The 1991 Reunion TV Movie

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Having just watched the 1991 I Dream of Jeannie reunion made-for-TV movie (titled I Still Dream of Jeannie), I have some comments to offer on the movie. I am posting them here because I'm curious to know if my viewpoints are unique to, well, moi or if many others agree with me as well (which I hope to be the case!). Here goes:

1) Barbara Eden still looks great in the harem outfit! It's hard to believe, but she doesn't really look any worse in the harem outfit in 1991 than she did in the harem outfit in the 1960's (during the original series).

2) Barbara looks a lot older (i.e. her age shows) when she's wearing anything else, though. The hair was especially obvious - I thought they might have considered using a wig, to make Barbara's age less obvious.

3) During the original series, it was apparent that I Dream of Jeannie was not a series that was particularly concerned with maintaining continuity. An obvious example is Jeannie's Season 1 and Season 5 inability to be photographed, yet getting photographed multiple times in various episodes in the intervening seasons. Another example is a Season 1 episode where Tony Nelson's car, at the beginning of the episode, is unavailable since it's "in the shop, being repaired". At the end of the episode, his car is still unavailable since it's still "in the shop". Yet, in the middle of the episode, Tony drives his car home from NASA - apparently the writers had temporarily forgotten that Tony's car was in the shop!

But the original series' continuity errors were never that bad, and at least the premise and plot of each episode was, mostly, logical. In the movie, however...

CONTINUITY ERROR:In I Still Dream of Jeannie, T.J. has no powers at all - even though he had powers in the earlier made-for-TV reunion movie (I Dream of Jeannie - 15 Years Later), and even though he is still stated as being "half-djinn" in I Still Dream of Jeannie.

CONTINUITY/LOGIC ERROR:The sacred scroll 'three moons' clause. Are we to assume that Tony Nelson, one of NASA's premier astronauts as per the original series, has never remained in space for over 3 months before? One would assume that even on a non-secret/non-classified extended space mission, he wouldn't have wanted Jeannie to visit him up in space, or blink him back to Earth. Wouldn't the issue of the clause have come up then?

LOGIC ERROR: Besides - even if for some reason the issue of the clause never had reason to come up before, why couldn't Jeannie try looking for Tony after learning about the rule from Haji? Roger could have helped her with that - there's only a finite amount of places Tony could be in, after all, last I heard real-life NASA (and IDOJ NASA as well) hadn't developed FTL drives in 1991, or developed a means of sending live people (i.e. astronauts) beyond the Moon. Tony's either on the Moon, or he's on the space station, in orbit. And based on the type of rocket that was used to launch Tony (and Roger saw the rocket lift-off so he'd know what class it was), it should be easy for Roger to determine where Tony was headed.

LOGIC ERROR: Why did Jeannie never simply blink into General Westcott's office? She knows where his office is located. Why did she have to physically walk up to the outer door, blink through, and physically open the inner door and then enter? Seems like it'd be easier if she simply blinked in, in miniature. If she would have tried blinking in, she wouldn't have had to find all sorts of ridiculous methods and excuses for being in Westcott's office, and getting Westcott out - she could have simply blinked in during the night. And she wouldn't have had to worry about leaving behind a train of witnesses who might remember seeing her walk up to the General's office, either. How about surveillance cameras, you ask? Well, what's the difference between an unauthorized entry during the daytime - which Jeannie tried multiple times, without getting caught - and an unauthorized blink-in entry during the nighttime? Obviously, surveillance cameras weren't an issue.

Oh, and the ridiculous methods were themselves illogical, too. I mean, come on, telling the other ladies that there was tape in General Westcott's office, which she could get? Wouldn't it make more sense for any of them to ask a secretary for some tape? Even more illogically, the other ladies thought - or seemed to think - that Jeannie's idea was a good one.

LOGIC ERROR: Why did Jeannie blink more cigars for Westcott? Westcott wasn't nice to her, for one thing, and her action might get her in trouble, for another thing, and if Tony knew, he'd be mad too, for a third thing, because it would be yet another suspicious thing around NASA. For a fourth thing, giving Westcott those cigars didn't benefit Jeannie in any way. For a fifth thing, it isn't like Jeannie to do free favors for someone she's mad at.

LOGIC ERROR: The lack of security. If all those top-secret files were in General Westcott's office, from the Xenon file to Tony Nelson's file, then there's no way Westcott's wife would be allowed to carry a key to her husband's office. I mean, her having a key would allow her access to those top-secret classified documents. I just don't see the government - or Westcott - allowing Westcott's wife to have a key to the office. Moreover, if perchance Westcott did give his wife a key (through unauthorized means), Westcott's wife would certainly know better than to give/lend the key to anyone else - or even let anyone else know she had the key.

