Did You Know? - Fun Facts About "Aladdin"

Welcome to another edition of a series that I like to call Did You Know?. Inspired a little by the Nostalgia Critic's "What You Never Knew" series, this series will allow me to share with you some interesting tidbits, behind-the-scenes information, and fun facts about an animated movie or TV series. Because I like sharing new information with people.

It's been too long since I've done one of these posts. Since I've already done editions talking about The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, I think it's time I did one about the FOURTH film in Disney's animation renaissance (I'm guessing there aren't a lot of fun facts about The Rescuers Down Under online, so don't expect a Did You Know? about THAT film) - Aladdin.

Aladdin was the highest-grossing animated film of 1992, and for good reason. It's fun, it's energetic, it's colorful, it's one of those animated films that you can't help but love. And a lot of that is owed to the talented cast and crew that brought it to life. John Musker, Ron Clements, Howard Ashman, Scott Weigner, Alan Menken, and Robin Williams, just to name a few, all contributed to the movie's greatness. Like the Genie of the lamp, it's often-imitated, but never duplicated...

My apologies to Will Smith, but he's no Robin Williams.

...and is still one of the most beloved Disney animated films to this day. And it has a lot of history behind it, too.

You probably already know about the falling-out between Disney and Robin Williams. You probably also know that Pinocchio, Sebastian the Crab, and the Beast all make cameos. You likely don't need to be told about deleted songs like "Proud of Your Boy" and "High Adventure". And if you read my previous post about an early draft of the film's script, you probably know all about scrapped characters like Abbi, Aladdin's mother, and his three idiot friends. But did you know any of THESE things?

1) Technically, this wasn't Disney's first adaptation of the Aladdin story. That honor goes to their 1970-released LP, Disneyland Records' Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp.

It's not even Disney's SECOND adaptation of the Aladdin story. That would be a 1971 LP from Disneyland Records called The Story of Aladdin and His Lamp. Why they released two LPs adapting the same story so close together, I don't know.

2) While Robin Williams was always the filmmakers' choice for the Genie, they did have some backup options in case he turned it down, or if they couldn't convince Jeffrey Katzenberg it was a good idea - Steve Martin, John Goodman, Martin Short, Eddie Murphy, Albert Brooks, Matt Frewer, and John Candy were all considered. What convinced Robin to accept the role was a bit of pencil animation Eric Goldberg did of the Genie set to a routine from one of Robin's comedy albums.

In addition, Danny DeVito and Joe Pesci were considered for the role of Iago. Patrick Stewart was offered the role of Jafar, but he turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with Star Trek: The Next Generation. Tim Curry, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Ian McKellen, and John Hurt were also considered to voice Jafar.

3) Y'know all those animals and servants that appear during the "Prince Ali" sequence? Where the heck did they all come from? Well, according to a deleted scene, the Genie created them by transforming bugs, rodents, stuff like that.

Concept art of a devious-looking Aladdin and Jasmine.

4) Initially, Aladdin was modeled after Michael J. Fox. Jeffrey Katzenberg urged the filmmakers to make him look like Tom Cruise. "In all his poses, I noticed there was a confidence, a look in the eyebrows, that gives him intensity and at the same time a smile that has kind of an impish look, like he’s got something up his sleeve," said Glen Keane, Aladdin's supervising animator. He also found inspiration for Aladdin while observing and sketching volleyball players at the beach. Meanwhile, Will Finn, the supervising animator for Iago, designed Iago by drawing a caricature of Gilbert Gottfried and adding feathers (Iago shares Gilbert's squinty eyes and toothy grin). For Jasmine, her supervising animator Mark Henn had two inspirations - his sister Beth and actress Jennifer Connelly. And Aaron Blaise, the supervising animator for Rajah, had difficulty with "the fluidity in the design" until he looked at a Jaguar hood ornament.

5) The film's art style as a whole was inspired by Al Hirschfeld. According to Eric Goldberg, "I look on Hirschfeld’s work as a pinnacle of boiling a subject down to its essence, so that you get a clear, defined statement of a personality. There’s also an organic quality in the way one line will flow into another: It may go along the back of a neck, down the spine, across the behind and the down the leg--all in one single line that is very, very elegant. I wanted the Genie to have that kind of elegance."

Al Hirschfield himself said, "I’m very flattered that the animators say they were influenced by my use of line, but art isn’t a 50-yard dash - it’s more like a relay: You keep handing it on to somebody else, and there’s no beginning or end to it. I didn’t invent the line: That simplification that communicates to a viewer goes back to the cave drawings at Altamira."

Concept art for the Genie - the one on the left is the same design Eric used
in the aforementioned pencil test.

6) It's hard to imagine anyone BUT Eric Goldberg - one of my favorite animators - animating the Genie, but before him, the job was offered to independent animator Bill Plympton. "You know, the Robin Williams Genie that does all this crazy stuff. Because I was so good at transforming the head, like in Your Face. They wanted me to do some of that with the Genie," he explained. "But, I had the studio in New York. I had people that I'd have to fire and I'd have to shut down the whole operation." And he was already working on a film called The Tune at the time as well, so he turned Disney down.

"And I say if you want to work for Disney, go ahead," he added. "It's a great opportunity. I'm always the first in line to see a Disney or PIXAR film, because they're really wonderful. But every morning when I get up and I go to my drawing board and I start drawing and there's no one looking over my shoulder saying, 'We don't like that, change it, please,' I say I can draw whatever I want, and to me that's worth more than a million bucks."

Concept art of the film's main characters, including Aladdin's mother, who wound
up getting cut.

7) Here's another interesting anectdote about Katzenberg - remember that scene where Abu, after being turned into an elephant, climbs up a tree? In a test screening, Katzenberg complained the accompanying sound effect was "much too cartoony". He later complained that there weren't enough pounding noises during the scene where Elephant Abu climbs up the palace stairs.

