Television. One DVD at a Time.

"Once upon a time in a mythical place called Cape Kennedy, an astronaut named Tony Nelson went up on a space mission." - Opening Narration

I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete First Season DVD Review

By A.J. Carson

It's almost every man's (not to mention woman's) fantasy: to find a genie in a bottle who will grant unlimited wishes. Just imagine the endless supply of riches - diamonds, gold, mansions, and all the Cheetos you can eat. For astronaut Tony Nelson (Dallas' Larry Hagman), however, this scenario proves to be a nightmare. When his mission to space is aborted due to mechanical difficulties, Captain Nelson's capsule makes an emergency landing on an uncharted island. While waiting to be rescued, he discovers an ornate bottle on the beach. Curious as to what might be inside, he pops off the top and rubs away some of the grime from the side of the bottle. With a puff of smoke, out pops Jeannie (Barbara Eden), a beautiful genie who has been held captive in the bottle for 2,000 years because she disobeyed her former master. To Tony's dismay, he now finds himself master to the blonde bombshell who, with the mere blink of an eye, can summon a NASA rescue helicopter. He sets Jeannie free to do whatever she wants. Unfortunately, what Jeannie wants is to serve her new master, so she follows Tony home to Cocoa Beach, Florida. There, Tony tries to keep the irrepressible conjurer secret from his fiancée Melissa (Karen Sharpe), suspicious base psychiatrist Dr. Alfred Bellows (Hayden Rorke), and even his best friend, Captain Roger Healey (The Bob Newhart Show's Bill Daily). He isn't entirely successful: his engagement gets broken, Dr. Bellows is a constant witness to Jeannie's magic, and when Roger accidentally stumbles upon Jeannie's bottle, he decides to "borrow" her for himself.

Jeannie, which premiered on NBC September 18,1965, is quite sexually charged for a series of its age. Tony and Jeannie are unmarried yet live together. Well, she lives in a bottle, but the bottle is in his house. They don't have a sexual relationship, but it is perfectly clear that Jeannie wants one. Each episode features multiple shots of Jeannie jumping into Tony's arms, smothering him with kisses, and other relatively racy behavior.

The series often feels like Bewitched-lite. (Bewitched premiered the previous season). Both feature men who become upset upon discovering that a woman in their lives possesses magical powers. They attempt to stifle the women's talents, but this proves to be unsuccessful. The character of Dr. Bellows is practically a carbon copy of Bewitched's Gladys Kravitz.

With lines like, "Thou may ask anything of thy slave, Master," Jeannie is not exactly a poster girl for women's lib. After all, she's running around in a skimpy costume (that famously hides her navel) and conjures up a goat to make cheese for her master's cheese sandwich. Yet it manages to not be demeaning, mostly because no matter what, Jeannie usually comes out on top. Many of the episodes end with Jeannie laughing at the fact that she has again outsmarted her master. He may not have fallen in love with her yet, but she knows that it is just a matter of time.

The series also possesses great appeal for kids. Jeannie's outfit may be sexy to adults, but to kids, the pompoms, headdresses, and chiffon are merely exotic. With its simple plotlines and decent special effects, I Dream of Jeannie is sure to please kids of all ages.

Season one of I Dream of Jeannie features two different opening credits, neither of which employs the familiar Jeannie theme song. One features footage from the pilot episode along with narration explaining the series' concept. This is replaced after half a dozen episodes or so with an animated Jeannie coolly dancing to a jazzy yet instantly forgettable theme song.

Familiar faces in the first season include Richard Kiel (Moonraker), Mako (Hawaiian Heat), Richard Webb (Captain Midnight), Sharon Farrell (The Young and the Restless), Alice Pearce (Bewitched), Dabney Coleman (Courting Alex), Bill Mumy (Lost in Space), Elizabeth MacRae (Gomer Pyle, USMC), Jamie Farr (M*A*S*H), Foster Brooks (The New Bill Cosby Show), Bernard Fox (Bewitched), Judy Carne (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In), Maureen McCormick (The Brady Bunch), and Vic Tayback (Alice).

The thirty episodes that make up the first season are divided onto four discs. The discs are housed in two slim, clear plastic keepcases, each of which holds two discs. The fronts of the cases are decorated with publicity stills of Eden, Hagman, Daily, and Rorke. The backs of the cases include titles and brief synopses for each episode. The interiors of the cases are bright and colorful. Each of the DVDs spotlights one of the cast members - Eden on disc one, Hagman on disc two, Daily on disc three, and Rorke on disc four. The keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve.

The DVD menus, which start off full-motion before freezing on a static image, mimic the series' animated opening credits. Viewers can play all of the disc's episodes or choose an individual one. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.

Video and Audio

The audio and video on I Dream of Jeannie are perfectly fine for a forty-one year old series. Shot on black and white film, the video is grainy, but with few scratches, lines, and other flaws evident. The sound is about what can be expected from a '60s sitcom.

The episodes are closed captioned.

Network and studio executives had so little confidence in the series that they filmed the first season of I Dream of Jeannie in black and white rather than spend another $500 per episode to film in color. The show became a hit, and it switched to color for its second season. When the show was syndicated, many stations rejected the black and white episodes, so the early episodes were colorized. Both the original black and white and the colorized versions have been released on DVD. We haven't actually seen the colorized version, but do yourself a favor and go with the black and white version. The colorization process is far from perfect, and often results in a blobby, unnatural look. Plus, watching the episodes in glorious black and white insures that you'll see them exactly how the series' creators intended.

Extras

On disc one, Larry Hagman, Barbara Eden, and Bill Daily provide an audio commentary on "The Lady in the Bottle," the series' pilot episode. The commentary isn't very informative, but it is fun to hear these old pros together again, just shooting the breeze. Interestingly enough, the actors almost take on the personalities of their characters during the commentary. Hagman is a bit serious, Eden is bubbly and vivacious, and Daily is effortlessly funny. The three run out of things to say well before the end of the episode, but fans of the series may still want to give this commentary a listen.

The featurette "I Dream of Jeannie: Out of the Bottle" (14:24) can be found on disc four. The featurette includes a joint interview with stars Hagman, Eden, and Daily, as well as a separate interview with series creator/producer Sidney Sheldon. There isn't much new to learn here - Hagman is such an effective actor that he convincingly expresses shock when Eden relates the oft-told story of learning she was pregnant on the day the network picked up the series - but as with the commentary, it is fun just to see the old gang together again.

Summary

Although I Dream of Jeannie isn't the funniest sitcom ever produced, it has become such a cultural touchstone that Jeannie's costume, bottle, and conjuring blink are instantly recognizable some forty years after the show's premiere.

3/20/06