Beauty and the Beast (TV series) Totally Explained

Everything about Beauty And The Beast Tv Series totally explained

Beauty and the Beast is an American television series which first aired on CBS in 1987. Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairy tale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent (Ron Perlman), a mythic, noble man-beast, and his Catherine (Linda Hamilton), a savvy assistant District attorney

in (New York; and a secret Utopian community of social outcasts living in a wondrous world beneath the city, a sanctuary where Vincent is protected and loved. Through an empathic bond connecting Vincent and Catherine, he's able to sense her emotions, and comes to be her protector as well as the man she loves beyond all measure. The series follows the developing relationship between these two and nicely fleshes out the underground world of labyrinth tunnels, mystical waterfalls, and people who have come together to form a loving and nurturing family. In a twist from the original tale, however, this "beast" doesn't transform into society's idea of beauty after gaining the love of Catherine. Rather, Vincent's inner beauty is allowed to remain the focus of who he is, and it's Catherine's former life the one transformed by their love of each other. Vincent's makeup was devised by veteran Hollywood makeup artist Rick Baker. In the third season, after the death of Catherine, Jo Anderson became the new female lead, playing Diana Bennet, a police woman investigating Catherine's murder. As the title indicates, the premise of the series is inspired by the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast"; in particular, there's some connection to the Jean Cocteau French film of 1946, La Belle et la Bête.

Series Synopsis

Season 1

When Catherine Chandler is beaten and slashed and left to die in Central Park, she's rescued and cared for by Vincent, who has taken her to his Father (Roy Dotrice), to their hidden community of people dwelling in tunnels below the city of New York. Ten days later, she returns to the surface with the promise of keeping Vincent's secret and the challenge to go on after her terrible atack. After completing her recovery, her life begins a serious transition: She takes self-defense lessons, leaves her comfortable job at her father's law firm and joins the Manhattan District Attorney's office as an Assistant District attorney.

During the course of the first season, the production team fashioned an almost hypnotically compelling blend of romance and crime drama which used both Catherine's position as an ADA and her will to help Vincent and his world, to place her in moments of physical danger which would bring the idealized romantic figure of Vincent to the surface world as her guardian angel.

Season 2

During its second season, the series shifted its focus slightly to add more character development, as the central characters spent considerable time exploring their relationship and with the inhabitants of the Tunnel World, where Catherine had now finally been accepted as a friend and "Helper" (someone who assists the Tunnel community with what they need to survive and by keeping their secret). More people from the world Above turned up for emotional support and healing in the World Below's welcomingly secure environment. Near the end of the season, however, in an effort to boost faltering ratings, the action orientation returned as a result of the misleadings of the recurrent villain

Paracelsus (Tony Jay

). (See also: Personality). In a cliff hanger final episode, Catherine is seen walking down a tunnel into a chamber, where Vincent is suffering from a violent madness.

Season 3

When the series returned for its abbreviated third season late in 1989, Linda Hamilton had announced her decision to leave the series. A decision that, along with the network's desire to attract more male viewers, would have serious repercussions for the show's continued survival. In an exciting resolution to the previous season's cliff-hanger, Catherine rescued Vincent from his inner demons but was kidnapped by Gabriel (played by Stephen McHattie), the ruthless head of a huge criminal empire she'd been investigating, which was trying to corrupt the D.A.'s office. She was killed, but not before giving birth to Vincent's son, who was held hostage by the evil Gabriel. Catherine's boss and close friend, Joe Maxwell, (Jay Acavone) hired Diana Bennett, (Jo Anderson), a private investigator, to track down Catherine's killer. And, quite naturally, her investigation ultimately led her to the shadowy, now darkly obsessed and grieving Vincent. Although still astonishingly popular with its dedicated group of core fans (comprising mostly of women), the darker, more resolutely violent aspects of the rework concept, coupled with the fatal loss of the all-important central relationship between Catherine and Vincent ultimately led to the series' cancellation.

List of episodes

Season 1

1. Once Upon a Time in the City of New York
2. Terrible Savior
3. Siege
4. No Way Down
5. Masques
6. The Beast Within
7. Nor Iron Bars a Cage
8. Song of Orpheus
9. Dark Spirit
10. A Children's Story
11. An Impossible Silence
12. Shades of Gray
13. China Moon
14. The Alchemist
15. Temptation
16. Promises of Someday
17. Down to a Sunless Sea
18. Fever
19. Everything is Everything
20. To Reign in Hell
21. Ozymandias
22. A Happy Life

