Aladdin Central Messageboard

[Meesh]

My fiance and his mom split it and surprised me with it for my birthday!!! There's handwritten notes and a little packet of notes from a Pete somebody. I haven't read it yet, but I'm going to, and I'll post about it here!!

Just a quick flip through, and it looks like the princess' name is Alia, there's a character named Jamilah, there's an "old Abu" who speaks fluently, and there seems to be two genies.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/123720479554
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[Meesh]

Okay I read the first 30 pages last night, and here's what's up:

It begins with an unnamed thief and a magician (who we later learn is Ja'Afar the royal vizier). They join their halves of a map, which magically leads the way to a cliff. Ja'Afar speaks some magic words and opens Sulaiman's Cave. The thief goes all the way in, fills his pockets with treasure, then tries to pocket the lamp. But the spirit of the Wizard Sulaiman appears and throws him out, saying only one pure of heart can enter. The thief, angry at Ja'Afar, tries to stab him, but Jafar evades him by turning into a snake. He then turns the thief into a beetle and peaces out. (Ja'Afar has no sidekick that I can tell so far.)

Then we meet Aladdin, who is a 15-year-old orphan living in Baghdad, his mongrel dog Kalil, and a bunch of monkeys of various types. The monkeys keep stealing, and Aladdin proves himself agile and clever trying to return everything the steal before the shop owners notice. Three thieves Rashid, Gasim, and Fakir take notice and pursue him to get him to join them. He refuses and cleverly evades them.

Aladdin goes home, which is an abandoned building with a beautiful view of the city. Also living there is an old blind man (and master to the monkeys) Abu Akabbar, who brags that he used to be the greatest thief in all Baghdad, and expects Aladdin to take his place. Aladdin doesn't want to steal, but doesn't have the heart to tell him. He privately sings a song about his plans to make something of himself. (no lyrics provided)

Then we meet Princess Alia and her "faithful older servant" Jamilah. Alia feels caged in and wants to remove her veil and explore the city, meet its people, before being forced to marry someone she doesn't know. Ja'Afar influences her father to contradict her wishes, and there is clear animosity between the vizier and princess.

Alia comes up with an idea. She gets Jamilah to dress up as her and go to the baths to create a diversion. Alia then dresses as a commoner and slips out to the city. She is immediately pick-pocketed, and instead of helping, the guards order her to get them water. She is clumsy, and Aladdin assists her, to her chagrin. She then gets in trouble for not bowing when the "princess" parades through. Aladdin defends her with the crazy sister excuse, and she follows him around. He low-key tries to lose her, but Kalil leads her to their hovel.

There, she bonds with Abu, Aladdin, and the animals. Abu sings a song "On Top of the World" (no lyrics provided) about their life. Aladdin then walks her home. She admits that she is the princess and gives him her royal ring, making him swear not to tell. She says they probably will never meet again because she is to be wed to a prince.

Ja'Afar notices the princess' odd behavior, turns himself into a wasp, and eavesdrops on her conversation with Jamilah. She gushes about Aladdin and his character, and Ja'Afar begins to suspect that Aladdin may be pure of heart.

Ja'Afar approaches the 3 thieves who now hate Aladdin. They gladly help get Aladdin arrested.

.....


That's all for now! I collected a few insults:

“You sneaky little son of a cross-eyed desert rat”
"You sneaky double crossing son of a cross-eyed desert rat”
"Lying jackal"
"Crafty buzzard"

There was also a mention of an emissary from Kartoum, which I was amused by.
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[AladdinsGenie]

Holy shit, this is completely different from anything I've read so far This one feels closer to the original story in the Arabian Nights, though, even though it's totally not.

And why does everyone keep cutting the whole "the princess dresses as her chambermaid and does a body switcheroo to escape the palace" plot? The live-action film cut that, too, and that's why Jasmine is just in the marketplace with no explanation as to how she escaped in the first place.

"You sneaky double crossing son of a cross-eyed desert rat”

[AladdinsGenie]

And happy belated birthday!! Sorry it was during quarantine

[Meesh]

Thanks! It was my 30th, so it should've been a big party. But it was still a lot of fun!

Okay sorry I've been MIA in this thread and the series rewatch. I've been working a lot and trying to primarily consume media by POC.

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But I read another 20ish pages, and here's what we got:

Alia has an "I want song" about the unfair expectations of a princess, wishing she could live how she wants to live.

Aladdin is imprisoned for stealing the princess' ring. Ja'afar tests Aladdin to see if he is of pure heart by trying to get Aladdin to break his oath to the princess. But even when threatened with execution, Aladdin refuses to say where he got the ring. They strike a deal that Aladdin can prove he is honest by going into the cave, ignoring all of the riches, and bringing back a worthless lamp.

Before their journey, Ja'afar pays a visit to return the princess' ring and tell her that he executed the thief. Alia tells him that she gave it to him, and he begs for forgiveness. The devastated Alia escapes again to tell Old Abu about Aladdin's fate. He says they already knew, and they mourn together.

When Aladdin gets hold of the lamp, a terrible earthquake starts. It isn't explained, and somebody (in pencil) wrote "expl. for earthquake?" Then the "first give me the lamp" sequence happens pretty much exactly like it is does in the final cut. Except the lamp falls back into the cave, instead of Aladdin's animal friend stealing it.

Alia's father tries to console her, but she won't eat or speak to anybody. The Sultan remarks that she and Ja'afar have both been moody all week. (We then hear Ja'afar being angry in the hallway, kind of comically.)

Aladdin accidentally rubs the lamp, and Genie comes out. He is described as a "Yul Brynner" type, and he speaks like an American trying to write a Chinese person. They have the talk about how Genie's freedom, and Aladdin promises to set him free. Then Genie sings a song about the best wishes he's ever granted. Somebody (in pencil) writes in the margin "too many songs."

Aladdin ends up wishing, "I wish to soar back to Baghdad in a blaze of glory riding on a Flying Carpet." During which, he sings a song to a subserviant genie about living a little, and they have fun and bond on the adventurous trip back.
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[AladdinsGenie]

"too many songs"

yikes @ genie's speech patterns, though. that's disappointing.

[Meesh]

Next up...

Aladdin flies into Agrabah in his blaze of glory and catches the attention of the whole city. He first goes to Old Abu to tell him he is alive. Ja'afar recognizes him immediately and hires the 3 thieves from before to capture him, turning them into harpies.

While the whole city is distracted by the fight, Jafar shrinks Alia and puts her in a jar. (way less cool than an hourglass )

The battle with the harpies gets really intense, and Aladdin has to use his second wish to save Old Abu from a deadly fall. A penciled-in note writes that he should have also used that wish to give Abu his sight back.

Aladdin arrives to the palace. Jafar had left a note: "We have Princess. Send the peasant boy Aladdin to the ancient fortress or you'll never see her again." Aladdin immediately knows it's form Ja'afar, and the Sultan says "I don't know who you are or what you mean to my daughter, but please... do whatever it takes to save her."

Aladdin, Old Abu, and the monkeys fly off together. (I kinda wish Jamila joined them.)

The thieves find Ja'afar and want their payment and to be turned back into humans. Ja'afar turns them into skeleton soldiers. (Mamluks?? ) Old Abu knows the cave well from his thieving days and leads them in. When attacked by the thieves, Old Abu insists that he and the monkeys can handle them, and Aladdin goes on to find Ja'afar and Jasmine.
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[AladdinsGenie]

I don't know if this just sounds complicated or if I'm just not use to reading scripts paced out like this, but I'm getting lost in so many of these details

[Meesh]

It's probably because I'm really making 0 effort at storytelling here
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