Beakman’s World

Hey, Don, I'm hungry. Me too. Let's call Luigi's

and order a pizza. What kind do you want? How

about a large anchovy pizza? Perfect. I'll have

them hold the dough, hold the sauce, and hold

the cheese. Perfect. How long before it's here?

Don't you remember? Last time it took 45 years,

Herb. Oh. But if they're one minute late, we

get it free. Yeah, well, while we're waiting,

let's catch a slice of Beekman. Flip him on.

Yeah, and he comes with extra toppings. The hummingbird

lays the world's smallest bird egg, smaller than

this jelly bean. Hey, hey, hey, let me out of

here. Sorry. I'm Beacon, and you've just broken

into Beacon's world. It's time for the Telecast,

brought to you by the Geekcast Radio Network.

Optimus Solo Hello, sir. How you doing? Pretty

good. And today the three of us are going to

be talking about our second educational show.

Last time we talked about Bill Nye the Science

Guy, and we actually received our first telecast

voicemail in response to that episode. So before

we move on to our episode today, I'm going to

give everyone a chance to hear that message,

which ironically is from our other host, Control

Freak Mike. Or no, it's TFG1 Mike. I'm sorry,

I messed up his name. But he's a control freak.

We all know this. So we're going to listen to

that voicemail real quick, and we will be right

back as soon as that gets done playing. This

is TFG and Mike from the Geekcast Radio Network

giving the Telecast its first voicemail. Yes,

I know when Kevin listens to this, he's going

to be laughing his ass off because of my quote

-unquote control issues. Just wanted to give

you guys a great... Shout out for episode 6,

Bill Nye the Science Guy. I always remembered

seeing Bill Nye and Beakman's World back to back.

Not sure which was in front of the other. I so

wasn't a science kid. But I agree with everything

you guys have said about the fact that it is

a great educational program. I was more of a

history buff, honestly. I was more of, you know,

where in the world is Carmen Sandiego type, you

know, learning about geography and stuff like

that. I had no interest in science. No interest.

I was history and writing and English and all

that stuff. Kevin, iTunes, hello. Bill Nye the

Science Guy is in iTunes, and it's probably better

quality than YouTube. However, there is a drawback.

Bill Nye the Science Guy Volume 1 has 14 episodes,

and the cost is $22 .99. Bill Nye the Science

Guy Volume 2 has 17 episodes. And the cost is

$27 .99. So there is a drawback. A huge drawback.

Very few episodes at a very high cost. I'm not

sure why the US iTunes Store charges that much

for only 17 and 14 episodes. I'm not sure at

all. But at least... If someone is a fan of Bill

Nye or someone really wants it that bad and wants

good quality, at least you can get it in iTunes.

Keep up the good work. This is TFG and Mike signing

off. All right, thank you, TFG1 Mike, for our

very first telecast voicemail, and thank you

for giving us the information about iTunes as

far as the availability of Bill Nye the Science

Guy. Unfortunately, based on what you said, it

looks like iTunes is not a very good option since

it sounds like it's pretty darn expensive for

only a few episodes, and I'll try not to forget

the iTunes information from here on out. But

other than that, thank you for your kind words

about the telecast and for your thoughts on Bill

Nye the Science Guy, and hopefully everybody

else out there. They want their voice heard on

the telecast, can start calling into the voicemail

line and leaving their own voicemail messages

for future episodes. But with that, we will shut

the book on the Bill Nye episode and transition

into today's episode in which we will be talking

about. Hello. Discover this. I'm Beatman and

you've just broken into Beatman's world. That's

right, folks. We are talking about Beekman's

World. Before we get too far into our discussion,

here's a little background information for the

show. Beekman's World debuted in 1992, one year

before Bill Nye the Science Guy, actually, and

it lasted until 1997. It was shown on CBS here

in the United States, and it lasted for four

seasons and 91 episodes. And for those of you

who maybe only watched Bill Nye the Science Guy,

Beekman was an eccentric scientist. who performed

comical experiments and demonstrations in response

to viewer mail to illustrate various scientific

concepts, and he was accompanied by some other

people, which we'll get to in a minute. But before

we do that, what do you remember about Beekman's

World, JT? I remember this being one of the first

shows that I discovered on an American network,

because, like I said, Beekman was one of my friends

on that top ten list we did for the supplemental

episode. Right, and if you haven't listened to

that episode, go do it. Yes, for shame. For shame.

Anyway, no, I just remember watching the show

and loving it, and I'm not saying I didn't like

Bill Nye, but Beekman, I think, was just a little

more entertaining, a little more colorful. He's

almost like a live -action cartoon, and that's

really what grabbed me about the show. Like,

it was, you know, there was lights, there was

color, there was humor. but there's also intelligence,

and that sort of thing just hooked me more than

Bill Nye did. Yeah, I actually agree with you

on that one. For me, and I know Steve might have

a different opinion, and our other host on Bill

Nye, Tara, might have another opinion, but I

think it's kind of since they were both playing

basically at the same time and mainly for the

same set of years, I think some people were more

on the Bill Nye camp and some people were more

on the Beekman's camp. Obviously, there might

have been people that liked both of them. But

I was a little bit more drawn to Beekman. I don't

know if I just felt like it was a little bit

more fast -paced or if it was because of some

of the characters they had or maybe the personalities.

But I agree with you that it hooked me a little

bit more. Yeah, no, like I said, I think it's

just the way the science was presented. I mean,

Bill Nye, a lot of people like Bill Nye because

he got you interested in the science. But I think

it's something about it being kind of like the

way it was presented, almost like a cartoon.

It just, my mind retained more of it in that

way. Yeah, I mean, it wasn't, maybe it wasn't

as focused as Bill Nye because they jumped all

over into different topics depending on the viewer

mail, the way it was set up. So it was kind of

a little more sporadic and all over the place.

But, you know, I agree with you for the most

part. What about you, Steve? What do you remember

about Beakman's or how do you kind of compare

the two? No, I like both of them, but in different

ways. I like Bill Nye more so for the... It's

more of a straightforward, I mean, it's got comedy

in it, but it's more of a serious form of it

than what Beakman's is. Like, Beakman's has the

corny jokes that are far worse than Bill Nye.

