The Ethereal

Story Editors: Bill Motz and Bob Roth
Written by: Brian Swenlin
© Disney 1995

Transcript by Calluna

 

(Setting: the Marketplace. The streets are empty except for Jasmine. She walks up to a jewelry stand and gasps to see a strange golden mask. As she picks it up, she hears a woman's voice coming from it.) Voice: The time is near. Ice shall fall from the sky. (It begins to hail.) Voice: The earth shall move. (There is an earthquake. Jasmine just manages to avoid a vase falling out of a window.) Voice: Light shall become dark. Creatures of destruction shall bring forth their wrath. (Everything turns black. All Jasmine can see are several sets of glowing eyes.) Jasmine: No! (The glowing eyes merge together and become the golden mask.) Voice: Then I, the Ethereal, shall come, and the day of reckoning shall be at hand. (Jasmine sees Sultan's model of Agrabah. The wind blows over it, wearing it down to nothing. Then the darkness lifts and Jasmine sees the ruins of Agrabah buried by sand.) Jasmine: Agrabah! It can't be! No, no! (Jasmine wakes up. She is in bed, and Sultan is standing over her.) Sultan: Jasmine, are you all right? Jasmine: Father? Oh, thank goodness it was only a dream. Sultan: You haven't had a nightmare like that since you were a little girl. (There is a clattering sound outside.) Sultan: What in heavens? (They walk towards the balcony and see that hail is falling.) Sultan: Why, it's hailing. Jasmine: "Ice shall fall from the sky"… Sultan: Well, sweet dreams, my dear. (leaves) (Setting: the Marketplace, the next morning. Everything is covered with snow, and children are running around playing in it. Aladdin and Jasmine are talking.) Aladdin: You must have heard the hail while you were asleep and your mind just fit it into your dream. Jasmine: Okay, even if that's true, don't you think hail on a summer night in the desert is just a little strange? Genie: Strange, yes. But add some lemon-lime flavoring and it's delicious! (makes a snowcone) Yum! Aladdin: So you dreamt about the hail. I'm sure it's just a coincidence. It's not the end of the world. Jasmine: Maybe not. But it was at least the end of Agrabah. Look, there were three other signs in my dream before Agrabah was destroyed. If they happen, then I'll worry. Iago: Put your back into it, chimp! Genie: Did any of those signs involve a cranky parrot? (Iago is yelling at Abu, who is carrying a big basket full of scrolls.) Iago: Come on, I haven't got all day! (Abu gets angry and throws the basket on the ground.) Iago: Hey, watch it, we're losing our fortunes here. Aladdin: (reading a scroll) "The Bird's Eye Tour of Agrabah"? This is a fortune? Iago: Look, people visit a city, they wanna know the hot spots. Abu: Yeah, yeah, yeah… Iago: We here at Bird's Eye Tours are happy to provide a guide scroll… for a price. And thanks to last night's hailstorm I got to add a "fun in freakish weather" section to this baby. Genie: Tour guides, huh? Do you rate the local eateries? I've been curious about that Chez Cheese! Iago: Back off, Blue. No pay, no Chez. Aladdin: What a way to make a living. Iago: Hey, not all of us are gonna marry wealthy. (An earthquake starts. Jasmine falls to the ground and just avoids getting hit by a falling vase, just like in her dream.) Jasmine: Just like the dream. Aladdin: Is everybody all right? Hey, Jasmine, it's okay. It's all over now. Jasmine: I'm not so sure. In my dream, the Ethereal said, "the earth shall move". Genie: (as a reporter) This Ethereal character, what other beans did she spill? Jasmine: Ice shall fall from the sky, the earth shall move, light shall become dark, and creatures of destruction shall bring forth their wrath. Genie: (taking notes) "Shall bring forth their wrath." Got it. I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you. Aladdin: I admit that dreaming the hail and the earthquake is a pretty big coincidence. But I'm pretty sure that's all it was. A coincidence. (There is a snapping sound behind them. They turn around and see a woman and a little boy with a cart full of textiles. One of the wheels has fallen off the cart.) Woman: Oh, Tanti, what shall we do? Aladdin: (lifting the cart) Need a hand? Genie: (as a mechanic) Eh, these babies should be rotated every five thousand miles or after any civic disaster. (puts the wheel back on the cart, then hands her a receipt) Here you go. It's guaranteed for thirty days, parts and labor. Woman: Thank you all so much. Jasmine: (taking a handkerchief out of