Quintin: So I hate re-uploads, but this is one of them.
While intended for November, this video was originally uploaded on December 1st, 2017,
and immediately it became one of my most popular uploads. But before even clicking the publish button I realized that I had a copyright claim.
Now what I should have done was taken the video down
and changed the segment immediately, and I really decided that even if I wasn't going to be able to make money off of it that I wanted to release the video as soon as possible.
Despite this fact, I countered the claim and that came around to bite me in the ass, because the company officially filed a take down notice as of today.
So I decided to just take down the video, change the segment, and then re-upload it.
The positive is that, in this case, I now officially own this video,
and this is honestly just what I should have done from day one. Thank you for your understanding and please enjoy.
Jerry Seinfeld: Hello, and welcome once again to Bee Movie TV Juniors. In this episode, we discover counterfeits.
Bootlegs.
KNOCK-OFFS.
Sounds like fun doesn't it? Until you come home and find out; you've just spent twenty dollars
for this!
Roll it!
Quinton: Hello, everyone and welcome to a special occasion that I like to call Knock-Off November. For those of you
who have found my channel more recently, Knock-Off November is a special tradition that I started last
year, where I dedicated the whole month of November
(and occasionally some of December) to reviewing knock-off merchandise and movies.
Things like this! See, it looks like a Transformers toy but it says something else.
I've been holding on to this thing for months just to do this bit.
And while we're certainly crunched for time, I thought it would be fun to sit down and look at at least one knock-off product
bee-fore we move on to December. And what better place to start than the biggest oddity to modern animation? Yes,
Bee Movie©
The 2007 cult...
*reconsiders life decisions*
THING
Bee Movie has always been one of those things that everyone knows about, but no one wants to talk about;
like the slave labor that makes our clothing or the fact that we let Meghan Trainor have musical career.
I never clearly remember a time during my childhood where I chose to watch Bee Movie,
but I recall several instances where I would BEE spending time with my friends and it would just BEE playing in the background.
No one knew who put it on- no one would even admit that they owned a copy of Bee Movie, and yet, there it was.
I'm not sure anyone really cared about Bee Movie when it first came out, but it was so heavily advertised
and promoted that it quickly BEE-came impossible for anyone to forget it either, so it sits in this
weird part in the subconscious of our subculture where it's known, but almost entirely for the perplexing circumstances of its own existence
Bee Movie: "A movie about a bee that falls in love with
a human, the same movie were that bee and that human
decide to work together to sue humanity for selling honey, the same movie that has a finale
where the bee and the human have to land a plane with the assistance of a hive of bees so that they can
pollinate the planet" -IMD-BEE
That.
Bee.
MOVIE.
I've been informed that, while most adults are simply BEE-mused
By the existence of the Jerry Seinfeld comedy vehicle, a lot of children are very
into Bee Movie. Kids love finding odd things to be infatuated with, so in that way it makes total sense that they
would find the universe of the film exciting and very unique. What might disappoint them is how little output there
is with Bee Movie; no sequels, no spin-offs, nothing but one movie. Oh, and a game version, and a couple
novelizations, and a ton of merchandise,
which includes honey. There is Bee Movie honey. Bee Movie released their own honey.
God is sitting in a recliner chair laughing at us every single day.
In short, there's really only ever been one Bee Movie story
ever told, even if it's been told several times over. And when you have plenty of little children
wanting to see more of that world, you're bound to get the very thing that we've come to talk about today-
Knock-offs.
Jerry Seinfeld's Beesona/Barry B. Benson: This is stealing! A lot of stealing!
Quinton: So in the past on this channel, we've discussed the infamous company "Video Brinquedo" who
have made themselves a staple of the knock-off market nearly as large as Asylum
themselves. Even if you've never seen one of their films, you've most likely
seen one pop up in a search where it didn't BEE-long. And that very thing is how
they have built their entire legacy. Now, my first video in the Knock-Off
November series was about a Video Brinquedo film, and it notoriously led to me receiving a copyright strike, which
was very hard to get rid of. There's obviously something quite ironic about a company
whose main financial motivation is copying the intellectual property of other companies filing a takedown against a copyright creator using their clips within
Fair Use. And out of protest for this, I have decided to never get the language of their native country correct.
Some Spanish people busting in my house and tell me I can't own my own video.
I ain't gonna respect their name.
or-
or the actual language that they speak.
