Hurrah! It’s back. Yes folks, this year September fell at a time when I’m not currently sweating a deadline like a hoor in church having taken on far too many writing projects.
I have been sitting on doing a review for Aladdin the series for what feels like forever because I was being good and waiting for the series to pop up on Disney Plus. Unfortunately, it’s not on there and it’s starting to look like it never will be. This is pretty shocking because the series was one of the biggest successes of Disney’s TV division in the nineties, running to an utterly staggering 86 episodes. Nobody seems to know why, either.
Some have suggested that Disney were worried some of the episodes haven’t aged particularly well, or that Genie’s pop culture references risked copyright infringement or simply that Dan Castellaneta’s royalties would be prohibitively expensive. Well, whatever the reason, I am forced to review this series from memory. That’s right. I am reviewing these episodes entirely, and perfectly legally, from my own perfect memory from thirty years ago. And the screencaps I’m using? Drawn by me. From my own memory. Allll nice and legal like. Got it? Good.
The series aired between 1994 and 1995 and takes place between Return of Jafar and King of Thieves. And if you’re wondering “how the hell did they crank out 86 episodes in two years?” it’s probably best not to think about it too hard.
But it probably helped that a whopping eight studios worked on this thing, which, if I know nineties cartoons (and I know nothing else) means that the animation consistency will be scattered over a ten mile radius.
The series is very episodic and doesn’t really do arcs so I’m just diving in and picking out episodes that sound interesting to talk about.
Season 2, Episode 6- One Enchanted Genie
Wha Happen’?
This episode opens with recurring villain Abis Mal (Jason Alexander), now paired with a…servant (?) named Haroud Hazi Bin (James Avery) having just successfully stoled Genie’s lamp from the palace in Agrabah. And it shows how long I’ve been out of the game that my first thought was “oh shit! So he’s Genie’s master now?! What stakes!”
But no, as I obviously should have remembered, Genie is free by this point and the lamp is now just what he sleeps in. There’s a funny bit where Haroud grouses that Abis Mal raised the alarm by treading on Abu and we then see Genie racing across the desert yelling “LAMP THIEF! MONKEY MASHER!”
Abis Mal manages to escape with the lamp, however, leaving Genie miserable. Which, hang on, didn’t Genie hate living in the lamp? Why is he so nostalgic for it now? I dunno, maybe the housing market’s gotten a lot worse. I can understand that.
But Genie perks up when he realises that as soon as Abis Mal rubs the lamp, Genie will know where he is and kick his ass. But Abis Mal is so paralysed by trying to choose his first wish that he takes ages to rub it, leading Genie to wail “why won’t he rub my lamp?!” like a one night stand frantically waiting by the phone for him to call. Anyway, Abis Mal finally decides on a wish (a new hat) and Genie flies away to confront him only to come across a street urchin who has discovered a bottle with a genie.
These characters are introduced so fucking abruptly I cannot tell you. It feels like a different episode got randomly spliced into this one. Anyway, the girl genie is named Eden and she endears herself pretty quickly I gotta say. When Dhandhi, the urchin, makes her first wish for a sandwich, Eden flat out refuses to let her squander a wish like that and instead tells her to wish to never go hungry again. And that’s honestly heart-warming. Genie instantly falls in love with Eden and tries to impress her by also granting Dhandhi’s wishes but that just makes Eden pissed at him for muscling in on her turf. Their competition results in a stack of pepperoni pizza a mile high (guys, you do know that’s pork right?) which draws the attention of Abis Mal.
Once Eden realises that Genie already has a master (wait) it turns out she is super in to him. Dhandhi tells her to go for it and they agree to a date.
Eden shows up at the palace dressed to the nines and having switched skin colour…
…and they have a magical evening dancing amongst the stars. But, Eden feels her bottle being rubbed and promises Genie she’ll be back in a flash. But, when she returns to Dhandhi she finds that Abis Mal has the bottle and is her new master. When she doesn’t return, Genie assumes he’s been dumped and goes back to Aladdin who suggests that they continue their search for Genie’s lamp. While looking like he is off his face on something.
They find Abis Mal and are shocked to see that Eden is now under his control. Genie goes on a furious tirade, accusing her of secretly working for Abis Mal the whole time to trick him (“the kid was a nice touch!”) which is just fucking bananas. Dude, you’re a GENIE. YOU KNOW SHE HAS NO CHOICE HERE.
What an asshole!
Haroud effortlessly incapacitates Aladdin and tells Abis Mal to wish for Eden to imprison Genie at the bottom of the ocean. “Why is Haroud even working for Abis Mal when he is infinity times more competant?” is a question, sadly, that will not be answered in this episode.
