Even though I know that it will never happen, I noticed that there were at least 3 different early episodes where Jeannie threaten to kill a couple of people (a princess, Dr. Bellows even including Nelson on one occasion.)
There were times when she defiantly ignored Nelson's orders even saying to him one at time "Who's going to stop me?"
Does anyone know any other examples that I might have left out.
Eh I'm inclined to believe she wouldn't actually kill someone, but she definitely threatened it a few times. Jeannie was passionate and scheming, but she was also kind and caring. The time where she threatened to kill the princess was because of some archaic feud between her country and the princess's country or something like that, she was obliged to do it and Jeannie was pretty into those ancient rules. Also, it was season 1, she was a lot tougher in season 1. As for threats against Dr Bellows (I don't remember this one) and Tony, they were more about Jeannie making her power known and wanting things to go her own way rather than a desire to actually kill them. Remember how she would send Roger (and sometimes Tony) away somewhere when she was mad? It was to prove that she had the power and they shouldn't mess with her.
All my perspective of course, I'm not the writer
I think Larry had an issue with the scripts not showing where Jeannie blinked people to, that viewers might think she killed them. By showing their new location, they could get some laughs out of it.
She blinked Roger to many locations that were funny, but dangerous (the top of the Empire State Building, under the sea, on a floating iceberg), and I always wondered how he got home. I hoped that at some point, Jeannie softened up and blinked him back to NASA or his house. Come to think of it, the only non-recurring character that she blinked away somewhere else (that was shown, and that I remember) was the banker on the raft, along with Tony and Roger. I wonder how they explained that to him? There must be others.... :)
<<<Come to think of it, the only non-recurring character that she blinked away somewhere else (that was shown, and that I remember) was the banker on the raft, along with Tony and Roger. I wonder how they explained that to him? There must be others.... :)
She blinked (changed) a few people into animals.
Permanently.
In a season 1 episode.
I think it's obvious on this show Genies do NOT have to obey their masters. It must be some rule ~that can be easily broken~ or some sort of self fulfillment.
Create a society in which you would like to live, not knowing what you're going to come into it as.
Jeannie pretty much had free will, yes she was bound by the master-genie relationship, but in the first episode Tony sets her free. So she knew all the customs and rules that came with being a genie, but she wasn't subject to grant every wish after he set her free. Remember in the pilot when Tony commanded her to get back in the bottle and she basically refused because she didn't feel like it? She could pick and choose when to do what he asked, and she did want to please him and make him happy, but she also had an independent mind.
shareANd look at the Blue Djinn.
He said if he had been released earlier he would have been grateful, but over time he became angry and vowed to kill who ever released him, so it seems genies have total free will, they can either serve or kill their masters lol
And Jeannie's sister always was planning on making a slave of Tony.
There were times when Jeannie's sister seemed truly terrified of her master, but I dunno why when ultimately she can do what she wants.
Create a society in which you would like to live, not knowing what you're going to come into it as.
I'm midly surprised the Blue Djinn didn't return in future episodes! He made a great atagonist for Jeannie and Tony!
shareThey should've scrapped the King Kamehameha story and brought Michael Ansara back as the Blue Djinn there. They had him anyway, they might as well have had the character come back.
shareI agree. The Blue Djinn also should've shown up in My Sister, The Homewrecker. Working alongside Jeannie II, they would've made for an excellent devious duo. The plan could've been to ruin the Nelsons' marriage so that the Blue Djinn would get Jeannie and Jeannie II would get Tony.
---------
You can observe a lot just by watching. -- Yogi Berra
I know this is a late response but just now seeing it. The Blue Djinn was so terrifying, I honestly always thought he would be a common enemy who might UNITE Jeannie and her sister.. I wanna think Jeannie's sister would TRY to help her fight the Blue Djinn. B/c with the Blue Djinn there would be no "planning" he seemed so powerful he could just TAKE Jeannie and kill Tony if he wanted to.
shareI dunno what stopped him from returning, I don't see how Jeannie blinking her and Tony into the bottle was any different from her blinking them back home where he found them in the first place.
Create a society in which you would like to live, not knowing what you're going to come into it as.
Once the blue coloration came off in the water, he lost his powers.
Seriously though, perhaps the process of making Michael Ansara into the Blue Djinn wasn't practical in the long run, given the series' budget. Also, I think the Blue Djinn would've been a serious foe to Jeannie and company. Maybe, the writers wanted to keep the show lighthearted with weaker villains such as Dr. Bellows and his wife. Jeannie II was a little tougher but not as dangerous as the Blue Djinn likely would've been towards Jeannie and Tony.