But it was still quite shocking to see that Video
Brinquedo had not only made a knock-off of Bee Movie, but that it had landed on
Amazon Prime. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, if you have
Amazon Prime, you're given free access to streaming this one movie, for free. So start your free trial now
and you'll get full access to this masterpiece. Or you can watch Curb Your Enthusiasm (recommended)
it's your choice... (Watch Little Bee- don't listen to Quinton)
(Creepy Bee Humming)
She-Bee: Ugh, Bee-Nard
Beh-
BEE-NARD?!
BEE-NARD!
BEE
NARD
*Existential Crisis begins*
I'm way over my fucking head...
She-Bee: You shouldn't be buzzing around in the flowers. You're supposed to be a soldier someday.
Quinton (Depressed Man): So this is our main character...
Bee-nard (ew)
Who is in trouble because he's collecting pollen from flowers when he's actually supposed to be training to be a soldier.
You see, in the universe of "A Little Bee", bee society is split into the following branches: the queen bee who bosses everyone around,
Princesses- who train to be the new queen, and the Cooks- who gather nectar and then use it to cook honey.
Now in reality, the actual social structure of the average bee hive is very different to this.
Other than the queen, most fully functioning bees serve as workers with
no unique categories. All worker bees are considered female in nature and the only
male bees serve only to impregnate the queen.
They're often very crippled and actually die during the mating process and I've lost you, haven't I?
The point is that BEE-nard doesn't want to BEE a soldier BEE-cause he
wants to cook honey instead. His classmates ridicule him for this, as many of them are jealous at his position as a solider
She-Bee 2: That's absolutely right, Bee-auty.
*Existential Crisis: Stage Two*
Quinton (Depressed Man): Our leading lady is indeed named
BEE-auty.
And her motivation is that she wants to BEE a soldier,
but is designated to always work in honey.
BEE-cause of this she flies down to the military target range after regular training to give her
own go at the course- in a scene animated so awkwardly that you probably wouldn't believe that I haven't edited it.
*BEE-auty creepily giggles while faint music plays.*
BEE-uaty: HeiiigHaAaAh
This whole bit is so awkwardly put together and pasted that it starts to feel like I'm watching someone else play a Telltale game.
Bee-auty: You don't want to get me into any trouble. Misfits like us need to stick together.
Quinton(Singing): BUM PDADADA BUMP BDA We're a couple of-
So Bee-nard blackmails Bee-auty-
*coughing fit brought on by sheer levels of awfulness* *dies*
So BEE-nard blackmails BEE-auty into helping him get into the hive's kitchen so that he can make his
own honey. The only obstacle in their way is the chef, who everyone seems to hate. The chef's main crime
is that he's really bad at making honey, but seems to think that he's really good at it- so everyone hates him.
Basically he's an allegory for the people that made this movie. But BEE-auty puts up with dealing with the cook
so that she and Bee-nard can make their own honey, pushing aside the futures that have been selected for them
by the hive to make their own choices.
Bee-nard (Singing-in the loosest term possible-): It's all up to me, what I want to BEE
Quinton (Visibly Upset): Don't sing!
Bee-Auty (Singing): I'm a queen!!
Others: So pretty!
*Indistinguishable sounds implied to be singing*
*slow, sad clapping*
Quinton: But as Bee-nard and Bee-auty are finishing up their latest batch of honey, the hive is attacked by a
human seeking to wipe it out. Two of the soldier bees find an opening in his bee suit, but
This only causes the human to momentarily flee. In response to this, the queen
declares war on humanity, and the pair have to split up to face certain death.
*miserable attempt at a coherent song*
Quinton: Well, that's enough of that
While eavesdropping on the humans, the princess discovers that their jobs are to collect honey, and that they're planning to destroy this hive
because the honey has been turning out so horrible. She confides this in the two main characters, and Bee-nard again
plans to break ranks so that he can help make a good batch of honey.
Bee Chef (doing a weird mix of Idubbbz and an abominable french accent): aNd mah honey has put the hive in jeopardy
zHaT eeS tErRiBlE!!1!!11
There is only one thing I can, do to right this wrong.
Jerry Seinfeld's Beesona/Barry B. Benson: How about a suicide pact?
Quinton: The humans
approach the hive with a special gas that makes bees faint, which quickly makes mincemeat of the hives well-trained
militia. But the main characters are ready to release the honey and save the day
Bee-nard: We need to pour the honey now.
Princess(?): It's up to you, you're the only one who can
fly fast enough to open the valve and make the honey flow out.
Quinton: Is he tho?
Is BEE-ing fast one of his character traits?
BEE-cause he didn't mention that before.
Oh, shit! I take it all back, BEE-nard's the fUCKING FLASH.
n i g h t y n i g h t
Johnny Cash (Singing): And you could have it all
my empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
Quinton: That's not honey.