The fart jokes and stuff like that. Yeah, the

fart jokes, but I mean, it's appealing to a younger

audience than what Bill Nye would be. Bill Nye

is like the next notch up. That's true. Where

this would be the next notch down, but it's still

suitable for all the ages. and you have all these

different personalities throughout the show,

whether it's Beekman playing all of them or if

it's his sidekicks. It was just interesting to

see how differently the show was put together.

It seemed more so the late 80s, early 90s vibe

to it than how Bill Nye was portrayed. Yeah,

yeah, it definitely fit more into that time,

like into that era. Like if you were to watch

a Beakman's World episode and then try to get,

if you didn't know and you tried to like guess

when it came from, I think you'd have better

luck than if you tried to guess when Bill Nye

was on. Just because it is, it does have, it

has that like earnest feel, like earnest, you

know, hey Vern, it's earnest feel. It has that

Pee Wee Herman type feel where it's just kind

of this controlled chaos. And I think that was

kind of, you know, typical for that 92 to 97

era. And it was a nice factor that they included

in it. And they even pulled something kind of

like how the Muppets would do, where they'd have

the two guys sitting in the balcony making fun

of the show. They had the penguins sitting in

the Arctic watching the television making fun

of the show. Puppet penguins. So that in itself

was hilarious to me. I forgot all about the penguins

until I went to go watch an episode on YouTube,

and I was like, yes! I remember these things.

To begin with, I didn't know if I was going to

remember anything from the show. And as I watched

it, I was like, okay, yes, I did sit here and

watch this a lot. Yeah, I had the exact same

experience, actually, because I knew that I knew

more about Beekman's World than Bill Nye. I knew

I watched it more as a kid. But when I sat down

to actually watch the shows in preparation for

the episode, I was like, I'm not sure how much

I'm going to remember. I know I watched it more,

but I don't know if I could tell you much about

it. And as soon as I started watching it, all

of a sudden it was like I was exactly where I

was when I was watching it originally, and everything

was like, oh, they're going to do this, and I

remember this part, and like you said, the penguins,

and just kind of some of the different little

skits they did, like some that we'll talk about

a little bit later. All of it started making

sense and bringing back those memories pretty

clear. Yeah, no, I think one of the main selling

points for me was, again, with the whole kind

of concept, aspect of the show. It's like when

he did a demonstration, you laugh, but it also

grabbed your attention, so you're really paying

attention to what he's saying and you understand

it better. It's kind of like when you work in

a practical program in school. You can study

theory all you want, but until you actually see

it done or you do it yourself, you don't truly

get it in your head. And this one was very fast

-paced, so it didn't ever seem boring. Yeah.

No, it kept jumping subject to subject, so you

never actually sat there too long in one. Basically,

it filled the need for kids that age having a

low attention span. Yeah, that's true. And also,

if they were talking about some topic that you

weren't as interested in, it wasn't like you

were going to suffer through it because you knew

it wasn't going to last that long and they'd

be on to a new topic soon. So like if they're

talking about like fossils and you don't care

about fossils, that's right. They're going to

be talking about how a car works in a few minutes.

So, well, yeah, no, I think that's something,

I think that's the main difference for me between

Beekman and Bill Nye is Bill Nye really went

in, he went into like every detail of a certain

experiment or a scientific principle. Whereas

with Beekman, it's basically like one of the

clips I was watching, like a guy says, like,

how much does air weigh? And you know, it's,

it's like, Five minutes on explaining how gases

work and gas density, and then you go from that

to the next thing, and it's a quick flash. Yeah.

I think the reason it sticks more is those quick

bits like that, they stick in the subconscious

more than anything. Well, and I think, too, it

had to do a little bit to do with the actual

two individuals we're talking about, which kind

of leads us into a discussion of some of the

who's who of Beekman's world, because with Beekman,

he's not a scientist. Whereas Bill Nye is a man

of science who has dedicated his life to educational

endeavors, whereas Beekman is an entertainer.

He is a, you know, a comedian. He's a puppeteer.

You know, he is an entertainer, not a someone

who, you know, has been dedicated to education.

So with Beekman's world, he is more playing a

part. And, you know, his forte is entertaining

you as he does it, whereas Bill Nye's forte was

teaching you as he does it. So I think that had

a big deal with what you were just saying as

far as how one would go into more detail and

one would be trying to make it more fun. Yeah,

no, that's pretty much what I was getting at.

Yeah, and just so for the record, Beekman was

played by a man named Paul Zaloom. And Beekman

obviously was the main scientist on the show.

He also played a whole... huge cast of different

characters by doing the little Superman routine

where he runs off stage or runs into a phone

booth and changes outfits real quick and comes

back as somebody else. But he's obviously the

main character. What were you guys' opinions

just on Beakman himself? I loved him. I thought,

like I said, he's... A mad scientist, more or

less. It's just something about the way the character

was. He sounded more like some dude on a street

corner in New York City with the accent and the

way he talked about things. He had a little bit

of Rodney Dangerfield in his... He almost sounded

like... I don't know if anyone else would ever

pick up on this, but to me, he almost sounded

like the same guy that does the voice for Elf.

He's not. He had that kind of accent that...

Just the way he spoke, he had the same sort of

tweaks and whatnot. Right, because I was watching

it today and the other day, and I'm like, who

does he sound like? He sounds so familiar. And

finally, I'm like, I think it's Alf. I think

he sounds like Alf. And I'm not trying to rip

on Bill Nye at all because I know Bill Nye was

a great show and I know a lot of people like

Bill Nye. But for me, the main selling point

in Beakman over Bill Nye was the actual character

of Beakman. And I could, for some reason, I attached

more to Beakman than I did with Bill Nye. I don't

know why that was exactly. What was your opinion

on just the Beakman character, Steve? I, too,

have to agree that I did get the Mad Scientist

vibe from him, which I loved. And, yeah, you

could definitely hear the accent. It was more

like, you know, kind of like a New York accent

in a sense. So I definitely liked that. But at

the same time, he was kind of wacky, crazy. It

was like a mix between Bill Nye and, like, Pee

Wee Herman all thrown in there. Yeah, I agree.

It was like either Bill Nye slash Pee Wee or

Bill Nye slash, like, Hey Vern. You know, I always

say Hey Vern instead of his name. But, yeah,

to me it was kind of like that wacky combination,

like part educational, part, like, whack job

um control chaos yeah control chaos is the theme

of this show before we get into some of the other

characters i want to real quick take a second

to talk about his main uh henchman which was

the lab rat called lester who was played by uh

mark ritz um what did you guys feel about the

man in the rat suit uh jt well i remember when

when i saw like the first episode uh i found

it on I think it was on YouTube or one of the

video sites. Like, the first episode, he was

a puppet. Like, he was a rat puppet, and I wish

that would have... Like, I like the guy in the

rat suit, but I just like the puppet better.

