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Compact Disc Digital Video (VCD)

150px
Media type	Optical disc
Encoding	MPEG-1 video + audio
Capacity	Up to 800 MB
Read mechanism	780 nm wavelength semiconductor laser
Standard	White Book
Developed by	Sony, Philips, Matsushita, JVC
Usage	audio and video storage
Extended to	SVCD

Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as View CD, Compact Disc digital video) became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc. VCDs are playable in dedicated VCD players, most DVD-Video players, personal computers, and some video game consoles.

The VCD standard was created in 1993^[1][2] by Sony, Philips, Matsushita, and JVC and is referred to as the White Book standard. Though supplanted by the two aforementioned formats, VCDs are still popular, particularly in the low cost market.

Brief history[link]

In the early 1970s, Philips and MCA developed the Laserdisc. This optical medium is about one foot in diameter and holds an hour of analog video (along with audio in either analog or digital) on both sides. Though they provide superior picture quality through countless playbacks, Laserdiscs were always overshadowed by VHS because of their high price and lack of recording abilities.

Near the 1980s, Philips created a small scale version of the Laserdisc. This disc is 4.8 inches in diameter and is single-sided. They called it Compact Disc or CD. The format was initially designed to store digitized sound and proved to be a success in the music industry.

A few years later, Philips decided to give CDs the ability to produce video just like its 12-inch counterpart. This led to the creation of CD Video (CD-V) in 1987. But because of the disc's small size, plus the analog video which takes up too much disc space, only 5 minutes of picture information can fit in the CD (despite the fact that the audio was digital). Therefore CD-V distribution was limited to featuring music videos.

By the early 1990s, engineers were able to digitize video signals, making them much more efficient in disc space. Because this new format could hold 83 minutes of audio and video, releasing movies on compact discs finally became a reality. The extra 9 minutes over a regular CD playing time was obtained by sacrificing the error correction (it was believed that minor errors in the datastream would go un-noticed by the viewer). This format was named Video CD or VCD.

VCD enjoyed a brief period of success, with a few major feature films being released in the format (usually as a 2 disc set). However, the introduction of the CD-R disc and the associated recorders, stopped the release of feature films in their tracks because the VCD format had no means of preventing unauthorized (and perfect) copies being made.

In the event, more sophisticated optical discs were in development of which one format was released only a few years later which provided a copy protection mechanism (The DVD). DVD players use lasers that are of shorter wavelength than those used on CDs, allowing the recorded pits to be smaller, so that more information can be stored. The DVD was so successful that they eventually pushed VHS out of the video market once suitable recorders became widely available. Nevertheless, VCDs made considerable inroads into developing nations where they are still in use today.

Moreover, CD-ROM has been the basic Software Installation tool for Computer Platforms (Windows XP and later versions do not need a Floppy disc, as they can Boot up from CD)where data is executed into computer using the CD Key. Major disadvantage in VCD files is that has the horizontal resolution of half to that of a DVD. DVD itself is being superseded as the HDTV provides four times the resolution of a DVD and 16 times to that of VCD.

Technical specifications[link]

Container[link]

In a VCD, the audio and video streams are multiplexed in an MPEG program stream (MPEG-PS) container.

Video[link]

Video specifications^[3]

• Codec: MPEG-1
• Resolution:
  • NTSC: 352x240
  • PAL/SECAM: 352x288
• Aspect Ratio:
  • NTSC: 4:3
  • PAL/SECAM: 4:3
• Framerate:
  • NTSC: 29.97 or 23.976 frames per second
  • PAL/SECAM: 25 frames per second
• Bitrate: 1,150 kilobits per second
  • Rate Control: constant bitrate

Although many DVD video players support playback of VCDs, VCD video is only compatible with the DVD-Video standard if encoded at 29.97 frames per second or 25 frames per second.

Audio[link]

Audio specifications^[4]

• Codec: MPEG-1 Audio Layer II
• Frequency: 44,100 hertz (44.1 kHz)
• Output: Dual channel or stereo
• Bitrate: 224 kilobits per second
  • Rate Control: Constant bitrate

As with most CD-based formats, VCD audio is incompatible with the DVD-Video standard due to a difference in frequency; DVDs require 48 kHz, whereas VCDs use 44.1 kHz.

