Aladdin Central Messageboard

[AladdinsGenie]

Ok, since we haven't had a real meaningful conversation in a while around here, let's all put on our thinking caps and ponder.

While I was walking down the street today and was watching my Lego Aladdin keychain bounce around as I walked, random questions popped up in my head: Why am I an Aladdin fan? Why am I in this fandom? Why do I love it so much?
I thought for a few minutes and had to revert to my childhood. When I was little, I watched the Little Mermaid and knew she was supposed to kill herself like in the original story I heard before, and just based on the title I already knew something was going to happen between the "beauty" and the "beast". By the time they got to Aladdin, I was never introduced to the fairly tale of Aladdin so everything was new to me. And, even when I saw the trailer for it, it just looked different to me. Like, this was a story that could really happen even if there was a genie and flying carpet in it. I simply had to go see this and when I did, I loved it. Genie quickly became one of my many idols, and who I owe some of my zaniness and fascination with genies in general today.
-My mom was always bent on keeping me as feminine as possible, so I still got BatB and LM stuff, but my dad was the one who bought me most my Aladdin stuff.
- Aladdin was my first male barbie doll. He and all my Barbies used to cruise around inthe barbie Lamborghini. My sister lost my original Jasmine doll, so what else was he gonna do while she was gone?
-I made sure that my dad actually bought the movie too. I lived in Germany at the time, so all my Disney movies BatB down were rented and recorded onto tapes. Aladdin was the first one he actually bought, lol.
-I used to swipe stuff just to see if I could get away with it, too. Oh yes, Aladdin spawned quite a few stories in my life.

As I got older and was told that watching cartoons wasn't "adult-like", I strayed away from it a little. Anytime someone asked me what my favorite Disney movie was, I still said Aladdin, but I hadn't watched it in a long time. I owned the sequels and watched those occasionally, but never as much as I do now. I saw a few episodes of series as well, but I never really thought about them like I do today. It was just more entertainment, but the movie has always been closer to me than I realized.

Then when I was 12 or 13, I got bored one summer day and went to find a movie. I saw Aladdin was on the shelf and didn't need to be rewound (we have a huge problem with not rewinding the videos around here), and decided to watch it.

It's been history since then. I had forgotten how much I really loved the movie. Now that I was older, I understood a lot more than I did before. I also connected with more of the characters, especially Genie. I was going through a rough time in my life with this whole friendship/relationship, being used thing by people thing, so I understood the deeper emotions of Genie rather than just the comedic side. He was my favorite when I was little (yeah, I know. I'm a statistic), but now he was really my favorite.
Jasmine too as well. My mom got to this point where she became really over-protective of me and since I am the first born child out of four, I was the guinea pig for a lot of the teenage moments. Needless to say, I didn't get to do a lot of things because I was always in my little cage. Hell, I'm still in my cage, but that's another story .
And Aladdin…man, lol. It wasn't until I about 12 that I was like "Dude…he's hot." You couldn't get me to say that about any real individual for another few years. But other than that, I became interested in his character and just how independent, yet dependant he was. People say he is boring, I say he is mysterious

I went on this Aladdin rampage and needed more. I slowly became interested in the behind the scenes stuff like voice-overs, animators, music, history, the culture, meanings behind episodes, movies, etc. I wanted to know everything. At the time, I wanted to go to college for acting, but once I got into the animation and drawing aspect of Aladdin I changed my mind. Art was always a part of my life, but now I wanted to create movies like Aladdin (which at this point is pointless because 2-D is slowly going out the window…). I can relate so much stuff to how I am now to Aladdin. It's surreal and probably really unhealthy, but that's ok! It's all good.

And now I'm here. There's a lot more to it, but I've rambled enough, lol. Why are you here?

[Madeleine]

Well.....it all started out when I was four....I was living in Wyoming at the time, and didn't have a care in the world. I did love TLM. Anyway, my mom took me and my friends to go see this move.....well, it was Aladdin. My mom told me that I laughed and cried in the movie.

Well, my Aladdin obsession flourished, and I got many Aladdin things. I got an Aladdin lamp that had the lamp shaped base, and it had an Aladdin shade (I miss it....it got a burn mark ) I had two Aladdin dolls, their heads both fell off. I had other things too.

As I got a little older, Aladdin started to fade away, but as AladdinsGenie said, I said that it was still my fav. cartoon movie. I still thought Al was hot. That's when my crush on David Krumholtz came in. (I never mentioned it to anyone, I was too embarrassed because I thought Bernard was hot Now, I could care less who knows!) Anyway, back on subject.

As I became a teenager, about 16 yrs., I realised that Aladdin was still an important thing in my life. When the DVD came out....I started flipping out. I realized, that you don't have to be a kid to love Aladdin.....you have to be a kid at heart. I'm still in touch with my inner child, and even though I am now 17, I will still profess my love for Aladdin like no other.

Then I found this place.

That is why I am here.
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"You know what happens when my mom uses fabric softener?"
"What?"
"I DIE."-Wednesday Addams and Joel Glicker
Addams Family Values.

