Beverly Hills Teens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beverly Hills Teens is a traditionally animated children’s television program which debuted in 1987, animated by DiC Entertainment. The namesake teenagers have exaggerated wealth, and face stereotypical teenage concerns. There are sixty-five episodes all in one season, each thirty minutes long. The original title song was performed in both the English and French versions by Valérie Barouille. The show originally aired in first-run syndication in the United States.
In 1989, Beverly Hills Teens was nominated for the Young Artist award for Best Animated Series. In the same year, the show was syndicated by Claster Television as part of a package featuring Maxie's World (the "lead" program) and the non-DIC series It's Punky Brewster.
The French dub is known as "BéCéBéGé" (alternate title: "Le Club BCBG") which is derived from the French acronym "BCBG" which stands for "Bon Chic, Bon Genre" ("Good Style, Good Class"). It aired on Antenne 2 (now France 2) in 1988.
Several years later, DIC produced another Beverly Hills-themed series, the live action Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills
The series can currently be seen on the Kewl Cartoons website. However, at the present moment, only two episodes are available, both divided into two parts.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
- Bianca Dupree - A scheming, raven-haired beauty who believes she comes first above all things. This arrogant diva can often be seen riding around in her long, light pink limo with her dog, Empress, and her chaffeur, Wilshire. She is very jealous of Larke's relationship with Troy (who she has a major crush on as well) and is constantly scheming to ruin it. She is also not above sabotaging the plans of the other teens; she once tried to ruin Tara's entry into a beauty pageant. Her chauffeur, Wilshire, is desperately in love with her, but she prefers to step all over him, despite the gang's efforts to bring them together. Oddly, however, while she sees nothing wrong with her own habit of treating him poorly, she does not allow anyone else to do the same.
- Blaze Summers - A blonde cowgirl who resembles a darker blonde version of Larke. Folksy and laid back, she is friendly to everyone, even Pierce. In one episode, her good-natured attitude attracts the attentions of a prince, with whom she falls in love.
- Buck Huckster - As his name implies, he is a slick shyster type always looking to make a fast buck. His obsession with money and wealth is derailed after he has a dream which shows him what his future will be like if he does not change.
- Chester McTech - A boy genius with a lab of his own, complete with a dress designing machine and the ability to help almost anyone at his school. Because of his great intelligence and ingenuity, he is often pressed into service by Pierce and Bianca (typically separately) to further his or her own agenda.
- Empress - Bianca's small, pink poodle with a nasty bark comparable to Bianca's attitude. She often helps Bianca complete a task to make Larke's life a little harder, such as destroying Larke's gigantic floppy disks. Her one and only enemy is none other than Larke's cat, Tiara. Empress hates Wilshire.
- Gig - A brown-haired male rocker who plays alongside Jett. He is quite outspoken, and has a distinct accent that could be interpreted as British or more likely Aussie. A bit of a ladies' man, Gig once dated both Larke and Tara at the same time until Jett revealed his secret. He and Jett agreed that they would not date each other, but he appears to have feelings for her nonetheless, becoming jealous if she expresses interest in someone else, or vice versa.
- Jett - A blonde female rocker with extremely big hair and an exaggerated Valley Girl voice. She disapproves of Gig's womanizing ways, but, in spite of being a bit of a flirt herself, is apparently smitten with him. She and Gig earn a record contract in one of the show's last episodes.
- Larke Tanner - The blonde-haired, blue-eyed "golden girl" of Beverly Hills who's head-over-heels in love with the resident jock, Troy. She drives a bright pink Ferrari, usually accompanied by her pet cat, Tiara. She is a model and often wins many of the contests that she enters, although Bianca tries hard to sabotage her. Kind-hearted and sweet to the core, she is Bianca's complete opposite.
- Nikki Darling - An aspiring actress with a very dramatic demeanor, especially against unfairness in the fashion and beauty world.
- Pierce Thorndyke III - An egotistical, British-accented, girl-crazy snob who is blissfully unaware that he is not the Casanova that he believes himself to be. He often teams up with Bianca in her ultimately unsuccessful schemes to come between Larke and Troy, because while Bianca wants Troy, Pierce wants Larke, although he did woo Tara on occasion as well. In spite of his personality issues, Pierce does have the occasional endearing moment. Pierce carries around a wisecracking mini-computer named C.A.D. (Computer Assistant Datemaker for short). C.A.D. holds all of Pierce's most embarrassing secrets.
- Jillian Thorndyke - Pierce's annoying younger sister, who tries to be much more adult than she is. Jillian eventually fell for Chester after failing to get a date with Troy.
- Radley - A surfer dude, complete with tan and lingo. Anywhere a wave can be had, Radley is there. Surfing is his life. He is close friends with Troy and Gig.
- Shanelle Spencer - The lone African-American of the bunch, and thus the token black of the series. She is intelligent and level-headed; the voice of reason among all the kids. She also has a sly sense of humor.
- Switchboard - The self-dubbed "Guru of Gossip," Switchboard will stop at nothing to find the latest dirt to dish at the teen club. Her real name is Brenda.
- Tiara - Larke's fluffy Persian cat. Like her owner, Tiara is well-mannered and loves to play. She is, however, easily intimidated by Empress.
- Tara Belle - She possesses a pronounced Deep South accent and sports a somewhat more demure look, showcasing pearls and ruffles. Polite and ladylike to a fault, Tara's demeanor sometimes is mistaken for naivete.
- Troy Jeffries - The school jock and the most popular boy in Beverly Hills and the apple of all the girls' eyes. Despite this, he only has eyes for Larke and she for him. He's adored by all the girls and in particular, Bianca.
- Wilshire Brentwood: Bianca's chauffeur and doormat. He is very much in love with Bianca, but she ignores him until he gets into danger, after which she kisses him. His favorite color is white. Wilshire is always kind to Bianca's "friends." He is seemingly the only member of the gang who genuinely likes Bianca despite her scheming, "me-first" attitude. When she briefly tried to become a more considerate person, Wilshire stated that he didn't like the new Bianca. He's named after Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
[edit] Cast
- Larke ............................................... Mary Long
- Troy ................................................ Jonathan Potts
- Bianca/Jillian/Blaze ............................... Terri Hawkes
- Wilshire/Buck ....................................... Michael Bettie
- Pierce .............................................. Stephen McMulkin
- Switchboard ......................................... Joanna Schellenberg
- Radley .............................................. Hadley Kay
- Shanelle ............................................ Michelle St. John
- Tara/Jett ........................................... Karen Bernstein
- Gig ................................................. Mark Saunders
- Nikki ............................................... Corinne Koslo
[edit] Theme song
Come live your fantasy,
In Beverly Hills
Come on and make your dreams come true*
And there's a teen club,
In Beverly Hills
So many things that we can do*
Fun for me and you.
And the people here dance into the night
Everybody is dressed up out of sight,
We're livin' in style, we do it right
In Beverly Hills...
*Prolong the pronunciation of the vowels.
