I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later

I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later is a 1985 made-for-television reunion film based on the 1965-70 series I Dream of Jeannie which aired on NBC on October 20, 1985 and produced by Sony Pictures Television.

Barbara Eden re-created her world-famous role as the magical Jeannie. Also reprising their roles from the original series were Bill Daily as Tony's fellow astronaut and best friend Roger Healy, and Hayden Rorke as NASA psychiatrist Dr. Alfred Bellows. Larry Hagman was unavailable to reprise his role as Tony Nelson reportedly because of a payment dispute and also because he was busy filming his CBS series Dallas at the time. Instead, he was replaced with Wayne Rogers, best known for his role as Trapper John McIntyre on the 1970s series M*A*S*H.

The film was directed by William Asher (who was also director of the 1960s show Bewitched) and the teleplay was written by Irma Kalish. It was filmed at The Burbank Studios in Burbank, California from April 24, 1985 to May 1985.

Plot

Jeannie has been a happily married housewife for 15 years to her astronaut husband Tony Nelson and has a teenage son, T.J. When Tony is promoted to Colonel and is about to retire from the NASA space program, Jeannie decides to give him a celebration party in their backyard. However, egged on by his colleagues to retire with a dramatic flare, Tony breaks his promise to Jeannie for one more space flight (aboard the shuttle), this time with a female astronaut, Captain Nelly Hunt.

Jeannie is furious, so she decides to separate from her husband temporarily to be a more independent modern woman. In the meantime, Jeannie's always-scheming evil sister, Jeannie II is determined to have Tony for herself and she teams up with Haji, the chief genie (operating a fitness gym in America), to break up her sister's marriage. Jeannie II traps her sister in a bottle with a special stopper, that nobody but another genie could open.

Meanwhile, Tony's space flight is in trouble; the engines won't fire and the shuttle's on collision course with a meteoroid.

When T.J. comes home and hears his mother trapped in the bottle, he attempts to open the bottle, but after many times of blinking, like his mother does to invoke her powers, the stopper moves, which shows that T.J. also had inherited his mother's powers and is a genie. After blinking, and releasing his mother from her prison, Jeannie and T.J. go to Haji, explaining the trick. Rules must have changed since 1970, because Jeannie now needs special dispensation from the chief of genies in order to do something major, like saving a human life.

Haji will give Jeannie that special dispensation... if she agrees to end her relationship with Tony. T.J. tells his mother that they'll lose dad either way, so they might as well do it so Tony lives. Jeannie invokes her magic, saving the shuttle from certain doom, and it is able to return to the ground. However, Jeannie got Haji to agree to one final night together for her and Tony, allowing Jeannie to say farewell to Tony in her heart. Jeannie then alters the bedroom and then the house to what it might look like if Tony was a bachelor; doubtless, Haji arranged for everyone to forget about Jeannie.

With T.J., Jeannie moves on with her life. The final scene shows Jeannie and Tony passing each other on the street, and Jeannie magically gets Tony's attention, indicating that they will in fact find each other again. She comments that Haji did not forbid her from having a new beginning.

Cast

• Barbara Eden - Jeannie / Jeannie II
• Wayne Rogers - Tony Nelson
• Bill Daily - Roger Healy
• Hayden Rorke - Dr. Alfred Bellows
• Mackenzie Astin - T.J. Nelson
• Dody Goodman - Scheherazade
• Leigh Taylor-Allan - Captain Nelly Hunt
• Andre De Shields - Haji

Notes

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2009)

• At first, Barbara Eden said no to NBC executives about reprising her role as Jeannie: "I had no intention of playing Jeannie again. It's a super-high risk to repeat something done well in the first place. And the series is still running in syndication". She later explained: "I read the script, and it was fun - and before I knew it, I was doing it. And I don't have any regrets".
• This was Hayden Rorke's final screen appearance before his death in August 1987.
• Following years of controversy, Barbara Eden's navel was finally exposed in her Jeannie costume on this movie. Back in 1965, censors insisted that Miss Eden's navel remain hidden from public view.
• The role of T.J. Nelson is played by Mackenzie Astin, the son of actress Patty Duke and actor John Astin.
• The familiar "boing" sound effect used when Jeannie blinks during the original series is inexplicably absent from the movie; instead, a light xylophone sound was used in its place.
• The opening sequence and theme music of this film were also used for the follow-up TV movie I Still Dream of Jeannie (1991).

External links

• I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later at the Internet Movie Database
• I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later at TV.com