the cart) These are very nice. Tanti: I made that one with my mommy. Jasmine: You did? Then I would very much like to buy it. (gives the boy a sack of coins) Is this enough? Tanti: Is it ever! Iago: Ahem! If you really loved your mommy, you'd take her on a tour of the city. Now for a few coins, I— (Aladdin grabs him) Aladdin: Iago… Iago: What? It's called a free enterprise system. Exchanging goods and services as the basis of economic growth. (The woman and boy leave with their cart.) Tanti: Thank you! Aladdin: Somehow, I thought the end of Agrabah would be much worse. Jasmine: You're probably right. Maybe it was just a silly dream. (gasps) Or maybe not! (A solar eclipse starts.) Aladdin: "Light becomes dark"… Jasmine: Still think it was just a dream? Aladdin: I'm starting to have my doubts. Genie: (looking at his notes) Let's see. Ice from the sky, earth moves, light becomes dark, that leaves… Jasmine: "Creatures of destruction shall bring forth their wrath"! (gasps) Aladdin! (There are a pair of glowing eyes in a nearby alley.) Iago: (pulling out his feathers) Creatures of destruction! Creatures of destruction! (The creature emerges from the alley; it is a giant scorpion.) Iago: (jumping into the basket of scrolls) Run, monkey, run! (The scorpion almost hits Aladdin and Jasmine with its claws, but they dive out of the way. They run away from it, but run into another scorpion coming out of a different alley. The two scorpions try to sting them, but Genie runs up in the form of a lumberjack and blocks the scorpions' tails with two logs.) Genie: (with a Scandinavian accent) They're fine creatures but they work hard. (carries Aladdin and Jasmine out of the way) Aladdin: Thanks, Genie. Genie: Jumpin' Jimminy, we're not out of the woods yet. (A scorpion is advancing on Omar the merchant, who hides behind a cart.) Omar: Foul devil! Yaaah! (The scorpion smashes the cart and Omar runs away, past Aladdin and his friends.) Genie: (grabbing the scorpion's tail) You can go easy, or you can go hard! (The scorpion flings Genie into a wall.) Genie: Why do they always choose hard? (Iago and Abu are running away from a scorpion.) Iago: Whoa! Bad scorpion! Shoo! (Iago throws a scroll at it, but it just bounces off its head.) (A scorpion grabs at Jasmine's pants, tearing a hole in them and tripping her. It is then about to sting her.) Aladdin: Jasmine! (Aladdin tackles the scorpion, but it just pins him down with its claws and tries to sting him instead. Aladdin dodges its tail.) Genie: (his stomach growls) Whoa, way past my lunchtime. (turns into a chef with a Louisiana accent) What this there need is a helping of my Genie jambalaya. (creates a giant cooking pot) Now where Genie gonna find a buncha good crawdads? (picks up the scorpion attacking Aladdin) Ah, this here's close enough. (Genie dumps the scorpion into the boiling liquid. One of the other scorpions has Iago and Abu cornered.) Iago: I'm too beautiful to die! Aah! (Genie scoops up this scorpion as well with a ladle.) Iago: (to Abu) You are so scared. How can you live with yourself? Genie: (scoops up the rest of the scorpions) Come to papa! (Genie dumps all the scorpions into the pot, then takes a sip from his ladle. His eyes spin around, and he breathes fire and smoke.) Genie: Ooo-eee! Just the way I likes it! Spicy! (gulps down the rest of the pot's contents) Jasmine: Genie, you did it! Aladdin: That was the last sign. What happens now? Iago: What does he mean what happens now? There's more?! Jasmine: Then the Ethereal shall come. Genie: Look! (The eclipse is ending, and a female figure in a long white robe is hovering in the sky. She is wearing a golden mask like the one Jasmine saw in her dream. She begins to descend to the ground.) Ethereal: It is time. It is the day of reckoning for your civilization. I shall pass judgment upon this kingdom. Iago: Uh, not to be a pessimist, but what happens if you don't like what you see? Ethereal: Then your city will be reduced to dust. Iago: (to Aladdin) I don't like the way this is going. Do something heroesque. Aladdin: What do we know about this Ethereal? Genie: Not much, but she rubs my lamp the wrong way. (Genie creates a giant golf tee beneath the Ethereal, then turns into a giant golfer.) Genie: Fore! (hits the Ethereal with his club; he and it shatter) Rats. Shoulda used the putter. (Aladdin tackles the Ethereal, but when he does the robe is empty.) Aladdin: Where'd she go? Iago: A malevolent, omnipotent being shows up and you tackle her?! (The