Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Aladdin"

At one point in the 1990s, someone at Disney got an idea - people really loved that Aladdin movie, right? Surely, then, they would want to see more of the characters, right? So what if they made a TV show taking place after the movie? The result was a show rather creatively named Aladdin, focusing on the adventures of our favorite street rat and his friends. The first few episodes of the show focused on Jafar returning and Iago doing a Heel-Face Turn, but they decided to make a direct-to-video movie out of that (which is how Disney's "direct-to-video sequels to all of our animated movies" trend got started). Most of the film's cast returned for the show, with the exceptions of Robin Williams and Douglas Seale, who were replaced by Dan Castellaneta and Val Bettin as the voices of the Genie and the Sultan.

The show was produced by Alan Zaslove and Tad Stones, whose names any fan of the Disney Afternoon should recognize (Tad created Darkwing Duck). It premiered in 1994 and ran for three seasons, making for a total of eighty-six episodes. Said episodes had some real out-of-the-box plotlines...

- Jasmine gets turned into a rat, and Iago is turned into a frill-necked lizard.

- Genie and Iago get girlfriends.

- A mermaid tries to steal Aladdin from Jasmine (yes, there is an Ariel joke).

- The gang encounters an abominable snowman.

- Aladdin's head comes off.

- That mermaid comes back and turns Aladdin into a shark.

And there's the episode that we'll be looking at today, where the gang must stop a giant pink rhinoceros from destroying a city. Follow me to a place where incredible feats are routine every hour or so, folks, because we're looking at the episode "Never Say Nefir"...

Aladdin (Scott Weigner once again), Abu (Frank Welker), Iago (Gilbert Gottfried), Carpet, and the Genie are on their way to the city of Getzistan, which from the way Iago describes it is basically the Aladdin world's equivalent of Vegas (don't tell the Nostalgia Critic). He's especially excited about going to a place called "Club Nest Egg", where he plans to do a little gambling... and cheating, too, of course.

Has the Genie always been that fat?

They arrive at Getzistan, only to discover that it's been destroyed. They're greeted by the city's ruler, Sultan Pasta Al-Dente (voiced by Stuart "Earl Sinclair" Pankin, according to IMDB)… ha ha ha ha ha… who's oddly cheery for someone who just had their city destroyed. He also looks waaaaaaaaaaaay too much like the Sultan of Agrabah. It's not the exact same design, but jeez, guys, have a little variety with your character designs...

Is there some sort of law in this world that sultans have to be fat, diminutive, and jolly?

The Genie spots some little creatures running around that he recognizes as imps. He warns Aladdin that imps are nasty little things, able to strip the flesh off a cow in fifteen seconds (or is that piranhas?). But Sultan Pasta Al-Dente... whose name is really making me hungry... reassures them that these imps are actually just "the best contractors money can buy".

Then the head imp, Nefir (Rene Auberjonois), shows up and chews out the other imps for just standing around instead of, y'know, working. Spoiler alert: he's the episode's villain. The series has a wide variety of foes for Aladdin and his friends, from the aforementioned mermaid to a cat goddess to the fan-favorite Mozenrath. It's hard to top Jafar, and I think the showrunners knew that it was pointless to try, but they certainly created some memorable fellas for the heroes to fight.

Maleficent's goons apparently went into the city repair business after Prince
Phillip threw a sword at her.

Nefir is apparently racist towards genies, for whatever reason. Aladdin tells the Genie not to let that bother him, because, after all, he's got semi-phenomenal, nearly-cosmic powers (when he was freed, his phenomenal cosmic powers got a bit of a downgrade. Just a bit).

Then the imps demonstrate their contracting skills by rebuilding the entire city of Arabian Vegas in just five seconds. The Genie, upon seeing this, is starting to feel inadequate. "Imps!" he snaps. "Why did it have to be IMPS?!"

Indiana Jones references... why did it have to be Indiana Jones references?

Imps really shouldn't go shirtless...

The one disadvantage to having to rebuild the entire city? According to Sultan Italian Food For a Name, it gets very expensive having to pay the imps to do it EVERY SINGLE DAY. You see, every night the city is wrecked by a character known as Samir the Destroyer. "It's a curse, or something! Like WARTS! Or a brother-in-law who moves in with you!" Sultan Pasta bemoans.