"Young lady, I'm getting a tad tired of your attitude problem"-Peter MacNicol Addams Family Values.

[Iago]

my story is fairly simple (oh joy) i saw it when i was 2 and it was a part of me for awhile then it faded away when pochohantas came out. I still watched the movie every now and then brother bear came out a few yrs ago and the little aladdin flame in me didnt really burn till the DVD came out and the gilbert gottfried obsession started and i then rewatched the aladdin DVD and relised how much i missed m aladdin and a few weeks later i found this website and here i am now. and the aladdin obsession keeps growing since i have so much catching up to do
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[xfkirsten]

Well, like many kids, I saw Aladdin when it first came out. I fell in love with it pretty quickly, as I did with most things Disney at that time in my life. We bought it on VHS (and eventually wore that tape out). My friend and I would watch it and say the words with the video every time. I was constantly checking the CD out of the library. Of course, the TV series started its run, and I remember coming home from school every afternoon, heating up a bowl of Spaghettios, and turning on the TV to watch Aladdin... for some reason, I remember seeing "Never Say Nefir" waaaay too many times.

Anyways, I fell out of hard-core Disney fandom for several years. When I got to college, my love for Disney bloomed again, and I went and did my College Program. When I came back, the Aladdin show at DCA had recently opened. One viewing, and I was hooked. I immediately started digging out my old Aladdin videos and re-watching them. I fell in love with the movie all over again. I was amazed at how many jokes there were in the filmand series that I never understood growing up. I laughed at it, but a lot of it went completely over my head. But now, watching it as an adult, I have a much greater appreciation for the way that they were able to weave humor aimed at adults into a movie targeted at kids.

That's the short version.
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I don't need intelligent drugs, because I don't know what they are. But I will put anything into my mouth that is given to me, whether it's supposed to go there or not. Because... I'm different.

[Nez]

Short version:

Loved Aladdin when I was a little kid, watched the movies and the tv show and had the merchandise. I still have an Aladdin cereal bowl lying around that I occasionally eat out of. Got the DVD and it came back to me.
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[Salukfan]

(You're getting the long version, because I'm procrastinating).

My Aladdin love just seemed to happen out of the blue.

Like everyone else, I loved the movie when I was a kid. I didn't like it as much as I like Beauty and the Beast, but I enjoyed it enough to watch it everyweek with my friends. I was the only one in the neighborhood with the movie, so I ended up seeing it a lot. I had all the merchandise- my 7th birthday party was totally Aladdin themed. I found some pictures last year of me with an Aladdin cake, decorations, clothing, and a bunch of dolls. I got the Aladdin doll, the Jasmine doll, some Genie plushies, and god knows what else that year.

I don't remember my original thoughts about ROJ, but I remembering seeing KOT in 1996 and not liking it too much. I was quite neutral on it, actually, and I don't think I saw it again until 2001.

Speaking of which...

When I entered 7th grade, I was obsesed with being "grown up". Of course, "grown up" meant getting rid of my Disney stuff. All of it. I threw away all the Disney movies I owned. Except BatB, HoND, and RoJ, which survived due to being locked in a hope chest. 8th grade brought me back around to Disney.

I was in orchestra, and we were going to play a Mermaid medley. I loved the music- I couldn't stop bopping to it (scary sight), and ended up running to a music store to buy the TLM soundtrack. But they didn't have it. They did, however, have the BATB musical soundtrack (I had seen the musical twice when I was nine). I bought it, and totally fell in love. I was hooked on Disney again.

Where this leads to Aladdin, I don't know. I know it was toward the end of 9th grade. I ended up renting the movie from Blockbuster, as it didn't survive the meltdown. I fell in love with it. I tortured my father- I'd rent it for a week. I'd have him return it. A few hours later, he'd go back to Blockbuster and rent it again. I had found my ROJ copy a while before, and was watching it and enjoying it quite a bit, but I realized that I was missing the third film. They didn't have it at Blockbuster, so I thought I was screwed.

Thank you bargain bin.

I found it at our local PharMor, in a bargain section. I think it was about six dollars. I watched KOT as soon as I got home, and I put it on right away. LOVE. I thought it was fantastic. I began to watch it a lot, and stopped renting the original as much. (Soon after, I got into the world of online shopping and bought the original VHS.) Now this is about the same time I discovered the world of fanfiction (through the Hercules fandom, of all things).

I went through a year with KOT love and OOC fanfiction before I got the chance to see the series again. I used to love it as a child, but I remembered very little (only an image of Amal, actually...). I had bought the Princess Collection/Aladdin's Arabian Adventures tapes, so I had seen about 16 episodes, but I wanted all of them. I convinced my mom to get digital cable, and the series was *mine*. This was around the time I became a Rasoul fan. It might have also been the time I became a Sa'luk fan, but that might have happened the year before (it's hazy).

So...yeah, that's an account of what happened. I don't know where the Sa'luk love falls...that's a total haze. I remember it happening when I was watching the movie specifically for him- I needed him in my fanfiction, but I was kind of "meh" on the guy. I think it took a few times, but I fell in lurve.
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"This cow's been covered with flour!"