I don't remember the puppet. No, it was, like,

the one episode. It was, like, the pilot episode,

and then it was, like, just this dude in a suit.

But I thought it would have been cool if, like,

the whole show would have been just Beakman's

the only human, and you got the puppet sidekicks.

But no, it's... You know, Lester was he's like

one of those classic sidekicks that he's always

he's got a smart mouth. He's dumber than a post.

You can't help but kind of like the guy. Yeah.

What do you think about Lester, Steve? I got

almost a rat trap vibe. Yeah, you kind of had

that. The voice, like if it were a little bit

higher pitched, I would have almost believed

it was rat trap. That is excellent. I mean, I

was sitting there and I'm like, huh? I'm like,

why is Rat Trap, you know? And then I'm like,

okay, yeah. He had that kind of Bronx, Brooklyn

accent. So, I mean, you could definitely get

the New York vibe from all the characters. But

it was also kind of funny because he had the

typical fat rat, cheese, you know, type of just

rodent. So, I mean, it was a nice combination

that they had going there that made you love

him, yet not really like him at the same time.

Yeah, you're somewhat repulsed by him, but he

makes you laugh. So it's like, yeah, you're fine

because you make me laugh. I'm good with that.

Whoever knew Beakman and Rattrap would educate

all of us. But I thought it was funny that the

way they... didn't try to disguise that it was

a guy in a rat suit. Like there'd be multiple

times where people would ask him like, what are

you supposed to be? He's like, I'm a guy in a

rat suit. Like he would just come out right out

there and be like, yeah, that's what I am. I'm

a guy in a rat suit. Like my agent sucks or something

like that. And you know, I'm in a rat suit. He

wasn't like, I am a rat or I'm playing this part

or I'm this character. He's like, I'm a guy in

a rat suit. My life sucks. I did not realize

that the guy was as old as he was in that rat

suit. I want to say he was in his upper 40s,

maybe low 50, 51, 48, somewhere in there, the

guy that was playing Lester. I always thought

he was much younger than that. Really? Yeah,

but we'll get more into that in a little bit.

I want to talk a little bit about the female

assistants. I was not aware before we did this

show that there was multiple female assistants.

Because when I remember watching the show as

a kid, the only assistant I remember is Josie,

who was played by Alana Ubach. I don't know if

I'm saying that name right, but she does a lot

of voice acting nowadays. But that's the only

person I ever remember being on the show. Now,

watching the YouTube videos, I see this Phoebe,

who was played by Santa Moses, and that there

was also, according to the information, Liza

or Aliza, played by Aliza Schneider. I don't

remember ever seeing those two as a kid. And

just seeing Phoebe in the YouTube videos, I'm

glad I don't remember her as a kid because she

was kind of annoying to me. I don't know. Do

you guys remember seeing different assistants,

or do you guys just remember one of them? I remember

all three of them. Okay. Which one was your favorite

then? Phoebe. Oh, really? See, I thought she

was annoying. I was the annoying kid growing

up, so I kind of gravitated to my own people.

But no, I think Alana and Aliza, their characters

were both really good, and they had that peppy

kind of energy. If you watch the episodes, you

can see the way Beakman, when they come in and

they start doing their spiel, Beakman kind of

just looks at them out of the corner of his eyes

like, just shut up. But Phoebe, she had just

a little bit more energy, I think, than the others.

I think she just had a lot more kind of comedic

timing and skill with the bits. I can see that

as far as the timing and everything. I think

what bugs me about Phoebe is the fact that she

had more energy, and to me, you almost needed

a character that was a little more calm in that

role, just for my personal preferences, because

you have Beekman, who's kind of crazy, and you

have Lester, who's kind of this retarded guy,

and I kind of needed that grounded, more down

-to -earth a little bit. Not totally, but a little

bit. And that's why I kind of like Josie a little

bit better. But I can see Phoebe definitely had

more energy and she probably was the better as

far as intermingling with the comedic bits as

far as with Mark Ritz and Paul Zaloom. Steve,

do you remember different assistants? Honestly,

no. I only remember the original. And that's

it. Which I believe Josie is the original. That's

what I believe as well. I don't remember anybody

else other than her. I've never seen this Liza

or Liza in an episode. Do you remember what she

was like, JT? She was just like the energetic

assistant, real happy and peppy and all that.

I didn't see any clips with her on YouTube, but

I just remember having that kind of standard...

energetic sidekick thing. Not maybe as much as

Alana or Senta had, but she still had a presence

there. Yeah. I mean, they all kind of played

the same role. I couldn't find any information

as to why they switched them so often. But I

would be interested to see if it was the actors

choosing not to come back or if they were intentionally

wanting to switch it up so that they had different

people. I'd kind of be interested to know a little

behind the scenes on that, but I couldn't find

anything as far as online. There's not a ton

of information about the show out there. The

only other characters we kind of touched on already,

but we'll just touch on real quickly again, which

is the Statler and Waldorf puppet penguins. Like

I said, I did not remember that they were even

a part of this show until I was watching the

YouTube clips, but they're absolutely hilarious.

They would use them in multiple ways. Sometimes

they would use them mid -skit where they'd be

talking about something and they would just go

to them and have a quick commentary and come

right back. Sometimes they used them at the beginning

or end of shows or before and after commercial

breaks. I just thought they used them really

well. I think it's hilarious that they just have

these two random penguins at the North Pole who

have a TV set up on the ice or the snow and they're

watching. you know, they're watching Beakman's

world, but as much as they would make fun of

things or, or kind of be sarcastic, they would

always say, you know, don't turn the channel

or make sure you're, you know, you're make sure

we're just on Beakman's, you know, or whatever.

Um, what did you guys think of that? It was the

magic of the puppets. I mean, really? Yeah. So

you, you like the puppets just as much as Steve

and I? Oh yeah. No, dude, I got nothing but love

for puppets. Looking up, doing a little research

for the show tonight, I didn't actually, until

today, I never looked at the Wikipedia article

on the show, and you'd think that would have

been the first thing. But I did not know that

they were, I knew their names were Don and Herb.

