Jeannie Nelson

"For over 2000 years, I've been in that bottle. And then... Then this hand released me. Oh, when I saw thy wise face, I cannot tell thee how much happiness thou has brought to me."

- Jeannie

Jeannie Nelson was the co-main protagonist on the 1960's sitcom, I Dream Of Jeannie. A magical genie, or djinn, out of Middle Eastern lore, she spent the series pursuing and ultimately winning the hand of US Air Force pilot and NASA Astronaut Anthony Nelson. In the anime genre, Jeannie is considered the original prototype for the trope of the 'magical girlfriend', and like her successors, her attitude and antics often placed in doubt just who was the 'master'. She is played by actress Barbara Eden.

Personality
Jeannie is very kind, friendly, and eager to please. The latter is normally taken to extremes as it is the source of her master's many misadventures. Despite living for more than two thousand years, Jeannie has proven to be quite immature and impulsive, disobeying her master and using her powers whenever she sees fit. Jeannie's passion for her master has resulted in her being overprotective.

Appearance
Jeannie's main outfit is pink silk. During the first season the color was not known because it was shot in black and white, also during some of the earlier episodes Jeannie would wear silk shawls over her outfit. The reason for this is the actress Barbara Eden was pregnant at the time. It could also be noticed that Jeannie never showed her belly button until the TV movie I Dream of Jeannie: Fifteen Years Later. Jeannie would always have a bead over her belly button. In the later season other women would have exposed belly buttons, but never Jeannie. Jeannie would also wear regular clothing when going to dinner with Tony and when out in public. In season 5 she would wear regular clothing more because she was trying to be a normal wife.

Jeannie's bottle
Throughout the series of I Dream of Jeannie, Jeannie repeatedly exits and enters her bottle as all genies do when residing with their masters. However, Jeannie rarely spends too much time within her bottle, as she desires to be on the outside world spending time with Tony.

Jeannie only enters her bottle when certain situations occur. She mainly uses her bottle as a place to sleep and a place to hide when strangers enters Anthony Nelson's House. However, Jeannie also uses her bottle as a personal salon, a storage area, and a personal place to spectate others outside her bottle.

Jeannie's bottle is usually uncorked as Tony allows her to roam around the house and be free. However, Tony does place the cork back on the bottle top whenever he wishes Jeannie not to be involved with his personal problems and events.

Jeannie's bottle is usually seen within Tony's house or within her bottle case. However, with magic, Jeannie is able to move her bottle to any room within the house by levitating the bottle for travel.

Season 1's Exterior
The exterior of Jeannie's bottle carries the appearance of all genie bottles. The bottle's base is round and has an oval shape to allow the interior to have enough room for Jeannie to sleep and reside. The top and the body of the bottle is circular and narrow to allow the genie to exit their bottle through smoke or magic.

However, Jeannie's bottle in the first season of the series is completely transparent smoke grey with vine arch designs and patterns allover the bottle to make it appear more "magical". The vine arch designs are colored with bright and royal gold. At the neck of the bottle, there are gem designs and patterns to stimulate a "beauty" and "genuine" look. The gem patterns appear in gold. The whole bottle was given a green wash and scratched at some parts of it to make it look aged and weathered.

The oval base of the bottle has vertical gold patterns that act as windows to the interior of the bottle

Seasons 2-5's exterior
The exterior of Jeannie's bottle carries the appearance as all genie bottle. The bottle's base is round and has an oval shape to allow the interior to have enough room for Jeannie to sleep and reside. The top and the body of the bottle is circular and narrow to allow the genie to exit their bottle through smoke or magic.

However, Jeannie's bottle, along with other genie bottles, has a different color pattern to match the appearance of the genie's outfit. Jeannie's bottle is completely purple with arching designs and patterns on the neck and body of the bottle to make it appear more "magical".

The arching designs are a mixture of colors from white, orange, red, blue, and gold. At the middle of the bottle, there are gem designs and patterns to stimulate a "beauty" and "genuine" look. The gem patterns appear in red, blue, and gold.