Advantages of compression[link]

By compressing both the video and audio streams, a VCD is able to hold 74 minutes of picture and sound information, nearly the same duration as a standard 79 minute audio CD. The MPEG-1 compression used records mostly the differences between successive video frames, rather than write out each frame individually. Similarly, the audio frequency range is limited to those sounds most clearly heard by the human ear.

Other information[link]

Video CDs are authored using the Mode 2/XA format, allowing roughly 800 megabytes of VCD data to be stored on one 80 minute CD (versus 700 megabytes when using Mode 1). This, combined with the net bitrate of VCD video and audio, means that almost exactly 80 minutes of VCD content can be stored on an 80 minute CD, 74 minutes of VCD content on a 74 minute CD, and so on. This was done in part to ensure compatibility with existing CD drive technology, specifically the earliest "1x" speed CD drives.

The VCD standard also features the option of DVD-quality still images/slide shows with audio, at resolutions of 704x480 (NTSC) or 704x576 (PAL/SECAM). Version 2.0 also adds the playback control (PBC), featuring a simple menu like DVD-video.

352x240 and 352x288 (or SIF) resolution was chosen because it is half the vertical, and half the horizontal resolution of NTSC and PAL video, respectively. This is approximately half the resolution of an analog VHS tape which is ~330 horizontal and 480 vertical (NTSC) or 330x576 (PAL).

Internal Control[link]

An example of the software control chart [taken from Flower And Snake disc 1 of 3] including menu commands found in the configuration volume as "CDI_VCD.CFG"

CONTROLS=ALL CURCOL=YELLOW PSDCURCOL=RED PSDCURSHAPE=ARROW INITLANG=DAT SUBTTYPE=OVERLAYED SUBTTCOL=EBEBEB SUBSTCOL=101010 SUBTBCOL=0 SUBTACOL=999999 CENTRTRACK=2 AUTOPLAY=AUTO_ON DUALCHAN=DUAL_ON TIMECODE_X=64 TIMECODE_Y=100 LOTID_X=64 LOTID_Y=64 ALBUM=STANDARD

Similar formats[link]

CD-i Digital Video[link]

Shortly before the advent of White Book VCD, Philips started releasing movies in the Green Book CD-i format. While these used a similar format (MPEG-1), due to minor differences between the standards these discs are not compatible with VCD players. Philips' CD-i players with the Full Motion Video MPEG-1 decoder cartridge would play both formats. Only a few CD-i DV titles were released before the company switched to the current VCD format for publishing movies.

XVCD[link]

XVCD (eXtended Video CD) is the name generally given to any format that stores MPEG-1 video on a compact disc in Mode 2/XA, but does not strictly follow the VCD standard.

A normal VCD is encoded to MPEG-1 at a constant bit rate (CBR), so all scenes are required to use exactly the same data rate, regardless of complexity. However, video on an XVCD is typically encoded at a variable bit rate (VBR), so complex scenes can use a much higher data rate for a short time, while simpler scenes will use lower data rates. Some XVCDs use lower bitrates in order to fit longer videos onto the disc, while others use higher bitrates to improve quality. MPEG-2 may be used instead of MPEG-1.

To further reduce the data rate without significantly reducing quality, the size of the GOP can be increased, a different MPEG-1 quantization matrix can be used, the maximum data rate can be exceeded, and the bit rate of the MP2 audio can be reduced (or even the use of MP3 audio instead of MP2 audio). These changes can be advantageous for those who want to either maximize video quality, or use fewer discs.

KVCD[link]

KVCD (K Video Compression Dynamics) is an XVCD variant that requires the use of a proprietary-quantization matrix, available for non-commercial use. KVCD is notable because the specification recommends a non-standard resolution of 528x480 or 528x576. KVCDs encoded at this resolution are only playable by computers with CD-ROM drives, and a small number of DVD players.^[5]

DVCD[link]

DVCD or Double VCD is a method to accommodate longer videos on a CD. A non-standard CD is overburned to include up to 100 minutes of video. However, some CD-ROM drives and players have problems reading these CDs, mostly because the groove spacing is outside specifications and the player's laser servo is unable to track it.