After granting this wish, Eden apologises to Aladdin and he’s all “hey, no, I understand, you literally have no free will I don’t blame you” because, y’know, Aladdin’s not a fucking idiot. Abis Mal’s second wish is, hang on, let me get this word for word: “make me the biggest tough guy ever, a cosmic one! I want to blow up things and, eh, possess MEGA BRAIN ENERGY!”
So she turns him into a kaijiu and he starts trying to stomp Aladdin. But, Eden gets a message to Genie telling him how to escape because, while Abis Mal wished him to the bottom of the ocean, he didn’t wish him forever. Genie shows up, high on love, and he’s quickly able to undo Abis Mal’s wish and turn him back to normal size. So Abis Mal uses his final wish to transform Aladdin and Genie into cockroaches so that he can stamp on them. But, Abu grabs the bottle and tosses it to to Dhandhi who wishes that Abis Mal’s wish not come true and Eden instead turns Abis Mal and Haroud into cockroaches. When Dhandhi points out that she didn’t actually wish for that Eden shrugs and says “freebie”.
Dhandhi decides that she’s going to use her last wish to free Eden, but says “I only wish we could always stay together” and wouldn’t ya know it? This means Eden has to stay with her and she and Genie can’t be together. For some reason. But she reminds Genie that they have eternity and that she’ll be free for a date in a century or so.
How was it?
You know what? Not bad at all! It helps that this episode has an insanely high quality voice cast, like, my God. But the writing has this absurdist streak running through it that got more than a few guffaws out of me and the animation is zippy and surprisingly fluid. Yeah, we are off to a great start! Let’s see if that lasts (not foreshadowing, I am flying completely blind on this. I have no idea what episode I am going to…remember…next).
unshavedmouse 
It’s worth noting that Eden is voiced by Debi Derryberry of Jimmy Neutron fame!
Hate to be that guy but Dhandi is played by Debi Derryberry, Eden’s played by Valery Pappas.
Huh. I guess Behind the Voice Actors was wrong, then.
Aladdin still remains my favorite Disney movie and I still have a soft spot for the animated series. The Arabian Nights setting with all its wonderous creatures and magic means there was always plenty of story potential for each episode plus it really fleshes out the Aladdin-verse.
Of all the characters created for the show, Eden might be one of the best, her relationship with Dhandi is really sweet and in return Dhandi helping set her up with Genie shows she’s supportive of Eden’s own interests. I like to imagine that if the show was written today in an era when shows don’t need to be so episodic the two of them could’ve been in more than just two episodes.
Another great detail is that even though Eden’s certainly more level-headed than Genie, she’s still quite a silly goof. I like to think that all that PHENOMINAL COSMIC POWER kind of messes with their heads which is why they’re constantly talking in anachronistic pop culture bits.
Makes you wonder if Genie ever dropped in on Merlin and Archimedes for some Timey-Whimey chats (Poor Archimedes would probably have yet another conniption).
Hey, not only do I have generally fond memories of this show, but I remember and like this specific episode. A good start indeed.
Fun fact, Eden is named after Barbara Eden who played the titular genie in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. Shame they didn’t get her to do the voice, she’s actually still around.
I have not seen this show in probably twenty years (except for the episode where Iago gains Genie powers). I remember liking it more than the movie, thinking the movie was a quickly made cash grab on the show, and wondering why they made their best character (Iago) a villain, thus it was a bad adaptation.
The show had some weird episodes and interestingly had no issue transforming Jasmine into random things: carrot, tree, the Mona Lisa, etc.
The animation is always touch and go but the writing generally does well. It does struggle in writing around the Genie’s powers but even the best superhero shows struggle with balancing.
As for why it isn’t on Disney+, despite Aladdin’s massive popularity, no idea. I doubt it is for PC reasons. The unnecessary disclaimer can be slapped on. I wager the reason lies in rights and royalties. Then again, Disney effectively banned Don Rosa’s Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck for no discernible reason.
Presumably they found “He made his money square” unnecessarily triggering to certain portions of the audience – you know, the wealthy and influential ones.
I didn’t watch much of this series since I didn’t have Disney Channel on our cable plan until the early 2000s, so sadly I cannot draw this series flawlessly from memory like you can.
Here you go, Mouse
https://archive.org/details/aladdin-complete-series/Aladdin+Complete+Series/Aladdin+-+115+-+Strike+Up+the+Sand.avi
All 86 episodes