Genie in a Bottle Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pacific Ocean

The capsule ran into difficulties during re-entry on completion of its mission, and landed prematurely. The pilot, Captain Anthony Nelson, found himself marooned on a deserted island, and worried about getting himself rescued. Little did he suspect what was in store!

Answer: Larry Hagman

Larry Hagman, son of Broadway actress Mary Martin and lawyer father Benjamin Hagman, started acting in local theatre productions while he was still in high school. He had success on the New York stage, and a number of television roles starting in 1956, but his first major television success came when he was cast for the part of Tony Nelson. During the first season, Tony was promoted from Captain to Major, the rank he held for the rest of the show's five-season run.

The other actors all played members of the Ewing family on "Dallas", but did not have major roles in "I Dream of Jeannie".

Answer: To make an SOS message on the beach

Captain Nelson was hoping that there would be aircraft looking for him, whose pilots would see a giant SOS laid out on the beach, so he started collecting stones and other suitable objects with which to construct his message. When his attention was taken by a bottle that seemed to move of its own volition, he investigated further, and opened the stopper on its top. That really let the genie out of the bottle, in a puff of smoke that was to become familiar during the series!

Answer: Persian

Persian, more formally known as Farsi, is a language that is widely spoken in Iran and Afghanistan, as well as in some other regions that were part of the Persian Empire, stretching across the region between Turkey and Iraq in the west to Pakistan and China in the east. Since the story of Aladdin's lamp, which this series clearly references, originates from that region, Persian was a sensible language for the 2,000-year-old genie to speak.

She did not understand Captain Nelson's requests that she provide assistance until, frustrated at the situation, he wished that she could speak English, and hey, presto, we had communication.

It then became a simple matter for her to magically summon up a helicopter to rescue them. (Don't ask exactly where they could go with the limited range of a helicopter - it's magic.)

Answer: Barbara Eden

Barbara Eden faced very little in the way of female competition throughout the run of the show - most of the young and attractive ones were played by herself! Emmaline Henry played Amanda Bellows, a recurring character, and the other two women had bit parts in a couple of episodes each.

The directors of "I Dream of Jeannie" had originally planned on casting an actress with brown hair for the part, but Barbara Eden ultimately won the role. In 1969 she was nominated for a Golden Globe award as best actress in a television comedy series, but lost out to joint winners Carol Burnett (for "The Carol Burnett Show") and Julie Sommars ("The Governor & J.J."); fellow losing nominees were Lucille Ball ("Here's Lucy"), Diahann Carroll ("Julia") and Debbie Reynolds ("The Debbie Reynolds Show").

Answer: She hid herself, in her bottle, in his bag

Not for the last time, Jeannie showed that she was a determined not-as-young-as-she-looked lady, and refused to be abandoned by her newly-discovered master. She slipped back inside the bottle, apparently turning herself into a puff of smoke to do so, then rolled the bottle into Captain Nelson's bag, and they headed back to Cocoa Beach, Florida and the space station at Cape Kennedy (the name used for the facility at Cape Canaveral between 1963 and 1973).

Answer: Dr Bellows

Dr Alfred Bellows was sure that the hallucinations of having seen a beautiful girl on the desert island were caused by a mother complex, and was seriously concerned as to Captain Nelson's mental stability. He was subsequently to spend most of the series trying to get to the bottom of Captain Nelson's strange behaviour, and being embroiled in the comical situations created by Jeannie's use (and misuse) of her magical powers. Hayden Rorke played the part of Dr Bellows throughout the series.

Answer: Jeannie came out of the bedroom wearing one of Tony's shirts

As Tony and Melissa entered the house, we heard a running shower, as did they. When Tony saw Jeannie's bottle sticking out of his bag on the floor, he began to suspect that an unpleasant confrontation was about to follow, and tried to get Melissa and himself back outside, but wasn't fast enough to avoid the moment when Jeannie emerged from his bedroom dressed only in one of his shirts (an amazingly large shirt, but still a fairly revealing outfit, and one that was suggestive of an inappropriate intimacy in the opinion of the outraged fiancée).

Answer: Trapped her inside the bottle

This was the first time, but far from the last, that we saw Tony trick Jeannie back inside her bottle. You would think that eventually he would have realised he had to get rid of the bottle while she was inside if he truly wanted to be rid of her, but he always kept it around so she could escape again.

This time he actually did try to take her outside, but was interrupted before he could open the bottle and make her leave; the bottle was collected with the rubbish (don't ask why they were collecting the rubbish in the middle of the day, please) and Tony had to chase after the truck to collect it again. Now, if he had only let it go, the series would have taken on a totally different look!

Answer: Roger Healey

Philip Ober played the part of General Wingard Stone, Tony's commanding officer and the father of his (temporary) fiancée. Sydney Sheldon was the producer of "I Dream of Jeannie". Captain Roger Healey was Tony's best friend, who was later let in on the secret of Jeannie, although in this episode he was one of those convinced that Tony had serious sanity issues.

After Tony managed to convince them that he just needed a good sleep, he was left to face Jeannie one last time, but was no more successful in convincing her to go away than in the earlier attempts, and the episode ended with her nodding her head and blinking at the audience, making us go away.

But we came back the following week!