Aladdin Central Messageboard

Amyrat151 · Streetrat Joined: 17 Jan 2011 Posts: 20

Hey, my name is Ellen. I've lurked on this site and forum before and now I'm joining. I love Aladdin. I was four in 1992 and seeing "A Whole New World" is one of my first memories. After 18 years, Christ that's a long time, it's still something I love. RoJ...not so much, but the animated series and third movie are great. But I don't think they are really talked about much, and this make me a bit sad. That or people don't really remember them, you know when you're with a group of 20 somethings and the topic comes around to stuff you watched when you were little, you mention Aladdin TAS, and don't get much of response Sad

I use my youtube page to review anime, but I want to do a list of Aladdin's best episodes. After watching the whole series again, I had a list, but I got curious about what other people thought. This has been so in my own head for so long I don't think other people will respond as well as I'd like them to in response to it.
So tell me, fellow Aladdin nerds, what are the best episodes? Why do you think that. What is it, animation, character moments, funny lines, just a really cool and well thought out story?
I was thinking of making it 11, since the Nostalgia Critic's word is now law on the interwebs.
Love and Peace,
from Ellen

Amyrat151 · Streetrat Joined: 17 Jan 2011 Posts: 20

You know I will credit who ever is nice enough to help me.

AladdinsGenie · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:24 am Post subject:

Define "best"? Just all-around solid episodes or the popular ones or...? The Aladdin episodes are kind of divided into the good ones, the ok ones and the "God, what is this?" ones depending on what character you're looking at sometimes Laughing

Calluna · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:33 am Post subject:

Well, there are 86 episodes, so I don't know if you could narrow it down to only 11 of the best episodes that everyone could agree on! I think the last time someone asked me this I could only narrow it down to, what, 20? Laughing

I need to look around...
_________________
"If only I could believe you. Perhaps I can! After all... you do bear the name of a flower." -- Arbutus

Amyrat151 · Streetrat Joined: 17 Jan 2011 Posts: 20

Joblom · Streetrat Joined: 21 Jul 2009 Posts: 20

The Lost Ones is pretty good. On other forums I've seen a lot of people compliment the animation in that one. Plus the plot about naughty little boys being abducted and turned into monsters hits the right spot I think. Scary, in that... fridge logic kind of way, I think? You know, like in the Pinocchio and the naughty boys being turned into donkeys.

Certainly one of the better episodes in my opinion.

Princess of Agrabah · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:32 pm Post subject:

I agree about the Lost Ones. The animation in that one was really smooth, and the plot was great. Some of my favorites are the "Garden of Evil", "Eye of the Beholder" ( that was deep <3 ), "The Secret of Dagger Rock", and "Two To Tangle" ( lots of great lines in that one ).
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Princess Lainey · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:18 pm Post subject:

Kind of off the topic but related... when the series first came out, it was only available on the Disney channel which required subscription at the time. I think this is why many people don't remember it vs. cartoons they grew up watching on basic cable.

Amyrat151 · Streetrat Joined: 17 Jan 2011 Posts: 20

I agree as well about the Lost Ones. I also think that Aladdin's friend...Amal, right?, walking around the desert doing good deeds to become human again could have made for a really awesome series all by itself. There has been more than one fantasy story based off that premise, but no kid's show as far as I remember. I also think that one can stop and think about how the poor kids are made into monsters because of their own despair at being poor, instead of them being just evil. How is this fridge logic? I've never really got that trope.
I also love The Garden of Evil. The death of the anti villain was overdone, but it did take the show into a morally ambiguous place where Aladdin could be seen as a villain. I think it plays out kind of like a Miyaziki movie, honestly, since the the pro-environmentalism subtext is really the text.

AladdinsGenie · Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:05 am Post subject:

The college art major in me rolls my eyes at Garden of Evil and Arbutus in general, but I accept its place as being a good episode among the series as a whole Laughing

Eye of the Beholder seems to be the episode people remember the most (and certainly the one everyone does fanart for. I don't know what is about snake!Jasmine, but people are just fascinated by it). I think it's a little overrated, but it's a very telling episode of Aladdin's love for Jasmine and just how far he'll go for her.

Hmmm, this is kind of hard to do without just blurting off the popular ones/the ones that were on the series VHS tapes that more people would have seen if they didn't catch the rest of the series on TV as a kid. I'll just list two of my personal favorites:

Dune Quixote - I LOVE episodes where Aladdin is out of commission and the rest of the gang has to assume responsibility. Add to the fact he's just generally being special here with that ladle and bowl on his head, it's instant love Laughing

. Sadira had some of the better plans out of the villain regulars in the series, possibly because she's not a villain as much as she was just a lusty fangirl Laughing

Genie Hunt - the saddest episode for me as it hits on the very real fact that Genie will live forever and Aladdin won't. One of the things that makes the entire Aladdin saga so special is the relationship formed between Aladdin and Genie over the years, so for them to shed that kind of light on their friendship was pretty dark.

Calluna · Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 7:18 am Post subject:

The Lost Ones is my all-time favorite. Smile

10 years ago Garden of Evil was considered by everyone to be the best episode.

