Because seriously, LOOK at all of that. In the other shots i showed before, the depth and the layers to this place were not so clearly laid out. (And leads me to think that the city may have actually been built on top of a fissure as opposed to near one.) But what a Hell of a place to put a military installation.
If it was built to protect something in the fortress itself, you could not ask for a better map, because attacking armies would have to be constantly climbing to get to anything, and then the avenue to the building itself would force anyone remaining to bottleneck.
This is genius, here. Except for the noxious gasses part.
Here we have one of the clear reasons why Mozenrath is such a threat to a (mostly) unkillable Genie: He can turn his magic off.
This is the first glimpse we see of his dabbling into anti-magic items. I’m going to go out on a limb and say he developed this himself, though there is no explicit indication given either way. (EDIT: He confirms he made them in the next scene.) He could have just as easily stolen the technology or cornered the market (something we know he does with certain magical ingredients and objects later on in the series). I’m throwing him a bone here because as other instances have shown (the magic-detecting crystals, the collar for the Thirdac, his ability to MAKE another crystal of Ix), he’s pretty damn crafty.
Aladdin and Jasmine were very nearly caught, and would have been if Xerxes hadn’t forced him to look back at the city.
I also appreciate that this has to be done because it kind of further develops the way these two likely interact on a day to day basis. Leaning back on headcanon I’ve talked about in the past, I think in that context it shows how underdeveloped Mozenrath is in his craft, because he and his familiar are absolutely not as in synch as they attempt to imply in The Citadel.
I’m not going to call this a technical goof because I think they made the crystals look like this just so it’d look cool, but something tells me that Carpet and Genie should not be setting off EVERY SINGLE LANTERN in the city. That would make them nearly impossible to track.
Interesting that he just sort of…materializes by the way. I dunno if that was just a way to make the scene transition more smoothly (because it negates the need to provide any depth or definition to the inside of the fortress), or if this is another way he can magic around. If I’m not mistaken it’s pretty much the only time it ever happens.
The fact that Mozenrath says “I should shred you for being late,” says he was expecting a Mamluk to be driving (because one was) but he ALSO has trouble seeing in the dark, apparently. Because Aladdin is so obviously NOT a Mamluk.
He should have had a clue because these things NEVER DRESS DIFFERENTLY. But whatever, dude. WHATEVER.
And I just need to pause for a moment to make fun of how bad this next snatch of dialogue is, because it still works? But it only works because it makes Mozenrath look like he’s trying to sound a lot smarter than he actually is.
This is not Jonathan Brandis’ fault. This line was just poorly written, and there was simply no good way to deliver it, period. But the way that he pauses between the last two caps just makes it sound that much more pretentious and gah, it’s bad.
I like to think that Xerxes learned “trouble brews” because Mozenrath’s been trying to awesome up his speech patterns to seem a little more imposing. He’s studying to be an evil overlord; this is core content pretty much.
So as you can see, Aladdin and Jasmine don’t quite get away with the weapon, not expecting the wagon to be flanked by a contingent of guards, led by Mozenrath’s familiar.
But for some reason he doesn’t catch on that the driver isn’t undead and that there’s obviously someone in the back.
Yes, that is Jasmine using her whip to Indiana-Jones-swing onto the wagon carrying Mozenrath’s new weapon.
(I also have no idea why they never sold a Jasmine doll with this outfit. She had a million dolls at one point in time. They sold a PVC figurine of it, though, and I wanted it SO BAD when I was a kid. Jasmine was my favorite Disney Princess and I loved seeing her be just as capable and daring a hero as Aladdin. Couldn’t get enough of it! I wanted a Jasmine doll that could go on adventures and destroy evil sorcerers and rescue Aladdin when he gets his fool self into trouble.)
Genie knows about those paranoid delusions Iago has, so when he comes back accusing Aladdin and Jasmine of cutting them out of some choice loot, he grills him for the right information. What are his sources? (To be fair, he has a pretty credible one, but not one that clearly states they’re after treasure.)
Deciding that he’s milked the reporter schtick long enough that he’s gathered enough “reference get” brownie points to cheat, he pulls out “The Big Book of Stuff We’re Not Supposed To Know.”
I kind of wish I was joking. But apparently even his maguffins are contingent on how funny they can be because this one mostly gives him useless information, and when it does tell him something about Aladdin and Jasmine, it only gives him the bare minimum to do with their mission.
They’re in the Land of the Black Sand.
That’s apparently either all it tells him, or that’s where he stopped reading. It could go either way.
While Iago is still convinced it could be a treasure hunt (and Aladdin didn’t tell them because he didn’t want to share), Genie’s smart enough to know he can’t color Aladdin’s motivations with Iago’s own. If they’re in the Land of the Black Sand, it’s important. It’s more than treasure, because Mozenrath for all his immaturity sets a pretty high standard for “not to be fucked with.”
They have to be in danger, so off they go to help.
We as an audience already have an idea why they weren’t invited along. However, because Genie is lacking critical information that apparently his cheat sheet didn’t provide, we already know they’re about to throw a monkey wrench into the works.
Iago is overjoyed that for once Aladdin and Jasmine are just letting them laze around the palace.
But rather than look a gift horse in the mouth, he has to overthink it.
Because while they could just be out on a date, they took the monkey with them.
And so, in his own words: this is only going to fuel his paranoid delusions. But he’s gonna see what he can dig up.
Of course, he thinks he gets what he wants when he overhears the Sultan talking with Razoul. He’s uncertain he should have allowed Aladdin and Jasmine to go to the Land of the Black Sand alone because it’s dangerous. But because he mentions it might be “worth it”?
Iago is now convinced they’re hunting for treasure.
The DVD Fairy 