Jeanie bottle 392
Oct04
on October 4, 2016
at 12:00 am
and modified on November 27, 2022. at 12:52 am
Chapter: Story 09: I Dream of Technicolor
What an unbelievably cruel punishment… Especially for an accidental breech of a rule made almost a decade ago as part of wish she couldn’t refuse. Haji is a monster.
What a cruel fate.
Ohhhhh… my god. That’s horrible. She might as well be a brain-dead zombie. It would have been kinder just to kill her.
Brain dead zombie? Hardly. It isn’t like her memory was totally wiped clean, just certain bits removed.
Yeah. Like, all the important parts. A 45-year relationship – gone. What’s more, no one remembers HER, either. So all the friends, acquaintances, everyone – also gone. All alone in the world. Pretty awful.
What is 45 years to a genie who could be 500+ years old? I don’t remember how old she is, but 45 years to someone like that isn’t what 45 years is to us by a long shot.
Yeah, but remember, an awful large percentage of that time is spent stuck in a bottle. And much of the rest was probably at the beck and call of a sultan or two. This could well have been the first (and now only) decent relationship of her life.
… rules are rules as any fool can see ..
This is heavy, doc!
Ok, the “All humans forget about her” has been established as a penalty for forbidden magics in the IDOJ movie, but taking Rouyaa’s memories of Andy away? Might as well just make her forget that she was ever anything but a mortal human while they’re at it.
well it sort of worked out in that movie as jeanie arraigned to meet tony again.
Yup, and they got married, “again”.
Actually in the second movie the first movie was basically ignored. Remember that Jeannie and Tony had a son? He was in both movies, although played by different actors.
“To be forgotten is worse than death” – Freya Crescent, Final Fantasy 9
Kazom is at least being as “humane” as possible with this, with helping her to relocate to a new place.
When Kazom said that no one will now remember her and vice versa (except for himself apparently), would that include other genies like Guano and Haji too? Will Guano forget who it was that gave him that bad advice?
Well… Shit. I mean, I can understand losing her powers, but splitting her off from someone she cares about, cutting out part of who she IS, and just leaving her with the knowledge that even if she meets him again she’ll never know, because of what happened with someone else under entirely different circumstances? That’s COLD. I have to agree with Kattgirl, it’d be kinder to kill her.
I was thinking that she would lose her powers, become a mortal, and grow old along with Andy, eventually becoming the elderly Mrs Eden. But at least she’d have some 50+ years of good memories with him, magic or no.
But now, if she does wind up being Mrs. Eden, I would understand why that character always has the empty, lonely & forlorn look she does. What a tragic end to a fun story.
Unless – I wonder – if Jean and Neal can turn this around? Maybe? Please, CD, can you pull a rabbit out of this crummy old hat?
Andy will get back home and wonder who left that cake and why he decorated the home that way.
This is so mean!!!!!
Oh, uh, Robert? Panel 4: “yours days” => your days.
And really, in panel 1, shouldn’t the response really be, “He might…” instead of “You might…” After all, Kazom just established that Haji did it.
I don’t think I like Haji much any more.
Oh geez, and that’s a line I already re-wrote for a different problem. FAIL!
I’m assuming that “you / he” flub is a combination of Rouyaa already having been on a rant against Kazom from the previous page, plus more than a little denial. She’s the 23rd concubine, after all. Why would Haji do something so terrible to her, one of his favored? It must have been Kazom! (That might be what’s going through her head).
How sad. But that we feel that is the mark of an excellent story. This would be an excellent point to end her story.
This is too much. I understand taking her powers and leaving her mortal. But to erase her memory and the memory of her Master? Now that is going way too far! Her living out her days with him would have been romantic, but this is too tragic for such a cute genie!
Haji needs some hot karma coming his way! If I ever become a web comic, and I get my hands on him!!!! Grr!!!
> If I ever become a web comic
wat
Didn’t this come up in the reunion movie?
It sure did.
Seems to me that if they’re going to have such a harsh rule to begin with, then they should have some elementary precautions in place to keep accidents from happening. Like if someone wants to format a hard drive, they have to confirm that yes, they really want to do so – and the default option is always ‘no’.
In this case, it would be having the wish held in abeyance until confirmed when it conflicts with another rule.
Seriously! When the punishment is worse than death, allowing the crime to happen by accident is NOT COOL.
I agree that the punishment was much too severe, but it wasn’t “worse than death”. It’s not like all her memories were taken away. Just the ones from the past 30 or so years, and only relating to Andy and anyone she met as a result.