A couple of years back we did a tournament kind of thing and Dune Quixote won, but now I'm not so sure about it. The animation is pretty bad and Genie's really carrying the idiot ball in that one. It is really funny, though. Back in the day it was really polarizing; some people hated seeing Aladdin act stupid. Razz

I'm just going to read down the list and pick out a few of my favorites we haven't mentioned yet:

Forget Me Lots - Who doesn't love the Scourge? Twisted Evil

Some Enchanted Genie - They did a great job of making a love interest for Genie who is funny in her own right. (Funnier than the series Genie, IMO)
The Sands of Fate - Maybe just because I'm also a Trekkie? XD
The Flawed Couple - Abis Mal and Mechanikles! Hilarious episode, shame about the animation...
The Citadel and/or The Wind Jackals of Mozenrath - at least one of those two, kind of hard for me to choose between them. They're very similar in tone, almost like a two-parter?
The Secret of Dagger Rock - A Mozenrath episode that's also Jasmine-centric? Twofer! Wink

When Chaos Comes Calling - I've seen this so many times it's easy to forget how funny it was the first time I saw it. I love meta. Very Happy

Witch Way Did She Go? - It's got great animation, lots of backstory, a darker tone, and it's a Sadira episode. It's good to see Sadira get better at controlling her powers; it makes me really curious about what she does next. And personally I love seeing less black and white morality: Sadira being tempted to join the witches, Aladdin being suspicious of her.

Some other popular episodes: Moonlight Madness, SandSwitch, Riders Redux

I've left out some of my personal favorites: Poor Iago, The Return of Malcho, Hero with a Thousand Feathers, etc. I really don't think I can be objective on those; I might be the only one who likes them.
_________________
"If only I could believe you. Perhaps I can! After all... you do bear the name of a flower." -- Arbutus

Amyrat151 · Streetrat Joined: 17 Jan 2011 Posts: 20

AladdinsGenie - Does GoE make you roll your eyes cause the art is crappy? I think the art quality in Aladdin was never that high. I do really like the look of the plant art, though. It at least conveys what it needs to about Arbutus.

I'm not a giant fan of Eye of the Beholder, and I love A/J. I think there are a few weak plot points. Like why the hell didn't the bandits see that Jasmine was a snake thing? Or the fact that it is a bit cheap that the whole thing ends with Deux Ex Machina, or however you spell that. But Aladdin and Jasmime did prove their love to each other and the audience, so it kind of works. But the whole ending is really pretty powerful and romantic, so I do think it deserves its place as "one of the best."

I love Dune Quixote, too! It is hilarious and I also like seeing the rest of the group having to work together to fix it. And you see, I actually like having Aladdin act stupid. It's great that the staff could take a harmless poke at his character. I mean, what good is a series if they can't make fun of their characters?

Sadira was a great character in general. She was a product of having a harmful obsession. That is something a lot of people can relate to. Which Way Did She Go is a good episode, too but for me it's a bit of a wall banger to see Aladdin acting that way. I mean, I got his behavior in Garden of Eden. He has no reason to think Arbutus is anything but the bad guy. And you can also use the "love makes you blind" defense, since he was out to save Jasmine, but his actions in WWDSG just makes me facepalm.

Genie Hunt is something I shrug at, but the bits of darkness in Aladdin are always something to look at with a smile.

I LOVE When Chaos Comes Calling because I love the character Chaos. Personification of a concept of reality, awesome. A character that is just there for the lulz, great. It's a rare treat to see a character that is messing things up in a really detached way. He doesn't want the city destroyed or Aladdin to fall, he just wants to add surprise to our regular's lives. I also love all the references in that episode, like Tale Spin and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The Secret of Dagger Rock is great, but to me it's really great because Aladdin knows that Jasmine is coming to save him. He has complete confidence in her abilities to execute a plan and kick ass. I know Mozenrath is big fangirl bait and all that, but I never thought it was hot, I always thought he was creepy. I do like him though, he had some awesome one-liners, plus he was a serious threat.

I also like the Return of Malco, too. Not really a big favorite but I like how it deals with Aladdin's fears of becoming Sultan.

No one has mentioned Seems Like Old Crimes, so I will. Anyone think something about that?

Calluna · Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:12 am Post subject:

Princess of Agrabah · Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:34 pm Post subject:

"Seems Like Old Crimes" is a really awesome one too. I really liked how they divided into two parts. It was nice to see how Aladdin met Abu, and I really like the scene where he returns the money he stole from that guy in the marketplace--and the one when Jasmine jumps in front of Aladdin so he doesn't get hit. The ending was really touching, too.

Amyrat151 · Streetrat Joined: 17 Jan 2011 Posts: 20

Oh, but is he really crazy? I mean, he's a plant himself. It would only make sense for him to view humans the way that he does...or at least makes sense to me.

I got another one, what's with all of Mirage's line of "blast, you've come further than I thought!" I mean...shouldn't she know that they're right next to the frick'n tree? Why didn't she try and stop them from seeing the next marker, you know what, whatever, I still love the ending of that episode. It might just have the best ending of any of the Aladdin episodes.

Alright, so Aladdin had a case of finally being suspicious, which I do get. But like you mentioned, he was told what all happened with Sadira in Dune Quixote, what she did to him but also how she helped save all of them. So that should have given him some points where she's concerned. I know she never apologized to Aladdin on screen for all that happened, but it was Jasmine who she went through that whole debacle with, not Aladdin. I'm guessing she apologized to him but really, it can't be proven that she tried other times to get Aladdin, just like it can't be proven that she apologized to Aladdin.