"Confound that Samir the Destroyer! He drives me to DRINK!"
(At least, that's what I'm assuming judging from the guy's facial expression here)

Aladdin suggests that they just get rid of this Samir the Destroyer guy, which does not make Nefir happy - if Samir goes, all of the money that Nefir makes goes too. Gee, I wonder if Nefir might have anything to do with Samir the Destroyer's wrecking the city every night...

Then the Genie does some shapeshifting, allowing Dan Castellaneta to show off his range by doing sort of a cross between Danny DeVito and... Popeye, I'm guessing?

Striped pants - the newest fashion trend in Agrabah.

That night, our heroes are waiting outside the city for Samir the Destroyer to show up. Iago is all "To heck with this, I'm going to Club Nest Egg!" and flies off. The Genie reassures Aladdin that he's met Samir the Destroyer before and he's actually quite little. He is about to eat his words - everyone hears "Dance of the Hours" playing, and then we finally get to see Samir the Destroyer in all of his large pink pachydermic glory.

Why aren't there more rhinos in animation? I love rhinos.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh, SAMIR the Destroyer! I was thinking of Ned. NED the Destroyer. They're both very similar. Except, Ned isn't quite so LARGE!" the Genie admits.

Samir begins prancing around, destroying the city through ballet dancing. Oh, so THAT'S why he's wrecking Arabian Vegas - he's miffed that he wasn't picked for the auditions for Fantasia! Doesn't explain why he's taking it out on the people of Getzistan, but I guess a rhino's gotta blow off some steam SOMEHOW...

I've always felt that what Aladdin needed was a giant Pepto Bismol-colored
rhinoceros doing interpretive dance...

"He's dancing, AND he's destroying. The biggest floor show on Earth and I STILL can't get the tourists to visit!" Sultan Pasta Pun laments. Fortunately, Genie has a plan to defeat Samir - turn into a big game hunter and tranquilize the beast.

I feel like he's supposed to be a parody of a specific nature show host here, but I
can't put my finger on who...

Alas, Samir is a rhino - a pachyderm. And "pachyderm" means "thick-skinned". As such, his thick skin provides a natural defense against the tranquillizer dart, which rebounds off him and gets Aladdin.

"I've heard of seeing pink elephants, but this is ridiculous!"

Next, Genie tries to stop Samir by shapeshifting into an Irish-accented police officer... and winds up getting squashed flat. Fortunately, Genie has another character up his sleeve...

Come to think of it, with all of these personas he's got, Genie would make a great Saturday Night Live cast member.

Get along, not-so-little rhino.

Cowboy Genie manages to lasso the rhino's legs before he can destroy Iago's beloved Club Nest Egg. But that doesn't stop Samir, and he sends Genie flying into a large egg on top of the club. Once all of Getzistan is in ruins, Samir hops off.

The next day, Genie builds a jet plane to destroy the Horned Hungry Hungry Hippo.

Wouldn't a giant rhinoceros like Samir just be able to swat the plane away like a
gnat? Maybe there's more to this plan that I'm not picking up, I don't know...

Nefir has his imps blow up the plane before Genie can use it, then tells Aladdin that HE'LL help him out with his prancing pink pachyderm situation. "We'll build you a nice, reliable catapult that will fling Samir the Destroyer clear into next week!" he claims. Aladdin is up for that, and Genie is bummed that he couldn't find a way to defeat Samir himself. "I'm nothing but a second-class genie," he laments. "No. I'm worse! I'm COACH! Make that ECONOMY. I'm a no-frills genie! Not even free peanuts!" Why, he can't even beat Carpet in a rousing game of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robo-Genies.

As if Genie weren't feeling crummy enough, Nefir shows up and gives him an incredibly condescending pep talk. "Look, not EVERYONE can ALMOST defeat a giant dancing rhinoceros. That's impressive," he claims. "It's all a matter of timing. If I were a genie, I'd go capture the monster while he sleeps." Then he just so happens to point out that Samir sleeps all day in a cave in the next valley. Totally defenseless. Hintidy-hint-hint-hint.

Don't trust him, Genie! He's playing you like a fiddle!

After a brief Rambo reference, the Genie sneaks into Samir's cave to capture him and prove to Aladdin that he's not a "no-frills genie" after all. How does he plan on doing it? Why, with a giant hammer of course!

Bugs Bunny would be proud.

But then Samir wakes up... and as it turns out he's actually quite friendly. I believe he's voiced by Frank Welker seeing as he sounds like a more upbeat Dr. Claw, but I don't have any confirmation on that. He explains that his dancing and destroying things is caused by those darn shoes that he woke up one day and found on his feet. "I can't get 'em off," he says. "Every night I hear this fun-kay music. And, well, you know, I... gotta dance! It's the darndest thing, really."

