Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

I haven't decided what to write on and I decided to dig in some old treasures in my childhood. I remembered back when TV-5 was still ABC-5 and there was the 1980s show (but it was during the 1990s when I saw it) called Faerie Tale Theatre . The narrator was Shelly Duval (who played Olive Oyl in the Popeye movie with the late Robin Williams as Popeye). This was probably among those simpler times. Various stories were adapted and edited with a twist. I remembered watching them on Sunday evening (and later, it was rescheduled so I was no longer able to watch more of them) which was all part of my childhood. So, what TV episodes do I remember? If my memory serves me right then the following are the ones I've seen: Aladdin Beauty and the Beast Cinderella Jack and the Beanstalk Little Red Riding Hood Pinocchio Puss in Boots  Rip Van Winkle Rumpelstiltskin Sleeping Beauty The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers The Emperor's New Clothes The Frog Prince The Little Merma...

While there's the least obvious that Aladdin here has changed from Chinese to Arabic (as most adaptations did) but now let's see the differences... aside from Abu and Rajah.  In the original, Aladdin's father had died and his mother was shown in the fic.  In the movie, Aladdin was thought to be an orphan at the streets (homeless urchin) until the Aladdin and the King of Thieves movie.  So pretty much, much a difference.  Also Aladdin doesn't meet Jasmine earlier, he was a child at the beginning of the novel.  Jasmine was also shown to have been paraded when Aladdin first saw her. The first is the Genie.  In the original story, there is the Genie of the Lamp and the Genie of the Ring, two genies.  The Genie of the Lamp in the original story grants unlimited wishes, the Disney's Genie only granted three wishes.  Also, Disney completely removed the genie of the ring and created a sentient magic carpet in its place. Another great difference is ...

As a child, I pretty thought my now missing storybook called "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" was merely a rewrite of Aladdin which I thought was from the Middle East. So pretty much the names are very Middle Eastern yet amazingly, Aladdin was set in CHINA?! Yup, that's what I discovered and of course, the Disney's Aladdin is a radical adaptation with a lot of changes and most versions of Aladdin that usually stay faithful to most of the book's events are shown in the Middle East but China? It had me baffled. The French translator Antoine Galland added it into the collection. You can read more  here  to find the information. Yup I remembered watching Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp in Faerie Tale Theatre which was set in the Middle East. I don't know why only a few people knew of Aladdin being Chinese. In that one, Aladdin had the genies of the ring and the lamp (both James Earl Jones). The princess was originally named Badroulbadour and of course, the roya...