8) Caricatures of the film's directors, John Musker and Ron Clements, can be seen in the crowd watching Prince Achmed. Originally, this scene was going to have an appearance from caricatures of film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, but the filmmakers thought they would need to get permission to do that.

More concept art for the Genie.

9) John and Ron aren't the only caricatures in the film. There are actually quite a few, all of them were designed by animator T. Daniel Hofstedt. A few appear during the "One Jump Ahead" song - the jewelry vendor is clean-up artist Marshall Toomey, the fire walker is a CalArts teacher named T. Hee, and Crazy Hakim the fertilizer dealer is animator Tom Sito. Going back to the crowd watching Prince Achmed, there are also caricatures of Eric Goldberg, Glen Keane, and T. Daniel himself with his three-year-old son Daniel.

Another caricature appears at the beginning of the "Friend Like Me" song. One of the Forty Thieves that the Genie summons is a caricature of effects animator Dorse Lampher (he's the tall, pear-shaped one with bare feet and a small sword).

10) Are you familiar with Disney's 1959 live action film Darby O'Gill and the Little People? Well, that film actually had a bit of influence on Aladdin.

Let's be honest, most of Disney's 1950s live action films
would be at least slightly more well-known if they were animated.

You see, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were in a meeting with Ron and John. Ron and John asked if the Genie should be able to grant an unlimited amount of wishes like in the original story, or if it should just be three. According to Terry, "Going down the path of unlimited wishes (which they had done) created what we deemed an 'addiction story' paradigm. Aladdin wishes for more and more stuff, which starts out fine, but eventually gets out of control, and he can't stop - essentially an addiction tale. But limiting the wishes to only three would make each wish crucial, have story purpose, and enhance the opportunity for drama."

What does this have to do with Darby O'Gill and the Little People? Easy - that film was exactly what Terry was thinking of when he was explaining this to Ron and John. I haven't actually seen the film, but Terry filled us in on what happens in it. Darby O'Gill captures the King of the Leprechauns, Brian Connors. And that means Brian has to grant him three wishes. He says, "Three wishes I grant you, great wishes and small, but if you wish for a fourth, you lose them all!" So eventually, Darby's daughter is injured and going to die, and Darby wishes that he could take her place and die instead. And as he's being carried away to the land of the dead in a spectral coach, Brain appears and tricks Darby into making a fourth wish - wishing that he could see the aforementioned daughter get married. And remember that "if you wish for a fourth, you lose them all" thing Brian said earlier? Well, by making that wish, Darby forfeits the other three, and he doesn't have to die.

Terry pitched that they could create a similar crisis for Aladdin if they limited the number of wishes. And wouldn't you know it, Ron loves Darby O'Gill and the Little People, so...

Concept art of Aladdin and Abu. Somebody make Abu stop staring at me.

11) Here's another thing that Terry informed us - why can Iago talk? According to him, the idea was that Jafar took all of his emotions and transferred them into his parrot, leaving him free of distractions and thus more able to conjure magic... but Iago is too small for so many emotions to be bottled up inside, so Jafar wound up with a loud, hot-tempered Angry Bird.

12) As you might recall, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's original treatment for the film took place in Baghdad. The reason why the final movie doesn't take place in Baghdad? The first Gulf War. Roy Disney told the crew that they couldn't have the film in Baghdad, so John Musker did a "jumbled anagram" and came up with Agrabah.

Concept art for Jafar.

13) So, back to that "three wishes makes for better drama" thing... the story requires Aladdin to use his second wish before the third act starts up so he'd have to decide whether to use his third wish to sort out his own problems or free the Genie like he promised. So somebody came up with the idea of having Aladdin use his second wish to get through some sort of obstacle course designed to test Jasmine's suitors so they could prove they were worthy of being her husband. Alas, the idea didn't work out, and they decided to just have Jafar somehow convince the palace guards to help him throw Aladdin off a cliff and as a result Aladdin has to use his second wish for the Genie to save his life.

14) An early version of the climax was to have Jafar wish not just that he was the sultan, but that he'd ALWAYS BEEN sultan and would always be the sultan, resulting in some sort of magic wave that changed everyone's memories. The magic carpet would wrap itself around Aladdin and Abu and protected them from the wave, so they'd be the only ones whose memories were unaltered. Aladdin would, as in the finished movie, put everything back to normal by tricking Jafar into the lamp. They decided it was "too science fiction-y".

15) Before Aladdin, Robin Williams starred in the Back to Neverland attraction at Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios), a theatrical show about animation. The Genie's outfit at the end, with the hawaiian shirt and the Goofy hat, is a reference to that attraction - Robin wore the same getup at the beginning.

Here's a screencap from Back to Neverland with Robin in his tourist getup.

16) The "Friend Like Me" sequence was the first scene to be animated. In fact, the animation had already been done before they decided to make Aladdin look more like Tom Cruise, so he looks a bit more Michael J. Fox-ish during the scene.

17) The filmmakers went through a couple different songs for Jafar to sing before deciding on his reprise of "Prince Ali". The first was called "Humiliate the Boy", and you can find an animatic for the song on YouTube where Jonathan Freeman voices both Jafar AND Iago (who was originally going to be British, apparently). Then they came up with a song called "My Time Has Come", in which Jafar lamented how much his life stunk and how he was going to make everyone miserable in revenge. Also written for Jafar were "Why Me?" and "My Finest Hour".

Concept art for Iago.

18) As you likely already know, Robin Williams also voiced the Peddler at the beginning of the film. For the scene where the Peddler offers us some of his wares (would YOU buy that combination hookah and coffee maker that also makes "Julienne fries"?), Robin was brought into the soundstage, positioned in front of a table where there were a bunch of random things covered by a sheet, and told to just ad-lib everything.