DVI[link]

DVI (Digital Video Interactive) is a compression technique that stored 72 minutes of full-screen video on a CD-ROM. Acquired by Intel in 1988 from RCA's Sarnoff Research Labs, DVI never caught on.^[6]

Adoption[link]

In North America[link]

The advent of recordable CDs, inexpensive recorders, and compatible DVD players spurred VCD acceptance in the US in the late 1990s and early 2000s.^[7] However, DVD burners and DVD-Video recorders were available by that time, and equipment and media costs for making DVD-Video fell rapidly. DVD-Video, with its longer run time and much higher quality, quickly overshadowed VCD in areas that could afford it. In addition many early DVD players could not read recordable (CD-R) media,^[8] and this limited the compatibility of home-made VCDs. Almost every modern stand-alone DVD-Video player can play VCDs burned on recordable media.^{[citation needed]} However, some modern players cannot play VCDs; for instance, the Sony PlayStation 3.^{[citation needed]}

In Asia[link]

The VCD format was very popular throughout Asia^[9] (except Japan and South Korea) in the late 1990s through the 2000s, with 8 million VCD players sold in China in 1997 alone,^[10] and more than half of all Chinese households owning at least one VCD player by 2005.^[11]

This popularity is, in part, because most households did not already own VHS players when VCDs were introduced, the low price of the players, their tolerance of high humidity (a notable problem for VCRs), easy storage and maintenance, and the lower-cost media.^[7] Western sources have cited counterfeiting as a principal concern of VCD users.^[12][13][14]

VCDs are often produced and sold in Asian countries and regions such as Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Philippines, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In many Asian countries, major Hollywood studios (and Asian home video distributors) have licensed companies to officially produce and distribute the VCDs, such as MCA Home Video in Pakistan, ERA of Hong Kong, Sunny Video in Malaysia, Vision in Indonesia, CVD International and Pacific Marketing and Entertainment Group in Thailand, Excel Home Videos in India, Berjaya-HVN and InnoForm Media in both Malaysia and Singapore, Scorpio East Entertainment in Singapore, as well as VIVA Video, Magnavision, and The Video to C in the Philippines. Legal Video CDs can often be found in established video stores and major book outlets in most Asian countries. They are typically packaged in jewel cases like commercial CDs, though higher-profile films may be released in keep cases. The consumer should always check for the VCD or DVD logo so as to avoid purchasing the wrong format.

In Asia, the use of VCDs as carriers for karaoke music is very common. One channel would feature a mono track with music and singing, another channel a pure instrumental version for karaoke singing. Prior to this, karaoke music was carried on laserdiscs.

In Burma[link]

In Burma, VCDs are the medium of an underground video network that largely stays beneath the sights of the military regime, although VCD trends are reported on by expatriate newspapers. Popular videos include Buddhist monks speaking out against the regime^[15] and comedy skits ruthlessly mocking military leaders.^[16] It is reported that even soldiers watch VCDs in their barracks.^[17]

Worldwide trends[link]

VCD's growth has slowed in areas that can afford DVD-Video, which offers most of the same advantages, as well as better picture quality^[18] (higher resolution with fewer digital compression artifacts) due to its larger storage capacity. However, VCD has simultaneously seen significant new growth in emerging economies like India, Indonesia, South America and Africa as a low-cost alternative to DVD. As of 2004, the worldwide popularity of VCD was increasing.^[19][20]

Compared with VHS[link]

Overall picture quality is intended to be comparable to VHS video.^[21] Poorly compressed VCD video can sometimes be lower quality than VHS video, but VCD exhibits block artifacts (rather than the analog noise seen in VHS sources) and does not deteriorate further with each use. While both formats need fast-forwarding to find certain scenes, rewinding to beginning upon reaching the end is not required in VCD.

Though technically superior when compared to tape-based mediums, VCDs have a few minor flaws. Videos in the format do not come with closed caption (written words appearing on-screen to aid viewers with hearing problems). When watching a film that exceeds 74 minutes, which is the maximum video capacity of one disc, a viewer would have to stand up and change the disc upon reaching half-way (unless the discs are played on a VCD changer that could hold multiple discs as well as playing them automatically in succession), whereas a single VHS can hold 3½ hours of continuous video.

Compared with DVD[link]

When playing a DVD, the viewer is brought to a main menu which gives him/her options (watch the feature film, view deleted scenes, play some special applications, etc.). VCDs are usually straightforward, playing them often goes directly to the video with extras (mostly trailers and commercials) taking place before or after it.

