Arabian Nights (TV miniseries)

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This is about the TV series; for alternate uses, see Arabian Nights (disambiguation)
Arabian Nights
Directed by Steve Barron
Produced by Dyson Lovell
Written by Peter Barnes
Starring Mili Avital
Dougray Scott
Music by Richard Harvey
Cinematography Remi Adefarasin
Release date(s) April 30, 2000
Running time 175 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

Arabian Nights is a three hour miniseries that was made by Hallmark Entertainment, originally shown over two nights on April 30, and May 1, 2000 on ABC in the United States and BBC One in the United Kingdom. The series was written by Peter Barnes and directed by Steve Barron and is based on the medieval Oriental stories from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. The series consists of five stories which are framed with a sixth, this maintains the traditional style of stories within stories that is synonymous with the Nights.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The series starts in Baghdad, with Sultan Shahryar (Dougray Scott) who has gone mad after his first wife was killed by his own hand during a failed coup d’état, that she planned with Shahryar’s own brother (James Frain). Now, five years later, Shahryar believes that all women want to kill him, unfortunately the Sultan must get married or the throne will be passed to his brother. In his madness, Shahryar decides to take a wife and have her executed the next day. In order to prevent this, the clever Scheherazade (Mili Avital), a childhood friend of Shahryar, who is secretly in love with him, marries the troubled Sultan and tells him stories every night, stopping at daybreak with a cliff-hanger. In order to hear the rest of the story, Shahryar must keep Scheherazade alive until the next night. Cunningly, Scheherazade has hidden a moral within every story, to slowly bring the Sultan out of his madness.

[edit] The Stories

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Los Angeles Times supplement from April 30, 2000.
Los Angeles Times supplement from April 30, 2000.

[edit] Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Ali Baba finds a magic cave filled with the treasures stolen by the Forty Thieves and their malevolent leader Black Coda. Ali Baba takes the riches for himself and goes to Damascus, where he uses the stolen treasure to live in luxury. Enraged by this, Black Coda goes into Damascus, in order to kill Ali Baba and take back his treasure. This is the first of Scheherazade’s cliff-hangers.

[edit] BacBac the Hunchback

BacBac is a court jester and the most popular man in Constantinople, so when he accidentally chokes and dies at a dinner party, his hosts panic and try to get rid of the body. The rest of the story follows the body of BacBac as it is passed from person to person, each of whom believes that they have killed the late jester.

[edit] Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp

This story tells the classic tale of Aladdin, a Chinese thief who finds a lamp containing a genie that can grant wishes. This story is perhaps most notable for John Leguizamo's portrayal of two genies, the Genie of the Lamp and the Genie of the Ring. Vanessa Mae, who is best known as a violinist, plays Princess Zobeide in this story.

[edit] Amin the Beggar

This story follows Amin, played by Dougray Scott, a beggar from Cairo who is abducted by Sultan Harun al-Rashid, played by James Frain. In order to indulge his cruel sense of humor, Harun tricks Amin into thinking that he is the Sultan, before returning the beggar to the slums, causing him to go insane.

[edit] The Three Brothers

This, the last story told by Scheherazade, follows the adventures of three brothers, who each travel the world in order to win the affection of their father, the king of Yemen, by obtaining unique treasures. This story contains the famous flying carpet.

[edit] Cast

[edit] References to Persian and Islamic Culture

The miniseries is notable for making many references to Islamic culture and history. For example, during the Aladdin story-within-the-story, when Aladdin asks the Genie of the Ring who he is, the Genie jokingly says that he is Omar Khayyam. Other examples are when the Genie says bismi-llāhi ar-raḥmāni ar-raḥīm before he blows gold out of their furnace, and later says Shukur alhamdulillah when he finishes building a palace.

[edit] Awards

The miniseries won an Artios award for Best Casting and an Emmy award for Outstanding Makeup.

[edit] External links

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