19) Gilbert Gottfried was allowed to improvise a lot, too. Remember Iago's line as he's packing his bags after Aladdin reveals to the Sultan that Jafar has been hypnotizing him? "I'll bring the guns, the weapons, the knives... and how about this picture? I don't know, I think I'm making a weird face in it." That was an ad-lib, and it got a laugh out of Robin when he heard it.

20) You know that kid from the marketplace who Jasmine gives an apple to? He's got a name. It's Tony:

Credit for this goes to havesomedisney.tumblr.com.

21) You probably recall that the Genie briefly dons a tux and acts like a game show host before turning Abu into a camel. For the movie's release in India, Disney swapped this out for the Genie becoming a "cricket commentator" (don't know if that means a cricket who does commentary or a commentator at a cricket GAME).

22) "A Whole New World" was originally called "The World at My Feet". Tim Rice suggested to Alan Menken that having the word "feet" in a Disney love song wasn't such a good idea.

23) Y'know how the Beast makes a cameo in the film as one of the animal figurines that the Sultan is stacking just before the "Prince Ali" song? Well, he's not the only cameo in there. Somebody on Reddit revealed that, if you look very closely, you can also see the back of Donald Duck's head (it's under the deer and to the left of the pink rhinoceros):

I've also heard claims that Simba from The Lion King is hidden among the animal figurines as well, but I don't see him.

24) While animating the Magic Carpet, Randy Cartwright kept folding a piece of cloth to see how to position it.

25) The movie actually has a color scheme inspired by its desert setting: blue (the color of water) represents good, red (the color of heat) represents evil, and yellow (the color of sand) represents neutral. Notice that Jafar is clad in red and blacks and is entirely red when he becomes a genie, whereas Jasmine wears blue and the Genie IS blue.

Concept art for Jasmine.

26) Aladdin was the first Disney film to be dubbed in Icelandic.

27) Yes, the Peddler at the beginning is indeed the Genie in disguise. The original plan was to have the Peddler show up again at the end and reveal himself to be the Genie, but they replaced it with the "Genie's face on the moon" ending. The Broadway musical removes the Peddler and simply has the Genie introduce the story as himself.

28) During "Friend Like Me", Genie writes Aladdin's order from right to left - which is how Arabic would actually be written. However, what Genie wrote is actually Persian, not Arabic. Specifically, he wrote "Turkey Pilaf" in Persian to match the Middle Eastern setting. However, the list that Genie pulls out of Aladdin's ear IS written in Arabic.

Here's a very strange piece of concept art for either the Genie or
Jafar. Whoever it's supposed to be, it looks more like Jim Carrey's Grinch.

29) It's often mentioned that Genie is the only character in the movie with four fingers. This is false. You can see some merchants during the "Prince Ali" song that ALSO have four fingers.

30) The Cave of Wonders scene was originally going to be even longer - there was a scene where Aladdin walked up to the lamp and was about to grab it, but then noticed his shadow on the wall... and many more shadows that once belonged to other fools who stumbled upon the cave and tried to grab the lamp (including the thief from the beginning of the film). He would've stepped away from it, and it would've turned out that the lamp was a fake. And because Aladdin didn't take it, he was allowed access to the real one.

31) During preview screenings, there was a distinct lack of applause after the musical numbers. So they gave the Genie an applause sign on his back after "Friend Like Me". It worked!

Concept art of Aladdin discovering the magic lamp.

32) To promote the film, a parade called Aladdin's Royal Caravan marched down the streets of Disneyland and Disney-MGM Studios in Walt Disney World. The first parade at a Disney park based on a single movie, it featured live actors, inflatable costumes, and puppets. Genie was all over the place, Aladdin and Jasmine rode on the back of elephant Abu, and Jafar was at the end - as a street sweeper. For more information about the parade, I recommend checking out Yesterland and Walt Dated World (they're great sites for Disney Parks afficianados like me!).

After its run, the golden camels featured in the parade were placed outside a restaurant in the park called the Soundstage Restaurant, which (at least in 1992) was themed to the movie as well and featured animation cells and concept art hanging up on the walls, marquettes, and I believe meet-and-greets with the characters while you ate. The restaurant eventually closed (it was where the Playhouse Disney live show was during the 2000s), and the camels now stand nearby the Magic Carpets of Aladdin attraction at the Magic Kingdom, continuing to spit on guests. There was also an Aladdin's Oasis dinner show at Disneyland from 1993 to 1994.

33) Jonathan Freeman went on to play Jafar in the Broadway adaptation of Aladdin. He also played Grimsby in the Broadway adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

34) According to Andreas Deja, Marc Davis didn't like that Robin Williams was allowed to ad-lib dialogue for the Genie. He felt that the ad-libbing would date the film (he did, however, tell Andreas that he enjoyed Jafar). On the flip side, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson had "a few quibbles with the story" but were otherwise okay with the film. Chuck Jones loved it, calling it "the funniest animated film of all time".

SOURCES:
- http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp53.The.Rules.html
- https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/celebrating-the-25th-anniversary-of-disneys-aladdin/
- https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2552347/that-time-aladdin-songwriter-alan-menken-had-to-cut-feet-lyrics-out-of-a-whole-new-world
- https://www.thewrap.com/aladdin-25th-anniversary-facts-robin-williams-disney-photos/
- https://www.orartswatch.org/bill-plymptons-animated-imagination/

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.

Back to the Drawing Board: The 1988 Version of "Aladdin"

Welcome to another edition of Back to the Drawing Board, where we do a little dumpster-diving to see what got cut from things that are animated.

So... let's talk about Disney's Aladdin.

Since its release in 1992, Aladdin has been one of Disney's most beloved animated movies. It's got catchy songs, great animation, Robin Williams as a fast-talking genie... what's not to love about it?