I actually remembered that, but I didn't know

that they were named for the guy that played,

starred as Mr. Wizard. Yeah. Yeah, and that is

awesome. I think that they paid homage to the

original mad scientist, as far as I'm concerned,

which is Mr. Wizard, who is actually going to

be the topic of the next episode of the telecast.

But I think that's very cool that they named

him after him. So the one puppet was named Don,

and he was voiced by Bert Bertis, and the other

one was Herb, and he was voiced by Alan Barsman.

I'm not familiar with those two individuals,

but like you said, I think the naming of it was

pretty cool. And Steve, you're a big fan of the

puppets too, right? Oh, yeah. Puppets are great.

And I did not know that there was any puppets

in this show. I thought it was just guys in full

body costumes. Do either one of you have any

more thoughts on any of the characters that we've

talked about, or maybe if I missed any? I know

I didn't talk about Beakman's mom or a few other

characters, but anything else, JT, you want to

say on characters? Yeah, actually, you said Paul

Zaloon did a couple different characters, like

Professor I Am Boring. Yes. I loved the fact

that Zalim played all these different characters

that you know it's him. I thought it was really

cool that he made that effort to become all these

different people. I love Beak Mom, Beakman's

mother, because that's the lady that played Edith

on the Archie Bunker show back in the day. The

first time I saw Beak Mom, I looked at my dad,

isn't that Archie Bunker's wife? It's like, you

watch too much television. Well, she fit that

role perfectly, too. She was just as crazy and

energetic as everybody else. She wouldn't be

one of my favorite characters in this or anything,

but I thought she was a pretty nice touch to

it. I was going to say, and I just love the name

Beak Mom. It's not Mrs. Beakman or anything like

that. It's Beak Mom. What about you, Steve? Any

other characters you wanted to mention, or have

we covered all of them? I think I pretty much

covered all of them. I mean, those are pretty

much the only three besides the penguins that

actually stood out to me in the show. Yeah. Do

you have a favorite, whether it was the female

assistant, Lester, Beekman, or the penguins?

Which people did you like when they were on the

air the most? I would have to say Beekman. Yeah.

And for some reason, I always thought that Josie

was hilarious. because she was always trying

to get the limelight, and Beekman would stomp

her out. And it wasn't Beekman, it was Lester.

Yeah. So I liked the dynamic that those three

had, so between those, I didn't... I mean, some

of the incarnations of Beekman, when he'd try

and pretend to be various historical people,

was kind of corny, and he would throw out...

comedic jokes that were really really lame yeah

uh but it was still entertaining nonetheless

but i prefer i think would like you i prefer

beekman just as beekman instead of his other

characters i mean i didn't mind his other characters

but i liked him enough as himself that i was

would have been fine whether the other characters

existed or not yeah but yeah i agree with you

i think beekman's my favorite character um i

like lester a lot Like you said, I kind of like

Josie. I didn't necessarily care for Phoebe,

and I don't remember the other assistant at all.

But how about your favorite? I don't have any

least favorites in this one, but what about you,

JT? No, I pretty much liked everybody. I think

because of the limited cast, they worked a little

harder to make sure all the characters kind of

endeared themselves to the viewers. There's just

not a lot I... In fact, there's nothing that

I really dislike about the show. Yeah. The only

other thing I can mention that I kind of forgot

before is there was the, I don't know if you

want to call him the producer or the cameraman

or the, I don't know, director. Yeah, the hand

that would come in and hand Beekman stuff, or

occasionally they would have conversation or

kind of reference to or whatever. And I thought

that was kind of funny. I remember one scene

where Lester's saying something about he has

a crush on the makeup person or something like

that, and then all of a sudden the camera feed

gets all fuzzy because he's punishing. lester

and whoever's on screen by like making them so

they're not clear in the picture and then he's

like lester apologizes and he you know clarifies

the picture for him but i thought it was kind

of funny that they had that interaction yeah

if you want to see a good example of that look

up the the beekman's explains gas density they

have they have this thing where lester is i would

like some more cheese balls that you see thing

reaching in from offside just hucking cheese

balls at lester nice yeah it just all together

it was a it was a great um great put together

as far as the control chaos between all the cast

members um but i think that does it for the who's

who and it is going to be time now for the good

the bad we That's right. It is time for the good,

the bad and the ugly. I only have a few notes

that I want to talk about as far as things I

noticed on the actual show that I wanted to bring

up. Obviously, the one thing we always talk about

in this segment is the theme song. And I do like

the theme song. I mean, it's not something I

would like write down on a list of like favorite

theme songs ever. But I like the theme song and

I like how they went to the theme song with the

intro of Beakman or the Penguins. Usually Beakman

saying something about, you know, like. you have

just broken into Beekman's world, and then it

would go into the theme song. Yeah. It doesn't

have that hook like Bill Nye the Science Guy

that you have to say every time you say that,

but it's still a pretty cool theme song. Yeah,

no, that's the one thing that Bill Nye has over

Beekman is he has the superior theme. Yeah. You've

got to give it to him. I just like the way Beekman,

you know, this is Beekman's lab, and you've just

entered Beekman's world, and he does kind of

like that bug -eyed stare at the camera and does

like the... wiggles his fingers, but I have to

say the intro for Beacon's World, it's weak sauce.

For me, personally, it's not especially memorable.

No, it's actually the part with him talking about

right beforehand and introducing the theme is

almost better than the theme itself. Yeah. I

think it's just the way because it's a lot of

that early 90s, a lot of bright light, shadows,

stuff like that. It didn't stick with me. The

way that you look at Bill Nye's intro. Yeah.

Even cheaper 90s graphics, but it's just that

music and the way it's put together. You agree

or disagree, Steve? Which theme song do you prefer,

Bill Nye or Beakman? I still prefer Bill Nye.

Yeah. And even though there's elements between

the two that are similar, I still think Bill

Nye wins out overall for the theme song contest.

Yeah, he definitely has the better theme song.