The oval base of the bottle has matching patterns of solid sheer Arabian arches. The arch designs on the base acts as a window to the interior of the bottle.

It is often discussed which color Jeannie's bottle is: purple or mulberry. But, in the episode "One of Our Bottles Is Missing" from Season 2 episode 20, Amanda Bellows, the wife of Dr. Bellows, wanted to have an exact copy of Jeannie's bottle. Jeannie blinks and turns into smoke in the workshop and goes into her bottle after the duplication was done. However, Tony gets the wrong bottle after the duplication and Mrs. Bellows receives the original one with Jeannie inside. Roger Healey manages to switch the two bottles for Tony and he gets the correct bottle then. This happened after they both sneaked into the house of the Bellows. In that episode two bottles can be seen on screen and one has a different color than the other. The bottle Jeannie is smoking herself into is the mulberry colored one. In other episodes her bottle is the metallic purple one and in others it is the mulberry colored one. The reason for this often switching is unknown.

Besides their colors, there are also some differences between bottles used in the series regarding its design that is discussed by fans. Fans discuss whether the inside of the top of the bottle is purple or gold. In Episode 20 from Season 2, "One of Our Bottles Is Missing", the man from the workshop has Jeannie's bottle, the mulberry one, and is about to put the cork back on. They show a close-up shot of the top when the cork is put back on and you can see that that bottle's top on the inside is purple. In Episode 24 of Season 2, "My Incredible Shrinking Master", Jeannie's bottle is on a table and Roger Healey is close to the bottle. You can see that this bottle's top is gold on the inside. The other bottles are purple or mulberry on the inside of the top. It is unknown why they painted some bottles differently.

In Season 4 Episode 17 of I Dream of Jeannie, titled "Jeannie, the Governor's Wife", Jeannie wants Tony to run for governor, with Roger's enthusiastic approval. In this episode it becomes very clear that another version of Jeannie's Bottle's design has the inside of the top part in gold. Other bottles had the inside painted purple or mulberry instead.

Reunion's Exterior
The exterior of Jeannie's bottle in the two reunion movies also carries the appearance as all genie bottle. The bottle's base is round and has an oval shape to allow the interior to have enough room for Jeannie to sleep and reside. The top and the body of the bottle is circular and narrow to allow the genie to exit their bottle through smoke or magic.

However, Jeannie's bottle from the reunion movies, along with other genie bottles, has a different color pattern comparing with the bottles from the series. Jeannie's bottle is completely dark purple with triangular lines or designs and patterns on the neck and body of the bottle to make it appear more "magical" yet similar to the bottles used in the series from Season 2 to Season 5.

The triangular designs are a mixture of colors from green, orange, red, blue, pink, and gold. At the middle of the bottle, there are gem designs and patterns to stimulate a "beauty" and "genuine" look. The gem patterns appear in red, orange, green, and gold.

The oval base of the bottle has matching patterns of solid sheer Arabian arches. The arch designs on the base acts as a window to the interior of the bottle. On some shots the windows appear to be all painted with gold, but on other shots they appear to have a pattern where some are painted with gold and a next one with a light metallic purple color. Perhaps there are more variants of this bottle.

In the first reunion movie, Jeannie showed her young son, Anthony Jr. how she met her father on that tiny island on the Pacific Ocean. Tony Jr. saw his father marking the S.O.S. sign on the sandy beach, saw the bottle moving on its own and how his father uncorked the bottle and how his mother, Jeannie, emerged out of the bottle for the first time in front of him.

The bottle used was the new bottle for the movie. It's implied that the bottle is the same bottle first found and that Jeannie always had one bottle. Jeannie's bottle is no longer kept in the living room but in the master bedroom instead. The reason for this was that Tony Jr. did not know his mother is a Jeannie and perhaps to keep the bottle safe. Jeannie shows his son how she can use magic after he saw his mother packing and how her clothes were floating in the bedroom. Jeannie then had no other option than telling her son the truth and it's when Jeannie made the bottle float to her and tell her about their relatives and then showing her son how she met his father.