One thing that I really wanted to do when I started this series was find really rough drafts of animated movies and review them for your enjoyment. Alas, finding rough drafts of animated movies is hard. Really, really hard. But I was able to find an early script for Aladdin written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken from back in the January of 1988. It's... pretty different from the film that we got. So let's talk about it!

First, we get a listing of all the script's characters. In order, they are...

- Aladdin - Come on, you really need me to describe Aladdin? Who doesn't know Aladdin? Well, anyway, he's described as being "a charmer" and "a ragamuffin with boundless but completely unfocused energy", at least at first. Then he becomes all about making his mother proud. Also, for those of you wondering how old Aladdin is, in this draft he's fifteen.

- Babkak, Omar, and Kasim - Aladdin's buddies, a trio of funny, charming teens. With Aladdin, they are a musical quartet.

- Abbi - A tomboy who's friends with Aladdin and has a crush on him, but alas, Aladdin doesn't notice. She's described as being "the Judy Garland to his Mickey Rooney".

- Maman - Aladdin's mother, a sweet and wise old lady. The script says "If Geppetto had been a Mideastern matriarch, he might have been something like this."

- The Wazir - An early version of Jafar. Like Jafar, he's the film's villain, and is also a hammy con-man, a trickster, and a master of disguise. The script compares him to Hans Conried.

- Sinbad - The Wazir's smart-mouthed parrot, an early version of Iago.

- Princess Jasmine - Pretty far from the Jasmine that we got. This version is "a purely comic creation" and your typical spoiled brat who thinks that the entire world revolves around her simply because she's rich and good-looking and also a princess.

- The Sultan - Jasmine's father and the kingdom's ruler, described as being "completely ineffectual and inept". So, not too different from the Sultan in the final film.

- Narrator - An early version of the Peddler at the beginning who was also voiced by Robin Williams. A magical rug-seller in the local bazaar, he basically is to the script what Sam the Snowman is to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Described as a two-feet tall "elfin creature" wearing a turban much larger than he is, with big ears and eyes. He's got a secret identity, but I won't give it away just yet...

- Big Genie - As opposed to the Small Genie, I guess. He's the ever-impressive, long-contained, often imitated, but never duplicated Genie of the Lamp. A snappy dresser with a bit of influence from Cab Calloway.

The character list also mentions that, at the moment, there aren't any "furry creatures" a la the forest animals in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, it also says that they COULD add a race of harmony-singing birds who live above the bazaar, or a bunch of friendly cave-dwelling creatures such as moles who Aladdin could meet in the Cave of Wonders. I always felt that what Aladdin needed were more singing birds.

But enough about the characters, let's get to the actual script. To keep this post from being visually boring, I'll pepper it with some concept art for the film in appropriate places. And whenever there's a song, I'll post a link to a demo on YouTube, assuming I can find it.

We open in a "zany and fanciful Baghdad of the imagination", a place described as "a place familiar from lots of old movies and not just Arabian Nights movies either" and "timeless but with a whiff of exotic 1930's in décor, music and mood". It's here that we meet the Narrator, who welcomes us to Baghdad (as opposed to Agrabah), offers to sell us a rug, but then realizes that we're actually here for a STORY, not a rug, and says, "Very well... a story it is, then. But I warn you I tell no ordinary tales. For this is no ordinary place."

Concept art for the Peddler.

With that, he begins to sing "Arabian Nights" - or, as it's called here, "Another Arabian Night". This is one thing different from the finished film, we get some dialogue from the Narrator before he begins to sing, whereas the film starts with the Peddler singing. Some lyrics are different as well: obviously there's still the line about how they cut off your ear if they don't like your face (pretty clear why THAT line was eventually changed), but in addition, we have "Come on down, come on in, let the magic begin, it's another Arabian Night" instead of "Come on down, stop on by, hop a carpet and fly, to another Arabian Night". There are also a good chunk of lyrics that didn't even make it to the film...

"Oh, I come from a land where intrigue is in style
And adventure is status quo
Where they hack off your lips if they don't like your smile (THAT line definitely would've been changed too)
It's the law, did I make it? No.
See the dervishes dance
In ridiculous pants
Then romance to your heart's delight..."

"Arabian Nights
Like Arabian Days
They tease and excite
Take off and take flight
They shock and amaze..."

"Arabian Nights
Like Arabian Noons
The thrills that one seeks
One finds with the sheiks
The geeks and the goons
In that magical place, in that mystical land
There's a genie inside every jar
He'll do all of your bidding, your wish his command
It's demeaning, but hey - there you are (possible foreshadowing?)
Unbelievable, yes, and an ethical mess
Nonetheless, no one's very contrite
You come here, and you've
Come to a land where any mountain can move
A land of high intrigue with tricky logistics
By prophets and mystics
And I've got statistics to prove..."

"Follow me to a place where incredible feats
Are routine every hour or so
Where enchantment runs rampant
Yes, wild in the streets
Open Sesame! Here we go!
Pack your shield, pack your sword
You won't ever get bored
Though get beaten or gored you might
Call it mad, call it crazed
But let Allah be praised
It's another... Arabian Night!"

Do some of these lyrics sound familiar? They should. Some were later used for the version of "Arabian Nights" that opened The Return of Jafar and the TV series. A good chunk of these lyrics were also used for the version of the song that opens the Broadway adaptation of the film (where it's performed by the Genie as opposed to the Peddler).

Anyhow, throughout all of this, we are treated to a "tongue-in-cheek, mood-setting tour of the city". Forty thieves gallop towards the screen on horseback. A character named Sabu and three of his friends fly out a door on a magic carpet. A genie pops out of a garbage can. A fakir doing some sort of trick with snakes and nails. Stuff like that.