LOGIC ERROR: The lack of security. Westcott has an alarm button under his desk that's wired to set off alarms all over NASA, but when the alarm is actually triggered, no security forces respond? I would have thought that there would be ample security staff 24/7 at the Space Center, ready to respond in just the event that an alarm like Westcott's was triggered. But instead, we have to wait until the regular cops get in. If the cops hadn't already been heading toward the Space Center, it would have taken them so long to get there that any thief would have been long gone. As it was, by the time the cops had gotten there, Jeannie and T.J. had already gotten out of the complex, *after* solving a stand-off with the bad guys. This seems to be ****-poor security.

CONTINUITY ERROR: Since when did Mesopotamia become the place where genies that are 'abandoned' by their Masters go? In the series, whenever there was a problem with Jeannie staying with Tony, she was always going to be pulled back into 'limbo'. She never mentioned that 'limbo' was actually 'Mesopotamia'.

LOGIC ERROR: If, as Haji says, even he cannot go against the sacred scrolls, how come he can give Jeannie an extension of a fortnight?

LOGIC ERROR: Taping private stuff like passwords and keys under the desk is the oldest trick in the book. I can't believe General Westcott would rely on such a device to provide security for all of those top-secret files in his office.

LOGIC ERROR: The lack of security. There's so little security around and in Westcott's office, he'd be court-martialed for not adequately safeguarding top-secret documents. Even those two inept crooks were able to get in and remove a file and get out, without being caught.

LOGIC ERROR: Jeannie II not being able to go to the 'plane of reality' unless Jeannie I returns to Mesopotamia/Limbo forever. Since when did that become a rule? Not only is it arguably against continuity, it certainly doesn't make any logical sense.


Wow - long post. Your thoughts?

[CAJeannieFan57]

Albert - I totally concur and wouldn't argue with any of those things. The writing was just plain BAD - the storyline, the lines themselves, etc. Bill Daily had NOTHING good to say about either movie, but in particular, the 1991 movie. Did you know they tried to put him in an Air Force uniform??? If the writing weren't bad enough, we were supposed to picture Roger Healey in an AIR FORCE uniform??!?!?

The only scene that really made me laugh was the pig scene - the absurdness of it, if nothing else. My daughter, who loves IDOJ, only tolerated this movie because she thought that particular TJ was really cute.

[Jack77]

The reason Barbara looks so good in her harem outfit in the 1991 reunion movie is because they used a special lens which is called a stocking lens which masks the wrinkles on your face. This and plus the fact that Barbara likes a lot of lighting on her. This would even make you look 20 years younger. And for the record Barbara has been wearing wigs & extensions since her days on I Dream Of Jeannie. Even today in person that is not her real hair. You tell me what 72 year old lady has a thick head of hair like that? Ah Hollywood...

[TV Knowledge Fan]

....I must say that I don't have very pleasant memories of this movie. April Kelly has written better material than this...she didn't understand the characters' relationships (which is why Bill Daily had little better than a "bit part" here) or WHY Jeannie loves "Master" the way she does and why her "rotten sister" acts the way SHE does. And let's pull some "stock" bad guys in from another plot to make things interesting....of course, it would have been even worse if, according to some accounts, ALAN THICKE had appeared in Ken Kerchival's role!!! Barbara should have known better....I taped the movie when it was first on, but I've NEVER seen it in complete form ever since!

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Originally Posted by TV Knowledge Fan

....I must say that I don't have very pleasant memories of this movie. April Kelly has written better material than this...she didn't understand the characters' relationships (which is why Bill Daily had little better than a "bit part" here) or WHY Jeannie loves "Master" the way she does and why her "rotten sister" acts the way SHE does. And let's pull some "stock" bad guys in from another plot to make things interesting....of course, it would have been even worse if, according to some accounts, ALAN THICKE had appeared in Ken Kerchival's role!!! Barbara should have known better....I taped the movie when it was first on, but I've NEVER seen it in complete form ever since!

Oh yeah, I agree with you completely. I've watched I Still Dream of Jeannie once, and while I'm glad I watched it (what true fan wouldn't want to see the made-for-TV movies at least once?), I have absolutely no intention of watching it again.

I also agree with CAJeannieFan57 as well - I feel exactly the way you do. The pig scene was indeed one of the very few truly funny places in the entire movie. I loved it when General Westcott was standing up in the car and yelling and telling the pigs to scram.

Thanks Jack77 for the information. I do think though Barbara should have picked another wig for when she was playing Jeannie dressed in American clothing... the wig she had made her look like 20 - 30 years older than when she was in the Jeannie costume (i.e. the harem dress).

By the way, I didn't like the ending especially much either... would have been sweet to have a joyful reunion between Jeannie and Tony... I realize they couldn't get Larry Hagman and hence wanted to minimize Tony Nelson's role in the movie, but Larry might have been willing for old times' sake to just film a couple seconds' scene...

Instead they end the movie without even showing the school principal's reaction to finding out Jeannie is a genie!

