I Dream of Jeannie - The Complete First Season (Black & White)

It gives off a calming effect to her and we get to hear a man called Master. How awesome is that.

A few years ago I started watching IDOJ for the first time since I was a kid on cable TV reruns. As an adult, I was able to perceive many things that simply went over my head as a child. This was actually quite an edgy show by mid 1960's standards. Oh how I wished this show would be released on DVD, and lo and behold it my wish was granted!(And, I bought the B&W version because I prize historical accuracy. I want to see exactly what was shown on TV back then, without the lousy TV's we had back then.)You've got a blond bombshell, who is eager to please in every way a man could imagine, living out of wedlock with an astronaut, who represented the most heroic all-american roll models we had back in the 1960's. And somehow, for years, this show provided good clean TV fun for millions of viewers.Part of why it worked I suppose is that Jeannie really wanted to marry Tony, and slowly but surely she broke down his resolve not to marry her until toward the end of the series, when they actually do get married. The meta-narrative of the show is thatJeannie got her wish. (Oh yeah, and she slept in her bottle until she did!)Is IDOJ really a "knockoff" of Bewitched? Yes and no. I rather think of IDOJ as an improvement.For example, the last scene in the pilot has Tony walking into his bedroom and closing the door, Jeannie turning to smoke and entering his bedroom under the door, Tony yelling "Knock it off!!" or something like that, and Jeannie coming back out from under the door and reappearing with a wink to the camera. It's all left to the imagination what happened in there and it's funny!And that's where IDOJ is very different from Bewitched. In IDOJ, the hottie with the supernatural powers gets to be sexual, whereas in Bewitched she does not.In Bewitched, Samantha is the sane one with a world of lunacy around her in which she tries to maintain order and survive the crisis of the week. She is usually uptight and in crisis mode and after a while I just start to wonder what she ever saw in Darrin in the first place. Also, this formula gets repetitve. I doubt that I'll ever order the Bewitched series for that very reason: it's much the same story every week.In IDOJ, Tony is the sane one in a world of lunatics, and Jeannie is often part of the chaos. Jeannie gets to be beautiful, sexual, smart, mischevious, and most importantly, unpredictable. Will she be part of the problem or the solution this week? Or, will she try to be part of the solution and instead bring on more chaos? You really don't know whats coming.Also, I really appreciate the work that went into some of the props and stunts that often only provided a gag lasting a few seconds. In particular when Jeannie makes herself small and has to hide in items like coffee cups, pencil holders, and things like that. Those kind of scenes take a lot of work to set up. There's some genuine special effects work in this series beyond just objects dissappearing and reappearing.Oh, and one more thing. The DVDs are single sided!! I can actually look at them and see what disc I'm holding! I can handle them without going into "brain surgeon" mode in order to avoid damaging them! They actually did the packaging correctly! WOW!So, here you've got a properly packaged example of the best that 1960's sitcoms had to offer, and for under $30. Stop wishing and start buying!Postscript: My one dissappointment with this DVD set is the commentary on the pilot episode. I expected great things since the commentators would be the main three actors in the cast, but it's like they didn't understand the purpose of a commentary or didn't prepare. Don't expect a lot of additional insights into the series. I tried to watch this with my wife and got so embarrassed for them that we turned it off and just watched the pilot episode without the commentary.

