"Bambi's Dream" is a 2018note Bambi fanfic written by Bagel Brain.
The story is a wordless stream of conscious plot involving Bambi entering the world of dreams and taking part in several shenanigans in it.
You can read it here.
The original 2010 story can also be read here.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: While the loose story beats are the same in the 2018 edition, it adds new scenes where Bambi briefly encounters an awake Friend Owl and helps out Flower against a bullying Ronno.
- Astral Projection: The story depicts Bambi and friends interacting in the World of Dreams this way, as their spirits linger about free of their bodies until they awaken.
- Call-Back: The story makes a nod to the dream of his mother Bambi had in Bambi II.
- Call-Forward: The line "like the forest fire that so far he could scarcely imagine in his mind." is a forward nod to the climatic forest fire of the first movie.
- The Cameo: The Great Prince of the Forest appears in the beginning and ending, and Friend Owl, Thumper and his sisters make brief appearances early on.
- Carnivore Confusion: The story works around the idea of Friend Owl being a predator bird living around animals that would be his prey in real life by showing him only eating insects at night (which is Truth in Television, as large insects are indeed on the menu for owls).
- Dream Land: The bulk of the story is set in what's called "The World of Dreams". The story seems to depict it not as a separate location from the real world but experiencing the real world in a whole different plane of existence.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It's about Bambi having a dream.
- Gentle Giant: To stand up to a bullying Ronno, Bambi gives Flower the idea to make himself grow into an absolutely massive size thats likened to the height of Mount Katahdin (which, for the record, is a whopping 5,267 feet in height). However, Flower doesn't show the slightest sign of aggression in this form, Despite this, Ronno is understandably terrified by what he sees unfold before him and hightails it out of there.
- George Lucas Altered Version: The 2018 version heavily rewrites the entire story and adds two new scenes to it. The author claims the original draft still exists despite being deleted years ago, but he decided to revise it for republication instead of just posting it as it originally was.
- The Incorruptible: The story claims that Flower, even when becoming a giant to stand up to Ronno, is so docile that he couldn't even attempt to form malice in his heart.
- Irony: The story notes that Flower, even when in the world of dreams, still likes to take naps in there.
- Kick the Dog: When Bambi encounters Flower and Ronno, Ronno is seen using the poor skunk kit to basically play tennis with himself. While Flower isn't in any danger of being physically hurt due to it being a dream, its clearly not a pleasant experience for him.
- No Antagonist: The 2010 version didn't have any villain. Averted in the 2018 revision, which adds a minor conflict in the form of Ronno bullying a helpless Flower.
- Random Events Plot: The story is a loose string of events tied together by Bambi experiencing a dream.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Ronno flees in terror at the sight of Flower becoming the size of a mountain in front of him.
- Shout-Out:
- The story makes a brief reference to Pandora's Box early on.
- The line "at an impossible-or shall we say plausible impossible-speed" is a reference to the title of a classic episode of the same name ("The Plausible Impossible") from the Walt Disney Presents TV show.
- Short Story: The story clocks in around 2,300 words. The 2010 draft is even shorter.
- Silence Is Golden: The story was written to not have a single line of spoken dialogue in it.
- Something Else Also Rises: The scene of Bambi encountering Faline is very blatant about how he's feeling about the whole thing, especially since the world of dreams allows his form to exaggerate these feelings in a way he could never do in the real world. The story even notes this by saying "To say the least, subtlety was not his strong suit."
- Super-Speed: In the World of Dreams, Bambi (and friends) are capable of moving at blinding speed due to them lacking any physical form.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Like with Bagel Brain's previous story Creamed Cherries, averted, as its implied that Bambi and friends live somewhere in the forests of Maine, with the writing making a reference to the Mount Katahdin region.
