"Garden of Evil" is the fourteenth episode of Aladdin, originally aired on September 14, 1994.
Plot[]
Twenty years ago, a young Sultan goes to a magical garden in the desert to pluck a flower as a gift for his new bride. But then, the master of the garden, Arbutus, appears. He is angry at the destruction and threatens the Sultan. However he sees that the Sultan truly appreciates the beauty of his garden and relents. The Sultan promises Arbutus that he will give him great treasures if he lets him go, and Arbutus concedes, telling the Sultan that he may leave with the flower, on condition that in twenty years, he will take in exchange his most precious treasure.
Returning to the present where the Sultan is telling the story, Aladdin promises the Sultan that he will guard the treasure room all night so Arbutus will not steal from him. He and the gang set to guarding the treasure rooms that night. However, the Sultan tosses and turns restlessly, and wakes up in a sudden realisation. For Arbutus does not care for cold, hard gold or lifeless gems - and the Sultan's most precious treasure is the beautiful Princess Jasmine!
After Arbutus kidnaps the princess to take her to his garden. Aladdin and the gang follow Arbutus to rescue Jasmine.
Meanwhile, Arbutus shows Jasmine his art and tells her how much he loves his garden. He even puts Jasmine on display with his flowers, complimenting her as also being living beauty. Jasmine begins to understand, and can't help but admire the beauty of the garden, but before she can convince Arbutus to let her go free, Aladdin shows up and fights Arbutus. However, Arbutus turns out to be an incredibly powerful sorcerer, with all the power of nature to call upon. He starts to crush Aladdin in his vines, and it is only through luck that Aladdin slashes the rose off Arbutus's chest, killing him and causing the whole garden to rot away around them.
Dismayed, Jasmine tells Aladdin that Arbutus loved his garden as much as they love each other, and that he wasn't really evil, just different.
Later, Aladdin and his friends plant and water the rose. The rose perks up, giving hope that Arbutus and his garden will someday bloom again.
Cast[]
- Scott Weinger as Aladdin
- Linda Larkin as Jasmine
- Ron Perlman as Arbutus
- Val Bettin as The Sultan
- Dan Castellaneta as Genie
- Gilbert Gottfried as Iago
- Frank Welker as Abu
Trivia[]
- When the Sultan tells the story at the beginning of the episode, it turns out that he is telling it to Jasmine, foreshadowing that she is his most precious treasure.
- Jasmine's mother is indirectly mentioned.
- Arbutus is very similar to the monster from the original fairytale version of "Beauty and the Beast"; he is a vicious but kind monster living alone in his magic domain, and demands the daughter of a man who stole one of his flowers, and bonds with the girl before her suitor comes to kill him; unlike in the fairytale, Arbutus dies and Aladdin survives. Coincidentally, Ron Perlman - Arbutus' voice actor - also played Vincent in the 1987 TV version of Beauty and the Beast.
- Fittingly enough for a plant spirit, Arbutus shares his name with a genus of plant that grows around the Mediterranean Basin.
- Goof: The Sultan is briefly wearing his regular clothes instead of his pajamas when Arbutus reveals himself in Jasmine's bedroom.
Home video releases[]
US[]
- Princess Collection: Jasmine's Enchanted Tales: The Greatest Treasure (VHS)
International[]
- Princess Collection: Jasmine's Enchanted Tales: The Greatest Treasure (VHS)
- Jasmine's Enchanted Tales: Journey of a Princess (VHS and DVD)