Season 2

23. Chamber Music
24. Remember Love
25. Ashes, Ashes
26. Dead of Winter
27. God Bless the Child
28. Sticks and Stones
29. A Fair and Perfect Knight
30. Labyrinths
31. Brothers
32. A Gentle Rain
33. The Outsiders
34. Orphans
35. Arabesque
36. When the Blue Bird Sings
37. The Watcher
38. A Distant Shore
39. Trial
40. A Kingdom by the Sea
41. The Hollow Men
42. What Rough Beast
43. Ceremony of Innocence
44. The Rest is Silence

Season 3

45. Though Lovers be Lost, Part 1
46. Though Lovers be Lost, Part 2
47. Walk Slowly
48. Nevermore
49. Snow
50. Begger's Comet
51. A Time to Heal
52. In the Forests of the Night
53. Chimes at Midnight
54. Invictus
55. The Reckoning
56. Legacies

Cast

The "World Above"

Catherine Chandler (Linda Hamilton) - A corporate attorney who is mistaken for a witness in a criminal case, resulting in her being beaten, her face severely slashed and left for dead in Central Park. She is rescued and nursed back to health by Vincent, who introduces her to the other "tunnel dwellers". Following her near-death experience, Catherine quits her law firm to work for the District Attorney's office, where she puts her legal talent to work protecting the Tunnels. In the third season, Catherine is kidnapped by Gabriel, whereupon it's discovered she's carrying Vincent's child; she dies shortly after the baby is delivered.

Joe Maxwell (Jay Acovone) - a Deputy District Attorney for the Borough of Manhattan, and Catherine's immediate superior in the office. Joe is a generally easy-going boss; he's unaware of Catherine's relationship with Vincent or the existence of the Tunnels. Since Vincent is in part responsible for Catherine's success rate in investigations, Joe wonders how a "socialite corporate lawyer" can produce such results on seemingly impossible cases.

Diana Bennett (Jo Anderson) (Season 3) - Following the death of Catherine Chandler, the character of Diana became the "Beauty" of the title. Diana is a criminal profiler with the "210 Division" of the New York Police Department, which investigates unusual cases beyond the scope of the normal police. After being is called in to investigate Catherine's murder, Diana acquires enough clues to deduce the existence of the Tunnels, and actually begins exploring them at one point (forcing a sealing of the old access door from Catherine's apartment building). Later, she discovers Vincent (whose existence she also had deduced, though not in its entirety), lying upon Catherine's grave, close to death from the effects of a blast planted to kill him and Elliott Burch (see below). Nursing him back to health, she slowly gains his trust, and is given by him enough information to lead her to the location of Vincent's son.

Jenny Aronson (Terri Hanauer) - Catherine's closest friend outside of the Tunnels. She works as an editor with a New York publishing house.

Elliot Burch (Edward Albert) - A self-made millionaire and New York building developer. He suffered the fatal flaw of cutting corners with the law by hiring thugs to force out a group of tenants from a rent-controlled building so as to tear it down (Siege); and later breaking other regulations to pave the way for his planned "Burch Tower" (Ozymandias). Deeply attracted to Catherine, he courted her actively in "Siege," and remained infatuated with her even as she discovered the facts that brought his plans to a halt and ended their romantic relationship. In Ozymandias, Burch proposed marriage, but after her initial acceptance (in a desperate bid to save the Tunnel World from being destroyed by the Burch Tower) upon condition that construction of the Tower be stopped, he was unable to choose her over his dream and in the end lost both Catherine and the Tower. During Season 3, Gabriel targeted Burch for death because of his efforts to uncover the truth about Catherine's death, but Burch was saved by Vincent at the Central Park carousel, during which District Attorney John Moreno (who was revealed to be working for Gabriel in "Though Lovers Be Lost") was killed and Vincent and Burch came face to face for the first time. Burch maintained a modus vivendi with Vincent in the effort to discover and bring down Catherine's killer. Gabriel (see below) temporarily co-opted Burch first by bringing Burch's financial empire to the brink of ruin and then playing on his jealousy of Vincent's relationship with Catherine, but Burch went through a change of heart at the last instant before he was killed in an explosion, saving Vincent from death by sacrificing his own life.

Charles Chandler (John McMartin) - A full partner in the firm of corporate lawyers that was also home to his daughter, Catherine. A devoted single father, Charles gave his daughter every advantage, up to and including expensive education at Radcliffe and a position in his firm. During Season 2, Charles suffered a stroke, dying not many days after.

Edie (Ren Woods) (Season 1) - Works in the computer division of the NYPD. A database virtuoso, she frequently discovers facts that allowed Catherine to find an angle of attack on a case.