Like I said, I like the little intro before the

theme song and the little clips they do right

before they get to the song, but then it's almost

like the song's a waste of time. Yeah. Another

thing I had written down that I wanted to talk

about, two more things. One thing is the Beakman

Challenge. I don't know if you guys remember

the Beakman Challenge parts or not. I always

loved these as a kid. And for those of you that

have no idea what I'm talking about, they would

get to a time. I mean, most of the show they

would be doing viewer mail, which we can talk

about in a minute if we want to. But then occasionally

they would break from that and they would be,

you know, it's time for a Beekman challenge or

whatever, however they said it. And it would

go into an actual experiment where they would

walk you through the steps so you could do it

at home. Obviously, they would do a little cheesy

thing where they're like, make sure you have

an adult. present or you know whatever but they'd

go through the list of materials that you needed

like they would say you know like for this one

you need uh scissors and a two liter bottle or

you know like they would go through all the little

things you needed show you what to do and then

they would do the experiment on on set so you

could see how it would work and i always thought

that was cool i don't i remember trying to do

a few of them with him But usually I was missing

some key part that I needed, so I couldn't do

them. But I always wanted to do the experiments

as he was doing them on TV. Do you guys remember

the Beakman Challenge at all? Vaguely. Okay.

I didn't see anything on YouTube, but I do kind

of remember that, you know, if you're going to

do this, do it exactly how we do. Have an adult

help you. No substitutions. I remember that was

always a rule. And there was one I was watching

today where they had Phoebe was dressed up. She

says all that, and then she's like, and don't

piss. Look at that! Because they would always

have that little random bits thrown in to remind

you this is supposed to be fun. Right, right.

I remember one that they did where – well, actually,

I remember it because I just saw it on YouTube,

obviously. But they have a two -liter bottle,

and they put a – cork in the top but then they

drill a hole in the cork and they put a straw

down into it and uh some other things that are

very important obviously to the experiment but

i can't remember what all the other pieces are

but basically what he was uh demonstrating he

blew into the the two liter bottle through the

straw and then as soon as he went away from the

bottle water came shooting out of the straw kind

of to represent what happens how an aerosol can

works as far as the spray And how that why the

liquid comes out of the spray can like that.

And I was like, man, I want to go do that right

now. But that's what I remember from when I was

a kid is these experiments I did were cool enough

where you wanted to do it. And it was like something

that if you did, it was like the cool experiments,

not like just a regular scientific experiment.

It was one that you would want to show off to

like a friend if you could figure out how to

do it. Yeah. And that was cool. Do you remember

the Beekman Challenge at all, Steve? Vaguely,

but not enough to actually make any kind of criticism.

Maybe that's just for me the part that stuck

with me the most. What about the way the show

was set up with the viewer mail? Do you guys

have any opinions on how you think that either

worked or didn't work, where they just kind of

rolled the big thing of letters and would pull

out random things supposedly written? I don't

know if they were actually written by people

or not. I'm assuming most of those are just fake

things that they threw in there. I mean, it kind

of had two things. Number one, it kept it like

it was interacting with the audience, but it

also is solely responsible for the fact that

they jumped all over the place as far as topic

-wise. So what was your thoughts on, JT, on how

they actually did the show format with reading

the viewer mail and just answering questions?

Well, first of all, I would like to imagine that

those were real questions answered by real people.

Me too. Suggest otherwise just shatters all my

illusions. Santa Claus is real, don't worry.

Oh, thank God. So is Megatron. Yes! He's here

with us. No, I kind of like that because, again,

it's the idea that if people are sending these

questions, it guaranteed a rotating sort of storyline

for back of the letter term. It kept the show

fresh. Kept it popping, kept it moving along.

It's never like three questions about electricity.

It's like one's about electricity, one's about

water pressure, one's about gravity. So it just

kept everything fresh because it kept mixing

it up. Right. What did you think about the viewer

mail aspect of the show, Steve? I like how they

went through and they actually read, you know,

user mail or viewer mail. Then proceeded to mock

some of the people afterwards. Yeah, and occasionally

they'd get to a question and it would be like

something that was so stupid that then that's

when they would go into the Beekman Challenge

and they would forget the question completely.

It's like, oh, that question wasn't worth answering.

Yeah, it's just Beekman looks at the camera with

this, like, you've got to be kidding me, throws

the letter away. Okay, let's do something else.

The only other thing I really had that I wanted

to talk about as far as the other show was one

of the specific characters that we kind of mentioned

before that Beekman plays, which is the I Am

Boring, Professor I Am Boring. Out of all the

characters, I thought that one was kind of clever

because it was a way to make fun of the boring,

more typical probably to be in your actual school

science teacher, where you would have these topics.

And the reason I liked it is because it was like

Beekman and the people behind the show was like,

look, all you people that are having these exact

same topics that we're talking about that make

it boring, we're going to make fun of you for

making it boring, and then we're going to show

you how you could have made that interesting.

And I just kind of thought it was a cool jab

at kind of the old school science teacher that

wasn't maybe as fun or exciting as he should

have been. Yeah. I mean, if I had a science teacher

like that in school, there was no way I'd ever

skip a class. Yeah. Obviously, if you have Beekman

or Bill Nye or Mr. Wizard teaching your class,

you're going to be interested compared to Professor

I Am Boring, which obviously it was intentional,

but I just thought it was a cool little jab that

they had in there. Yeah. Anything else about

the actual show that either one of you want to

talk about? Things you like, things you didn't

like, segments that we didn't talk about or anything

like that? JT? I think for me personally, one

of my favorite demonstrations he ever did in

the show was he brings in this probably fake

surfboard, breaks it. It's got the classic zigzag

break pattern through it. He uses this to illustrate

how broken bones heal themselves. And I think

that was probably the reason it stuck with me,

the reason I like that sort of thing, is his

demonstrations were always kind of big and comical

like that. But it's that scale, the comical scale

like that, that's what makes it stick for me

in my mind. Because he breaks the surfboard in

half. He said, this is your bones. He puts the

glue and puts the pieces together. This is like

the first stage of your body healing yourself.

And then he wraps, like, this weave around the

board, and he puts, like, resin around that.