---------
You can observe a lot just by watching. -- Yogi Berra
The episode when Jeannie tried to kill Nelson
Have You Ever Had a Genie Hate You?
Season 3, Episode 24
I forgot the name of the Dr Bellows one.
It came on tv about a month ago the episode was in black & white.
All I remember Dr Bellows once again barged into Nelson's house without knocking almost caught Jeannie doing some magic.
After Bellows left Jeannie said to Nelson "Do you want me to kill him?"
Already had her arms folded ready to blink
Nelson quickly said no.
Keep in mind that she was about 2000 years old at that time and probably had been through a lot.
Times were different back then.
I also think that she had some abusive masters in her past.
After Bellows left Jeannie said to Nelson "Do you want me to kill him?"
Already had her arms folded ready to blink
Nelson quickly said no.
Keep in mind that she was about 2000 years old at that time and probably had been through a lot.
Times were different back then.
Jeannie was an impulsive, immortal, omnipotent entity. By and large, that should qualify as dangerous. Luckily, by the tenets of being a genie, she's obligated to serve a Master. And she's able to be placated by love.
Nevertheless, Jeannie could be dangerous if she needed or wanted to be.
My Wild-Eyed Master: She used an inferno to get Roger to confess.
The Case Of My Vanishing Master: She was angered with Rodney Pomford (Tony's spy double). Although, she bedeviled him with non-lethal methods; she did consider hanging him by his toenails into a basket of cobras.
Have You Ever Had A Genie Hate You: Her methods were potentially lethal; but she was under a hate spell.
Despite those instances, Jeannie generally used non-lethal means to get her wish. She mostly seemed to be too benevolent to be considered a mortal threat. Overall, I would classify her as more of a menace (albeit, a lovable one).
---------
You can observe a lot just by watching. -- Yogi Berra
I am beginning to hate watching 60's tv nowadays... not that it is no longer enjoyable, but because others don't take the shows with very small grains of salt.
you can't watch this show and gilligans island or even the brady bunch with the 2000 mentality!
she threatened those who posed a threat to her plan. and what was her plan? to snag tony and marry him. not to do anything else. it's not like she was runner up in a beauty contest and conveniently had the winner suffer some tragic accident.
OH THANK YOU GOD! THANK YOU SO BLOODY MUCH!!! Basil Fawlty
Thank Goodness I don't have the "2000 mentality" then, I would take 10 trillion I dream of Jeannie, Bewitched Gilligan's Island etc over this raunnchy and un funny GARBAGE that's shelved down our thorats
share
right??? I mean some of the other shows are okay [bad girls club, dance moms...] but these honey booboo and jersey shore crap is what pains me!
I was up in gods country for a long weekend and I enjoyed every minute of being off line!!
OH THANK YOU GOD! THANK YOU SO BLOODY MUCH!!! Basil Fawlty
These types of shows are meant to be complete escapism. It's fantastical comedy (Jeannie, Bewitched, Gilligan's Island)
There isn't really supposed to be moral quandaries or too much depth. It's essentially played for laughs. In realistic terms, yes she was dangerous - Blinking people elsewhere, threatening behavior, tantrums etc. but with massive suspension of disbelief, which you're supposed to do. These moments are played for entertainment and laughter. When she conjures the flames threatening Roger to spill the beans. We're not thinking wow he could die, we're laughing at his reaction, the music and how silly it is.
I Dream of Jeannie is a series about a time and space displaced jinni trying to cope with life in mid twentieth-century America.
I think it can be assumed that most understand the series is simpleminded entertainment. However, some fans enjoy non-conventional discussions. I don't see why that needs to be censured.
---------
You can observe a lot just by watching. -- Yogi Berra
I am beginning to hate watching 60's tv nowadays... not that it is no longer enjoyable, but because others don't take the shows with very small grains of salt.
>>>I think it was the 2nd Jeannie movie that started to explain how some of the magic work
actually, it was the original series that did that. When Jeannie gave Tony her powers, Jeannie explaining to Tony (or trying to) that if he floods the Sahara, he might empty an ocean. If he tries to stop a war, he might start three others. etcetera.
I always hated that explanation she gave him, because it was yet another example of the first season being re-written.
In the 1st-Season episode "This Is Murder" (and another example of Jeannie's intent to kill someone) Tony sends her off into the world to grant big wishes for him. One is that he wants a yacht in the Gobi Desert. So, she floods it. And yet, no oceans were drained, nor did she caution him against such a wish.
