Jeanie Bottle 399
The ‘I Dream of Yogurt’ shop actually exists in Cocoa Beach.
I’ve been there. If you’re ever in Cocoa Beach, waiting for a cruise (in port Canaveral) or traveling through Florida, you should check this place out. This and the I Dream of Jeannie St is a must see for any Jeannie Fan.
- CD Rudd
Edit from the future: Sadly, the yogurt shop closed down shortly before 2020. 🙁
Oh dear,I hate how this is going….
“Some old Geezer died a couple months ago in it”
That can only mean………..Andy,NO!!!!!!
Yeah, well given when Andy was born, he’d be about ninety by this point . . .
I hope that Andy and Ray/Rouyaa had some good years together..
Given they were living seperately probably not.
I am sure they did. Even if they did not live together, they were next door neighbors, and did have a wonderful friendship. They have great chemistry, and seem to really enjoy their company. SO I’d say they did have some good years together.
You can just see the Genie Bottle sticking out of the right side of the thief’s backpack (left side as seen). Now the question will be how they got the bottle.
Now, wait just a second. #310 was Rouyaa’s apartment. Which explains why the bottle was in it. But if that’s the same apartment that Jean is now moving into – and an “old geezer” just died there – then does that mean that Andy and Rouyaa were sharing an apartment until recently?
Unless – she gave him her bottle as a keepsake, which is why it’s in his place, rather than hers… ? But that would mean she must have moved to a different apartment…
OK, never mind. I just realized that Jean’s apartment is NEXT DOOR to #310, which is Rouyaa’s. And that’s where the bottle came from. So I was right, last week; the thief got in through the open outside door to steal the bottle, and Jean is/will be ultimately responsible for his own transformation.
And so it comes full circle. All that remains now is to find out what Jean and Neil saw during their little time-trip to the past.
Compare the third and fourth cells of the comic. That yellow thing that seems to be sticking out of the backpack is actually the doorknob.
And now we know how Jean came into possession of the bottle.
Oh, in the first strip Jean’s T-shirt was white not grey and Neil’s was a little darker green.
Well, it’s not necessarily the very same day here as in the first strip.
Yeah. There were a few days in between, at least. The first strip happened before they watched that marathon of I Dream of Jeaannie. In this one they are talking about watching it.
Not to mention that it would not be possible to acquire the bottle the exact same day it was stolen. It had to get pawned or sold to where ever Jean got it from. And then make its way to the shelves.
I mean after they watched the marathon!
In the next strip there is a flashback to when they were watching it, and his shirt is either white or a lighter gray. But I am sure that they would have cleaned up and at least changed their shirt before going out. Especially since there would be girls at a yogurt shop! Or maybe they look different because of the light from the tv.
But the first strip is on a different day entirely.
Interesting (and typical), how Jean doesn’t give a thought to his erstwhile “girlfriend”, Belle. Of course, he could also just be doing his standard bragging act.
Maybe he hasn’t met Belle yet? He did *just* move to Cocoa Beach, and Belle presumably lives there, rather than Cincinnati.
Well… It was never disclosed how long they were together, at the beginning of the strip. But it did seem as if they had been together for a while. Enough for her to be fairly close to Jean before he got genefied.
Hmm… They did the marathon about a month before the genefication, so maybe they meet right after this. Maybe at that yogurt shop? That would be enough time to feel that close to each other.
Maybe he won’t be aware of the bottle until some months have passed?
Since when did somebody dying in a good place with a view make it go for a dirt-cheap price?
Some people are superstitious about that, especially if it was a violent death. No indication of that here, but if a person dies alone and it takes a few days to discover the body . . . well some people are queezy about that . . . so it could have been empty for a while and the landlord would rather have some rent coming in vs. no rent.
You missed coloring in Jean’s thumb in the second panel.
Whoops! I’ll fix that immediately.
I’m sort of hoping that that thief has things go very badly for him after this. Maybe life as a stray poodle would do it some good.