mask lifts up by itself off the ground, and the robe floats over to it.) Ethereal: You cannot deny the Ethereal. You, Princess Jasmine, shall show me what makes your kingdom great. Jasmine: Like I have a choice. Iago: (gives Jasmine a scroll) Right here! A full accounting of everything wonderful in Agrabah! Jasmine: I will show you our city. Ethereal: So shall it be. (Jasmine and Iago lead the Ethereal away.) Aladdin: This is no good. We've got to find out more about the Ethereal. (Setting: Jafar's lab. Genie is looking through a book.) Genie: The Ethereal… Here she is! It says here, for the Ethereal's references, ask the Atlanteans, the Pompeiians, and the Babylonians. Aladdin: But they were all wiped out a long time ago. Genie: My point exactly. If this Ethereal is as powerful as I think, we need to cook up one doozy of a whammy. (Genie picks up another book and flips through it, then holds it open to a page with a picture of a spear.) Genie: The Spear of Agamota! This bad boy generates a full-reverse negaflux field powerful enough to vex any magical impulse up to thirty quags in a porsitude. Aladdin: What does that mean? Genie: No clue. But Siskon and Ebris gave it two thumbs up, and they don't rate spells unless they're really good. Aladdin: All right, let's do it. (Setting: a library.) Sultan: Agrabah's library houses the world's largest collection of tomes and scrolls. It surpasses even the famous library of Alexandria. Jasmine: It is a place for scholars to study the collected wisdom of the ages, certainly one of our greatest achievements. Iago: (reading from his guide scroll) Not to mention that the library is big enough to house over a third of the world's gerbil population. (Jasmine scowls at Iago.) Ethereal: It is a magnificent library, but Atlantis also had a library stocked with many wonderful tomes that was of no consequence when I delivered my judgment (Dark clouds begin to gather outside.) (Setting: Jafar's lab. Aladdin and the others are working at a forge. Aladdin pumps the bellows, while Carpet and Abu add a potion to a pot of molten metal. There's an explosion and they both are singed, and Aladdin and Genie are thrown across the room.) Genie: You know, I'd feel safer if we had some adult supervision. (Setting: the Marketplace.) Jasmine: The Marketplace is Agrabah's center of commerce. It is where our many merchants barter and trade. Sultan: People from all over the world come here to sample a variety of wondrous goods. Iago: And, when in the Marketplace, be sure to stop by the International House of Hummus. Genies under the age of two thousand eat free. Jasmine: You're not helping. Iago: They're a sponsor! (The Ethereal picks up a goblet from Omar's stand and examines it.) Omar: That is the finest workmanship in all of Agrabah. Ethereal: The Babylonians also prided themselves on being a center of trade. Now they're dust. (The clouds begin to thunder.) Iago: Oy, she's a regular suzie sunshine. Sultan: Everything we've shown her makes Agrabah great, but she's still not satisfied. Jasmine: What is she looking for? (Setting: Jafar's lab. Aladdin is pouring the molten metal into a spear-shaped mold. There is thunder and lightning outside.) Aladdin: Hurry, I don't know how much time we have. Genie: (as a snowman) One chilly breath a-coming! (blows cold air on the spear, cooling it) (Setting: the streets of Agrabah, near a fountain.) Sultan: Agrabah is also rich with glorious art and architecture. Jasmine: Artisans from all over the Seven Deserts come here to gain inspiration. Ethereal: In Pompeii they valued their art as well, but art is of no interest to me. Iago: Perhaps it would interest you to know that this one fountain loses over 250 gallons of water a year to evaporation alone. Ethereal: I am not convinced. (floats away) Iago: (pointing at the scroll) It's right here in black and white! You think I make this stuff up? Ethereal: You have shown me trivialities, but I have yet to see what makes this city great. My judgment has been made. (The clouds above the Ethereal's head begin to swirl.) Sultan: Oh, dear. (A giant cube with an Ethereal mask on each face descends from the clouds. Lightning starts shooting from the cube, destroying buildings.) Jasmine: No! Give us more time! (Setting: Jafar's lab.) Aladdin: Genie, we need that spear now! (Genie is hitting the spear with a hammer. Red sparks are coming from the spear's tip.) Genie: Almost finished, Al. (Genie brings the spear over to Aladdin.) Genie: Okay, the