Once the song is over, the Narrator begins his story. He introduces the film's villain, Mr. Proto Jafar himself, the Wazir, through another verse of "Arabian Nights". He's a part-time magician who dabbles in black magic and plots to overthrow the Sultan, whose name is apparently "Ha-Med". His latest attempt is to serve the Sultan poisoned wine, but his plan is foiled when the Sultan's cat accidentally laps it up instead. Figuring out what's going on, the Sultan orders his guards, who in this draft are called the "Royal Goons", to arrest the Wazir. We get a chase scene, and the Wazir eventually escapes.

Concept art for Jafar.

In his secret lair (located in the basement of an abandoned Incense Works), the Wazir complains to his pet parrot Sinbad that they'll never be able to take over the kingdom until they can come up with more powerful magic. What they need is a Genie - the most powerful Genie of all the Genies in the world. That would be the Genie of the Lamp as opposed to the Genie of the Ring or the Genie of the Jar or the Genie of the Bottle (and, presumably, the Genie of the Boombox). Where is the lamp that contains this Genie? Well, if you've seen the finished movie (and if not, where have you been?), you should know that it's located in the Cave of Wonders. According to a book that the Wazir, only one person is decreed by fate to retrieve the lamp from the cave. And according to ANOTHER book (the Book of Fate, it's called), it's none other than our main character - Aladdin.

Concept art for Iago... or, as he was originally called, Sinbad.

The next morning, in a "seriously impoverished neighborhood", we are introduced to Aladdin. He's described as a "fifteen year old ragamuffin". He's hanging with his pal Abbi, who as I've said before has a crush on Aladdin. At the moment, they're watching one of the Sultan's "Armed Goons" put up a "Help Wanted" poster. The Sultan needs a new wazir, and the old Wazir is wanted for treason. Abbi suggests that Aladdin apply for the job instead of trying to find the Wazir so he can collect the reward money, but Aladdin is one of those lazy, irresponsible folks who would rather hang out with his buddies and get drunk than work.

Concept art for Aladdin.

Aladdin's mother, Maman, calls him over and gives him a rug that she's just woven. She tells him to take it to the Bazaar and sell it so they can get the money to pay their rent (which is overdue, by the way). After Aladdin gets the money, he has to deliver it to their landlord, a man by the name of Big Yumahah. Aladdin heads off to the Bazaar, but before he can sell the rug, he's distracted by his three friends Babkak, Omar and Kasim. We get a little more detail to their individual characters here - Babkak's fat, Kasim's a tough guy, and Omar's a glasses-wearing nerd. They urge Aladdin to join them in performing for pennies. Aladdin initially declines, then proceeds to forget about the rug and join them. I'm sure THAT'S not going to backfire on him in any way!

 We get another song here - a Gene Kelly/Donald O'Conner-style number called "Babak, Omar, Aladdin, Kasim" in which the four play makeshift instruments and get the whole Bazaar singing and dancing. At the end of the song, the boys accidentally knock over a vat of olive oil and destroy Maman's rug. And since there aren't any rug-cleaners in this fantasy version of Baghdad, now Aladdin can't sell it and get the money to pay the rent. Dang it, Aladdin, you had ONE JOB!

Big Yumahah, who's not just Aladdin's landlord but also a café owner, shows up and starts chewing out the boys for making so much noise and disturbing his customers before asking Aladdin for the rent money. The coins that he, Babak, Omar, and Kasim earned from their song aren't enough to pay the rent, so Aladdin is ordered by Big Yumahah to tell his mother that they're evicted unless they pay the rent by noon the next day. Aladdin heads home, unaware that he's being watched by a cloaked figure with a parrot on his shoulder, dun-dun-dun...

When Maman learns from Aladdin what happened, she's upset but doesn't throw a fit because Aladdin already feels bad enough. Abbi comes over and offers Aladdin some of her money, but Aladdin refuses - it's HIS fault that he and his mother are in this mess, and he vows to fix things and become a more responsible person. He just has to figure out HOW. And how to make enough to pay the rent by noon the next day.

Concept art for Aladdin's mother.

After that, the Wazir knocks on the door and cons Aladdin into letting him in. He claims that he's Aladdin's long-lost uncle and offers to help him with his eviction problem. He tells Aladdin about the Cave of Wonders high up in the Forbidden Mountains and the treasures that it's filled with. Eager to help Maman and make the rent money, Aladdin agrees and the two head off to the cave as the Narrator sings another verse of "Arabian Nights".

They arrive in front of an enormous boulder. The Wazir tells Aladdin to say "Open Sesame", which Aladdin identifies as a cliché (hey, he's doing my job for me!) - but it works. Alas, this early version of the Cave of Wonders isn't a giant tiger head made of sand with the voice of Frank Welker. It's just an opening in the earth. Not nearly as cool. The Wazir tells Aladdin to head down there and grab a rusty old lamp, a brass ring, and a few gold pieces to pay the rent with. Aladdin heads inside and grabs as much treasure as he fill his pockets with. Apparently this version of the Cave of Wonders doesn't have the "touch nothing but the lamp" rule.

Concept art for the Cave of Wonders, after they decided making it
a giant tiger head would be a lot better than just making it a hole
in the ground.

Outside the cave, the Wazir acts all excited about getting his hands on that lamp as he rigs up a lever-type device made of branches and rocks at the mouth of the cave. Sinbad points out that it might be a bad thing for them having Aladdin know about the cave and the lamp, but the Wazir has a way around that - he'll get Aladdin to hand over the lamp, then use the branch-lever device thing to drop a boulder over the opening, trapping Aladdin inside. Meanwhile, Aladdin finds the lamp and the ring and tries to leave the cave, but then a rockslide occurs and he winds up clinging to a twig growing from one side of the cave. Like in the finished movie, he's all "HELP ME!" to which the Wazir is all "GIVE ME THE LAMP!" to which Aladdin is all "BUT I CAN'T HOLD ON!" to which the Wazir is all "THE LAMP! GIVE IT TO ME! NOW!" But unlike in the movie, Aladdin doesn't just give him the lamp after that, instead he's all "GIVE ME YOUR HAND AND THEN I'LL GIVE YOU THE LAMP!" and the Wazir loses his temper and in the process lets it slip that he's NOT Aladdin's uncle - Aladdin's father's name was Yusef, and the Wazir calls him "Yasini". So the moral of today's story is that if you're going to pretend to be somebody's long lost uncle, do a little research before you do it.