That being said, I suspect their reasoning was something like “she should have gotten those compulsory wishes out of the way; since she didn’t, it’s her fault”. It’s the kind of self-righteous reasoning people use all the time when blaming others for problems they had a hand in. Personally, given that one of Neil’s wishes was invalidated, I don’t see why they couldn’t just have done it that way (aside from the little problem of how Jean would have gotten Rouyya’s bottle).
This sound most unfair. Even Ava got a warning!
Also this could happen to Jean and
Neal at any time!
Rouyaa got a warning, in fact multiple warnings. Sure, it was years ago but Genies live a long time so for her it should seem like just yesterday . . .
I think they did the lack of memories thing because they were afraid she would commit suicide.
Oh, my God. Relocated to California. I cannot comprehend the level of sadism being imposed here.
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Thing is, Andy’s not Hitler. He’s specifically rejected Ray’s magical assistance.
And doggone it, he’s a nerd! He got a beautiful woman as his companion (don’t know if things went beyond that). Now he’s alone, and on the far side of middle age. He’s going to be terribly lonely, and not know why!
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And on top of all this, Haji’s going to make Guano a Lord. Haji is not on my nice list right now.
Regret over this incident might be one more reason for Kazom’s later dislike of Guano and possibly Haji.
Hmm, California. Might she end up being a neighbor to one of the Melvin crew instead?
Hmmm. A thought. Relocated to California. Rouyaa is a woman now, but a young woman. Do we know any characters from California who’ve appeared in this strip before and perhaps in another strip as well? (You do remember that Kazom is in California in the present, don’t you?)
And now we come to the next question: How did that bottle get back to California? Or did it ever leave Cocoa Beach?
Hmm, Melvin’s mother perhaps? Is that your implication? It does sort of fit. Bottle genies are nurturers and caretakers by nature, and Melvin’s mom is a nurse . . . No, the timeline isn’t right. Assume a nominal age of 20 for Rouyaa in 1980, with Melvin being about 15 now, that would mean he was born when Rouyaa is 40ish. OK, not impossible, but a stretch. And, she seems too young in the Melvin comics.
Ok, stupid possibility here: the timing is almost exactly right for Rouyaa to end up being JEAN’S mother, thus making Jean destined to be a Genie all along (and already having a link to his mother’s bottle).
Brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The timing doesn’t seem right for Rouyaa to be Jean’s mother.
The only hard data we have on the “now” of Jeanie Bottle is in #94 when Jean tells Melvin she’s only 23 and Melvin tells him that I Dream of Jeannie “aired” 27 years before she was supposedly born. That’s 50 years ago. IDOJ aired from 1965 through 1970, so the “now” has to be some time between 2015 and 2020. Jean would have been born some time between 1992 and 1997. If Rouyaa was de-genied in 1980 at an effective human age of 20, she would have been between 32 and 37 when Jean was born, quite plausible. But Andy would have been much older. Even if Rouyaa and Andy got back together, he would have been in his eighties when Jean was born.
Is Rouyaa Jean’s grandmother? There doesn’t seem to be enough time here for that unless Andy and Rouyaa had Jean’s parent before Rouyaa was punished. It seems unlikely that Andy would forget how he got a kid, or incredibly cruel if he forgot he had a kid, or worse. (This, incidentally, was a giant plot hole in the reunion movie.)
Is Rouyaa Ms. Eden? If Rouyaa was effectively 20 in 1980, she doesn’t seem old enough as Ms. Eden, who at best seems to be in her late sixties. Of course, if she was mortal-ized at an older age, then maybe.
Based only on her looks in the last panel, I’d say she could physically be anywhere between 20 and a young-ish 35. 35 in 1980 would be 73 in 2016, so that would be plausible as Mrs. Eden.
It is an extremely harsh penalty for the supposed crime that Rouyaa has committed. But, definitely finale and absolute and there is no debate as to what going to happen either. I see a possibility of a few more post on this arc, before it over. Because, everyone going to want to see what happens to Rouyaa, because, everybody still kind of routing for her.
I’m sorry folks, but I can’t board the ‘Haji is a MONSTER’ train here. Rouyaa’s been a bad girl and a worse genie and now her chickens have come home to roost.
As ranck said, she had multiple warnings. The first concerned messing with WWII, which she willfully defied (I’ll get to that in a minute) within minutes of hearing it. She also got an example presented to her later (what happened to Eevi), so she KNEW that Haji meant business. The next warning (concerning the humans’ space endeavors) came with a reminder of the example and a third warning (‘Don’t let this be you!’) and while it took longer for her to defy it, as a genie she should have a better memory concerning ‘Genie Business’ (how else is she gonna remember how many wishes she fulfilled) so “She forgot about the warning(s).” shouldn’t be an excuse.