Human: This stuff is delicious!
No,way we're getting rid of this hive!
Quinton: And so Bee-nard saves the day- but that isn't the final act in our story for Bee-nard is arrested and taken to- noOOOOO
Queen Bee: I hope that you are aware SON of the severity of the charges that have been brought
against you. Your deposition is required.
Quinton (Transformed into Jerry Sienfeld): What is with movies about bees and scenes of bees and courtrooms?!
No one cares!
After a 10 to 15 minute court scene, Bee-nard is acquitted and is declared the first bee soldier/chef
causing much mayhem in the hive over what this will mean for the future.
Random Bee #1 (Never seen them before): Do you think I could be a princess one day?!
Random Bee #2 (Who is this?): Lol no.
Random Bee #1: A princess who's a soldier too?
Random Bee #2: Bitch no
Random Bee #1: What about a Super Chef Princess Soldier?!
Random Bee #2: That's a no from me
Quinton: Look, even the characters in the movie know
that this standard hasn't suddenly shifted, the rules aren't different, the society hasn't been uplifted.
All that's happened is that one kid gets to pull a Mulan
and break all the rules even though everyone else has to stick to them- and you know if you
want to call that a change in society- good- go ahead and do it. But I don't- I don't really care.
Princess (?): Look at that, I think we're being watched.
Quinton: Oh, that's unsettling...
Bee-auty: Your right! Gosh, who is it?
Quinton: Hey, my name is Quinton- I get paid to watch bad movies, you're in one of them.
Bee-nard: Hey, I got it! tHiS is someone who's following their heart wherever it takes them :))
Quinton: Follow m- YOU'RE the person who's been making all these horrible choices!
*attacks self* YOU STUPID SON-OF-A-BITCH!
Next Movie.
"Plan BEE" is the next animated feature in the discography of Bee Movie knock-offs.
Notable for actually being released the same year as the original. You might then suspect that it's a tiny bit rushed...
*The voice of SATAN* HeYyY *unintelligible mess*
*SCREAMS OF AGONY*
*TORTURED BREATHING*
It is no exaggeration to say that "Plan Bee" is the ugliest movie that I have ever seen.
*a mangled mess of gross, weird slurping/burping? noises*
*a sigh of relief as this "bee's" soul relinquishes his body*
H o N E y
When you compare it to something like Rapsittie Street Kids, which had this equal level of incompetence,
Rapsittie Street Kids was nowhere near as hard to look at.
One of the most horrifying design choices made
Is that in order to collect pollen these huge red straws just eject from their throats.
They use this, not just to collect pollen, but they also vomit the pollen back up to make honey.
I don't know if this is more or less accurate than any other Bee movie's interpretation of what this is like, but it's definitely harder to watch.
There is a "plot" to "Plan Bee", but do you really need to know what it is?
Would your life truly be negatively affected by not being told what happens in this "movie"?
BEE-cause when I uploaded this video the first time I didn't tell you what happened in the movie everyone threw a hissy fit!
The "bees" in the movie are having a dilemma where they haven't been able to grab as much pollen as they need to.
Which apparently upsets the queen, who comes in screaming like a banshee
Satan: "WOT'S THIIIIIIIIIIIIS"
Monstrosity: "It's, uh, Honey."
Satan: "I CAN SEE THAT!"
Monstrosity: *weird gulp*
Satan: "But theresss sooo little!!!"
This queen, apparently has replaced a former queen off-screen, who we've not met yet, and she says that her first decree
is that bees will no longer gather pollen
by, slowly, going from one plant to the next, and that instead they will do it "her way".
Satan: "Stahp it! From now on..."
"D r I l L & d R A i N"
Bitch w h a t
Quinton: Wait, is this like an environmental film?
Monstrosity: "Ever hear of 'Drill and Drain'?"
Atrocity: "Yeah, it sounds like some nutty technique humans invented."
Quinton: Okay!
This is an environmental film now!
GOOD!
Oh! Never mind, it's a political movie.
There's this whole thing about how the old queen got replaced, and they're trying to figure out why.
Sure.
The new "Queen" insists on having more and more honey and orders that the size of their hive be doubled in size to make more room.
This leads to the main characters being informed that sleep privileges have been revoked
and that the bees will now have to work 24/7.
This entire time, a bee from another hive is trying to convince the main character to leave his hive to come to her's instead.
The "film" is set in Washington D.C., potentially because these backgrounds are very cheap.
And the characters are constantly stopping to discuss the human history of America entirely to draw
parallels to the politics being shown in the plot of the actual "movie".