As for stopping a war, Jeannie changed Time on at least two known occasions (when Tony was stuck in the floor and Roger found him, and at the end of "The Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World".) She could have easily stopped a war by changing Time, and then one wonders if she ever did in her past. And with that power in the eyes of all djinn, one then wonders what has happened in the world in the past that we no longer remember experiencing, and in which all physical evidence has been wiped away ;)
Yeah, so because it's not in our memory, did it happen at all and we just don't remember it naturally, or was it erased?
Sort of like Will Smith asking Tommy Lee Jones in "Men in Black", "Hey, did you ever flashy-thing me?", referring to the memory-erasing neuralizer. :)
With Men in Black, though they had the alien technology to remove memories, they were still human and had to physically remove evidence. All Jeannie had to do was blink, and even physical things that had been radically changed by her magic were reverted back to normal.
One can only make the assumption that she did the same thing sometime after the end of "This Is Murder" in order to get rid of everything she had created in granting Tony's big wishes. Otherwise, the news (and people's conversations, curiosity, and fear) would be centered on the continuing changed status of the Gobi Desert, Alaska, and Bermuda. So, she likely blinked Time changed to erase people's memories of it, too.
(By the way, I think of it more like changing reality. That way, she doesn't have to both change physical things back to 'nothing' or something else, and use telepathy-magic to change or erase memories, if reality is simply different than it had been before. Plus, if she had to change memories, either she or the magic would have to know what all of those memories were and what they would have likely been had reality been different from what it became.)
It also makes me wonder what all Jeannie revealed to the princess, because if her memories got erased too, things might not have led to the dissolving of the feud. And if she remembers the weather and water changes that were heard and seen on the news, then she'll be questioned about her sanity for remembering things that never happened (especially such big things at that.)
we were all very lucky jeannie was nice, from what I remember of the show, she had unlimited power so she could have controlled the entire world.
shareI think she was dangerous because she was very jealous and when she was jealous she lost every sense of proportion. She was very immature.Seeing some of the things she did was frustrating. Obviously, I had fun watching the shows but her childish attitude sort of ruined certain episodes, imho.
I like tea
I think the main reason the writers had Tony never wanting to marry Jeannie in those early episodes is because they wanted to convey that she wasn't human in any way, only that she herself thought of herself as a human when it suited her. She was desperate to be married to Tony but he knew it couldn't work because she was alien in nature. Remember the episode about the two Tony's and Jeannie tricks him into marrying her, and he is having a conversation with Dr Bellows who says to him "I know her better than you. I am a great judge of human nature", and he replies "but we are not talking about human nature here" and he also states in that same segment to Dr Bellows that HE didn't choose her to marry. Another segment where Tony shows his real concern over her being a non-human was the episode with Custer and he made it plainly clear to her that she couldn't blink Custer into a frog or nothing. He was freaked out by her suggestion and almost feared her in that episode.
The 2 episodes where she says "Who's going to stop me?" weren't about hurting others. There was the episode where she wanted to go on the cruise with him and they were talking about it in the study. The 2nd episode where she used that phrase was yacht murder case one where she wanted to go on the boat with him and he said he'd stop her. She smoked herself into the umbrella container and he was just going to leave her there and went to the closet and had the brainstorm of getting out the vacuum cleaner and tricking her into that.
>>>I think the main reason the writers had Tony never wanting to marry Jeannie in those early episodes is because they wanted to convey that she wasn't human in any way, only that she herself thought of herself as a human when it suited her.
The early episodes contradict that opinion by specifically stating that she was an ordinary human girl until the Blue Djinn turned her into a genie.
for refusing to marry him, iirc
>>>I think the main reason the writers had Tony never wanting to marry Jeannie in those early episodes is because they wanted to convey that she wasn't human in any way, only that she herself thought of herself as a human when it suited her.
The early episodes contradict that opinion by specifically stating that she was an ordinary human girl until the Blue Djinn turned her into a genie.
for refusing to marry him, iirc
Yes, but you are talking about her past, 2000 years before. Sure she was born human, but she was changed into a non-human entity. Even Barbara Eden refers to her character as an "entity that is not human". I remember in one of her youtube interviews, she described her character that way. You have to remember that Tony was dealing with an alien culture and although he was obviously entranced by her and wanted her in his life, he was also adamant that he didn't want a marriage with her and he still maintained a roving eye for other women who he would have considered a better fit as a wife because they were human, like Miss Galaxy.
share