Dunes Djinn – The Dunes Hotel and Oasis Casino & Jambi the Genie from Pee Wee’s Playhouse
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Dunes_Djinn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunes_(hotel_and_casino)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee-wee%27s_Playhouse
Dunes Djinn are creatures your wizard encounters in the Eastern portion of the Rubal Wastes. You will need to defeat some for them to reveal the entrance to Istanboa. When casting some spells the Dunes Djinn say, “Mecca Lecca”.
Commonly called The Dunes or The Dunes Inn, The Dunes Hotel & Country Club as it was formally known, was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It opened on May 23, 1955, as the tenth resort on the Strip. It was initially owned by a group of businessmen from out of state, but failed to prosper under their management. It also opened at a time of decreased tourism, while the Strip was simultaneously becoming overbuilt with hotel rooms. A few months after the opening, management was taken over by the operators of the Sands resort, also on the Strip. This group failed to improve business and relinquished control less than six months later.
The Dunes opened with 194 rooms, while a 21-story tower brought the total to 960. The tower was among the tallest buildings in Nevada, and was opened in 1965. By this time, the resort also had the tallest free-standing sign in the world, rising 181 feet. Several popular restaurants were also added in the 1960s, including the underwater-themed Dome of the Sea, and the Top O’ the Strip, located at the top of the hotel tower. Another tower, 17 stories in height, was opened in 1979, giving the resort a total of 1,282 rooms. The Dunes added a second gaming facility, the Oasis Casino, in 1982.
Seen with Chairry, Mr. Window, and Clockey.
Pee-wee’s Playhouse is an American comedy children’s television series starring Paul Reubens as the childlike Pee-wee Herman that ran from 1986 to 1990 on Saturday mornings on CBS, and airing in reruns until July 1991. The show was developed from Reubens’s popular stage show and the TV special The Pee-wee Herman Show, produced for HBO, which was similar in style but featured much more adult humor.
In 2004 and 2007, Pee-wee’s Playhouse was ranked No. 10 and No. 12 on TV Guide’s Top Cult Shows Ever, respectively. It was also named to Time’s list of the 100 Best TV Shows in 2007.
The Pee-wee Herman character was developed by Reubens into a live stage show titled The Pee-wee Herman Show in 1980. It features many characters that would go on to appear in Playhouse, including Captain Carl, Jambi the Genie, Miss Yvonne, Pterri the Pterodactyl, and Clocky. While enjoying continuous popularity with the show, Reubens teamed with young director Tim Burton in 1985 to make the comedy film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. It became one of the year’s surprise hits, costing a relatively modest $7 million to make but taking in $40 million at the box office.
After seeing the success of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, the CBS network approached Reubens in 1986. CBS agreed to sign Reubens to act, produce, and direct his own live-action Saturday morning children’s program, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, with a budget of US$325,000 per episode (comparable to that of a half-hour prime-time sitcom), and full creative control.
Jambi the Genie (voiced by John Paragon), was a blue-faced (later green) genie who lives as a disembodied head in a jeweled box, he usually appears once per show to grant Pee-wee a wish, often with unexpected results. To power his magic, he makes the group and audience chant, “Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho.”
The current list of all the (known) Mirage references can be found here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.
Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages
Dunes Djinn image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment
Dunes Hotel image is copyright 1983 by Larry D. Moore. It is borrowed from Wikipedia and is shared under the CC BY-SA 3.0 Creative Commons license.
All Pee-wee’s Playhouse images are copyright Pee-wee Pictures and CBS
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
Vulcan Stev's Database 