Jeannie and Tony quibble. Jeannie's not pleased with him. Tony's suddenly blinked off to a very precarious situation, like being suspended over a moat full of crocodiles, in a lion's cage, or sitting on a huge elephant appropriately outfitted for what looks like a safari. Tony finds himself elsewhere, looks around, realizes he's in trouble, and then screams "JEANNIEEEE!!!!!!"What a show!! I don't remember what first got my attention about this or whether I'd watched Bewitched first, but I noticed how devastatingly pretty the genie looked clad in that red and pink harem suit, eager to serve the man she calls "Master" and I've always enjoyed it ever since. I'd wish life's really like this, that I'd have a genie of my own to cater to every whim of mine, but of course it doesn't work this way. As if I have to point this out.I mentioned a competing series that aired at the time, Bewitched. Yes, I really like this show as well so it's likely I'll add this to my growing DVD collection. One more comment I'll make about this series is yet another comparision, but more like how Tony and/or Jeannie at a table conversation in one S1 or S2 episode put it, comparing some items relevent to this plot are like comparing oranges and lemons. Yes, that's how I'd compare these shows, Bewitched and IDOJ, respectively. Enough of Bewitched for now...Anyway, I started with S2 of IDOJ by buying it at a retail outlet instead of Amazon, but I really absolutely wanted to start with S1 and not move back and forth around, so I ordered S1 online here and within days it arrived in good shape, ready to open and pop in the DVDs. It took me nearly all week to watch in chronological order all of seasons 1 and 2, 61 episodes in all (30 and 31, respectively). What a treat, getting to see some episodes I don't ever remember seeing before.I opted for the colorized version as I didn't want to pay some extra $8 for B&W. It is understandable how more valuable B&W is given what some of the other reviewers have said here, but to me it just doesn't matter as long as I can see everything nicely, and nicely I did.Before I go on, let me say I had NO idea this show too was indeed filmed in B&W. Imagine my surprise when I saw a rerun in non-color. I'd already seen only later, color episodes, some several times before I got to this point. Why, it never even occurred to me until I realized it was done in the 1960s, the very decade when ongoing shows fortunate enough to be renewed were thus transitioned to color, and IDOJ was among them. Another clue was I wasn't born until halfway thru the series run (1967), so no one pointed this out to me.Anyway, as I said how nice the colorized version looked, a couple things did get my attention: everyone's teeth looked somewhat gray and in one scene where, in the pilot or episode 2, Jeannie looked for a second B&W before becoming full color after smoking out of the bottle before Tony in a confrontation. The former amused me, made me wonder if the people responsible for colorizing them assumed the teeth's white enough, so they probably just left them alone and focused on the rest. As for the latter, it didn't really matter to me so much as they got my attention.Just like I realized the series originally started in B&W, its S1 theme music wasn't funky sounding like it was in the later reruns I'd seen. That's what I really like about this show over the years, the perky-sounding opening music. To be honest though, I like the funky version better as S1 sounded somewhat classical. Was it common for shows back then to start with conservative theme lyrics, then move on to higher-octane sounding versions in later seasons? That's what I noticed on The Brady Bunch, my all-time favorite show. I don't have TBB yet; I'm in no rush as I've seen everything countless times already, that I'll probably just get the entire series at once when I'm ready.Back to IDOJ. The colors do look beautiful to the point that Technicolor could take credit for it, but if you're not very picky like me, then save some moola and go for the colorized version. I know S3's been out too, so I'm gonna get this one in due time. Enjoy! :-)

Why buy this when you can buy the complete series on the cheap? But if you are wanting to go about it season by season then might as well start at the beginning. In my formative youth I enjoyed watching this madcap show with my family. My dad sure enjoyed it and as I got older (Jeannie) it was (Jeannie) easy to (Jeannie) see why: Jeannie is one of the ultimate male fantasies—pretty, sexy, ready to wait on her master hand-and-foot, and grant his every wish. Tony, the happy bachelor, is always acting gallant around her and resisting her charms (mostly) while wanting to accomplish things under his own power. I can’t help but think how if this were made now that it wouldn’t quite go that way! But Tony tries to squeeze out the best of both worlds by keeping Jeannie as his maid/ pretty personal assistant while being able to chase his work and dream girls around without her interference. Silly, silly man. As much as the guys enjoy watching Jeannie the ladies get to watch Tony, a young Larry Hagman, always in uniform. He was their magic man. Now I watch this with my wife and she is the one who usually picks it out of a slew of other shows to watch.What I was surprised over was how much they got away with on this sitcom initially (Jeannie threw herself at him so much more early on than what I remember) and the opening credits and music must have changed in later seasons because I didn’t remember these season 1 opening cues. The excellent foil of Dr. Bellows always ready to try to get Tony axed from the space program and Tony’s best pal, Roger, who had some great ideas on how to use Jeannie, were nice ways to round out the cast.

I dream of genie is a great show and always funny - good sound and vision - looks good in black and white

good old DVD

very pleased with my purchase!!

I ordered this dvd and found that not only it is just what I was looking for, the price was very reasonable. The most impressive point I would like to make is that POLSKI FILM company is one I now appreciate for the simple fact that the package I received was so nicely put together in an old school type if manner. Everything was so neatly done and put together. For example, my name and address were printed and taped so carefully, actual stamps were used instead of just a fast ink stamp to pay the shipping and put very neatly in order, and the dvd was wrapped with my bill with such tender loving care. Very much appreciated!

I used to watch this show as a kid and loved it. Forty years later, I didn't enjoy it as much. It is not very well written. Besides, the video version doesn't have the lovely original theme song and the colored version disagrees with my memory. Still, it brings back a different era from television shows.