendy neighbour of street's other side. Monster comes across to many as hostile and dissocial mysterious guy, who doesn't talk or do much outside of sitting in his home alone, silently, peacefully. He's not the most hospitable around and doesn't like being bothered by strangers, but that doesn't mean he'd turn a back to someone in need, proving himself honest, humble and pretty helpful guy. Monster is known for being violently dangerous when pissed off and highly merciless to nasty and annoying individuals (like Beetlejuice lol), thus giving away his severe monstrous nature. Underneath it all he is actually pretty careful, thoughtful and gentle when he wants to be and clearly appreciates people like himself - strong and confident but humble and true. After being bitten by a werewolf and painfully dying, Monster finds himself occassionally missing his past life and everyone he knew, not finding himself welcomed in the Neitherworld. The only hapiness he finds is reminiscing of good ol' days, playing banjo or guitar and spending time with Pops, his loyal dog. Having always been Monster's faithful friend back in the living world, Pops (or Poopsie affectinately) found his beloved master in the Neitherworld, after having bolled water poured on him accidentally and dying, and keeps him company ever since.

  * According to early Michael McDowell's "Beetlejuice" script (found here ), "Evelyn" is name of Charles's first wife and apparently Lydia's birthmother (she was alive in that version tho).
  ** Misspelled variant of Ginger Rogers' surname (the person Ginger was 'based' of)

So that's pretty much all I have for now, phew that took long..
Don't forget to leave comments, feedback, opinions, even your headcanons, suggestions I could add, no problem!

Idea/art © me
Characters © Tim Burton