Subtitles are found on many Asian VCDs but cannot be removed, unlike DVDs. The subtitles are embedded on the video during the encoding process. It's not uncommon to find a VCD with subtitles for two languages.

Though the VCD technology can support it, most films carried on VCDs do not contain chapters, requiring the viewer to fast-forward to resume the program after playback has been stopped. This is mostly because VCD technology is able to start playback at a chapter point but there is nothing to signal the player that the chapter has changed during a program. This can be confusing for the user as the player will indicate that it is still playing chapter 1 when it has played through to chapter 2 or later. Pressing the Next button would cause playback from the beginning of chapter 2. However, preview material is sometimes stored in a separate chapter, followed by a single chapter for the film.

VCDs are often bilingual. Because they feature stereo audio, disc players have an option to play only the left or right audio channel. For example, ERA of Hong Kong's release of the animated film The Iron Giant features English on the left audio channel and Cantonese on the right. This is similar to selecting a language track on a DVD, except it's limited to 2 languages, due to there being only two audio channels (left and right). The audio track effectively becomes monaural.

VCD's most noticeable disadvantage compared to DVD is image quality, due both to the more aggressive compression necessary to fit video into such a small capacity as well as the compression method used. Additionally, VCDs are available only in stereo, while DVDs are capable of six channels of discrete surround sound.

VCD does have a few advantages over DVD-Video:

• The VCD format has no region coding, so discs can be played on any compatible machine worldwide. Many VCD players can compensate for the differing frame rate and pixel count between NTSC and PAL/SECAM TV systems.

• Some titles available on VCD may not be available on DVD and/or VHS in the prospective buyer's region.^[22]

• VCD can cost significantly less than DVD. A brand-new Hollywood blockbuster on VCD is usually only 36% the price of its DVD counterpart.^{[citation needed]}

Hardware and Software support[link]

A few consoles supported VCDs, like the Sega Saturn.

Video CDs are not popular in the US, Canada and Europe, so its support is limited among mainstream software. Windows Media Player prior to version 9 and QuickTime Player do not support playing VCD directly, though they can play the .DAT files (stored under \MPEGAV for video and audio data) reliably,^[23][24] and plugins were available. Windows Vista added native support of VCD along with DVD-Video and can launch the preferred application upon insertion. The disc format is also supported using Windows Media Player Classic variations and VLC Media Player both support VCDs natively.

Direct access playback support is available within Windows XP MCE, Windows Vista, Windows 7, BSD, Mac OS, Linux, and Darwin, among others, either directly or with updates and compatible software.

Disc playback is also available both natively and as an option on some CD- and DVD-based video game consoles, including PC-FX, Sega Saturn (pictured right), Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation.

Most DVD players are compatible with VCDs and VCD-only Players are available throughout Asia, and online through many shopping sites. Some BluRay and HD-DVD players also retain support, as do CBHD players as well.

See also[link]

• Laserdisc
• SVCD
• DVD

References[link]

External links[link]

• Patent History Video CD Player - published by Philips 2003
• Patent History Video CD Disc - published by Philips 2003
• What is VCD? - from VideoHelp.com
• VCD Help
• How Do You Play VCDs?
• How to Play VCD on Mac/Windows computer, DVD Player - from Mireth Technology
• VCD / SVCD / miniDVD FAQ - from Doom9.org

Ali Baba by Maxfield Parrish (1909)

Ali Baba (Arabic: علي بابا‎ ʿAli Bāba) is a fictional character from medieval Arabic literature. He is described in the adventure tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

This story has been used as a popular pantomime plot such as in the pantomime/musical Chu Chin Chow (1916). Like many other folk tales frequently adapted for children, the original tale is darker and more violent than the more familiar bowdlerised versions. Popular perception of Ali Baba, and the way he is treated in popular media, sometimes implies that he was the leader of the "Forty Thieves": in the story he is actually an "honest man"^[1] whom fortune enables to take advantage of the thieves' robberies.

Textual history[link]

Some critics believe that this story was added to One Thousand and One Nights by one of its European translators, Antoine Galland, an 18th-century French orientalist who may have heard it in oral form from a Middle Eastern story-teller from Aleppo, in modern day Syria. In any case, the first known text of the story is Galland's French version. Richard F. Burton, however, claimed it to be part of the original One Thousand and One Nights.

