The 1973 Animated Series - Jeannie

[kentauros]

Now, to begin with, I know that at least 90% of the I Dream of Jeannie fans absolutely hate this show with a passion because it doesn't use any of the original cast for voices, and because none of the characters look like the original cast. But, I still love it

There are good reasons why the original cast didn't lend their voices to it, and like everything in the world, it had to do with money (and a blown-budget). I'm still more than happy with what was produced, other than that I wished that CBS had ordered more seasons.

Okay, some of y'all have probably seen the episodes on YouTube, rather horrible-quality versions, and many misnamed for their proper titles. That's fine to learn about the show and determine if it's worth finding better copies. I can at least help with the latter part of that.

I discovered that CTV in Canada has the episodes for viewing, so long as you live in Canada. Otherwise, they are geo-locked. The other thing is that they put their logo on the bottom-right corner, so if that kind of thing bothers you, then try the DVD set below. You can at least see from the link how good the reproduction quality is.

The following link is to a page that has collected the best quality of the series I've seen since it originally aired. Even so, it's not quite as "uncut" as it is advertised because there are certain scenes I remember seeing as a kid that are not in these copies. Most likely, they are modern-edited versions for more commercial time per half-hour.

Even so, to me it was still worth buying the set. I don't remember what shipping cost, but figure at least five-bucks.

Jeannie - 1973 - The Complete HD Studio Animated Series

If you've never heard of this cartoon before, then here's a fairly well-done site of information about it, and a wiki-page on the cartoon (with images from my collection uploaded to it):

Jeannie (TV series) explained

Jeannie (series) (I Dream of Jeannie Wiki)

[kentauros]

I don't know if this will entice anyone, but here are some images from the show:

[kentauros]

Perhaps I should edit my post about "I know that at least 90% of the I Dream of Jeannie fans absolutely hate this show" to read "I know that at least 99.999999999% of the I Dream of Jeannie fans absolutely hate this show..." I'd be the 0.000000001% who love it among the IDoJ community

[tcr1701]

i watched it as a kid and enjoyed it. It obviously wasn't the same genie. But Jeannie did tell Tony that "we are all (named) Jeannie."

[kentauros]

Originally Posted by tcr1701

i watched it as a kid and enjoyed it. It obviously wasn't the same genie. But Jeannie did tell Tony that "we are all (named) Jeannie."

Good point

I watched it when it originally aired and loved it, but I loved pretty much any show with magic in it (Shazzan, Mr. Merlin, for two examples). The critics of the time didn't like it, but they don't always get it right either. It just would have been nice if CBS had gone ahead and ordered a second season. The show was getting good enough ratings for that to take place.

[tcr1701]

Originally Posted by kentauros

Good point

I watched it when it originally aired and loved it, but I loved pretty much any show with magic in it (Shazzan, Mr. Merlin, for two examples). The critics of the time didn't like it, but they don't always get it right either. It just would have been nice if CBS had gone ahead and ordered a second season. The show was getting good enough ratings for that to take place.

Around that same time Remco released the small I Dream of Jeannie doll in a blue costume with blonde hair. But they used the cartoon Jeannie on the box art (also with blonde hair). And the large bottle playset design (sold separately, of course) was the cartoon bottle, but came with a Jeannie doll now in the pink costume.

[tcr1701]

When Jeannie teamed up with the Scooby gang she popped out the villain and her arms simultaneously.

[kentauros]

Originally Posted by tcr1701

When Jeannie teamed up with the Scooby gang she popped out the villain and her arms simultaneously.

Yeah, that and details about her face lets you know that it was definitely a different animation crew. Even within the regular series, if you look at some angles (frame-by-frame helps see them) the quality of the drawing changes, sometimes drastically.

Hanna-Barbera didn't care as much about minor shows like this one as compared to The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Johnny Quest. Those shows brought in a profit versus just paying the bills.

But, at least there was an entire season of an additional animated djinni (Shazzan being the first) while Bewitched only warranted a single episode on The Flintstones

[kentauros]

I just discovered yesterday while doing a search on my Roku that there are several streaming apps which have the series now. The two free channels have it with ads (of course) but I haven't tried the Philo app because it's subscriber-based.

So, as follows are direct links to free apps carrying the 1973 "Jeannie" Animated Series

Plex
Crackle

I don't have a direct link to Philo's page for the series, but here's another page which lists the apps airing it, which are clickable:

Reelgood - Jeannie

[howilu]

I remember the character babu, a male genie whose catchphrase was "Yapple dapple!"