The cat's out of the bag now, and the Wazir continues demanding the lamp, to which Aladdin is all "NO!" and then he loses his grip. Into the cave he falls. Sinbad is all, "Well, so much for THAT." The Wazir tells him to shut up, then accidentally triggers the lever for the device he constructed earlier in a fit of rage, planting the boulder back over the cave entrance.

Inside the cave, Aladdin is still alive - he landed on a convenient pile of soft leaves. Of course, he winds up rubbing the lamp (he's hoping to light it so he can look for a way out, but it's really dirty, so he's trying to clean it first), and the Big Genie appears in a display of smoke and fireworks.

Concept art for the Genie. Those horns really aren't working for me.

Since they didn't have Robin Williams ad-libbing up a storm yet, the Genie simply introduces himself and explains how the "having a genie" thing works - "You wish; I deliver. You want it, I get it. No questions, no limits. You just hit the jackpot, son." Clearly, this early draft was written before they decided to just limit the Genie to three wishes (which makes for better drama) and give him a few provisos as to what wishes he can't grant (no wishing for no wishes [though it's kind of doubtful that Aladdin would wish for more wishes in this version since there isn't a limit as to how many wishes the Genie can grant], he can't kill anybody, he can't make somebody fall in love with somebody else, etc.). Of course, there IS a chance that Aladdin will do something for the Genie in return some day. You see, if a Genie ever saves their master's life, the master must set the Genie free. "But frankly, Master, that hardly ever happens, so I wouldn't waste any energy thinkin' about it," he adds.

Had to share this piece of concept art for the Genie that makes him
look like Mike Wazowski.

The Genie sings "Friend Like Me", which isn't too different than the one in the finished film (though instead of "Mister Aladdin, sir, have a wish or two or three, I'm on the job, you big nabob", we get "Mister Aladdin, sir, what will those orders be? I love my job, you big nabob"), and by the end of the song he's transported them back to Aladdin's house. Before we leave the cave, a footnote adds, there's at least one shot of the brass ring lying on the floor. Aladdin forgot about it in the excitement of meeting a Genie. This is brought up because it will be important later on.

More concept art for the Genie. Yes, apparently at one point
they were gonna have him be a giant demonic-looking
elephant. Not sure where THAT idea came from...

Now that Aladdin has the hang of this wishing stuff now, so he starts making wishes to turn his home into an incredible mansion. After that, Aladdin remembers that he and his mom are about to be, y'know, EVICTED and wishes for the rent money. The Genie grants that wish, but provides Aladdin with a word of warning - the lamp's great power attracts evil men (like the Wazir, for example), so the best way for Aladdin to avoid trouble for himself and those he loves is to keep the lamp a secret.

Maman arrives home and is obviously shocked by what happened to their house. "I promised I'd make up for everything," Aladdin says, "And this is just the start, Ma. You'll see. You will." He then proceeds to sing "Proud of Your Boy", probably the most well-known of the movie's cut songs, then we get a montage of Aladdin paying the rent, giving money to poor people just for the heck of it, and then remembers that the Sultan needs a new wazir and decides to use the Genie's magic to help him get that job.

At the palace, the Sultan (described as a "daffy, scatterbrained, Ed Wynn-ish old man") is interviewing various potential wazirs, most of them dull accountant-types. As if he didn't have THAT to worry about, the kingdom's also not in the best financial situation at the moment because the Wazir was pilfering the treasury. And on top of THAT, the Sultan's daughter is troubled by the lack of money too. As I've said before, this early version of Jasmine is a spoiled brat. She whines about how she can't have her room redone because the Royal Decorator quit, that she can't start choosing her new spring wardrobe because the Royal Dress Designer quit, and that EVERYONE is quitting because the Sultan can't pay them. And the Sultan can't just tell her to shut up and stop whining because "she's got him wrapped around her expensively painted little finger".

Here's an odd piece of concept art for the Sultan.
I could be wrong about this, but I'm preeeeeeetty sure
that nobody in Baghdad dresses like this...

Jasmine heads back to her room and overhears her maids gossiping about how much they hate her. She barges in and demands, "SOMEBODY TAWKING ABOUT SOMEBODY BEHIND HER ROYAL BACK?!" (No, I didn't misspell "talking". The script says "tawking", I swear) and then proceeds to sing a song about how she's a massive pain in the rear, "Call Me a Princess". Then the Armed Goons announce the arrival of a new wannabe wazir - Mr. Ali-Al-Din, otherwise known as Aladdin. He makes a grand entrance with elephants, giraffes, peacocks, gifts for the Sultan, etc. a la the "Prince Ali" song that we got, except it makes at least slightly more sense for a prince to have this type of entrance than a guy who just wants to be the Sultan's right-hand man. Everyone's impressed by him, and it looks like Aladdin's a shoo-in for the job.

Concept art for Jasmine.

Then Jasmine shows up, and Aladdin manages to wow her by wishing that she had a fantastic palace of her own. Realizing that he's met a man who could solve all of his kingdom's problems, the Sultan begs him to become his new Wazir. On the way out in a sedan chair carried by Genie-produced servants, Aladdin runs into his pals Babkak, Omar, Kasim, and Abbi. They're all amazed at how Aladdin has suddenly become a well-respected and important man in Baghdad, but alas, Aladdin is also starting to become incredibly insensitive, as people in animation who suddenly gain a lot of money and/or power are known to do. He gives Abbi some money and tells her to "go out and buy yourself a new outfit" because "You must be getting pretty bored with that old thing." An insulted Abbi leaves, then Aladdin starts teasing Babkak, Omar, and Kasim - and by "teasing", I mean he calls them chumps, tell them to get motivated and start using their potential like he did, and says that he has to leave but he'll maybe see them for lunch on Thursday. Wow, way to be a jerk, Al.