And the whole time he's talking about this is

the process by which your bone, your body heals

a broken bone. Yeah. You know, and it's just

that illustration like that makes it stick in

your mind, and you recall that more easily than,

you know, just watching Bill Nye do it. Like

I said, I love Bill Nye, but Beekman, because

of that comical aspect, it just stuck with me

a lot more. Yeah, my favorite skit that I saw

in preparation for this record was one about

cars, actually. And it wasn't necessarily that

it was that comical. It wasn't that it was exciting

or it wasn't, you know, there was no really glitz

and glam to it. But it was because it was for

the first time ever someone explained to me,

yes, I know I'm old, but I'm not a car person,

and I have never wanted or cared about how cars

work. I've never wanted to be a mechanic or work

on my car or do anything like that. I'm just

not like that. And they were explaining how a

car works and the different strokes and what

happens with the pistons and everything about

it. And for the first time, it was crystal clear

to me how cars work. And I'm like, really? I

had to watch a Beekmans episode at the age of

whatever age I am right now to have something

make sense. And I was like, wow, I should watch

more of these. Steve, did you have a skit that

you were watching? in preparation for this that

you remembered, or what was your favorite one

that you watched? Well, for instance, I liked

how, and this was common in a few that I watched,

Beekman would purposely taunt Lester with little

things, little projects, and would say, hey,

I bet you can't do this. And Lester would be

like, oh yeah, I can do it. And then he would

try and then... Primarily fail because I wouldn't

tell him all the rules. Right. No, that was always

good. That's not fair. Blah, blah, blah. And

then he starts getting all irritated. He's like,

well, actually, it was supposed to be done like

this. Yeah, he definitely liked to mess with

Lester. And I thought Lester did a very good

job of playing that part and making you feel

for him. And that was kind of why you liked him,

even though he was repulsive and disgusting.

All right. Anything else, guys, about good, bad,

and the ugly? Like I said before, there's no

bad, there's no ugly. It's all good. Unless you

don't like big guys in rat costumes, I guess.

Maybe that's ugly to you. I don't know. It could

be worse than bananas in pajamas or something.

It could be. It's not attractive, but it's not

going to make me not watch the show. It could

be a guy in a purple dinosaur suit or something

like that. He will die. Did I just go there?

Yes, you did. So that's the good thing. It's

not that I really have anything against purple

dinosaurs, Megatron. It's just there's one purple

dinosaur in particular that, well, no one likes.

Sounds like something that Mike would like. I'm

just kidding. So I'm just basing it on other

things he likes. I'm sorry, Mike. So that's the

good, the bad, and the ugly of Beakman's World.

And now it is time for... Things that make you

go. Hmm. All right, here are some of the things

that you might not know about Beakman's World.

I only have two of them, so we'll try to get

through it pretty quickly here. But the first

one, obviously, like always... Beekman's World,

being the educational show, was nominated for

and won a bunch of awards. I'm not going to necessarily

go through all of them, but some of the ones

I do want to mention is Daytime Emmy Award for

Outstanding Achievement in Live and Tape Sound

Mixing and Sound Effects, Cable Ace Award for

Best Children's Program in Seven. age seven or

older in 1994, nominated for seven different

daytime Emmys, including Outstanding Children's

Series in 95. So, I mean, there was a lot of

awards that this show was either nominated or

won, and obviously that's how it should have

been with Bill Nye, with Beekmans. I'm still

surprised that Salute Your Shorts and... What

was the other one we covered right at the beginning?

Some of those Nick shows, I'm surprised that

some of those were nominated and won awards,

but I'm not surprised at all on Bill Nye or Beakman's

World. Yeah. I mean, it just makes sense. They're

educational. And they were awesome. Yeah, awesome

educational shows. Now, Steve, I know you and

Tara both had mentioned that Bill Nye was shown

a lot in school. Was Beakman's World ever shown

in any of your guys' classes? No. Well, I went

to school in a fairly small town, so we didn't

really have anything. They never showed Bill

Nye or Beekman's in my school. I'm guessing Bill

Nye was a little more suited for the classroom

than Beekman maybe. Well, yeah. No, like I said,

I was talking about Beekman when we did the supplemental.

I could tune in on Saturdays, and just on Saturdays

for some reason, I could tune in Saturday morning

from the CBS affiliate in Minot, North Dakota,

and watch. a slew of the CBS programming. So

when I'd go to school and talk to my friends

about this show, Beakman's World, they're all

looking at me and it's like, that's nice. We

can't watch it. Yeah. Steve, you said, is it

just Bill Nye was the only thing that was shown

in your school? Yeah, that's pretty much all

they showed. Beakman was never shown in my school.

Gotcha. I can kind of see why. I mean, like you

said before, there was a little bit more of the

toilet humor in Beakman than there was in Bill

Nye. And the other thing that you might not have

known, actually, JT beat me to it, so we won't

really talk about it too much, but it was just

that homage to Mr. Wizard. I think that's an

epically cool thing that Beekman's did, recognizing

the mad scientist that came before him. And if

you want to hear more about Mr. Wizard, tune

in to Episode 8, and you'll hear me talk about

that. So I think we're going to go VH1 and answer

the question as far as where are they now, and

we'll start with Beekman. Like we said before,

Beekman is not necessarily an educational person.

At heart, he's more of an entertainer. There

is an actual Beekman's Live touring science experiment

show that I believe is still doing stuff occasionally

or that you can at least call and book or you

watch. I don't know exactly how it works, but

there's some type of show out there that either

existed in the past or still exists. that shows

different scientists' experiments. And the reason

I'm thinking it's still going is because Beekman

has his very own website, which is his last name,

zalume .com. And on there, I think you can book

stuff. I don't know exactly what you book, if

it's just him coming to talk to you and entertain

you, or if it's shows or what. He's also done

a feature -length puppet film called Dante's

Inferno. which is exactly what it sounds. It's

a puppet version of the book Dante's Inferno,

which seems very twisted and messed up. And he

also teaches puppetry and performing arts at

different schools at different times. I don't

know if he's currently doing that, but he's done

that throughout the years. So he does do some

teaching, but it's not educational stuff. He's

teaching people how to be a puppeteer in the

performing arts type stuff. So that's more of

his genre. And the only other person I was going

to talk about, obviously I said, you know, the

one assistant is doing voice acting. I couldn't

really find any information on the other two

female assistants. But Lester, unfortunately,

is no longer with us. He died two years ago in

2009 at the age of 63. So where is he now? Hopefully

in a good place. Damn rights. So that's all I

have for as far as where are they now. So I think

we're going to take a quick intermission, but

please don't touch that dial because there will

be some cool little inserts during the commercial

break as well as some commercials and sound clips

and stuff that should take you back to 1992 or

94 or 97 at some point during the show's run.

So we'll be right back. Do you know what makes

your dog different from any other dog in the

world? Beakman will sniff out an answer. Hey

guys, it's Optimus Solo from Geekcast Radio Network's

The Telecast, coming to you with an important

message about our Listener's Choice episode.