Atrocity: So you come here- to the Lincoln Memorial-
A monument dedicated to Abraham Lincoln
the president who ended slavery.
Desperate for nectar after they managed to destroy many of the plants in the DC area,
the bees go to the only place that they haven't checked yet.
The studio where this film was made!
*obnoxious laugh track, probably from a Seinfeld episode*
Eventually, the main character "B" is banished, after failing to produce enough honey and finally meets his former queen.
It's here that he realizes the appointment
of the new queen was actually a massive conspiracy.
Which leads him to appeal to his original hives elders. The elders banished the original queen because they were served poisoned royal
jelly, but the main character deduces that it was, in fact, the new queen
who poisoned the elders and blamed it on the older queen so that she could become queen.
The new Queen then declares martial law, and the other bees have
to fight her guards in the worst fight scene I have ever seen. I think each character has like four frames of animation
And it's dubbed like a p o r n o.
*the groans and moans of horribly animated bees* *N U T*
The guards are defeated and the fake queen is chased off by a
horrifying horrifying horrifying horrifying
toad. *demon*
The old queen is restored and she declares that flowers will
no longer be drilled and that they will all be allowed to sleep. Cool.
Next movie.
So this final one's a bit of a cheat but it's become very
well known as a knock-off and it's honestly very
interesting so I think it's best to touch upon it- that being the peculiar existence of Maya The Bee.
Now, you might have heard about those little franchise due to a
controversy that took place earlier this year
when it was discovered that someone had hidden phallic images in the middle of one of the episodes.
It was quickly pulled from the digital shelves and apologies were given to all.
Some Simpsons Character: Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that ponder.
Quinton: But, BEE-lieve it or not, easter eggs phallic
images are not the darkest place that this little bee has traveled.
Maya the Bee originally appeared as a german character
who appeared in a novel released in 1912.
It is quite easy to see that this makes it very unlikely to be a knock-off-
given that the character predates the birth of Jerry Seinfeld by 42 years.
The original "Maya the Bee" book has become controversial in recent years- due to Maya's insistence within the book to go on numerous
racially motivated rants about how bees are superior to all other races.
I'm not making that up.
but her first on-screen appearance occurred in 1924-
when she and her friends were portrayed by real insects in what can only be described as the original Bee Movie.
That's good stuff.
Maya fell into relative obscurity after this due to
*cough*
various reasons but she regained a market significance somewhere around the
mid 1970s- when she was the star of her own anime in Japan.
Weird right? I mean how would the Japanese and the German people have any sort of connection to begin with?
The most recent product to propel Maya into the spotlight has been the animated
feature "Maya the Bee Movie"
or as it should probably be said- "Maya the BEE"
....."Movie"
it's hard to imagine that the specific designing of the title to only be one or two additional words away
from the Jerry Seinfeld classic
was done for any reason other than to grab the attention of people interested in Bee Movie
however if one does decide to see
Maya the Bee Movie as a knock-off, it's certainly one of the prettiest that i have ever seen.
The difference between Bee Movie and "Maya the Bee Movie"
is that Bee Movie is very transfixed on the nitty gritty details of the human world.
and while Maya the Bee Movie even barely
suggests that the existence of humanity and instead just explores a meadow
through the eyes of a small bee.
Because of this, Maya the Bee Movie comes across as very innocent and Bee Movie comes across as heavily cynical.
When you sit down and compare the different worlds created to represent the hives in each of these films the version in Maya's
also simply comes across as more intelligently crafted.
The Bee Movie hive filled with cars, miniature versions of human inventions, and overall a human aesthetic just feels rather lazy.
The kind of environment
where they could just put in a McDonald's without it feeling out of place.
But the hive in Maya the Bee Movie simply feels so open
and unique- the kind of place that you would love to explore as much as Maya seems to.
I'm not sure that I have a lot to say about this movie critically.
First of all, it's clearly a movie meant for someone who's very,
very young and it simply seeks to teach children a few good lessons about understanding.
But more importantly, unlike many of the other products that I tend to look at during Knock-Off November,
"Maya The Bee Movie" was not created with any malicious
purpose or to spin a product off of something bigger.
It was just meant to be kind of cute and innocent and something you could
put on for your toddler's without worrying
about if it would scar them by accident.
Really I found watching this film just to be a relaxing
experience- the kind of thing that I just needed to find peace at the end of my stressful week.
Pretty good for a bee that used to be a n a z i if you ask me. And with that I've been Quinton Reviews-
And that's all you'd Bee- *instant regret* that's all you need! I- I don't-
That's just- that's all you need. Have a good day. I don't know where the hell that came from- Jesus Christ...