Besides Anthony, Jeannie and Tony Jr., Jeannie's sister also knows how or where to find Jeannie's bottle. When she trapped Jeannie in her bottle in I Still Dream of Jeannie, she made sure no mortal can uncork it and that only genies can. Jeannie II forgot or perhaps never knew that Tony Jr. is also part mortal and part genie. Tony Jr. was the only one who could save her mother and release her from her bottle by blinking and trying to remove the stopper with the help of his mother.

Later, in the movie I Still Dream of Jeannie, Tony Jr. is a teenager and knows where to find his mother in the bedroom. ​​​​​​He knows that he should look inside the bottle to see if his mother is inside or would tap on the bottle to wake up his mother so she would come out. The bottle is put on a small table with long legs close enough to the bed.

Season 1's Interior
Jeannie's Bottle has a long dark-purple couch that covers the floor around the oval-shaped interior of the bottle. On the couch are pillows, blankets, and cushions. Also on the couch are Jeannie's personal items she keeps for herself. These include an Arabian candle, a photo of Tony Nelson, a hand mirror, and usually her genie book.

The wall within the bottle is striped-colored around the interior of the bottle. The two striped colors are black and gold without any Arabian arch design. Also on the wall are maroon-colored curtains for Jeannie's personal decoration.

In order for Jeannie and other characters she would like to be within the bottle, she would have to make them miniature through magic and blink them within the bottle. Since the interior of her bottle is oval-shaped, there is enough room to fit multiple people within her bottle when they are of miniature size.

When Jeannie wishes to exit from her bottle, she may do so by either exiting by turning into pink smoke or blink her way out. Jeannie usually turns into her pink smoke to exit from her bottle to present Tony with a magical effect that his genie is appearing before him.

Seasons 2-5's Interior
Within Jeannie's Bottle is a long purple couch that circles around the oval-shaped interior of the bottle. On the couch has Jeannie's pillows, blankets, and cushions. Also on the couch are Jeannie's personal items she keeps for herself. This includes an Arabian candle, a photo of Tony Nelson, a hand mirror, and usually her genie book.

The wall within the bottle have arching patterns to resemble traditional Arabian monastery arches. The walls are sheer-grey colored with the arches colored in gold. Jeannie also has sparkling gems and jewels on the walls as her own personal decoration.

In order for Jeannie and other characters she would like to be within the bottle, she would have to make them miniature through magic and blink them within the bottle. Since the interior of her bottle is oval-shaped, there is enough room to fit multiple people within her bottle when they are of miniature size.

When Jeannie wishes to exit from her bottle, she may do so by either exiting by turning into pink smoke or blink her way out. Jeannie usually turns into her pink smoke to exit from her bottle to present Tony with a magical effect that his genie is appearing before him.

Reunion's Interior
Jeannie's Bottle in I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later has a long purple couch that circles around the oval-shaped interior of the bottle. The couch is very dusty in this movie because she hasn't been in it for a long time since she got married with Anthony Nelson and had a son together named Anthony Jr. On the couch has Jeannie's pillows, blankets, and cushions. Also on the couch are Jeannie's personal items she keeps for herself.

The wall within the bottle have arching patterns to resemble traditional Arabian monastery arches. The walls are sheer-grey colored with the arches colored in gold. Jeannie also has sparkling gems and jewels on the walls as her own personal decoration. Because of the dust, the gems no longer sparkle beautifully like when it's clean.

In order for Jeannie and other characters she would like to be within the bottle, she would have to make them miniature through magic and blink them within the bottle. Since the interior of her bottle is oval-shaped, there is enough room to fit multiple people within her bottle when they are of miniature size.

When Jeannie wishes to exit from her bottle, she may do so by either exiting by turning into pink smoke or blink her way out. Jeannie usually turns into her pink smoke to exit from her bottle to present Tony with a magical effect that his genie is appearing before him.

In I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later, Jeannie was once again trapped by her wicked twin sister Jeannie (Jeannie II) but without knowing Jeannie was already freed by her son with magic powers as a djinn, she uncorked the bottle and smoked herself inside the bottle. Meanwhile, Roger Healey wanted to break the bottle so Jeannie would be free but did not know that she already got freed and that Jeannie II was inside. He did not realize the bottle was uncorked already.

