YMMV / The Dreamstone

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Are the Urpneys lazy, apathetic Dirty Cowards who are willing to victimize other fractions to preserve their own hides, or tragic slaves and Only Sane Men of the show? Their failures can also be perceived as them being Too Dumb to Live, or subtly brilliant but unlucky and thus unmotivated.
  • Is the Land of Dreams a saintly community with a justified breaking point, or spoiled Principles Zealots who scapegoat the Urpneys for the sake of avoiding bad dreams? Similar to the Urpneys, they can be assessed as being competent opposites to the villains, or even bigger bumblers who rely on magic and dumb luck to achieve anything. Some episodes even hint to the heroes only being so gung ho because the Urpneys are so barely villainous (the one time Frizz and Nug finally snapped, they ran away crying).
• Awesome Art: Most of the landscapes are Scenery Porn. Some of the character animation is exceptionally classy and fluid for a nineties TV cartoon as well, particularly in some of the earlier Moving Images International episodes.
• Awesome Music: Mike Batt provides a brilliant orchestral soundtrack for the series, most notably the vocal themes, "Better than a Dream" and "War Song Of The Urpneys".
• Badass Decay:
  • Within the duration between the first and second season premieres, Rufus devolved from a Cloudcuckoolander Badass Adorable with a sword to a generic Useless Meddling Kid. Amberley ended up pretty much the same, most episodes ending with them getting bailed out by the Dream Maker or the Wuts or winning by pure luck. They gradually reverted back in Seasons Three and Four.
  • Zordrak similarly went from a calculating Knight of Cerebus who plotted or even had active involvement in many schemes to a lazy and unintelligent Orcus on His Throne who contributed almost nothing but Bad Boss humour Season Two onwards. Like the Noops, he had the odd sign of improvement by the end of the series, but never quite returned to form.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Rufus and Amberley are either cute, relatable Kid Heroes or boring Designated Heroes compared to the Urpneys.
  • Spildit even more so, either hated for being an obnoxious Cousin Oliver or loved for being an adorable Friendly Enemy to Blob and his troops.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: "The Voice of Zordrak" features a small scene in which one of Rufus' daydreams comes to life and he magically takes the form of a Dream Maker. Only Albert witnesses this before it wears off. This occurrence, and whatever caused it, are never referred to again throughout the series.
• Bizarro Episode:
  • Any episode that revolved around the dreams themselves usually qualified as such. "The Daydream Bubble", "The Moon Of Doom" and "Hod" are particularly trippy examples.
  • Doubled as Later-Installment Weirdness, many Season Four episodes feel this way due to a larger drift from formula and a greater use of surreal comedy and One Shot Characters.
• Broken Base: Different fans were drawn by either the Dark Fantasy elements or the British comedy and slapstick. Some preferred the darker adventurous tone of the pilot and complained the overuse of Amusing Injuries over mortal peril diluted the story. Others loved the more comedic approach and were only disappointed the non-Urpney characters didn't take part in it more.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • "The Dream Beam Invasion" is the only time Frizz and Nug's Designated Villain status is at least briefly revoked. After both sides shrink into a dream the two were forced to ruin, the Noops and Albert begin their usual Disproportionate Retribution. So disproportionate in fact that it takes long enough for Frizz and Nug's shrink spell to wear off, making them giant to the heroes. The two sending the little buggers sprinting out of the dream screaming in terror is oddly satisfying.
  • You’ve also got "The Spidermobile" where, for once, the Noops and even the Wuts are on the losing end and have no real chance of stopping the titular machine. Seeing the Urpneys not just win, but utterly dominate their enemies after four seasons of getting humiliated is very cathartic indeed. For an extra bonus, the heroes ultimately get the stone back at the expense of their Bad Boss, Zordrak, instead, while Frizz and Nug get to simply watch amused.
• Canon Fodder: The show is chock full of very unique and surreal concepts and characters, but with few besides the Urpneys getting a great deal of limelight or characterisation. Along with some of the gaping holes in the storyline, this is the source of much curiosity with fans of the series.
• Character Rerailment: Rufus and Amberley's Badass Decay was undone by the final season, with their comical qualities also reinstated. Mortal stakes were also re-added so they lacked the petty streak they gained after the pilot.
• Crazy Is Cool: Urpgor at times, usually the more deranged his inventions are, the nearer they get to succeeding. On the hero side, Wildit, and on rarer occasions, Rufus, have moments of this.
• Creepy Awesome: Zordrak. Whenever he finally gets off his throne he proves to be nightmare laden badass.
• Cult Classic: Its lack of reruns has left it with a modest fanbase, but those among it are dedicated fans.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Mech Beav only appeared in one episode of the cartoon, but is popular with many fans of the show due to being a Cute Machine, having an adorable loyalty to Blob, and being the nearest the Urpneys had to a Mascot Mook.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The Urpneys' Designated Villain status often caused this, especially since nearly all episodes ended from their point of view (though Frizz and Nug didn't always get a Downer Ending). To punctuate this, Zordrak (the one genuinely evil villain) was nearly always a Karma Houdini.