Oh and SPEAKING of how may wishes she fulfilled for Andy the running tally is: none! Check out panel 2:
Rouyaa: Powers or not, I’m still my master’s genie and I’ll grant my master his THREE wishes!
That’s right, THREE! She clearly doesn’t count either Andy’s wish for Sid to be safe (which she shouldn’t, since that was a hypothetical wish to begin with) or his wish for a bigger budget (which she shouldn’t, since the wish wasn’t directed to her) as wishes, which means that everything that she’s done that’s gotten her into trouble has been of HER own will, not his. There was no ‘accidental’ poofing up the papers to keep Sid off the front lines, that was just her using magic and hoping Andy didn’t catch her. “I was just fulfilling my master’s wishes.” doesn’t apply here.
Also Rouyaa, when you’re caught with your hand in the cookie jar, is it REALLY a good idea to tell the one explaining your punishment that you’re gonna do it again as soon as you master gives you an excuse?
I feel sorry for Andy. He’s gonna be missing a big part of his life and not know why (I could see him becoming a couch potato, watching I Dream of Jeanie as a desperate way to reconnect with her and not knowing why), but Rouyaa made her bed and now has to sleep in it.
I think that the reason that Haji took away her memories, and Andy’s memories of her, was to prevent her and Andy from committing suicide together. Hence the reference to Hitler and Eva Braun, who did commit suicide. From the perspective of an inhuman creature such as a High Genie Lord, this may be a kindness.
It is important to remember that, as Lord of all Genies, Haji is easily powerful enough to utterly enslave all mortals forever, and dominate the world. And yet, he chooses to use his power only to prevent Genies from abusing their powers too very much. He is very harsh, and I hate this judgment of his, but a monster? I do not think so.
I made the suicide connection myself
Eevi and her boytoy didn’t commit suicide because Evie lost her magic and became mortal, they committed suicide because three wishes weren’t enough to keep them from losing the war (it looks like the only reason Hitler got as far as he did in the Ruudverse was because Eevi was using her magic to help him out). Andy doesn’t have Adolph’s ambitions, but he does want NASA to succeed in it’s goals – goals that Haji doesn’t want Genies interfering with. And Rouyaa has THREE wishes to grant – and while I think that she’ll let Andy know that she’s lost her magic, I don’t think she’s gonna let Andy know that those wishes are still on the table. Why should she?
If Haji had just left her there and not messed with their memories, I could see a more relaxed Andy innocently making wishes in her presence – wishes that her genie magic would fulfill (out of his sight, of course) with effects ranging from trivial to history-making, and apparently Haji couldn’t stop her wishes fro being granted. No she or Andy had to be taken out of the picture, and this was the least messy way to do it.
Your points would all be entirely fair if the punishment had been simply stripping her powers. She absolutely does deserve that after flaunting Haji’s decrees multiple times.
She does not deserve THIS, though. No one deserves this horror.
Okay, after rereading the comments I’m finally staring to see why everyone’s on the Haji hate train, but you’re mistaken: Haji didn’t remove her memories of Andy, Sid, and vice versa as punishment for flaunting Haji; stripping her of her powers was punishment for flaunting Haji. Removing her memories of Andy, Sid, and vice versa was to prevent her from abusing the the one power Haji couldn’t strip from her: her wish-granting abilities!
Like she said in panel 2, she’s still Andy’s genie and she still has THREE wishes to grant him. Wishes that might be easier to grant if he thinks that Haji’s stripped Rouyaa of her genie-hood (which wouldn’t be a lie by the way), so he no longer has to mind what he says around her when it comes to the phrase “I wish…”
So Rouyaa is still a potential threat, a loaded gun with three bullets literally waiting for Andy to ‘pull the trigger’. What can Haji do about that?
Well, he could kill her!
She has no way of defending herself, so Haji (or Kazom, or Guano) can bump her off in as pretty or as messy a method as he sees fit and just leave the corpse there. That way, Rouyaa and Andy can serve as object lessons to other Genies who might be thinking that their devotion to their masters trumps Haji’s will.
Or if he’s the type that doesn’t like unnecessary killing, he could ‘Disappear’ her.
Kazom could take her to another place far away, where the odds of meeting Andy again are pretty slim. Of course she’d have to lose her memories of Andy and Sid (and vice versa) to keep them from reconnecting again, but aside from that, It does what is necessary (prevent Rouyaa from granting Andy any wishes) with a minimum of pain.
So you tell me: Which of those options is more horrific?