The American Orientalist Duncan Black MacDonald discovered an Arabic-language manuscript of the legend at the Bodleian Library;^[2] however, this was later found to be a counterfeit.

Story[link]

Ali Baba and his elder brother Cassim are the sons of a merchant. After the death of their father, the greedy Cassim marries a wealthy woman and becomes well-to-do, building on their father's business—but Ali Baba marries a poor woman and settles into the trade of a woodcutter.

One day Ali Baba is at work collecting and cutting firewood in the forest, and he happens to overhear a group of forty thieves visiting their treasure store. The treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by magic. It opens on the words "iftah ya simsim" (commonly written as "Open Sesame" in English), and seals itself on the words "Close, Simsim" ("Close Sesame"). When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself, and takes some of the treasure home.

Ali Baba borrows his sister-in-law's scales to weigh this new wealth of gold coins. Unbeknownst to Ali, she puts a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali is using them for, as she is curious to know what kind of grain her impoverished brother-in-law needs to measure. To her shock, she finds a gold coin sticking to the scales and tells her husband, Ali Baba's rich and greedy brother, Cassim. Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba is forced to reveal the secret of the cave. Cassim goes to the cave and enters with the magic words, but in his greed and excitement over the treasures forgets the magic words to get back out again. The thieves find him there, and kill him. When his brother does not come back, Ali Baba goes to the cave to look for him, and finds the body, quartered and with each piece displayed just inside the entrance of the cave to discourage any similar attempts in the future.

Ali Baba brings the body home, where he entrusts Morgiana, a clever slave-girl in Cassim's household, with the task of making others believe that Cassim has died a natural death. First, Morgiana purchases medicines from an apothecary, telling him that Cassim is gravely ill. Then, she finds an old tailor known as Baba Mustafa whom she pays, blindfolds, and leads to Cassim's house. There, overnight, the tailor stitches the pieces of Cassim's body back together, so that no one will be suspicious. Ali and his family are able to give Cassim a proper burial without anyone asking awkward questions.

The thieves, finding the body gone, realize that yet another person must know their secret, and set out to track him down. One of the thieves goes down to the town and comes across Baba Mustafa, who mentions that he has just sewn a dead man's body back together. Realizing that the dead man must have been the thieves' victim, the thief asks Baba Mustafa to lead the way to the house where the deed was performed. The tailor is blindfolded again, and in this state he is able to retrace his steps and find the house. The thief marks the door with a symbol. The plan is for the other thieves to come back that night and kill everyone in the house. However, the thief has been seen by Morgiana and she, loyal to her master, foils his plan by marking all the houses in the neighborhood with a similar marking. When the 40 thieves return that night, they cannot identify the correct house and the head thief kills the lesser thief. The next day, another thief revisits Baba Mustafa and tries again, only this time, a chunk is chipped out of the stone step at Ali Baba's front door. Again Morgiana foils the plan by making similar chips in all the other doorsteps. The second thief is killed for his stupidity as well. At last, the head thief goes and looks for himself. This time, he memorizes every detail he can of the exterior of Ali Baba's house.

The chief of the thieves pretends to be an oil merchant in need of Ali Baba's hospitality, bringing with him mules loaded with thirty-eight oil jars, one filled with oil, the other thirty-seven hiding the other remaining thieves. Once Ali Baba is asleep, the thieves plan to kill him. Again, Morgiana discovers and foils the plan, killing the thirty-seven thieves in their oil jars by pouring boiling oil on them. When their leader comes to rouse his men, he discovers that they are dead, and escapes.

To exact revenge, after some time the thief establishes himself as a merchant, befriends Ali Baba's son (who is now in charge of the late Cassim's business), and is invited to dinner at Ali Baba's house. The thief is recognized by Morgiana, who performs a dance with a dagger for the diners and plunges it into the heart of the thief when he is off his guard. Ali Baba is at first angry with Morgiana, but when he finds out the thief tried to kill him, he gives Morgiana her freedom and marries her to his son. Ali Baba is then left as the only one knowing the secret of the treasure in the cave and how to access it. Thus, the story ends happily for everyone except the forty thieves and Cassim.