[Dragonessa]

You've got a few great stories there.

Well, I think I didn't watch Aladdin when it came out, although I'm not sure. I was like 4 years old, so I can't really remember it.

In 2000, I was with my dad on holidays in a boring little village, and since it rained all day and our car was broken, I watched TV all day. That was how I started watching Aladdin the series. I liked it pretty much, but the ep that got me obsessed with Iago was The Day The Bird Stood Still, and I didn’t even see it completely! I just saw the end, and I was so touched of how Iago was willing to sacrifice himself for his friends, that I just HAD to fully see the ep some day. Anyway, when we got home, I started watching the series every day when I came home from school, and again in the evening. My parents didn’t like me to be obsessed with it, but I didn’t care. I was about 12 at that time. However, the series stopped in 2001, and so I slowly forgot about Iago. I didn’t have an merchandise or the movies to keep me obsessed.

Then, I saw Kot in the summer 2001. I didn’t like it that much, but the worst moment was when Iago left Agrabah with Cassim. I started crying, and got obsessed with the bird again. But I soon forgot about him again.

At the first day of holidays in February 2003, I accidentally saw The Day The Bird Stood Still again, and immediately fell in love with Iago again. The next day, I got my dad to drive me to the video store, and I lent Aladdin and RoJ, but I didn’t tell my parents, because I was afraid they wouldn’t understand. I watched Aladdin, and I gotta admit, I didn’t like it. Mostly because Iago had a terrible voice, not the one he had in the series and KoT. Well, then I watched RoJ and it was awesome! It seemed like a dream come true to me, a whole movie just about Iago, lol! I bought it (had to spend quite much money for such an old movie, hehe). But my parents found out that I had started watching the series and even the movies again, and we had a big argument. Anyway, I watched RoJ over and over again, I found the fanfic The Truth About Iago by Catie Graham, and I got friends with Sindie Combs. Just last summer I became a member of the AWNW mailing list, and then I decided to register here, since I saw how much fun you have.

There’s more to it, but that’s already long enough
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[Hourglass]

Mine is fairly like quite a few other people who posted already.

When I was little, I was OBSESSED with TLM... I mean, I watched like 10 times a day, had like 14 different Ariel dolls... my room was TLM... *Remember it came out the year I was born, so I was around 3 when I began to watch it*

Then Aladdin came out in 1992.... and my mom took me to see it w/ one of her friends and their kids. I thought it was cool, but I was only, what, three years old at the time... don't remember much about it.

My mom then got the movie... but still... I didn't have much interest in it at all. I was still on my TLM kick. Then, it was my birthday, and I think I was around 6 or 7 **can't remember exactly**... I saw ALADDIN ON ICE! I loved it! I mean, I went to see it two more times after that... it was AWESOME.

Then, I went home, found my Aladdin video, and that became the video that I watched 10 times a day. Then the series, and the sequels. My room was done in Jasmine... and I had like every Aladdin and Jasmine doll imaginable.

Then, it stopped. I got tired of the movie, and didn't watch it for years. It got put up on the shelf, and forgotten. Then one day, I realized I hadn't watched it for awhile, and I put it in. And so it began...

I realized that there was love, action, comedy... and drama. It was great, and I enjoyed it mainly because of Genie this time, not Princess Jasmine. **when you're little, you always like the girls**

Then, I went on the internet to find some stuff on, when I stumbled across this site... and I found out that it was around 2 years until the DVD came out. With this, I left it be and went back to my movie. Then, around 5 months ago, I came back. But it wasn't until after the DVD came out that I really began to take active in the boards.

So... that's it... short and simple. I love romances... I love damsels in distress... I love comedy... I'm a lil' girl at heart.

But, alas, my obsession remains hidden from the rest of my social world... because my reputation would be at stake if anyone at school found out about this.
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MysticMeg's Stories on THE LIBRARY OF AGRABAH!!!

MEESH AND MYSTICMEG'S COMBINED STORY!!!

Just another weird lil' fanfiction obsession of mine...

[Hourglass]

And... forgot this part... I had to start writing fanfics as soon as I saw the New Library of Agrabah. I never got into ROJ or KOT... or the series. I'm mainly all about the original, even though I can quote all three movies... and all my fanfics take place after KOT.

But... what really drew me to the movie was the short lil scene where you get to see the sultan's ass...

HAHA.. just kidding!
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MysticMeg's Stories on THE LIBRARY OF AGRABAH!!!

MEESH AND MYSTICMEG'S COMBINED STORY!!!

Just another weird lil' fanfiction obsession of mine...

[Iago]

[AladdinsGenie]

[Dragonessa]

Yeah, it was the German one. If you don't know Iago's "actual" voice, you could consider the one in the original movie okay. It's also often used for birds. However, I knew the voice he had in the sequels and the series and was used to it, so it was quite a shock for me. Besides, I find his actual voice much much better than the other one.
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[AladdinsGenie]

Ahh, that could be it . I like how the dub overs still use a lot of Gilbert's yells and noises for Iago. It's so obvious that it's him

[Dragonessa]

Really, they do? I haven't noticed that...
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[AladdinsGenie]