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by howilu

I remember the character babu, a male genie whose catchphrase was "Yapple dapple!"

He was voiced by 'Curly Joe' Besser and the character was much like that Failed 'not so HARD' Stooge!

Put it this way, even the tiniest viewers would have had no problems imagining that he could have been in the very same bottle as the gorgeous teen girl djini for centuries with no one else around- and the two of the NEVER doing more than talking and waving at each other!

No wonder she instantly crushed on that teen surfer despite the latter being a somewhat whiny dim bulb!

[kentauros]

I have sometimes commented on the IDoJ page at Moviechat, usually to help people either misinformed or low on general knowledge about the show.

Tonight, I noticed that there is a page for the animated series, but had only one (bad) post. So, I added a better post about finding quality copies of the series. Here's the page for those who might want to talk more about the animated series by itself instead of here (I know not all IDoJ fans like the cartoon, so talking over there would allow them to better ignore this and any other posts about it).

https://moviechat.org/tt0069596/Jeannie

[i29u]

The cartoon version loved to reuse plots from the live-action version:
(episodes numbered by broadcast order)

Bumbling apprentice genie IDOJ #74, all 16 episodes of the cartoon
Jeannie loses her powers IDOJ #16, #40, #41, #65, #83, cartoon #5
Survival mission/course IDOJ #3, cartoon #4
A kid sees Jeannie IDOJ #11, #132, cartoon #10
Meeting famous dead person IDOj #41, #58, #76, cartoon #7
Jeannie jealous of her master's date IDOJ #36, #39, #60, cartoon #11
Jeannie's bottle mixed up with junk IDOJ #1, cartoon #11
Jeannie's master's best friend irresistible to females IDOJ #44, cartoon #13
Genie dog IDOJ #93, #107, #115, #131, cartoon #14
A character is turned into a dog IDOJ #36, cartoon #14
A genie thinks he or she is a jinx IDOJ #72, cartoon #15
Jeannie's master and his best friend switch bodies IDOJ #87, cartoon #16

Do the pictures of the redhead below resemble the cartoon Jeannie?

[kentauros]

Originally Posted by i29u

The cartoon version loved to reuse plots from the live-action version...

To be expected, though there are some episodes which diverted from those plots. Such as "The Kid Brother" where he most definitely learned that Jeannie was a djinni, unlike Marvin in "Jeannie and the Curious Kid". Other than Roger, no one knew about Jeannie's secret and/or had to keep it. Marvin only suspected and then later was either talked out of it, or just not believed because he's a kid who reads comic books.

Originally Posted by i29u

Do the pictures of the redhead below resemble the cartoon Jeannie?

No, nor was that to be expected, either. They were not able to make it as a true spin-off series, and I'm fine with that.

I don't know for sure if this is true, but there is suspicion that the cartoon Jeannie was the inspiration for the game-djinni Shantae. Both use their ponytails to work their powers, and both are redheads. Shantae is a half-djinni while Jeannie is full-powered.

I get it. 99% of IDoJ fans can't stand the cartoon. "None of the original actors do the voices!" "No one looks like the original actors!" "Unoriginal plots/stories!"

Thankfully, I'm in the 1% crowd who loved this show, and got to watch it when it aired. I just had to wait 40+ years to get decent-quality copies of it online, and they still aren't truly uncut (should be about 24 mins long instead of the modern broadcast media cut lengths of 21-22mins.) Sony and HB still haven't figured out how to release it to DVD/VOD but have at least found venues to stream it. Still, in those aforementioned shortened versions.

[tcr1701]

Originally Posted by kentauros

I don't know for sure if this is true, but there is suspicion that the cartoon Jeannie was the inspiration for the game-djinni Shantae. Both use their ponytails to work their powers, and both are redheads. Shantae is a half-djinni while Jeannie is full-powered

Originally Jeannie's pony tail on the show would activate the magic as well. I assumed that's why the "Jeannie" cartoon did it. But I suspect it was too complicated to do every time live action. From the original script:


Jeannie tosses her head. Her pigtail makes a circle, then points straight up in the air. A large bloodthirsty falcon suddenly appears on Tony's wrist.


Barbara said that original Gene Nelson came up with the blink instead.