Now I'm up to "Shazzan," a wondrous cartoon from H-B.
When I saw this, shortly before it was cancelled, I didn't even know the genie had a name. I just called it the show with a boy, a girl, and a genie, though I heard Chuck call Nancy both Nancy and sis in the episode I saw. I didn't learn the title or the other characters' names until much later. But seeing Chuck and Nancy use rings instead of a magic lamp to call on Shazzan was way cool. And who could forget Kaboobie, the only camel in Araby who could fly?
I saw that every villain the kids and Kaboobie encountered had some magical or supernatural powers that they could use to capture them. I also liked seeing that they'd often bail themselves out with a magic rope, cloak of invisibility,etc. However, I did say "Ah-ah-ah," when I saw the episode "Master Of The Thieves." Chuck and Nancy used the rings merely to show off at a magic festival. When Shazzan lectured them about misusing the power of the rings, it was not unlike a policeman, fireman, or EMT lecturing kids about calling 911 when there's no emergency. That same episode, they also fell for a thief's ploy to steal their rings. How often does something like that happen in real life? More times than I can count.
There were several recurring characters. But the only one who wasn't an adversary was Shazzan's friend Baharuum The Befuddled, unless you consider this genie's evil persona an enemy, like I did. Baharuum ended up becoming Aladdin's genie. But since this was Hanna-Barbera, and not Disney, there was no Princess Jasmine. But I didn't mind, since the Master Of The Thieves was just as much a threat as Jafar was. And Baharuum's two appearances were unforgettable, even if he wasn't a blue-skinned song and dance man. So all things considered, "Shazzan" was a great series.
Shazzan! Reflection time Si...wait i don't have a sister. Oh well. Shazzan was one of the ones that i never got to see in my childhood. DVD fixed that up and i was once again quite pleased with what i got. Shazzan as an all powerful genie is very powerful and the way he can toy with the bad guys who set themselves up as high and mighty, is quite frankly a nice charm to the show. Shazzan's laugh is also quite infectious. Oh and who can forget Kaboobie. I wish flying camels like that didn't break real physics laws.
One thing i do notice here is that Shazzan seems to be one of HB's more recurring friendly shows. The Master of thieves even getting three episodes. A lot of Shazzan's bad guys are also kind of creepy looking as well. More so than a lot of the other sister show's bad guys. Like the big idol that turns people into statues, the evil tree kind, the demon in the bottle, etc.
It was also nice to see this show do a stab at Aladdin. Which of course is one of major changes and adjustments over the years. Even so Shazzan getting influence from what came before it and it's influence on what came after it are both quite noticeable. This show does however switch up the strength levels of the genies. As in the original tale the genie of the lamp is much more powerful than the genie of the ring. So much so the sorcerer willingly gives Aladdin the genie of the ring and practically forgets about it while he's obsessed with the genie of the lamp (NOTE: if you only know Disney's Aladdin, then you may be confused to know Jafar is an amalgam of three very different characters in the original, the sorcerer, the viser and the sorcerer's brother) In this adaption the Master takes on the sorcerer's role in switching the lamp with a fake one, a trick the sorcerer does in the original story to trick the princess.
Over all Shazzan itself is a pretty basic show filled with a lot of wonderful designs and clever ways for Shazzan to dispose of the bad guys (and in some cases near torture them) I wouldn't have minded seeing more of this show when i was younger, but i'm glad to see it now.
From this thread on, I'll post my trivia questions in the reply boxes.
Trivia Question 64: On which page of the Evil Jester's spellbook was the spell for disposal of genies, and which page revealed that it doesn't always work?
Page 21 for the spell, but the Evil Jester should have checked out the caveat on page 22! (Just watched the episode!)
Good job, Pete. You nailed it! :)