However, in I Still Dream of Jeannie they used the same bottle or design from the first reunion movie. The bottle is now clean inside and remodeled too. It's unclear if this was always like that or if that Jeannie remodeled it some time after I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later, knowing how dusty it was in that movie.

The color of the couch is a color between purple and blue with gold arches. It looks more modern comparing with the original interior design of the bottle. Also the windows look different and their colors including the patterns on them and the edges too. It seems the windows now allow more light to enter too. The floor has also a decoration which was never seen before in the older bottle designs. The blue-purple tint and gold of her couch are the main colors of the interior of the reunion bottle from I Still Dream of Jeannie. The colors match the exterior of the bottle.

In the movies, Jeannie isn't seen with others in her bottle like in the series with her wicked twin sister Jeannie II or her master Anthony Nelson.

History
In the series' original premise, Jeannie had once been a mortal girl changed into a genie by the villainous Blue Djinn when she spurned his advances. However, either because this was too sad (it meant that Jeannie's family and everyone she had ever known were long dead) or to open up her backstory, this original premise was ignored as time went by. Instead, Jeannie was from a Genie family, with at least her sister and mother appearing on occasion, also all named Jeannie.

As the series began, Captain (later Major) Anthony *Tony* Nelson saw his space recovery capsule go off course and land on Cocoa Beach where he located an ornate bottle he decided to open. In a puff of pink smoke, a girl (who at first knew no English) formed and eventually told him that she was a magical genie, and that he was now her master. After she granted his wish for a rescue team to find him, Nelson freed Jeannie from her servitude, bidding her go where ever she wished. Not necessarily in love with him at this point, Jeannie was utterly confused by a man who desired neither her company nor the riches and power she could instantly grant him. One interpretation of the show's subsequent events, where Jeannie rarely ever did exactly as she was told is, Tony had long ago ceded his position as master, leaving Jeannie free to do as she wished. So she followed him back to his home in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

As an up-an-coming astronaut at an exciting time in the American Space Program's existence, Nelson, who genuinely liked the girl, also felt (often correctly) that she would be an impediment to his career, especially if she was ever found out. His unwillingness to use either Jeannie's affections or her powers drove her to the point of suggesting wishes, and then interpreting his orders to the letter in order to aid him, with a mixed bag of results, usually on the down side. Adding to the mix was Tony's best friend Roger Healey, also an astronaut, and Colonel Doctor Bellows, the staff psychologist at Nelson's NASA office. Healey eventually learned about Jeannie, and was much more willing to use her powers than Tony, while Bellows observed a series of strange goings on and kept at Nelson, hoping to crack this mystery.

Jeannie was also not above interfering in Tony's efforts at a love life, from covert spells to overt magic, despite his insistence. That said, the two learned to work together when something unintended threatened their life together. Nelson on a few occasions saw flashes of Jeannie's temper; this may provide a reason why he was at first reluctant to enter into a relationship with her. Yet even at her most aggressive, Jeannie had nothing on her twin sister, also named Jeannie. Fending off friends, family and opportunists, somewhere in the mix, Jeannie unknowingly got what she wanted. The only obstacle was making Nelson realize this.

In a series of mishaps involving a throne held by one of her uncles, Tony finally drove Jeannie away, and immediately became morose and miserable. Seeking her out at risk to his career and his life, he proposed marriage and she accepted. Getting married and married life had their own challenges, like when the blushing bride was not capable of being filmed, or when an effort by friends to redecorate their home turned into an Escher painting-without Jeannie's help--it was the happiest they had ever been. Unfortunately, as for many series, resolving the premised relationship also means likely cancellation. In what was meant to be a final episode, Jeannie was finally exposed and Tony's career at NASA ended. But then, mixed signals on cancellation remade the episode into a dream, though no new season was produced.

Two TV-movies followed in the late 1980's, with the two still married, with a half-Djinn son, and troubles caused by Tony's astronaut career as well as the continued larceny of Jeannie's twin sister.