That's right. For the first time in Geekcast

Radio Network history, we are giving you, the

listener, a chance to choose the topic in one

of our shows. This is how you can cast your vote

for what the topic should be. Head on over to

geekcastradio .com and click on the Telecast

tab at the top of the page. Once there, you can

find our complete Season 1 schedule with all

35 episodes. Please look this over, because we

would hate for you to cast your vote for a show

that is already on our schedule. Once you've

done this, just scroll to the section titled

Listener's Choice and click on the Comments button.

All that's left for you to do now is to cast

your vote through a comment. For example, you

might say, Hey, I see that Nick Arcade is not

in your Season 1 lineup, so I'd like to cast

a vote for Nick Arcade to be the Listener's Choice

episode. It's that simple. So please go cast

your vote for your favorite show, and stay tuned

for Episode 34 to see which show becomes our

very first Listener's Choice. That does it for

now. This has been Optimus Solo from the Telecast.

Say goodbye. Bye. Hey, guys. Raphael here of

the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Did you say

podcast? Goods! Do that! You're listening to

the podcast on the Gatecast Radio Network. Cowabunga!

And now, back to Beacon's World. What makes your

dog different from every other dog in the world?

Their nose prints. Just like no two humans have

the same fingerprints, no two dogs have the same

nose print. So that's the scoop and the poop

on your schnauzer schnauz. Your Pomeranian's

proboscis. Your husky's honker. We'll see you

next time on Beakman's World. All right, thanks

for staying with us, everyone. You may be wondering

how you can watch Beakman's World now, so we're

going to give you the information you need to

know. First of all, so Mike doesn't get mad at

me, I will give you the iTunes information, which

is there is no information. Beakman's World is

not, as far as what I can tell, available on

iTunes at all, so that's not an option for you.

It is, though, somewhat available on DVD. The

reason I say somewhat is because in 2004, a DVD

entitled The Best of Beekman's World was released,

but it is a direct transfer of the VHS of the

same name and features only experiments and segments

taken from The Beekman Challenge, which is the

part that I was talking about before. So there

have yet to be any full episode releases on DVD.

There is a new thing that we haven't talked about

as far as any other episodes. We've talked about

iTunes and DVD and YouTube before, but Beakman

is season one through four is available through

Netflix on their online streaming video service.

So if you actually want to see full episodes

or full seasons, your only choice at this point

is through Netflix online streaming video service.

You can get that DVD. I'm sure you're not going

to find it anywhere but online somewhere. And

since it's a direct transfer of the VHS and it's

only including segments from the Beakman's Challenge,

I don't know if it's worth it. Basically, unless

you want to get it through Netflix streaming

video service, you're going to be left with YouTube.

And I don't know about your guys' YouTube experience

with Beakman, but for me, it wasn't super easy

to find entire episodes. There was a couple.

There was these long... records or like YouTube

videos that were like multiple episodes tied

to like running back to back. Like I had one,

I had a YouTube cause usually when you find a

show like this on YouTube, it is in three parts.

The Beekman's video that I was finding had five

parts and it was usually two episodes back to

back. I don't know what you guys found. What

did you guys think about the YouTube quality,

as far as the quality of the picture and what

you were able to find on YouTube for Beekman?

I actually found a lot of these were good quality

video clips. A lot of them you'll see like Fox

or CBS, like the little watermarks on the screen.

wherever these are taped from, and a lot of these

are actually some pretty good transfers. Yeah,

I think the transfer is good. The actual quality

of the video is probably one of the best we've

had since, I can't remember, one of the Nickelodeon

ones had a really good feed. I don't remember

if it was Pete and Peter or something like that.

It had a really crystal clear feed. This one

has a pretty clear feed. It's just a little bit

of a hassle as far as which videos you can find

where and full episodes. Well, yeah. Because,

I mean, a lot of them, from what I found, like

there's the best of Beakman's World is cut up

into like six parts on YouTube. And aside from

something like that, there's a lot of it's either

titled Beakman's World and the name of the experiment

or it's Beakman Explains Skin. Yeah, they're

mostly just little segments. I did find a lot

of segment clips. Yeah, I did find one that shows

a lot of his characters. It just goes from one

of his alter egos to another, and it goes through,

I don't know how many, it's only a couple minutes,

like four minutes long, but it goes through a

bunch of his different characters. Or like you

said, it goes through experiments. It's not really

like a full episode as what you would have seen

on TV, except for these ones that I was finding

that were multiple episodes back -to -back in

like a five -parter. But like you said, the quality

was pretty good. What did you think of the YouTube

quality, Steve? It depended on what you clicked

on. Yeah. I watched the best of... Beakman's

World to kind of get the gist of the show again

so I could re -familiarize myself. Those were

pretty well done. But most of the other stuff

I ran into was either Spanish or bad quality

clips. And they weren't full episodes. They were

just like random clips. Right. No, I kind of

ran into that same thing. I also did notice that

you can, Paul Zaloom, the guy that plays Beakman,

if you're really interested, you can watch a

few of his other comedy routines on, I don't

know if it was TV shows or if it was on some

weird stuff, but he has some weird comedy tastes.

I don't know. But if you look up just Paul Zaloom,

you'll find a few more YouTube videos that you

may or may not enjoy. Let's see. I think that

does it as far as where you can watch it. Like

I said, Netflix, I guess, is your best bet if

you want full seasons. Otherwise, YouTube, unless

you want to take a chance on that DVD, but it

just doesn't sound like it's going to be great

quality being a direct transfer from the VHS.

And as of now, there's no iTunes for it. So I

think that means it's time for us to continue

our IGN bashing. which we're taking to a new

level. If you haven't heard yet, be on the lookout

for some new Geekcast Radio episodes. That's

the flagship show. It's just called Geekcast

Radio Network Show, where we are going to be

taking our IGN bashing to a new level and making

a new list of top 100 animated series of all

time. So be on the lookout for that coming real

soon. But as far as hipster douchebags. Yeah.

So we're going to do it right. We're going to

do it, do it right. And you're going to enjoy

it. And it's going to be epic. And I just got

to say one thing about how little love do you

have for animated cartoons? If you're putting

goddamn mask at the bottom of the fucking pile.

