Beauty and the Beast (1987 TV series)

Premise

Production

Series synopsis

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Characters

Main cast

• Catherine Chandler – A corporate attorney in her father's law firm. After she's abducted, beaten, and her face slashed upon being mistaken for Carol Stabler, Catherine was rescued and tended to by Vincent. After that experience, Catherine changes her life completely and becomes an investigator for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. In Season Three, Catherine becomes pregnant with Vincent's child and is captured by Gabriel. She is later killed by Gabriel who overdoses her with morphine.
• Vincent – A man of extremely large build with the facial characteristics of a lion and fingers tipped with claw-like nails. He is also much stronger than ordinary humans and, when enraged, growls and roars like a lion. He wears a hooded cloak to hide his appearance from strangers while walking the city streets at night. His parentage is unknown as he was found as a baby near St Vincent's Hospital and brought to Father by Paracelsus' wife Anna. Vincent has empathic abilities that let him know when Catherine is in danger. Following the death of Catherine, his baby son was captive in the clutches of Gabriel prompting him to take down Gabriel's operations. He does end up surrendering to Gabriel when he hears that his son is ill. This leads up to a rescue mission by Diana and the rest of the "World Below". Following the death of Gabriel, Vincent saves his son and names him after Father's real name; Jacob. Vincent's makeup was devised by veteran Hollywood makeup artist Rick Baker. It was Baker who brought up Perlman based on his previous experiences in prosthetics and fought hard for his casting which ultimately started a long-lasting friendship between the two.
• Diana Bennett – 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. She debuted in Season 3 where she was called to investigate Catherine's murder. She later becomes a friend of "The World Below" and plays a part in the final battle against Gabriel.

  The "World Above"

• Joe Maxwell – A Deputy District Attorney for the Borough of Manhattan and Catherine's immediate superior in the office. In Season Three, Joe is injured in a car explosion caused by Gabriel's crime syndicate. After the murder of Catherine, Joe hires Diana Bennett to find her killer. Joe later meets Father, but has never met Vincent.
• Isaac Stubbs – A street-fighting instructor who teaches Catherine to defend herself after she recovers from her attack.
• Jenny Aronson – A friend of Catherine's.
• Edie – Works in the computer division of the DA's office in Season 1.
• Elliot Burch – A self-made millionaire and New York building developer who is in love with Catherine. In Season Three, Elliot becomes familiar with Vincent after an encounter with him. Due to a deal with Gabriel, Elliot is involved in a plot to kill Vincent on his boat. Elliot is presumably killed by the boat explosion which wounded Vincent.
• Charles Chandler – Catherine's father who is seen in Season 1 and 2 where he runs a law firm that Catherine used to work at. He dies of a stroke in the episode "Orphans". Before Charles died, Catherine was able to have Vincent meet her father.
• Laura Williams – A deaf girl who lived in "The World Below" and struggles living in "The World Above" while remaining a helper to her tunnel family and befriending Catherine whom she admires.
• Devin Wells – A former inhabitant of "The World Below" who grew up with Vincent where they had a brother-like relationship.
• Dr. Peter Alcroft – A "Helper" who is a fellow medical student and old friend of Jacob Wells. In "Dead of Winter", Peter is among the "Helpers" that attend Winterfest.
• John Moreno – The District Attorney that Catherine Chandler and Joe Maxwell work for.
• Gabriel – A highly-influential crime boss and the biggest drug trafficker on the East Coast who debuted in Season 3 as a recurring antagonist. He was responsible for Catherine's death and the kidnapping of her baby. After Gabriel's men captured Diana, Vincent surrendered himself to Gabriel's men. In the final battle, Vincent's son is rescued as Vincent wounds Gabriel. After Gabriel mentions that no court would be able to convict him, Gabriel is then shot by Diana who avenges Catherine's death using Catherine's gun.
• * Jonathan Pope – Gabriel's right-hand man who issues out Gabriel's orders.
• * Doctor – An unnamed doctor who works for Gabriel. He had the Doctor overdose Catherine with morphine following her giving birth to Vincent's baby. When Gabriel revealed this to Vincent at the time when he was his prisoner, he offered Vincent revenge on the Doctor even though the Doctor stated to Vincent that Gabriel made him do it. Vincent was unable to take the Doctor's life causing Gabriel to have one of his men shoot the Doctor as Gabriel says to Vincent "I always pay my debts".