The last time we saw the bottle before this it was in Ray’s apartment, not Andy’s. One more mystery.
Does it seem like a even more coincidence that Jean found an apartment right next to Neil’s when Jean was living in Cincinnati before? As was pointed out before, the Queen City (which is what Cincinnati calls itself) is kind of a long drive from Cocoa Beach. Think there could have been even more magic involved? Could the bottle have drawn Jean or Neil or both to the same apartment building in Cocoa Beach?
Tom, I made the same mistake. The bottle is still in Ray’s apartment, #310. Andy lived next door, to the left, the apartment that Jean and Neil are coming out of in panel 1. Between panel 1 and panel 2, the viewpoint shifts slightly to the right, and then in panel 2, we get to see the open door of 310.
Of course, just why Ray left her door open, and exactly where she is right now, we don’t know yet.
And there’s actually no indication that Jean’s new apartment is anywhere near Neil’s. Neil could be clear across town. He’s just over helping Jean move in.
As of https://jeaniebottle.com/?comic=jeanie-67 Jean has magically relocated Neil’s apartment to be in between Jean’s and Ms. Eden’s, but with an internal doorway between them.
@ijuinkun:
Yes, but remember – this is a flashback to when Jean was just moving in, and wasn’t a genie yet; therefore as of this comic, JB #67 is still in the future.
Yeah, I meant that Jean would not have bothered with such a thing if they had already been living in the same building, trying to imply that Neil’s apartment was located in a different building. Neil seems to not own a car, so his old apartment location was probably convenient for getting to his workplace by foot or by bus.
Alright, so this comic needs a little follow up. Basically the intent is Jean and Neil are leaving Jean’s (New/Andy’s old) apartment. Passing by Ray’s apartment as they leave.
Ray’s door is ajar, cause someone is in it, and you see that someone leaving with something sticking out of his backpack. Why isn’t the thief a genie? Well, it’s possible the bottle isn’t turning people into genies at this point. SECOND, he’s wearing gloves. :/
Also the thief didn’t pop the bottle open to activate the magic of bottle of totem to transform the thief into a Genie. He just stole the bottle and sold it for money and that was the end of it.
Jean did pop the bottle open and also made a wish that he could do a number on Barbra Eden. That when the bottle activated and transformed Jean into Jeanie of the bottle or he became a Genie.
As they say, be careful what you wish for. It might come true.
Well, Rosco Coltrane stole the bottle, too, and HE didn’t get turned into a genie, either – even though he WASN’T wearing gloves. Clearly, you have to OPEN it, while it’s lacking an occupant. Had the thief popped open the top, he’d undoubtedly have gotten one hell of a surprise!
Of course, it has to have been unoccupied for some appreciable period of time, too, else it would have immediately genie-fied Neil somewhere along the way.
I’m sure all this is covered in the 18,327,496-page Genie Manual.
‘Some old geezer died’ choice of words reminds me of why I don’t like Jeanie. And why I feel more sympathy for the blue one.
Yeah. Jean’s fun to watch – kind of the way a train wreck is fascinating – but Jean’s so totally self-centered that I have trouble feeling much sympathy for him/her. Rouyaa and Araceli, on the other hand, are both basically kind-hearted and loyal, even if they occasionally have a temper. (And really, who doesn’t?)
Araceli’s biggest flaw IMHO is that she’s overwhelmingly NAIVE, she’s a deconstruction almost of the original show’s plot. She’s from hundreds of years ago, and with cultural attitudes that reflect that, and more so, or is her inability or refusal to see that Jean is NOT used to Genie politics that Araceli’s had to deal with her whole life! The fact she was able to form a strong friendship with the kid shows that she’s not a sociopath, nor incapable of comprehending others emotions.
@Nobody: Yes, Araceli is naive, but that’s not her fault, and it’s curable, with time. And I don’t believe that anybody ever thought to tell her that Jean is new to all this, so her assumptions about Jean aren’t unreasonable.