• Evil Is Cool: The show often opted for giving the Urpneys the bigger spotlight, with the heroes having less developed personalities and rarely engaging in the Slapstick and verbal humour. The final season tried to make Rufus and Amberley more comedic, but the Urpneys still usually stole the show.
• Fourth Wall Myopia: Arguably the key factor in the heroes and the Urpneys' rivalry, to the point of Poor Communication Kills. The audience sees a ton of Sympathetic P.O.V. from the Urpneys that makes clear they are unwilling villains with direr stakes, which thus makes the heroes look petty and self-serving, seemingly having No Sympathy and punishing them excessively for ruining dreams. However the two sides seldom interact deeply and both clearly think that the other is just antagonising them out of spite. There is the argument that the Urpneys still don't do a fantastic job seeming provocative at face value however, and the heroes still commit Disproportionate Retribution for a minor slight, which is something the later episodes try to rectify, with more Not So Harmless schemes and the Noops being more pragmatic tricksters that only give as good as they get.
• Glurge: The heroes' unfettered protectiveness of dream making really leaned into this, especially in their treatment of the Urpneys and how saccharine and Narm prone they could be. The later episodes dialled it down a bit.
• Growing the Beard: The first two seasons were fun, but mostly limited to the Urpney comedy (and were often bogged down by how syrupy and unlikeable the heroes were). Seasons Three and Four were less formulaic than the first two, with more focus on lore and Worldbuilding and many plot and characterisation issues (particularly those concerning the heroes) getting fixed (especially by "A Day Out"). Season Four also shared the comedy and Sympathetic P.O.V. more evenly between the Urpneys and the Noops, making the latter's subplots less boring and the formula more rounded.
• He Really Can Act:
  • Gary Martin has a great vocal range, but is mostly known for comedic roles such as the Honey Monster. His ominous and viciously erratic voice for Zordrak however is one of the most chilling essences of British animation.
  • The pilot is retroactively this for Stuart Lock and Nancy Hendry, given Rufus and Amberley play a far more emotional role here than most of the series afterward. Check out Rufus' Heroic BSoD or Amberley's berserker fit against the Urpneys for example.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In "Albert Is Fishnapped", the Noops enter a costume party dressed as Urpneys, leading Amberley to question whether dressing as their warring enemies was in good taste. Following many later real life scandals with party costumes of infamous regimes (including a case in 2005 where even Prince Harry proved non-immune to bad publicity for dressing as Nazi) it would seem her concerns were not unfounded.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In "The Daydream Bubble", the Noops are shown literally driving along a rainbow in space before crashing due to it being unfinished, road barrier and all. A couple years later it would seem that construction is finally complete.
  • The episode "Frozen Assets"' intentionally generic sounding "Mid-Winter Celebrations" almost comes off as an omen to the controversies from many later cartoons being coerced into using similarly generic but politically correct terms over referencing Christmas.
• Inferred Holocaust: Zordrak somehow took over and corrupted half of the Sleeping World into a wasteland, and has executed who knows how many of his own troops for failure up until the point he just started getting bored of the method. This is implied to have happened a very long time before the show's plot started too. But hey at least the other half is cheery and peaceful.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Urpgor is a psychotic weasel who constantly relishes in any torture Blob and his minions receive; however, his right hand role with Zordrak only leads to him suffering even more abuse and pressure from their boss, and, despite his beliefs, is considered no less despensible than the other Urpneys because of it. Naturally whenever he tries getting the stone instead of Blob, things usually go just as well too.
  • Sgt. Blob himself is a pompous Drill Sergeant Nasty who ceaselessly kicks around his men. From the very start however we see the pressure put on him if he and his men don't follow things through, and he almost always suffers the same level penalties as Frizz and Nug.
  • Mr Blossom is an apathetic Grumpy Old Man, but he commonly plays collateral damage to the two sides feuding (not to mention his poor garden) and nearly every moment of failure the heroes suffer he is at the brunt of (e.g. "Mr Blossom's Present" or "Little Urpip").
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many fans will admit they only watch for the bad guys.
• Karmic Overkill: A defining point of the earlier seasons. While the Urpneys are Dirty Cowards, they spend most of the time getting mauled and punished because Zordrak forces them to ruin dreams (often via threat of death). In a few episodes, they don't even get that far and are straight up just Cosmic Playthings. Later episodes tried to tweak the stakes and retributions so the heroes looked significantly less petty, though the Urpneys never really lost their Villain Ball Magnet status.
• Love to Hate: Most of the Urpneys are sympathetic Mooks bordering on Designated Villain territory (see above). Urpgor however is a back stabbing psychopath, on top of being an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain and a walking Disney Acid Sequence, and you'll be hard pressed to find a fan who doesn't adore him as a result.