@ Oruncrest: You’d have a point, EXCEPT that you’re assuming that she can still grant wishes, despite not having any magic powers. That hasn’t been established, yet. And in fact, Kazom’s comments would tend to indicate the opposite; that all she can do is what any other mortal can. (See bottom of panel 2.)
@Kattgirl:
Well, until CD clarifies the matter, we should probably take what Kazom says here:
She’ll roam the planet with what little magic she has left.
– Kazom, I Dream of a Genie Bottle 378, last panel
and combine it NOT JUST with the quote I believe you’re thinking of:
Considering what she and master did after her powers were gone…
But what Rouyaa said in the first panel of the same strip as the above quote:
HajiYou might have taken my powers, but I’m still a Genie!…to mean that Haji’s genies have powers above and beyond mere wish granting, and while Haji can rescind those powers, he can’t take what makes them a genie.
Sorry folks, I made a mistake in the above post. I forgot to indicate who Kazom was talking about in the first quote.
It should look like this:
She(Eevi)’ll roam the planet with what little magic she has left.
– Kazom, I Dream of a Genie Bottle 378, last panel
Gee, I wish we could edit these posts after the edit feature ends.
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…Oooookayyyy… Somebody’s getting desperate now…
Oruncrest: While you were checking other pages of this comic, you should have checked page 391. You know, where Kazom said, “Your magic, and everything else that makes you a genie” in response to Rouyaa saying “You took away my magic!” In short, every single thing that made her a genie is gone, and now she’s as mortal as any human. In that sense, she’s even worse off than Eevi, who was left with at least some magic and thus could have continued to assist Hitler even if she could no longer grant his wishes.
Indeed, Haji is more like a stern parent with headstrong children.Maybe Rouyaa bent the rules a bit by granting her master some things things that would please him without him actually wishing for it to be so, but she was disobeying Haji’s orders just the same.
The punishment may sound harsh to us, but we don’t know Haji’s specific reasoning yet. Poor Kazom is just the hatchet man here…
You know, the situation you describe could be easily defused, if Kazom or any of the others besides Rouyaa actually talked to Andy, and explained things. Just the fact that she’s still there with THREE wishes left to grant shows that he’s certainly not one to make casual or thoughtless wishes, and if he’s at all like his TV counterpart, likely to be as upset about Rouyaa’s interference in his work (well-meaning as it may be) as Tony generally was with Jeannie’s. If Haji is as long-lived and powerful as he’s been depicted, I’m pretty sure he’d be able to see this for himself, should he be bothered to, and considering how serious he seems to take this matter, he really ought to be bothered to.
Actually, she has already granted two of Andy’s wishes. The first was to wish that Sid stayed safe (“If I did make a wish, I’d wish Sid stayed safe”, p381), and the second was to wish that NASA had a larger budget (“Look, I wish we had the budget to retrofit Enterprise and build another shuttle”, p389). The reason she declared that she still had three wishes to grant is because at that point, she had already started forgetting Andy. If she couldn’t even remember that Andy was male, or where he worked, it’s doubtful that she would remember that she had already granted wishes for him, never mind any of the specific details about said wishes.
Well that’s just depressing. I’m gonna be feeling like crap for the rest of the night now.
So she’s basically a non-entity about to be dumped in the middle of California with no memory of her past – and no one who has any memory of her… wow. No family. No past… hope ‘somewhere nice’ is… well, nice 😛
I will point out, that Rouyaa’s memories are still intact. She remembers her life, and being a genie… she just doesn’t remember whom Andy is.
Also, Lord Kazom Is currently in California with Melvin and gang. It’s a safe bet that he is willing to look out for Rouyaa (at least to help her get settled).
OK, then; that’s a little better than being a total amnesiac. And yet, still, that’s a 40-plus year relationship that’s gone. That must be a huge chunk out of her life. Not like just missing an evening of heavy drinking.
To be fair, as a genie she would be losing that relationship in a relatively short time anyway. Genies live for thousands of years, humans are luck to make to 100.
I wonder if Rouyaa is Ms Eden.
My thought, too.
Again I feel the need to point out that except for me and Lushtree nobody realized the reason they are wiping the memories is in an attempt to prevent Rooya or anyone else from comitting suicide.
Possible, but neither Kazom nor anyone else has mentioned that, so it’s without evidence at at the moment.
However, Kazom DID comment about “what Evie did even after losing her powers”, so it’s more likely that Haji is afraid that she would continue to scheme to subvert things even without magic. And given her knowledge of how genies work, that might have been effective.
I don’t think anyone has picked up on the implications of Rouyaa being “Haji’s 23rd concubine.” How about Haji being jealous?
Well, if he hasn’t been jealous during the last 40 years she’s been with Andy, why start now?