I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 5, 2021

Sidney Sheldon created I Dream of Jeannie (as well as The Patty Duke Show and Hart to Hart), the five season television sitcom that aired on NBC between September 1965 and May 1970, a tidy half-decade of service in delighting fans first in black and white, then in color, following the magical exploits of a bottled-up, thousands-year-old genie and her then-contemporary man. The show was moderately successful but found a following for its wisecrack humor and fish-out-of-water story lines (both in Jeannie's life in the then-modern world and Tony's dealings with an out of time beauty who can do anything at the snap of her fingers or, as the case may be, by the nod of her head).

The show follows a simple premise featuring a high ranking and well decorated Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut, Captain Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman) who, following a forced ejection from his one-man space capsule, finds himself stranded on a small strip of land somewhere in the South Pacific. It would seem there was no hope for rescue, but as fate would have it he finds a bottle that, when rubbed and opened, reveals a beautiful genie he comes to know as "Jeannie" (Barbara Eden) who can grant him anything he wishes, including that she speak English rather than Persian and that a rescue helicopter would appear out of thin air to bring him to safety. Tony, who is engaged, is entranced by the beautiful woman but tries to leave her behind. She successfully follows him home, anyway. Quickly, Tony and his fiancé come to an end and he begins a real relationship with Jeannie.

As the stories and seasons build, I Dream of Jeannie takes care to care for its characters, refusing to let the stock humor and expected storylines run the show into a premature grave. The show gets much of its mileage out of Tony's efforts to at once both enjoy his time with Jeannie while also trying to hide her from the world (as well as from Air Force Psychiatrist Dr. Alfred Bellows, played by Hayden Rorke). Time and again she proves an alluring match for him and the grantor of any number of wishes (apparently far more than three), but oftentimes it's her own infatuation with him as her master, and her efforts to please him any way he desires that is the crux of the show's humorous foundation. Time and again Tony finds himself in a pickle of Jeannie's making, whether it's right in his own backyard with his Air Force compatriots (he often fears being "found out" and expelled from the service) or even whisked into a different place and time altogether or coming face to face with others like Jeannie or her family itself. Within each episode's compact sub-30 minute runtime, gags aplenty abound and even as the humor backbone remains steadily planted on that core relationship and the essential ebbs and flows within it, rarely does the series drag or wear out its welcome.

On the flip side, there's no fear as the show attempts to build a dramatic, human, emotionally resonant base. I Dream of Jeannie works to solidify its characters beyond the core comedy and build a rather complex world around them, not so much as to drown out or even dial down the humor but certainly enough to prop it up and push it into another gear with the dramatic underbelly working within. Whether ironing out the obvious, and sometimes more subtle, relational kinks between Jeannie and Tony, exploring several other characters with sincere depth, or even taking the time to find the real heart connection between its lead characters, the show rightly builds beyond the premise into something worth more than a funny bone escape.

I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mill Creek brings I Dream of Jeannie to Blu-ray across twelve discs with a 1080i transfer that lacks the finesse of superior presentations which have been remastered and authored with more care, but the end result is (usually) a perfectly reasonable image within the expected parameters of, A., a TV show as old as this one, B., considering Mill Creek's usual compression, and C., the number of episodes crammed onto each disc.

Indeed, tings could be better, but things could also be much, much worse. Generally speaking the picture is satisfyingly crisp. The natural film resolution allows for a nicely detailed, crisp, and mostly sharp image, even at 1080i, yielding pleasing skin and clothing textures as well as well defined location elements, whether within standard set pieces or when the action shifts to a one-off location on an episode-by-episode basis. The image's grain structure is present but competes with some mild background compression artifacts. It looks more filmic than not, but perfection is not within the image's grasp.

Season one was photographed in black and white. The grayscale is more than satisfactory. Skin tones look a little overly light and there are no true deep blacks (even military neckties, for example) but for the most part the grayscale holds just fine, even if it lacks the precision and nuance found on better Blu-rays, never mind the various resplendent HDR UHDs on the market today. Season two and forward shifts to color. As with the grayscale, there's nothing too spectacular going on with the color. It's decently saturated; colors are healthy enough if not lacking punchy contrast and looking a little faded and fatigued. Blacks are decent enough, skin tones are a little flush but look fine for the most part. Casual audiences will be pleased enough with the colors, videophiles will be left wanting more.

Now, for some of the more obvious downsides. Some of the disc cram a lot of episodes into them. But even in the most densely packed disc, the material holds up rather well. Certainly there are bouts of compression issues scattered throughout the series, though fortunately none really ever reach the level of bothersome…annoyance, maybe, but only the pickiest, most demanding viewers will find this set too troubled to watch. Most will be rather pleased with the overall fit an finish, which does also include some various pops and speckles but, like the compression issues, never appearing to a truly distracting and/or debilitating extent. Worse, there is some serious jittering and interlacing artifacts seen in the episode There Goes the Best Genie I Ever Had; the episode is nearly unwatchable. The bottom line is that, even with some flaws (that last one being the most egregious in the set), the series looks rather good in sum on Blu-ray.

I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I Dream of Jeannie features a very minimalist type of soundtrack. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless mono encode does what it can with the limited source material, making usually a fledgling effort to find some semblance of balance and detail to the rather crude musical and support elements at work. Spacing is limited to a center imaged area with precious little extension beyond, and never mind anything that pushes the front stage very wide at all. Essential clarity is a bit muddy at best, and at worse there's some unevenness; listen at the 18:40 mark of the series debut episode to hear some wobbling and wavering to the score. Sound effects are crude yet effective at setting the scene and conveying basic audio needs, nothing more. The laugh track remains centered with only cursory definition to identify the sound; various little individual details within are audible but hardly lifelike. Dialogue is clear enough and center imaged for the duration.

I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements are included on any of the Blu-ray discs beyond disc two which includes I Dream of Jeannie...15 Years Later (1080i, 4x3, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, 1:34:13): This is the full TV movie released in 1985. Note that the disc one artwork advertises this supplement, but it actually appears on disc two. Seasons one and two ship in an Amaray case (each disc on its won hub with flaps in the middle) and seasons three, four, and five in the second case. Both ship in a somewhat flimsy, but capable, slip box. There is artwork differential between the outer box and inner packaging.

I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I Dream of Jeannie grants its most ardent fans' wishes to arrive on Blu-ray, but it's not the package it might have been. No extras and middling video and audio put a damper on what should be cause for celebration, but at the least the technical presentation can be labeled as "good enough." Recommended for fans who can be satisfied with a troubled, yet still perfectly watchable, HD image.