Did you know that a rhino's horn is made out of the same stuff as our fingernails?

I figure that if I can't be funny, I should at least be educational.

"But who would want to destroy Getzistan every night?" Genie asks. Answer: Nefir and his imps, who are also a fun-kay band. The moral of today's story is, never trust imps. NEVER!

"If you say 'two heads are better than one' ONE MORE TIME, I swear to Allah
that I am going to punch your ugly mug in!"

The imps put Genie in a stockade crafted from fine Tibetan oak, imported from the east and stewed for days in enchanted whale jelly - a sure-fire genie trap. Good thing they just so happened to have one of those. Y'know, just in case they should ever encounter a genie who could foil their evil plans. And then they give him a BILL. Who gives their prisoner a BILL?

Hello, new potential meme...

Genie notices that one of the things written on that bill is "magic shoes". Magic shoes just like the ones that the imps put on Samir. And now they're on the Genie's feet, too. Uh-oh...

Cut to Aladdin, Abu, Carpet, and Iago out in the desert, waiting for those imps. They don't find any catapult, but they DO find a mailbox with a message for them inside.

"Dear Aladdin, I have your genie. Pay us a fee of $4000 or whatever it is that we use
for money or else we will force him to watch the live action remake of your movie multiple,
multiple times. Signed, Nefir. P.S. - No, I do NOT look like Iago in a toga."

The message is from Nefir, basically telling them that they've been PUNKED. Then Genie and Samir show up, dancing up a storm. "Forty tons of Fred and Ginger is NOT what we need," Iago complains. Genie explains that Nefir and the imps put magic shoes on Samir that force him to dance, and now HE'S got them too.

I like how into it Samir is here.

Aladdin figures out that Nefir is running a royal scam...

STEP 1 - Put shoes on giant pink rhinoceros that force him to dance.

STEP 2 - Play music, causing him to destroy Getzistan.

STEP 3 - Offer to rebuild Getzistan very quickly afterwards.

STEP 4 - Repeat the first three steps night after night.

STEP 5 - Profit (and for once I'm SURE of that).

That night, Nefir cackles to himself about how with both a giant rhinoceros AND a giant genie being forced to dance, the city will be destroyed in mere seconds, and thus he can destroy the city twice in one day and make even MORE money. Fortunately, Aladdin has a plan to stop Nefir - he plays a flute, luring Genie and Samir away from the city. Thus, it becomes a battle of the bands, with the imps and Aladdin's gang trying to see who can play louder music to lure Genie, Samir, and their dancing shoes either towards or away from the city.

Iago's really rocking that powdered wig.

Eventually, Genie figures out that the faster he dances, the shoes start to sizzle - faster dancing is too much for the shoes.

Which means that it's time for some awesome rock-and-roll music!

At one point, Iago shouts, "IT'S HAMMER TIME!" Yes, an M.C. Hammer reference. Don't ask me how Iago knows M.C. Hammer. And don't ask me what M.C. Hammer has to do with this situation either. He's a rapper, not a rock-and-roll musician. Genie and Samir's shoes explode, Sultan Pasta Al-Dente thanks Aladdin for saving the day, and Nefir gets a taste of his own medicine. Karma's a jerk, ain't it, Nefir?

Justice for the pink rhinoceros!

Alas, Samir does not become a recurring character after this. What this show really needed was to have one of Aladdin's allies be a giant pink rhinoceros who performs ballet.

What's the Verdict?

Well, it's basically what you'd expect from a show based on Aladdin. We get some mythology worked in, some fast-paced jokes, Dan Castellaneta and Gilbert Gottfried hamming it up... and, come on, how can you go wrong with a big pink rhinoceros who sounds like Dr. Claw? If I do have one complaint, the animation is an obvious downgrade from the movie. I guess that's to be expected, since a TV show's not gonna have the budget as a movie. I've seen far worse animation, though. If you're a fan of the movie, I'd recommend checking it out...

…if you can find it, that is. It's not on Disney Plus. I think you can find a few episodes on YouTube.

We've got more Disney cartoons based on their animated movies to watch, of course. But I think my next review will be of another Hanna-Barbera show (I won't give away which one). Hercules: The Animated Series, the Tarzan show, and The Emperor's New School will have to wait.