  The "World Below"

• Jacob Wells/Father – The patriarch of the "World Below" and Vincent's adoptive father. A physician who left the "World Above" after being unjustly blacklisted, fired from his job, and having his license to practice medicine stripped from him, Jacob found sanctuary in an early tunnel community and became its leader. He was also the one who helped Vincent heal Catherine after she was attacked by Martin Belmont's men.
• Mary – The matriarch and midwife of the "World Below". Befitting her position, she is very motherly and generous. Mary is particularly devoted to giving back to the "Helpers".
• Mouse – Apparently having no other name, at least none that he remembers, he is young tunnel dweller who originally hid from the "World Below" community until Vincent caught him stealing some food and invited him into their family. He is infamous for stealing from the "World Above", which, in his opinion, exists for no other reason than to be stolen from where he once commented "Everyone takes things from Up Top. It's what Up Top is there for". Mouse loves tinkering with machinery and has invented several "gizmos" to help his fellow tunnel dwellers. He owns a pet raccoon named Arthur.
• Pascal – The shy and gentle "pipe master" who is the supervisor of the tunnels' communication system that involves the inhabitants of "The World Below" speaking through banging on the pipes. He was born in "The World Below" and was trained into understanding morse code by his father.
• Winslow – A very influential member of the underground community and a member of Father's council. Winslow is a blacksmith by trade. When on a rescue mission with Vincent to save Catherine from Paracelsus in "To Reign in Hell", Winslow is killed by Paracelsus' minion Erlik who threw Winslow against the wall.
• Geoffrey – A young boy who lives in "The World Below".
• Jamie – A teenage girl who lives in "The World Below". She is particularly protective of Mouse, defending his often erratic behavior to their elders. In "To Reign in Hell", Jamie is shown to be skillful with a crossbow when she uses it in a fight with Paracelsus' minion Erlik.
• Narcissa – An elderly and nearly blind inhabitant of "The World Below", she has resided there at least as far back as Vincent's childhood. Narcissa eventually moved far from the other inhabitants into the furthest tunnels where few others venture and even Vincent's knowledge of these areas does not surpass her own. She pretends to be nothing more than a senile old woman, but she is actually a skilled magician and fortune-teller.
• Rebecca – A female inhabitant of "The World Below" and an expert candlestick maker.
• William – A heavyset man and inhabitant of "The World Below" who serves as their cook. His experiences in "The World Above" left him bitter and suspicious of almost everyone. William's role as cook makes him feel needed and appreciated as "The World Above" never did and he is usually the first to suggest a violent response to any threat to "The World Below".
• John Pater/Paracelsus – An inhabitant of "The World Below" who was featured in Season 1 and 2 as a recurring antagonist. John Pater was a scientist and a former friend of Jacob Wells' who helped organize "The World Below". But when he eventually desired power for himself, the community was forced to exile him. Father describes him as a "philosopher, scientist, magician" like the real Paracelsus, the name John Pater eventually takes for himself. When Jacob tries to reason with Paracelsus by calling him by his real name, he commented "John is dead". Paracelsus' late wife Anna was the one who discovered the infant Vincent near St. Vincent's Hospital and brought him to Jacob. Paracelsus tried to lead Vincent to siding with him while disguised as Jacob, but was ultimately killed by Vincent during a fit of rage. In his dying breath, Paracelsus quotes "At last, you are my son."

  Episodes

Nielsen ratings

• 1987–88: #50
• 1988–89: #69
• 1989–90: #93

Novelizations

• Avon Books published three books novelizing various episodes from the series:
• * Beauty and the Beast by Barbara Hambly – October 1989 –, a novelization and expanding of the pilot episode
• * Masques by Ru Emerson – September 1990 –, a novelization of the episodes "Arabesque", "Masques" and "The Watcher"
• * Song of Orpheus by Barbara Hambly – November 1990 –, a novelization of the episodes "Fever", "Song of Orpheus" and "Shades of Grey"
• Image Pub of New York published another book based on episodes and characters from the series:
• *Beyond Words, Beyond Silence by Nan Dibble – January 1993 –
• 1First Publishing published two graphic novels based on the series written and illustrated by Wendy Pini:
• * "Portrait of Love" – June 1989 –
• * "Night of Beauty" – April 1990 –

  Home media

Fandom

Reboot