Gabriel (Stephen McHattie) (Season 3) - A highly-influential crime boss and the biggest drug trafficker on the East Coast. Catherine draws unwanted attention from Gabriel while investigating the death of one of his victims, a lawyer who knew details about the drug operation. Catherine is kidnapped by Gabriel, who learns that she's pregnant with Vincent's child. He keeps Catherine alive long enough for her to give birth, upon which he's her killed. Jo Bennett eventually tracks Gabriel to his home base of operations, aids Vincent in rescuing his child, and shoots and kills Gabriel with Catherine's gun (given to her earlier by Father).

The "World Below"

Vincent (Ron Perlman) - Vincent's true nature isn't explicitly stated in the story. Physically, he's a man of extremely large build; however, he differs from human norms in that he possesses the facial characteristics of a lion, as well as fanged teeth. His fingers are tipped with claws that can leave deep wounds when he attacks. When angered, Vincent emits a feline growl, and when fully roused emits loud roars. He often wears a large cloak about his shoulders, so as not to attract attention while walking the city streets. He is also seen to wear (at more festive or formal occasions) a costume somewhat similar to an 18th Century gentleman's formal dress. His parentage is unknown; he was found abandoned as a baby in the garbage behind Saint Vincent's Hospital and brought to Father, who drew his name from the location. Nursed to health by Father and the early Tunnel community, he was raised with the other children of the Tunnels. He has twice suffered from attacks of madness or some other mental aggravation, which resulted in his withdrawing into his more animal nature: once as an adolescent, and the second some two to 2-1/2 years after meeting Catherine.

Father (Roy Dotrice)- Jacob Wells was an English-born physician who worked for the United States government during 1950s. When he spoke out against certain activities, he was blacklisted, fired from his job and saw his license to practice medicine stripped from him. Unable to find new work and abandoned by his wife, he wandered alone and homeless until his finding sanctuary in the Tunnel community. Following the power struggle between John Pater and Wells, Pater was ejected beyond the "boundaries" and Wells declared their titular leader. Today, Father, as he became known, is loved and respected as the patriarch of the Tunnel world.

Mouse (David Greenlee) - A child taken in by the World Below. Painfully shy following some traumatic incident, he's completely withdrawn and was unable to even speak. He is something of a genius, able to scavenge (or steal), dismantle and reassemble (usually), just about anything, as well as create functional equipment out of what others would consider hopeless junk.

Mary (Ellen Geer) - An older woman who acts almost as a second in command; in a way, a mother to Jacob's "Father". It is revealed she's in love with him, but thought it was "selfish to have him all to [her]self." She apparently has medical training, as she's shown delivering a baby and tending to the ill several times in the series.

Pascal (Armin Shimerman) - A member of Vincents inner circle of friends. Pascal listens to people talking through the pipes in the underground. Pascal is soft spoken and offers words of wisdom to friends.

Winslow (James Avery) - One of the most influential members of the underground community, he's also very hot tempered as well and sometimes allows his anger to overcome his good judgment. In Shades Of Grey, when Father and Vincent are trapped in a collapsed cave, Winslow leads what he thinks is a rescue effort and refuses to hear other ideas. In To Reign In Hell, when Katherine is kidnapped, Winslow and Pascal join Vincent in trying to find her. However, when Paracelsus' minion, a giant, attacks Vincent, and when trying to save him, Winslow is killed. Vincent and Pascal hold a small memorial for their fallen comrade.

Paracelsus (Tony Jay) - John Pater was a scientist and former friend of Father's who helped organize the Tunnel World, but desired power for himself. Father describes him as a "philosopher, scientist, magician" and says that much of what the tunnel-dwellers have created below, they owe to Pater.¹

After his exile beyond the boundaries (see above) and an accident (caused during a confrontation with Vincent) that horribly scarred his face with burns, he took the name Paracelsus (after the 15th-century alchemist). He is a recurring antagonist in the series.

Novelizations

Avon Books published three books novelizing various episodes from the series.

Beauty and the Beast by Barbara Hambly - October 1989 ISBN 0-380-75795-8, a novelization and expanding of the pilot episode

Masques by Ru Emerson - September 1990 ISBN 0-380-76194-7, a novelization of the episodes Arabesque, Masques and The Watcher

Song of Orpheus by Barbara Hambly - November 1990 ISBN 0-380-75798-2, a novelization of the episodes Fever, "Song of Orpheus" and Shades of Grey

WaRP Graphics also published two graphic novels based on the series.

DVD Releases

On February 13, 2007 Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD released the first season of Beauty and the Beast on DVD in Region 1. Season 2 was released on July 10, 2007 and the third and final season was released on February 5 2008 (External Link

)

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
Beauty and the Beast: The Complete First Season	22	February 13, 2007
Beauty and the Beast: The Complete Second Season	22	July 10, 2007
Beauty and the Beast: The Complete Third Season	12	February 5 2008

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