If they fell in love, she lost her powers.
I assume this had to be reciprocal because it was obvious via the plotline that she loved him intensely from pratically the first show.
There were several episodes where someone else took posession of Jeannie’s bottle and became her master. Two recent reruns were when Captain Healey (he and Tony weren’t promoted to Major until the second season or so) stole the bottle and took control of Jeanie and the other when a female Soviet soldier was given the bottle by Healey. In both instances, Jeannie was still in love with Tony, though she had to follow the commands of her new masters.
With Jeannie being from Bahgdad, I wonder what shacking up with Major Nelson would do to his security clearance these days.
Incidentally, notice that Tony’s and Roger’s uniforms were different on the show. Major Nelson was an Air Force officer and Major Healey was in the Army.
I’m going to be a voice of dissent here. For the most part, I agree with Darrin’s reluctance to have Sam use her powers.
I don’t see it as an insecurity thing - far from it. Darrin’s refusal to have Sam use witchcraft was more of an honorable thing – he didn’t want to get things “for free” - but rather by dint of labor. It’s the same sort of pride that might make a billionaire’s heir refuse his family’s help or money, instead stubbornly striking out in his own career, earning his own money, and the like.
I doubt many people would criticize the heir for his refusal to accept money and job opportunities, preferring to earn whatever he can get in life on his own. Darrin saw Sam’s witchcraft in the same way – an easy-out alternative in which the family would be enriched by accident of birth, as opposed to hard work.
Now, you can certainly debate whether that’s a fair view to hold about magic. But it’s not an indefensible one.
- Rick
Why are so many people so SURE that Tony and Jeannie weren’t having sex? Jeannie seemed to sleep in the bottle, but as Seinfeld once pointed out: “THAT is not sleep!”
Given her role as a granter of any and all wishes, Jeannie certainly would have had sex with him if he had wished for it, or at least produced a duplicate of herself for him to have sex with.
Although Samantha seemed to respect Darren’s pride about supporting his family by his own efforts, she didn’t exactly take orders from him, either. I got the impression that “living like a mortal” was sort of an amusing diversion for Sam. She never hesitated to use her powers when she felt like it… popping off with her mother for lunch, cleaning windows with magic when she got bored with Windex, and so forth.
I always thought that a great current tv pilot could be made based on I Dream of Jeannie.
In this version the “Jeannie” is pretty much the same - a scantily clad hot blonde.
The Nelson is, of course, gay. Think hot gay slacker guy who runs a coffee shop.
The Healy is, of course, not gay - and of course, Nelson’s best friend. Think hip surfer dude. And, of course, he is hot. And of course he is hot for Jeannie. Who is hot for Nelson. Who is hot for - well, in gay television world, not Healy because that would make all the straight tv viewers uncomfortable.
You still need a Bellows type character. Maybe the rich guy who really owns the coffee shop.
No way you could do it with Jeannie just once.
She would have balled him in a heartbeat.
A) She loved him greatly
B) He would have been p***y whipped in a week (and she had to know it).
But in Major Nelsons defense she’d have me whipped the first day.
I, evidently, cannot read subtext. Example, please?
Lots of potential for a modern remake: Jeannie could be a magical creature who is magically required to love her master with however large a stick his ass can enjoyably receive.
If she HAS to obey her master’s commands, then Jeannie is incapable of consenting to sex. Sex without consent is rape. And that’s why Nelson doesn’t boink her - he doesn’t want to be a rapist. QED. 
Mr. Excellent raises a very good point, actually.
I think I’ll toss in my vote with his reasoning. Even if it’s not “rape” per se, there would still be something weird about it.
Jeannie could keep ME up all night. Magic or not.
I think that was Major Nelson’s deal too. He didn’t want a sexual partner who had to do whatever he said. He was just too much of a gentleman to be turned on by the idea of taking advantage of a woman who literally could not say no. Some people don’t find the idea of a sex slave who is a real slave (not just someone voluntarily playing a role) all that appealing. But once he was convinced that Jeannie did have a mind of her own and really loved him they decided to get married.
A few years I saw a black-and-white episode - first time I’d ever seen one not in colour, and it seemed much more innuendo-laden than the colour episodes I’d seen; as in I got the impression from it that they were in fact sleeping together, which I had never gotten from the later colour episodes.
Does anyone know if there was a change in time slot or writers or PG rating or something in the changeover from black-and-white to colour?
Your logic is sound but I disagree. I see loving her master as being a part of Jeannie’s nature, an essential element of who she is … it isn’t an external rule imposed on her despite her personal feelings and values. That’s the magical element of her personality. Under such circumstances, sex would be completely consensual and a very nice thing for Jeannie.
I see a modern remake of Jeannie as an under-the-radar story of a consensual dominance and submission relationship, in which a willing submissive has to coax a wimpy Major Whatsisname into being more masterful. Much potential for humor here, especially with Jeannie’s magic powers.
Well, WE know Jeannie’s feelings for Nelson were real, but HE did not know it at first. He may indeed have been worried about it being only the result of Master-imprinting, or that he was misinterpreting something (i.e. “well, that would be a come-on coming from a human girl in 1967 America… but it could be something totally different coming from a genie; better not take the chance”) and he’s too much of a Nice Guy<TM> to just take advantage now and care about consequences later. He may also be concerned that they are such radically different beings that a romantic entanglement would end badly. As time progressed and they have shared time, experiences, etc., he came around to seeing that her feelings are real and they can indeed get along, then they did become a couple. Until that time, though, he has a real concern that if this ends badly it puts at risk everything he has worked for all his life.
Also, consider the historic time in which the show is written. The public image in the mid-60s for a leading-man Astronaut would have necessarily been an All-American golden boy officer-and-gentleman, a.k.a. a stick up his ass.
Of course, Tony would have to be careful how he asked for sex from Jeannie, since she would sometimes take things literally. So, if Tony weren’t careful and said something like, “Jeannie, I want you to make me scream”, he could end up in a vat of boiling oil.
But then didn’t he have Jeannie make him a multi-billionaire oil baron down in Texas?
WHAT???
Some more thoughts on the consent issue: If she’s so maically bound to her master that she’s incapable of true consent, does she really have free will? And if she doesn’t have free will, is she really a “person”? I mean, it’s not rape for a person to boink a RealDoll, even though the doll is incapable of consent. How is it different for an absolutely-bound djinn?
Moot, I know, since Jeannie apparently was capable of consent beyond her obligations, but relevant to the discussion.