Hey, at least it got in the pile. No, that's

not an excuse. No, some of the shows that aren't

an ad on their list. I'm not saying it's got

to be top 10, but top 50 at least. No, it's like

93. Like, what the hell? Yeah, so if you want

to hear all of our takes on IGN and our discussion

of what they forgot to put on the list and what

our list consists of, just, like I said, keep...

checking the Geekcast Radio website and looking

for those flagship show episodes. I'll have to

get that out. No, that's fine. As far as Beakman's

World goes, Steve, doing your IGN replacement

crew duty, one, two, three, or four stars, what

would you give this one? I would have to say

I would definitely give it a three, just because

Netflix does have it, which until now I did not

know, so now it's on my Netflix. All four seasons.

Nice. So I plan on watching those. That's awesome.

For the next couple weeks. So despite the fact

that it's pretty much children's comedy, I am

easily amused. No, I was definitely amused by

it. I was definitely entertained. I'm going to

be looking forward to hear from you maybe again

on a future episode once you've had a chance

to watch some of those. Yeah, definitely. More

than likely because I don't sleep very often.

nights I record, I will probably be watching

these for the next two hours after the show.

Nice. Yes, I would definitely give it a three

at least because, hell, you can't watch Bill

Nye on Netflix. You might as well watch Beakman's.

There we go. It's at least pretty much neck and

neck with it. Yeah. What about you, JT? I'm going

to give it a solid three. I mean, I'd give it

a five out of five for overall quality. But on

The Replacement Crew, I give it a solid three.

I like the show. If I had Netflix, I'd definitely

be busting that out tonight. Still don't know

if it's going to work here in Canada. Yeah, it's

a solid three. I love the show, but not enough

to own the DVD sets. Right. That makes it completely

unanimous in Episode 7. We're all giving this

one a three. Like I said with some of the other

episodes, because I don't give out... So far,

it seems like all I've given out is twos and

threes, just about, with one exception. But yeah,

this one's a solid three. I wouldn't necessarily

spend money and get them on DVDs, but if I was

able to watch them... Well, I am able to watch

them, I guess, now on Netflix. If I was able

to watch them on iTunes or some other method,

or if they were re -airing on some type of TV

show, which they have run in syndication quite...

many times on different TV stations. If it was

something that I caught on TV, I'd probably watch

it. So a solid three is for all three of us,

which makes sense. So that's good. As far as

any last words on the show, JT, sum up your final

thoughts and opinions on Beekman's World. One

of my all -time favorite educational shows that

I watched growing up. Growing up, I always had

a love for slapstick comedy and the funny sound

effects. That's something, again, because you

look back at the daytime Emmys that this thing

won for best sound editing, which is something

that even as a kid I kind of took notice of.

This thing just kind of had all its ducks in

a row, all its eggs in a basket. It just worked

on every level for me. Excellent. Steve? I would

definitely say that if you're a fan of educational,

scientific, goofy comedies, it's pretty much

like we mentioned before, and I have a new dynamic

to add to it. It's like Pee Wee Herman meets

Bill Nye the Science Guy meets The Three Stooges.

Excellent. So, yes, I would definitely say this

is something that you would want to pick up.

At least on Netflix to watch. I definitely think

this show is warranted for it, and especially

if you have kids, I would have to say that this

would be another recommendation to have them

watch, because not only would they be learning

something, but they would be enjoying what they

watch. Exactly. Yeah, and like you said, this

is one of the... For me, this is one of the better

educational shows that was available. I mean,

it was one of the ones that I latched on to.

I mean, obviously, at a much earlier age, there

was things like Sesame Street or some other shows

that we'll get to much later on in the telecast

season. But as far as just straight educational

shows that were aimed at, like, you know, eight

to... whatever age you want to be, I guess, 8

to 15, I don't know. Those type shows like we

were talking about with Bill Nye or with this

one, this was one of the ones that for some reason

just grabbed my attention more than some of the

other ones. The only one that I have fonder memories

of as a kid is the one we're going to be talking

about next week, and I'm interested to see if

after I see some of Mr. Wizard's World, if I

still have those same fond memories or if it's

something that doesn't hold up, but we'll see

for that. But yeah, Beakman's World, just all

kinds of fun, and it was... It's education masked

as controlled chaos fun, and it almost could

trick you into learning things. So yeah, I think

we all three agree that this is a pretty darn

good show. So I'd like to... I'd like to thank

Steve and JT for being with me here on this episode,

and I'd like to thank everybody out there for

joining us here on the telecast. If you want

to leave us feedback on the show, there are some

key ways that you should do this. First off,

I mentioned the website before. Go to www .geekcastradioalloneword

.com. You can find a telecast tab at the top

of the page. Click on it. You'll see little segments

for all of our episodes where you can comment

on each individual episode. You will also see

an entry for the theme song contest which i have

had my first official theme song contest entry

um i got it yeah i got it last week from uh shelly

is the name that she gave me and um let me just

say that shelly did an excellent job it is possible

for someone to beat her though So she did not

get a perfect score on it. So if someone wants

to beat her and win a prize, listen to the end

of any of the episodes and try to guess which

songs are in which order, and that would be cool.

Also, Shelly also made a second post on the Listener's

Choice episode. So now we have TFG1 Mike and

Shelly who have tried to nominate shows for our

Listener's Choice episode, which will be towards

the end of our Season 1. So if you have a show

that you want us to cover that's not already

in our Season 1 schedule, please make sure to

go to the website and make those comments. Another

good thing for you to do for us is leave us feedback

on iTunes. Give us a critique. Tell us what we're

doing good. Tell us what you'd like to see improved.

We've had three American reviews on our iTunes

website so far. We've had one on the Canadian

website that I'm aware of, and we have a 4 .5

out of 5 star rating, so that's good. So keep

those coming, please. And like TFG1 Mike did

earlier in the show, if you want to... Leave

a voicemail so that your thoughts on a show can

be heard by everybody. Call us at 502 -526 -5821.

Lastly, become a fan of us on Facebook by going

to facebook .com slash geekcastradionetwork.

Also, become a fan of behindthevoiceactors .com

while you're there. So, that does it for now.

We hope we succeeded in entertaining you, informing

you, and most importantly... unleashing the geek

in you on this episode of the telecast and we

hope that you will tune in for our next episode

when we go old school with the original mad scientist

mr wizard's world for now i am your host optimus

solo with gt from saskatoon and steve megatron

phillips saying zalum and tune in in 10 days

for another episode of the telecast Remember

this. Okay, Don, you can turn it off. Wait, Herb,

you know what they say. It ain't over till the

fat penguin sings. Who says that? Well, I did.

They do now. Are you anywhere near the remote?