In light of my recent score in finally finding a Ninjini Skylanders figure yesterday afternoon for my kids, I learned the character is half ninja and half genie. That made me consider a Thursday thirteen around the ninja / genie theme however we all know that ninja’s are deadly and silent so that meant it had to be about Genies.
So an appropriate Thursday 13 for this week is all about 13 “famous” Genies.
So sight tight, have a read through the list while I scour the Internet to see if the purple Series 2 Ninjini I bought has any value and I should sell it, or let them play with the darn thing.
13 “Famous” Genies
13. In the 1967 Hanna-Barbera cartoon Shazzan the title character is a genie serving two modern American teenagers in the ancient Middle-East. He appears whenever the two halves of a magic ring are put together.
12. In the 1992 Disney film Aladdin, the title hero becomes the master of a genie after rubbing the side of a magical lamp. The Genie offers Aladdin three wishes on anything he wished, the only limitations being that Genie could not kill anyone, make anyone fall in love, bring people back from the dead (Although his words implied that he could bring people back from the dead but the result just wouldn’t be pretty), although he also stated that he would not grant wishes for more wishes.
He is also required to obey the specific wishes of whoever holds the lamp, thus forcing him to work for Aladdin’s enemy Jafar when Jafar stole the lamp, although he was also able to assist Aladdin without Aladdin explicitly making a wish even if he appeared to disapprove of the concept.
11. The sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, which began in 1965 and ran for five seasons, featured Barbara Eden as a 2,000-year-old blonde Persian genie completely infatuated with the American astronaut who had found her bottle and set her free in modern America.
10. On ABC‘s hit television show Once Upon a Time there is a genie featured in the episode Fruit of the Poisonous Tree. He is known as the Genie of Agrabah, a reference to the Disney film Aladdin. He falls in love with Queen Regina and eventually becomes the Magic Mirror. The Genie’s magic lamp is seen in Mr Gold‘s shop in multiple episodes.
9. Christina Aguilera‘s song “Genie in a Bottle” is the first hit single and the signature song from her debut album, Christina Aguilera.
8. In the video game Sonic and the Secret Rings, there are two genies: a Genie of the Ring, who assists Sonic through the game, and Erazor Djinn, the game’s main villain, who is a Genie of the Lamp.
7. The Pokémon Jirachi is said to grant any wish that is written on a tag and attached to the three star points on its head.
6. In the Dungeons & Dragons series of roleplaying games, genies are powerful elemental spirits from the Inner Planes, each of the four classical elements having its own subspecies of genie: Djinn for air, Dao for earth, Efreet for fire, Marids for water, and a fifth type known as the Jann, who draw their existence from all four elements. A six type, the Qorrash, linked to the pseudo-element of cold, has been introduced.
5. In C.S. Lewis’ 1949 novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Mr. Beaver tells the Pevensie children that the White Witch is half jinn and half giant.
4. If you have ever taken a psychology class or read about feral children (or Googled “Genie”), then you’ve probably heard mention of the child known as Genie. For most of her first 13 years, she lived a life of utter deprivation. Much of her childhood was spent tied to a potty chair in an empty room. She was rarely spoken to, and her father often beat her when she would make noise.
By the time she was discovered at age 13, she was malnourished and unable to use language. Her story made headlines and also captured the attention of psychologists and linguists who wanted to find out if a child who had missed the critical period for language development would ever learn to speak and communicate normally.
A rehabilitation and research team set out to answer that question, but professional rivalries and debates over the girl’s treatment posed major problems. Her tragic case serves not only as an example of the effects of social deprivation, but inspires debate about whether the research on Genie interfered with her treatment. You can learn more about her story and what happened to the young girl known as Genie here.
3. The Simpsons. Homer Simpson attempts to avert this “Treehouse of Horror II”; after the family’s first wishes on a Monkey’s Paw have unforeseen consequences (thus playing the trope straight), Homer decides to “make a wish that can’t backfire. I wish for a turkey sandwich, on rye bread, with lettuce and mustard, and, and I don’t want any zombie turkeys, I don’t want to turn into a turkey myself, and I don’t want any other weird surprises.” Surprisingly, this mostly works, except that the turkey’s a little dry.
Homer: Hmm. Not bad. Nice, hot mustard. Good bread. Turkey’s a little dry. The turkey’s a little dry! Oh foul and cursed thing!!! What demon from the depths of Hell created thee?!
2. Subverted in a
Saturday Night Live sketch in which a fisherman catches a fish that grants wishes. Unsatisfied with the first several wishes that backfire, he hires a lawyer to make sure he gets exactly what he wants by drawing up a wish contract for the fish.
1. An old animated ad for Burger King featured a BK wizard (replete with pointy hat and magic wand) who granted the kids’ requests:
Kid 1: Make me a hamburger! Kid 2: And me a shake! Wizard: Okay, (waves wand at Kid 1) You’re a hamburger, and (waves wand at Kid 2) You’re a shake! The Burger King: No no no, they meant give them, not make them!
So which is your favourite Genie?
And here is our new (non-wish granting) Genie.
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The Urban Daddy® 