Babkak, Omar, and Kasim theorize that Aladdin has gotten mixed-up with criminals or maybe even oil merchants (I assume that's supposed to be a joke), but whatever it is, he's not his old self. They follow him in his sedan chair down the road, singing a song called "How Quick They Forget" about how he's suddenly treating them like garbage. But what Aladdin doesn't know is that Sinbad is nearby, and he spots Aladdin with the lamp. He tells the Wazir, and the Wazir starts making plans to swipe the lamp from right under Aladdin's nose.

Here's another piece of concept art for Jafar and Iago.

The next day, Abbi drops by Aladdin's house to give him back the money, concerned about where it came from. Also concerned, Maman tells Aladdin that "Nothing's worth anything unless you earn it yourself." This prompts Aladdin to leave the lamp at home before heading off to the palace, Abbi following him to find out what he's up to. Of course, the Wazir and Sinbad are just outside the pantry window, and now's their opportunity for Sinbad to fly in and swipe the lamp. But as he's lifting it off the shelf, he accidentally knocks over some jars, which prompts Maman to come in and chase the parrot out the window with a broom, causing him to drop the lamp. Now it's lying on the floor. Not knowing what it is or what it's doing in her house, she throws it on a trash heap.

At the palace, Aladdin is being treated as though he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Abbi watches from a window as he is proclaimed the Wazir of Baghdad. But back at Aladdin's house, the Wazir has disguised himself as a junk dealer and gets Maman's attention by mentioning that he's paying big bucks for egg-beaters, old pots and pans, and rusted LAMPS. You can see where this is going, right?

As soon as Maman comes outside with the lamp, the Wazir grabs it and summons the Genie. "To the palace!" he shouts. Speaking of which, at the palace the Sultan asks Aladdin just how, exactly, he had that palace built so quickly. Aladdin tries to bluff, but the Sultan commands him to give him a straight answer, and as the wazir he must obey royal commands or else be impeached. Aladdin says, "Okay... I've got this Genie..."

I know the Magic Carpet isn't in this
draft of the script, but I wanted to include
this concept art.

But before he can finish his sentence, a tornado-like wind sweeps through the palace, blowing away a wall that allows them to see Jasmine's palace - with her inside - being lifted up into the air by the Genie. Before flying off with it, the Genie sadly apologizes to Aladdin for what he's doing, calling him "Master", which makes the Sultan assume that Aladdin was behind it all. "He called you 'Master'! Is that YOUR genie?! Get my daughter back!" he demands. Aladdin tries to think of an explanation, but then Sinbad flies in with a note that the Sultan discovers is a hostage note from the Wazir - a hostage note claiming that Jasmine will not be returned until the Sultan abdicates the throne and declares the Wazir the new ruler of Baghdad. So now the Sultan is all "I see what's going on here even though I actually don't!" - he thinks that Aladdin is conspiring with the Wazir and announces that unless Jasmine is returned, Aladdin will be executed at dawn.

The guards grab Aladdin and drag him off to a dungeon, but fortunately Abbi runs off to the marketplace to find Babkak, Omar, and Kasim. We get a scene with Aladdin in the dungeon, and he and the guard at the entrance hear music like the kind that Babkak, Omar, and Kasim make. The guard goes to see where the music is coming from and promptly gets hit over the head by someone in a cloak. We get another reprise of "Arabian Nights", and then it's dawn - and Jasmine's not back yet, which means that Aladdin's getting the Queen of Hearts treatment. We get a scene of Aladdin in front of an executioner and everything.

But it turns out that the executioner is just Babkak and Kasim in disguise, standing on each other's shoulders. All heck breaks loose, and we get another chase sequence. Aladdin and his friends manage to evade the guards by hiding under a bridge, and since Abbi was the one who orchestrated all of this he realizes that she has the hots for him. But Aladdin's still a wanted man, and his friends are still wondering where the money and the magic came from in the first place. So he recaps the story, and then remembers that there's a ring still in the cave that likely has a Genie in it just like the lamp. They can wish for THAT Genie to fight the other Genie and get the Princess back. But first, they have to get to the cave.

They emerge from under the bridge, get spotted by the guards, more chasing, blah blah blah… and wouldn't you know it, the Genie put Jasmine's palace on one of the Forbidden Mountains. So at least now they know where Jasmine is. They all head into the cave, but the guards can't fit in the opening, so they build a fire to try and smoke the kids out of the cave. Aladdin finds the ring and who should appear in a puff of smoke when he rubs it but... the Narrator. The rug-seller guy who sings "Arabian Night". I had the feeling that the Peddler would turn out to be one of the Genies in disguise, but I was expecting the Genie of the Ring to just look like the Genie of the Lamp (though presumably a different color). But nope - the Narrator isn't a disguise for the Genie of the Ring, that's just how the Genie of the Ring looks. He even admits via narration that he wasn't exactly what Aladdin expected. I wonder if they would've had Robin Williams voice both Genies, like how he voiced both the Genie and the Peddler...

Another piece of concept art for the Narrator...
I mean, the Genie of the Ring.

Well, anyhow, the Narrator - now referred to as the Little Genie - confirms that he is indeed the Genie of the Ring ("All seven and a half pounds of him."). He's not as powerful as the Genie of the Lamp, but a Genie's a Genie. So now they have to battle the guards, then rescue the princess... but first, we need to have another song. You see, Babkak, Omar, and Kasim have cold feet, so Aladdin, Abbi, and the Narrator/Little Genie sing a song called "High Adventure" about how great adventure is. They could've just had Aladdin give a big speech about how they have to do it for truth and justice and honesty like Fozzie in The Great Muppet Caper, but nope. Gotta pad things out with a song. Ever hear of "Time is of the essence", guys?

