The wait is finally over. Fifteen months and an $872,000 Kickstarter later, the dynamic duo of Bee and Puppycat is back on our YouTube screens with a full series to follow up their cult hit one-off.
The CartoonHangover short aired originally in August 2013. It’s only 10 minutes long, but it fostered a vibrant fandom community with art, crafts, and cosplay dedicated to the pair of Bee, a young woman who’s just lost her job, and Puppycat, the ambiguously puppy/kitten thing she finds on the street and takes in.
The original Bee and Puppycat video plays like an anime on shrooms, with Bee having mythical dreams that supplement her out-there life. She steals all the candy from her temp agency, smacks her potential love interest in the groin with an umbrella, and passes out after eating an entire lasagna by herself, all in the span of a few moments. Puppycat’s life is one of mystery, as he magically teleports them to take part in intergalactic temp jobs to earn cash, all while harboring the secret that he might be an transformed space outlaw in hiding.
The concept is the brainchild of Natasha Allegri, a staff writer for another Frederator project, Adventure Time. She set out to make something for girls like herself with Bee and Puppycat, although Frederator only had enough money for a single episode. Unlike many other YouTube channels, Frederator doesn’t sell its own ads and hasn’t found a sponsor for the show that understands the demographic, according to a Wall Street Journal profile.
In the first two episodes of the new season, Bee and Puppycat enter a more structured plotline. On a quest to impress Deckard, the neighbor Bee has a crush on, they use up all their money to try out a new recipe. To earn more for a forgotten ingredient, they become intergalactic temp workers again. Meanwhile, back at home, Deckard’s roommate wonders if Bee will ever grow up. It’s a lot heavier than the whimsical original, but the premise seems meaty enough to stretch over several episodes instead of just a one-shot.
The team has also expanded the voice acting talent, including Hannah Hart as the voice of Temp Bot, a screen/portal that assigns Bee and Puppycat their jobs. Not that Bee and Puppycat needs any stunt casting: The new episodes have already been viewed half a million times combined since their release Thursday night.
Screengrab via CartoonHangover/YouTube