Classic sitcom I Dream of Jeannie remains one of the most iconic television series to ever be broadcast, thanks in no small part to its convivial and arresting star Jeannie, played by Barbara Eden. She portrayed a lovable and coquettish genie who was released from her lamp by an unsuspecting astronaut, Major Nelson. He became her master and as such became involved in a variety of magical adventures.
Genies or djinns have been used in numerous television series and films as tricksters, heroes, and villains. They possess a wide range of supernatural powers that both help and harm those who release them from the preternatural objects cursed to hold their forms. Jeannie had a heart of gold, but often used her powers to play practical jokes on her master. How does she and her powers stack up against these other genies of pop culture?
10 BETTER THAN: SHAZZAN
Part of a line-up of Hanna-Barbera cartoons that aired on CBS in the late '60s, Shazzan was an animated adventure centered around two teenagers named Chuck and Nancy who, after stumbling into a mysterious cave, discover a broken ring with special powers. When either teen combines the ring's pieces, they summon the titular Shazzan, a giant genie who transports them to the world of Ancient Arabia.
Shazzan keeps them out of trouble from scimitar-swinging villains, but despite his ability to grant wishes, he never helps them track down the ring's original owner and thus they're never returned home. At least if Jeannie transported Major Nelson somewhere else, she could always get him back!
9 WORSE THAN: GENIE (ALADDIN)
One of Disney's most popular animated films, Aladdin not only helped shape the Disney Renaissance of the '90s, it also gave fans one of Robin Williams' most dynamic performances as the fast-talking, wise-cracking Genie. As soon as the impoverished Aladdin rubbed the magic lamp, Genie became his mystical guide, mentor, and friend.
Genie could transform not only Aladdin's physical appearance, but that of Abu. He could even make the villainous Jafar into a genie, with everything that the vocation entailed. As charismatic as Jeannie is, she could never be better than the late great Williams.
8 BETTER THAN: LISA (WEIRD SCIENCE)
In Weird Science, two high school boys Gary and Wyatt used a computer to create a simulation of the "perfect woman", the gorgeous Lisa who made their wildest teenage fantasies come true, from becoming popular to teaching them about love.
In the mid '90s, a television series was based off of the famous John Hughes movie, and Lisa's genie abilities were made to encompass extraordinary "wish fulfilling" applications. She had a similar role to Jeannie's in that she served the desires of her masters, but didn't have the same personality or spunk.
7 WORSE THAN: DJINN (WISHMASTER)
Wishmaster was released in 1997, and featured a truly evil djinn who, hoping to have an ancient prophecy fulfilled which would allow his race to rule Earth, granted wishes to unsuspecting humans with the sole purpose of making them come true in the worst way. A combination of Freddy Krueger and Pinhead, the djinn's only wish was to bring about pain and chaos.
The film was followed by Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies, Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell, and Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled. The franchise enjoys a love-hate relationship with fans of horror fantasy, but its main character is no less iconic in aesthetic and appeal for his granting of "backfiring wishes."
6 BETTER THAN: GENIE (ALADDIN LIVE-ACTION)
Guy Ritchie's 2019 Aladdin adaptation was one film in a slew of live-action remakes of Disney animated classics.
The animated version of the Genie character, made famous by Robin Williams, spoke in a variety of accents, and rarely held one solid shape. As his live-action counterpart, Will Smith is a strangely subdued version of himself, and shackled to the shadow of his predecessor. Jeannie by contrast was and remains an iconic interpretation of her own character.
5 WORSE THAN: KAZAAM (KAZAAM)
Shaquille O'Neal is already larger than life, but he was even more magnificent as Kazaam, a 3,000-year-old genie brought to life by a 12-year-old kid named Max in the titular '90s film Kazaam. Summoned from a magical boombox, Kazaam could grant his master three wishes.
Max is searching for his real father, and while he enlists Kazaam's help, he makes typical adolescent-fueled wishes like having junk food rain from the sky. There are some wishes Kazaam can't grant (like making two people fall in love) because he doesn't have full djinn powers, but by the end of the film both he and Max get what they want most.
4 BETTER THAN: JAMBI (PEEWEE'S PLAYHOUSE)
Pee-wee's Playhouse featured iconic host Pee-wee Herman in his fantastical house full of random inventions and colorful friends. One of his most unusual guests was Jambi, a blue genie who lived in a special jeweled box, appearing once during every episode to grant Peewee anything he wished for.
Like many trickster djinns, every wish had unexpected results after the audience chanted, "Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho!". Unlike Jeannie, Jambi couldn't come out of his box, and appeared as a disembodied head.
3 WORSE THAN: "THE MAN IN THE BOTTLE" (THE TWILIGHT ZONE)
"The Man In The Bottle" was the 38th episode of The Twilight Zone, the popular series that featured eerie fables intended as cautionary tales to its viewers. This episode featured Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Castle, two dreary people wanting excitement and riches in their life, who discovered a genie in a poor woman's wine bottle.
The genie granted them four wishes, each more extravagant than the last, and each with its own repercussions and consequences. The genie was a malevolent phantom who, upon hearing Arthur Castle wanted to become a rich and powerful man who couldn't be voted out of political office, transformed him into Adolf Hitler.
2 BETTER THAN: FAKRASH (THE BRASS BOTTLE)
A year before Barbara Eden starred in I Dream of Jeannie, she was in the 1964 film The Brass Bottle, about an architect who purchases an antique container and inadvertently releases Fakrash, the djinn inside (played by Burl Ives).
Fakrash is enormously grateful for his newfound master, and while he hopes to grant him every possible wish, he also has difficulties navigating modern life. Fakrash's naivety isn't as funny or as coquettish as Jeannie's, and he comes across as a bumbling fool and more than a little ethnically insensitive.
1 WORSE THAN: JINN (AMERICAN GODS)
Genies have never been as cool as the Jinn, a member of the mythical tribe of ifrit who, fearing for his own safety, fled to the United States to protect himself from those that would use his powers. Neil Gaiman's American Gods transformed the classic djinn figure into a compelling character who often assumed the inconspicuous form of a taxi driver.
Jinn was a supporting character in Season 1 and a main character in Season 2, performing errands for Mr. Wednesday in his war against the New Gods, and forming an unlikely relationship with Salim. He's brash and rough-around-the-edges, and relies on his visceral skills as much as his magic.
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