So they all escape the cave on a magic carpet, fight off the guards and make it to the palace, where they discover that the Wazir is torturing Jasmine by - horror of horrors - making her do housework. The Wazir rubs the lamp and demands to see the Sultan, causing him to appear in a puff of smoke. Jasmine begs the Sultan to give him the kingdom so she doesn't have to hand-rinse the floor. But before the Sultan can sign over the kingdom, the Narrator/Little Genie conjures up an arctic wind that sweeps through the palace, freezing the water on the wet marble floors. This results in the Wazir slipping, and the lamp flies out of his hands and into Aladdin's. Aladdin rubs the lamp and commands the Big Genie to zap the Wazir, which makes the Sultan realize that Aladdin and the Wazir are not, in fact, in cahoots. The Big Genie prepares to fry the Wazir like a fish stick, but before he can Sinbad swoops down and grabs the lamp. Now HE'S in control of the Big Genie, and he orders the Big Genie to stop.

Here's another piece of concept art. I'm kind of glad
they didn't have the "Genie's stomach acts as a way
for Jafar to spy on Aladdin" thing in the actual movie.
It makes the Genie look like a Teletubby.

Sinbad gives the lamp back to the Wazir, who quickly wishes for a pack of thugs to get rid of Aladdin and his friends. Fortunately, the Narrator/Little Genie creates clones of Aladdin, Abbi, Omar, Babkak, and Kasim to help them fight the thugs. While this is going on, Jasmine attacks the Wazir and tries to get the lamp away from him, but they're dangerously close to the window and, as a result, the lamp goes flying out of the palace and into the canyon, miles below. Sinbad flies out after it. Now it's a free for all as we get rope-swinging, chandelier-hopping, balcony-leaping, swordplay and a lot of quick thinking. And they sing "High Adventure" again for some reason.

Okay, so they defeat the thugs, and the Wazir makes a run for it, but the good guys chase him through the palace. Just when they have him cornered, the Wazir reveals that he's holding Mamar captive. Holding a "gleaming saber" to her throat, the Wazir threatens to do horrible things to her. But then Sinbad flies in with the lamp, distracting the Wazir and giving Mamar the opportunity to grab Jasmine's broom and take a swipe at the parrot. The lamp goes flying out the window again, Aladdin diving out after it and managing to grab it without falling into the canyon due to the Narrator/Little Genie grabbing his foot.

So now Aladdin has the lamp again, and he commands the Big Genie to send the Wazir to Persia or something, which he promptly does. Not as satisfying a comeuppance as Aladdin tricking him into wishing to be a genie and getting sucked into a lamp, but eh. The Narrator/Little Genie whips up a padlocked birdcage for Sinbad, and then the Big Genie delivers them all back home to Baghdad. Once there, the Sultan offers Aladdin the hand of Jasmine in marriage, but Aladdin politely declines, since he's already got Abbi. Mamar tells Aladdin that she's proud of him. And since the Big Genie and the Little Genie have both saved Aladdin several times that day, Aladdin must free them - but right after he's granted one more wish...

Soon Baghdad has a café called Aladdin's Oasis. There's music playing courtesy of Aladdin, Abbi, Babkak, Omar, and Kasim, and everybody's having a swell time. The Big Genie is now the Sultan's Wazir. Jasmine seems to have the hots for Omar. Coincidentally, a restaurant called Aladdin's Oasis opened at Disneyland in 1993, complete with a dinner show. It closed in 1997, though. The Narrator/Little Genie ends the script with another reprise of "Arabian Nights".

Another piece of concept art for Jasmine.

So, that was the first draft of Aladdin. And while it wasn't bad, I'll admit that I definitely prefer the movie we got. I liked the Genie of the Ring/Narrator, but I have the feeling that two genies would've been a bit too much. I also feel they made the right choice not making Jasmine a spoiled brat. Apparently, this was changed because they feared audiences would find her unlikable. And I honestly think that they would've. I doubt Jasmine merchandise would have sold as well had she spent most of the movie acting like [INSERT SOME FEMALE CELEBRITY WITH A REPUTATION FOR BEING A JERK HERE]. Some of the songs, while good, feel out of place in a film taking place in Baghdad (particularly "Call Me a Princess" and "How Quick They Forget"). And speaking of the songs, was it necessary to stop the story just before the climax to have Aladdin and his buddies sing? Still, it's interesting to see how different this draft is from the finished film. It makes me curious as to how they decided to make the changes they made. I recall that Babkak, Omar, and Kasim were cut to keep the focus on Aladdin, but what made them decide to get rid of Abbi? Where did they get the idea to call the Wazir "Jafar"? Who came up with the idea of making the Cave of Wonders a giant tiger head made of sand?

A clue to how some of these changes were made comes via a quote from John Musker: "When we came on shortly after The Little Mermaid, several scripts had been developed. Some based on Howard's treatment, some completely different of Howard's treatment. We liked some of this, some of that. But we wanted to create some new things, so we concocted our own new story using some elements from the previous scripts." However, some of those elements that WEREN'T used from Howard's script wound up in the aforementioned Broadway adaptation of the film - those being Babkak, Omar, and Kasim (replacing Abu), their song "Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kasim", and "Proud of Your Boy"; though Aladdin's mother herself isn't in the play.

So, thank you for joining me on this trek through a version of Aladdin drastically different from the one that Disney released in 1992. I've got plans to look at more early scripts for animated movies, both ones that got made and ones that didn't. If I find another draft of Aladdin's script that's different enough from both this and the actual movie, I'll do a post about that, too. But for now, I'll end this edition of "Back to the Drawing Board" with a song for no other reason than because I have no idea how else to end it. Take it away, Genie!