Jean, on the other hand, seems permanently stuck in 5-year-old-bratty-kid mode. There have been a couple of times when he/she showed brief signs of dimly emerging responsibility, but that quickly faded again.
They’re both fun to watch, Jean’s just a much less sympathetic character.
I’m thinking the “old geezer” remark might be a set up for another Moral Lesson for Jean. In fact, looking at it from the beginning, this whole story arc reminds me of Scrooge’s magical journey into the past in A Christmas Carol: Jean (and Neil) could be learning about the dead old geezer and they crotchety old neighbor lady they don’t seem to have paid much attention to until now.
And a longer shot: Do either Neil or Jean know about their biological grandparents?
Now that’s a really intriguing possibility, Tom! And regarding “A Christmas Carol” – it IS about to be December soon. I wonder, could the next story arc be entitled, “I Dream of Christmas”?
The story is certainly hitting a bittersweet or even sad note here. Andy is dead, and Ray Eden was friends with him for many years but never remembered her love for him. So close, and yet so far.
But I’m certain that this isn’t quite the end yet. There’s a big huge large enormous thread left hanging: Jean and Neil traveled back in time and witnessed at least part of Andy’s life. https://jeaniebottle.com/?comic=jeanie-bottle-383
The important thing: We haven’t seen them do this yet. So at some point in the future, they are going to figure something out about Ray Eden and Andy, unless they just happen to travel back in time by some wacky coincidence (but if the latter happens they will learn about Andy and Rouyya even if they didn’t intend to).
By the way, I do think the events shown on this page must be the explanation for how it was possible for Jean to find a genie bottle that is missing its genie. It is Rouyya’s bottle, and it’s empty because Rouyya is currently Ray Eden. As a mortal woman, presumably she’s no longer sleeping in the bottle and has no real connection to it (rubbing it won’t summon her, etc.).
The whole time travel thing could possibly happen if Ray Eden ever somehow gets inside the apartment and sees the bottle. She doesn’t remember her master but she does remember that she’s a genie and seeing the bottle she would immediately know its significance. It’s possible that she’s getting just a touch senile, so she might not put all the pieces perfectly together, but she might blurt out enough to clue in Jean and Neil so they start digging.
Rouyya and Andy may yet get a happy ending. That would involve changing the flow of time, which is forbidden, but Jean is willing to break rules. Just wishing for history to change wouldn’t work, but we saw Neil and Jean in the past so it’s a short stretch to imagine them changing history (and all it would take is to talk to Rouyya and tell her not to magically put a few million extra dollars into NASA’s accounts).
Of course, if they do this, it has the potential to create a paradox. Jean helps Rouyya, Rouyya never becomes a mortal, the bottle never is left empty, Jean never finds an empty bottle and is turned to a genie, Jean never has the ability to go back in time and help Rouyya. There are ways around paradox though. Jean could steal Rouyya’s bottle before the thief found it, plant the bottle where male-Jean will find it later, then help Rouyya… and the whole time line from which the bottle was stolen would vanish, but maybe the bottle would persist, because reasons.
It’s even possible that they might figure out that they can help Rouyya and Jean won’t be turned to a genie, but Jean might actually choose not to prevent it from happening. Is being a magical genie who will live for centuries or even millennia not worth being turned female? (Of course, Jean might try to “beat the system” by trying to get male-Jean turned into a male genie, but I’ll bet that part of the plan won’t work if she tries it…)
Hey, is there a way to contact you other than this comments section?
I live very close to Cocoa Beach (have for my whole life), so much that I just about know it inside and out, and I was wondering if you wanted assistance from someone who’s a Space Coast local to help make the comic a little more authentic going forward.
Just putting that out there!
Huh. So you managed to explain all the I Dream of Jeannie parallels. That the show was based on a real genie and astronaut, and the bottle they found that no longer was home to a genie was this one’s. That’s actually pretty decent writing. It eliminates all the ridiculous coincidences.