abis mal – The DVD Fairy

This is me all the time.

“I’m okay. My fall was broken. By my spine.”

This is also what should have happened when he dove into that pile of gold.

“Starting tomorrow, I learn at least one new curse every day.”

…That’s actually rather proactive of you, Abis Mal. Probably one of the few times he openly acknowledges a shortcoming and resolves to improve on it. Of course it’s cursing. But we should celebrate the small victories. May I direct him to this nataliedee comic:

source

Baby birds can cry. Didn’t you know?

And apparently this makes monkeys sad.

Regardless, Iago’s done enough listening to know about the inside-out spell and apparently he’s forgotten how completely sad and pathetic Abis Mal was the last time they faced him. Especially since, again, Iago single-handedly won that fight.

So he gets loud, and someone hears him.

Abis Mal has lost the spell, however.

Haroud is so done.

Abis Mal: Some rambling

So the thing about this character that I didn’t like when I was younger is that I didn’t much like the straight comedy characters (and I won’t lie; I usually tuned in hoping for a new Mozenrath episode that I hadn’t seen before), so I didn’t spend a lot of time really thinking on this character’s motivation. It usually began and ended with

1. He’s a bumbler. It’s pretty much what he’s there for.

2. He wants a Genie.

3. He wants to be Sultan because “big hat.”

4. Disney pretty much owned Jason Alexander in the 90s. (See other evidence: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Rogers’ & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Madeline, Hercules…)

But in watching this episode I kind of get him a little better, and you can see a clear line between the character he was in Return of Jafar and what he’s become between then and the start of the series.

Apparently another thing that his experience with Jafar has taught him is that magic at least somewhat increases his chances of success. He nearly killed Aladdin in the movie and totally would have succeeded if Jafar hadn’t intervened at the last minute.

The fact that he knows what a Roc is and how he can put a baby Roc to use in his plans suggests he has either been doing his research or he was smart enough to hire someone who does. And considering in later episodes he has to explain to Haroud why he’s stealing or using some given magical artifact that leads me to think he actually figures this shit out by himself.

Haroud has further served as a good balance for him because that heist was apparently a test run to see how well the feathers worked. Not something he probably would have bothered with before he got an assistant.

This picture is purely so you can appreciate some of these between frames. These animators did the better parts of Return of Jafar and it’s glorious.

Bit of headcanon: When Aladdin and the gang hear Haroud very loudly and unsubtly talking about how he agrees with Mal’s plan to use magic to kill Aladdin? I think he already knew they were there. Because it sounds like a canned conversation thrown out as bait.

Speaking of magic being used to kill people? Yeah, apparently Abis Mal has done that recently, too.

He’s killed somebody with a spell before. And despite that he has no qualm with killing or trying to kill people for the rest of the series this was apparently so bad it gave him nightmares.

Which makes me highly doubt he’ll actually use the spell again even if he threatens to.

Introducing: Haroud

Much of this liveblog will be devoted to explaining why I love this character so much. This is Haroud, technically Abis Mal’s second in command, who pretty much always says what he’s thinking.

I have to wonder what made Abis Mal decide to take him on, but I think after Jafar he decided he’s more marginally successful when he’s got someone working for him that he thinks is smarter than he is. Even if they are sassy.

And man, Haroud is sassy.

Since apparently nobody’s plotting to kill Abis Mal anymore it’s working out for both of them.

And at last, Jafar.

Almost halfway through this movie and we only just now get to Jafar getting out of the lamp. And his name’s on the cover.

But first more foolishness with Abis Mal and his entourage, who decide as one that they’re going to kill him. “No witnesses.” As though he’s not a wanted criminal who’d be dead if he were caught anyway.

What struck me as the most odd in this scene was Mal ranting about suing the owner of the well because the lamp fell on his head. I think that might be Jason Alexander’s other characters bleeding through.

Of course he rubs it and out comes Jafar, scaring his would-be murderers and their RED EYED DEMON HORSES into the desert:

Much as I hate Mahl, I love this face:

There is something about this animation. I can say with some certainty that this team of animators only worked on some of the episodes in the show, or their technique evolved overtime. There is something odd about it, especially the proportions on the Genie and how his jaw doesn’t seem to be attached to the rest of his skull. But they draw some great expressions. (Stylistically I’m pretty sure the same animators who worked on DuckTales: Treasure of the Lost Lamp also worked on this film. Certain expressions, like this one, are way too similar.)

Anyway, Jafar:

He is actually posing in this one:

Goddamnit, Jafar.

In this first sequence, at least, the animation on him is pretty well done, if a bit overexaggerated at times, but then that’s the design, too. Even when he takes his more human form.

I also just like watching him torment this character that I intensely dislike.

I also actually kind of like their interactions, here, probably because it reminds me so much of Abis Mal’s interactions with Haroud in the series. (Haroud is the only good part of most Abis Mal episodes, which will be discussed when he comes up. Haroud serves as the avatar of most viewers who don’t like Abis Mal episodes, just kind of quietly suffering through it, tight-lipped and annoyed as Hell while waiting for Gargoyles to come on.)

I’d be willing to bet that the writers liked their interactions a lot too, and that was why Haroud was created. Mal works best when he has someone smarter than he is, passive-aggressively undercutting him all the time. Frequently, it saves his life.