Classification[link]

The story has been classified in the Aarne–Thompson classification system as AT 676.^[3]

Adaptations[link]

• The story was made into an Egyptian movie in 1942 as "Ali Baba We El Arbeen Haramy" (Alibaba and the Forty Thieves), with Ali AlKassar playing the lead as Ali Baba, and the comedian actor Ismail Yasin as his assistant.
• An 1878 British pantomime version was The Forty Thieves.
• A French film Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs starring Fernandel and Samia Gamal (1954).
• A French telefilm starring Gérard Jugnot and Catherine Zeta-Jones (2007).
• In 1970s Alibaba story was adapted in a Bengali film called 'Morgiana Abdulla'.
• A Soviet-Indian joint film of 1979 Ali Baba aur 40 Chor, starring Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Rolan Bykov and Zeenat Aman, was largely based on this adventure tale.
• A Malaysian comedy film, Ali Baba Bujang Lapok (1960) which quite faithfully adhered to the tale's plot details, but introduced a number of anachronisms for humour, for example the usage of a truck by Kassim Baba to steal the robbers' loot.
• There are two Tamil films under the title Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum ("Alibaba and Forty Thieves"). The first film starring N. S. Krishnan as Ali Baba released in 1941, the second film starring M. G. Ramachandran, released in 1956.
• The story was adapted in the 1971 anime Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (アリババと４０匹の盗賊, Aribaba to Yonjuppiki no Tozoku^?), storyboarded by Hayao Miyazaki.
• The concept of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was used for the last installment of Disney's Aladdin series, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, released in 1996, introducing Cassim the King of Thieves as Aladdin's father.
• In the television mini-series Arabian Nights, the story is told faithfully with two major changes. The first is that when Morgiana discovers the thieves in the oil jars, she alerts Ali Baba and together with a friend, they release the jars on a street with a steep incline and allow them roll down to break open. Furthermore, the city guard is alerted and arrest the disoriented thieves as they emerge from their containers. Later when Morgiana defeats the thief leader, Ali Baba, who is young and has no children, marries the heroine himself.
• A film adaption Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was made in 1944. The film was remade in 1965 as The Sword of Ali Baba. Frank Puglia portrayed the character named Kassim in both versions.
• At the United States Air Force Academy, Cadet Squadron 40 was originally nicknamed "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" before eventually changing its name to the "P-40 Warhawks"
• A mythopoeic novel by Tom Holt, 'Open Sesame', is based on characters from the story of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"

In other media[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

• A Merrie Melodies Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck cartoon, Ali Baba Bunny, has a similar premise to the concept of the treasure-filled magical cave.

• A Popeye cartoon, Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves, features Popeye meeting and defeating the titular group.

• In the Disney film Aladdin there are several references to the story. Also, in Aladdin and the King of Thieves the forty thieves play an integral part in the story. However the story is very different than the original Ali Baba story, particularly Cassim's new role as the King of Thieves.

• In the Simpsons episode Moe Goes From Rags To Riches, Lisa is Scheherazade and Nelson Muntz is King Shahryar, and Lisa tells him the story.

• The 1971 Japanese film, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (アリババと40匹の盗賊, Aribaba to Yonjūbiki no Tozuku^?), for which Hayao Miyazaki was key animator and organizer.

• A 1981 computer video game by Quality Software^[4]

• Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, a 1982 arcade video game by Taito

• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, a computer game for the Apple II published in 1982

• A version of Ali Baba appears in Sonic and the Secret Rings, where he is portrayed by the character Tails.

Iraq War[link]

• The name "Ali Baba" was often used as derogatory slang by American and Iraqi soldiers and their allies in the War in Iraq to describe individuals suspected of a variety of offenses related to theft and looting.^[5] British soldiers routinely used the term to refer to Iraqi civilians.^[6] In the subsequent occupation it is used as a general term for the insurgents, similar to Charlie for the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War.^[7]

• Due to interaction of the two peoples, the term "Ali Baba" was adopted by the Iraqis to describe foreign troops suspected of looting,^[8] and the English-speaking mainstream press mistakenly reported the slang to be native to the locals.^[9]

Gallery[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ali Baba

• "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (e-text, in English)
• Waller Hastings, "Ali Baba and the forty Thieves": essay
• Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Arabian Nights and The Sword of Ali Baba at the Internet Movie Database