bad news is I don't know if this thing works. But there is good news! Aladdin: Good news? Genie: Yeah, judging from the size of that thing, our deaths should be pretty quick. (The cube continues shooting lightning bolts at the buildings and destroying them, while people scream and run for cover.) Iago: This is not happening. I am not here. (covers his ears) La la la la la… (hides under Sultan's hat) Sultan: Please, as the sultan of Agrabah, I beg you not to do this. Ethereal: I do nothing but pass judgment The real power lies in those who are judged. Sultan: Then all hope is lost. (Jasmine sees Aladdin and Carpet flying out of the palace with the spear, followed by Genie, in the form of a fighter plane with Abu as the pilot.) Jasmine: Not yet! Aladdin: Be careful back there! Genie: Roger that, [unintelligible] leader. You heard him, Chimp Yaeger! (They fly close to the cube. A bolt of lightning hits Genie and knocks one of his wings off.) Genie: Aah, I'm hit! Mayday! Mayday! (Genie and Abu crash. Red sparks start coming out of the spear again.) Aladdin: Huh? Come on, come on! (hits the spear until the sparks stop) (A bolt of lightning hits the spear, but it is undamaged, and the tip begins to glow red.) Aladdin: It's working! Get us close, Carpet! (Aladdin throws the spear through the mouth of one of the cube's Ethereal masks. It stops, and smoke starts coming out of it.) (Genie and Abu climb out of a hole in the ground they made when they crashed.) Abu: All right! Genie: Bullseye! (Aladdin and Carpet fly down to where Jasmine, Sultan, and Iago are. The people of Agrabah cheer.) Jasmine: Did it work? Aladdin: I think so. Omar: The boy has done it! Iago: (still under Sultan's hat) I'm not comin' out until she leaves! (The cube suddenly starts to work again and continues destroying the city.) Genie: Uh oh. Jasmine: It didn't work. Sultan: The end is truly upon us. Aladdin: Maybe so, but I won't let this city go without a fight! Genie: I'm with ya, Al. Abu: Yeah! Sultan: That's the spirit, my boy! Iago: Oh, all right, let's get this over with. Jasmine: (looking at the Ethereal) I don't know what else we could have shown you. (to the others) Come on. (Aladdin and Carpet swoop down and rescue Omar just as he's about to be struck by lightning.) Omar: From now on, free apples for you and your monkey! (Genie rescues two children from a building just before it is destroyed. Abu signals for them to take cover underneath a cart.) Iago: Move it, before the parrot takes a building in the beak! (The people are running in all directions and screaming. The woman from earlier in the episode is looking for her son.) Woman: Tanti! Tanti, where are you! (Down the street, Tanti sees her and runs towards her.) Tanti: Mommy! (Lightning strikes a building just in front of the boy, and he is knocked to the ground, unconscious. A tower next to the building that fell starts to crack, and is about to fall on the boy.) Woman: No! Someone please help! (Jasmine grabs a pole holding up an awning and starts running towards the boy.) Sultan: Jasmine, come back! (Jasmine vaults over the rubble and pushes the boy out of the way just in time, but is hit by the falling tower herself.) Aladdin: Jasmine! Jasmine! Woman: The princess! Genie: Oh, no! (Aladdin and Carpet fly over to Jasmine, who is half-buried in rubble, not moving.) Aladdin: She… she's gone. Genie: What? Look! (points up) (The cube starts to lift into the air and disappears. The storm begins to clear. The Ethereal floats over to Aladdin.) Ethereal: I have seen what I needed to see. (The Ethereal magically restores all the buildings that were destroyed.) Genie: Huh? Iago: What? Aladdin: (angry) Why spare us now? Ethereal: Your princess's sacrifice makes it clear. She understood. (The Ethereal waves her arm, and Jasmine returns to life.) Aladdin: Jasmine? Jasmine: Aladdin! (they hug) Sultan: My daughter! (Tanti gives Jasmine a hug.) Jasmine: It's the people, Aladdin. It's the people that make Agrabah great! Tanti: You saved my life! Aladdin: You saved all our lives. Ethereal: Remember the lesson learned here today. Cherish your people, or, should you forget, I shall return. (The Ethereal rises into the sky and disappears.) Sultan: (sigh) I believe we've been spared. (Everyone cheers.) Genie: Let's celebrate! Greasy food and fattening cake on me! (Abu and Iago start tearing up their guide scrolls.) Iago: This tourist business is kaput! There are some people you just don't want visiting your town. THE END