[Jack77]

I agree. I can't help thinking from time to time why could they not try harder to get Larry Hagman to at least make a cameo in each reunion film. If they could have gottten Larry to just come in for one day, maybe two days the most, they could of worked around the schedule & filmed his scenes in a couple of days. For the second film, they could have had him just appear in the very beginning of the movie where he wakes up, leaves for NASA, takes off into space & not return till the very last scene. That I could of lived with instead they choose not to show him or even Wayne Rogers. Of course today now that Larry has warmed up to I Dream Of Jeannie & has been doing the rounds with him & Barbara both appearing on all these different talk shows & autograph shows over the last couple of years, I think the time is right to get him, Barbara & Bill Daily to do a real reunion. Even if it's a half hour reunion I would settle for that just to see Larry play Major Nelson one more time before it's too late. I know if TV Land can come up with the script like they did with The Dick Van Dyke Reunion, it would be the best thing for all Jeannie fans. But time is running out. Larry is 75 years old & not in the best of health. He, Barbara & Bill are the only main cast members from the 60's TV shows that are still able to do a reunion. Look at all the other TV shows from the 50's & 60's every show out there with maybe the exception of Leave It To Beaver & Batman does not have their main cast anymore to put together a reunion. Without Bob Denver, there can never be anymore Gilligan Reunions. Without Don Knotts why even bother with an Andy Griffith Reunion. My point is almost everyone has passed on from our favorite 60's TV shows. Sidney Sheldon just passed on. Still we have to be thankful that the three main stars from Jeannie are still around but sadly that will not last for long. Oh how I wish that Barbara, Larry & Bill can do one Jeannie Reunion...

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Originally Posted by Jack77

I agree. I can't help thinking from time to time why could they not try harder to get Larry Hagman to at least make a cameo in each reunion film. If they could have gottten Larry to just come in for one day, maybe two days the most, they could of worked around the schedule & filmed his scenes in a couple of days. For the second film, they could have had him just appear in the very beginning of the movie where he wakes up, leaves for NASA, takes off into space & not return till the very last scene. That I could of lived with instead they choose not to show him or even Wayne Rogers. Of course today now that Larry has warmed up to I Dream Of Jeannie & has been doing the rounds with him & Barbara both appearing on all these different talk shows & autograph shows over the last couple of years, I think the time is right to get him, Barbara & Bill Daily to do a real reunion. Even if it's a half hour reunion I would settle for that just to see Larry play Major Nelson one more time before it's too late. I know if TV Land can come up with the script like they did with The Dick Van Dyke Reunion, it would be the best thing for all Jeannie fans. But time is running out. Larry is 75 years old & not in the best of health. He, Barbara & Bill are the only main cast members from the 60's TV shows that are still able to do a reunion. Look at all the other TV shows from the 50's & 60's every show out there with maybe the exception of Leave It To Beaver & Batman does not have their main cast anymore to put together a reunion. Without Bob Denver, there can never be anymore Gilligan Reunions. Without Don Knotts why even bother with an Andy Griffith Reunion. My point is almost everyone has passed on from our favorite 60's TV shows. Sidney Sheldon just passed on. Still we have to be thankful that the three main stars from Jeannie are still around but sadly that will not last for long. Oh how I wish that Barbara, Larry & Bill can do one Jeannie Reunion...

Oh, I'll tell you why Larry Hagman didn't appear in the 1991 reunion film.

Originally Posted by Patterson Lundquist

Bill Daily told me himself that the first day of shooting they were all sitting around the table looking over it and he said out loud "This script is crap, this doesn't make any sense. Tony was lost in every episode of I Dream of Jeannie, and Jeannie rescued him. She didn't need to know where he was, she just thought of Tony and blinked." He said everyone, including Barbara just stared at him like he was a painting.

The script stunk, the plot was complete CRAP and the writer should have been beaten with a sack of door knobs. Heck, Barbara should have been slapped for agreeing to do it. Larry has said off the record that they weren't willing to pay him enough to do the movie. So they came back later (after the script was finished) offered him a brief cameo at the end and he agreed to look at the script and when he saw the storyline he tossed it in the trash can. The fact is, he would have been the only good thing about it, and without him in it, with THAT particular script, the movie was a total bomb. Regardless of the ratings it was horrible. People simply tuned in to watch Barbara in the harem costume again.

A similar situation must have arisen for the earlier '85 reunion film.

[TV Guy]

Larry was willing to do a cameo for the 1985 reunion, but they only offered him $5,000, so he turned them down.

There really isn't any continuity between the two reunions, other than the fact that Tony and Jeannie have a son. In the first reunion, Jeannie has become smarter and more independent; Tony Jr. has powers; Roger is retired from NASA; Tony is flying his last mission; and Tony's memory of Jeannie is erased at the end. In the second reunion, Jeannie is dumb and subservient again; Tony Jr. has no powers; Roger is no longer retired; Tony is still flying missions; and Tony apparently has his memory back.

[Scoobiedoo30]

I wish I could remember what the Reunion Movie was about if anyone cane replease tell me what happen in the movie I hope that The 1991 Reunion Movie comes out on DVD soon