‘Bee and PuppyCat’ Netflix’s Reboot

By DALLANA ESTRADA/Staff Writer

A Vocaloid sings underwater in a rock-a-bye tune with moonlight spreading wings in the shadows. Large columns rise from a mirror for a man in a high-tailored coat to step before a stage alighted in white flowers. The princess extends her hand to the man. He leans down to lay a gentle kiss on them. The tune bellows a long note when both hands separate. The scene is a fairytale PuppyCat sings on the Bee and PuppyCat show in the episode Gentle Touch.

The Bee and PuppyCat is an adult animated show written and created by Natasha Allegri. The show begins with an unemployed Bee, voiced by Allyn Racher, in her early twenties, that magically meets PuppyCat, a dog-cat hybrid, after getting fired from a cafe. Both go on bizarre adventures through temp jobs to pay monthly rent.

Bee and PuppyCat from Frederator to Netflix’s Reboot

The production of Bee and PuppyCat began with the first season, which was the first four-part pilot episode, followed by six more on Frederator’s Cartoon Hangover Channel. The second season is the Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in space, which was meant for VRV to pick up but did not place on the streaming service. 

In October 2020, Frederator announced to their fans that Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space is under Netflix’s streaming platform. The first three episodes retell season one. Netflix had the first three episodes redone to contextualize the story for new viewers to understand season two. The first episodes play well with the blue and purple pallet giving off an animesque vibe fitting season two. The animation production behind the alluring style is the Japanese studio Oriental Light & Magic.

According to Frederator Times, in an interview with Art Director and color stylist Efrain Farias of Bee and PuppyCat, Natasha Allegri had a specific aesthetic.

“Yes definitely, Sailor Moon! There were some older anime/manga that also influenced her, one manga artist being Rumiko Takahashi.” – Efrain Farias

Bee and PuppyCat Summary

When Bee meets Puppycat after getting fired from a cafe, PuppyCat goes home with her and soon realizes that Bee is late on rent. So he transports Bee and himself into an alternate dimension containing a TempBot, a large sentient TV screen that hands them various jobs on different planets. Bee grows to adapt to the dangers of the work, and TempBot pays her for each mission completed with PuppyCat. 

In the episode Gentle Touch, PuppyCat reveals through a fairytale that he was previously a space outlaw. The outlaw fell in love with a space princess that betrayed him with a set-up trap. The king used a magic gem meant to capture the outlaw. But the curse transformed him into a monster cat-hybrid. He managed to flee from the king’s hand. However, a group of warlocks sent shadowy arms looking for him throughout the misadventures.

Bee’s background in Bee and PuppyCat is obscured in mystery as her father remains absent in the show. Yet, in a dream sequence, PuppyCat remembers meeting Bee as a kid while waiting for her father to fix his spaceship. In the episode “What Do You Want to Be,” Bee fights off Warlocks, attacking her friends Deckard and Moully. She unleashes a bright flash that forces the shadow arms back into the portal. Her limbs shredded a hole into the blue and red cable covering her arm. The slice-of-life factor lets the audience see how Bee reacts to changes within her and those around them. 

In that same episode, Bee and her friend Deckard get accidentally sucked into a temp job after PuppyCat gets stuck in a vent. A talented cook that struggles with baking and has a crush on Bee.

Deckard’s arc is about choosing between staying home and attending culinary school. He feels sad leaving because everyone believes he is the happiest when cooking. Bee confronts him about his decision to ignore his dreams when he shoves his acceptance letter in a trash bin.

Cardamon is a recurring character and Bee’s landlord. He is Violet’s son, who is in a comatose state throughout the show. He cares for his sleeping mom, gathering payments from his land tenants. He struggles with balancing time to be a kid and responsibilities to his tenants. This position gradually causes him to break down when the island begins to lift off from the island. He believes that his wish caused the Warlocks to show up and tear the place he calls home.

In the finale, the island blossoms into PuppyCats spaceship to escape the Warlocks attacking Earth. When the island powers the machines off, Cardamon’s mom, Violet, wakes up from her coma. She comforts her son, wrapping her arms around him. She then looks for PuppyCat to ask if they found Bee’s father. 

Meanwhile, Bee lies on the spaceship floor injured after saving a friend from possession at the Warlock’s hands. Violet then tells the islanders to jump off if they do not want to travel with them to space. The Wizard family, Toast, and minor characters remain on the island, and the spaceships fly up into the sky.

Bee and PuppyCat’s Main Message

Bee did not keep jobs for long in the human temp agency. But PuppyCat excels in completing several missions, meets new friends, and takes care of PuppyCat. Deckard chooses to go to a Culinary school to find out whether he can learn to bake. On the other hand, Cardamon is taking a role that places a significant responsibility on him to keep tenants on his mother’s property. The pressure to keep everything together breaks him when in the last episode, his mother wakes up. All he wanted was for his mom to be there with him. 

The story is about a family taking care of each other and learning to explore different avenues in life. 

Bee and PuppyCat Original Fans and New Fans Reactions

The original fans pointed out that the exposition spoon-fed information to the audience. Secondly, Netflix removed too much from season one that is not in the first three episodes. 

For example, the first episode, Gentle Touch, on Netflix has Bee and PuppyCat taking care of a planet that is a baby. PuppyCat tells a story to the Baby to calm them. The story reveals that PuppyCat is a Space outlaw. He managed to flee from the warlocks king’s hand. The princess he fell in love with betrayed him. The encounter turned him into a monster dog-cat hybrid. 

Cartoon Hangover’s Bee and PuppyCat hinted that PuppyCat was the Space Outlaw in the first episode as well, but with PuppyCat staring into the window showing a quick reflection of the outlaw in the glass. On another note, filler episodes impeded the story from moving forward because the focus went from Bee and PuppyCat to including the Wizard family, Cardamon, and minor characters. An IMD user, naquaa, shares their thoughts on the show:

There’s too much exposition. Too many details pushed into episode one. No character development and focus is all over the place. The jokes that were simple and hilarious are now watered down and forced. Deckard was previously a part of Bee’s story but in this one it seems like the show is Bee and Puppycat also featuring Deckard’s family. – naquaa September 8 2022

An IMDB user Nathboi share their experience in watching the show. Newcomers watching the show did not know how the story ended from the original shorts on Youtube or the Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space. Not having expectations gave them a fresh experience on the show.

The animation was good, the stories were good, everything was good, and my comfort show forever. Like the voices could use some work but still I love it, also the art Styles change each time the show progresses or when they do work on planets. The animators/creator and voice actors deserve better and money. – Nathboi

The show gives a warm bubbly feel in filler episodes letting the audience connect with Bee and PuppyCat, the Wizard family, Cardamon, and minor characters. Bee and PuppyCat created an iconic look through their Vocaloid music chords creating an echo dreamscape and vibrant purple aesthetic.  Bee and PuppyCat chronicles a slice-of-life journey the characters in Bee and PuppyCat experience in becoming their authentic selves.