• Misaimed Fandom: Urpgor is easily the most popular character in fandom.
  • Zordrak, Blob and the rest of the Urpneys aren't really far off for that matter.
• Narm: The show plays the plight of sending good and bad dreams a lot more dramatically than expected, especially considering the Urpneys are usually what pivot it. The Dream Maker and Zordrak are obviously most prone to this. The later episodes at least add in genuine life and death stakes to justify it, though even then the heroes win so easily you wonder what the drama is over.
• Nausea Fuel: The Urpney canteen as shown in "The Spidermobile".
• Nightmare Retardant:
  • Zordrak in a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses in "Albert Is Fishnapped".
    • And sock-suspenders, if you look closely.
  • And let's not forget the temporarily good-willed Zordrak in "Spildit".
• Obvious Judas: In "The Daydream Bubble", a flashback depicts Zordrak's defect from the Council of Dreammakers. Even prior to his transformation, he sports a menacing and perpetually scowling design compared to the rest of the cuter, fantasy creatures that make the rest of the council.
• Periphery Demographic: The show is fairly cutesy and childish in tone (cartoon hosting site Jaroo even lists it as a Pre School show) however it has gained more than a few older fans, largely for its witty Urpney humour, great art direction, amazing soundtrack, and above average fantasy worldbuilding.
• Popular with Furries: Many fans of the show are also furries. Rufus and Amberely seem to be the most popular characters of the show amongst the furry fandom.
• Rewatch Bonus: Rufus' dream sequence in the pilot episode actually alludes to some events in later episodes (the three shooting stars that the jettisoned Urpneys create in "The Daydream Bubble" along with the eventual reveal of Planet Dreamstone throughout the former and "The Dark Side").
• Rooting for the Empire: Come on. Say you didn't want the Urpneys to win at least once.
• Salvaged Story: A recurring complaint with the show is that the Urpneys, due to both Zordrak and the heroes' pettiness and their Silly Reason for War, and by virtue of being unwilling and likeable Harmless Villains, were too sympathetic, making their treatment more Karmic Overkill. Seasons Three and Four did at least increasingly try to downplay this while maintaining their likeable characterisations, giving the heroes a bigger provocation and more Sympathetic P.O.V., as well as The Chew Toy role switching to the non-Urpney characters when it fit (eg. Frizz and Nug getting revenge on the Noops and Albert in "The Dream Beam Invasion" after they engage in Disproportionate Retribution again, or Zordrak's Karma Houdini Warranty in the final three episodes).
• Ship Tease: The series gave subtle teases with Rufus and Amberley. Most blatant in "The Knitted Balloon" and "The Neemod".
• Signature Scene: Rufus' dream sequence in the pilot episode, immortalised in the ending credits of every episode.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: It takes more than halfway into the series for the heroes to get much focus on their world and processes, or even just basic development like looking heroic against the Urpneys or getting funny personalities. Just enjoy the consistently good Urpney slapstick until then.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: Expectedly, any dream shown onscreen is usually this, especially that of the pilot and closing credits.
• Sweetness Aversion: A key reason the villains were more popular, as alongside being Unintentionally Unsympathetic, the Land of Dreams was also outwardly virtuous and cheerful to a monotonous level, with few side-arcs or character foibles, and most of the show's slapstick and banter grinding to a halt whenever it cut to the heroes. Only the pilot and select later episodes tried to make the Noops part of the comedy, and even then they remained sickly sweet compared to the more humorous and rounded Urpneys.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: After the pilot, the hero side gets very little Character Development, mostly being bland Hero Antagonists for the Urpneys. Even besides that, some argue the very rare occasions other villains like Zordrak, Urpgor or Zarag faced them were more compelling, especially since they did a better job provoking them than Sgt Blob, Frizz and Nug.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The show has a pretty creative premise, though development of its expansive universe, cast and mythos are often overlooked in favor of the Urpneys' slapstick taking up most of the spotlight, especially in its earlier seasons. If it weren't for its name, The Dreamstone could often be seen as any other standard MacGuffin stealing show (not to say it's a bad one however).
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: It sometimes becomes very hard to root for the heroes due to how pitiful and unvillainous the Urpneys are, and the latter's more genuine stakes and misery, compared to the heroes and Zordrak's Silly Reason for War. Later episodes tried to make the Noops less Unintentionally Unsympathetic at the very least.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: The show does seem to place a lot of pity onto the Urpneys, but likely still intends them to be villains who deserve their punishment. But being Press-Ganged into a Serious Business war (which both allies and foes are willing to kill them over) makes them look more like scapegoated middle men.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The heroes therefore look Wangsty and petty, especially in cases their retribution gets particularly excessive. That they could rarely back it up whenever the villains really were dangerous didn't help. Later episodes at least fixed their characterisations and gave them more legitimate stakes, though they still had Frizz and Nug as their main provocateurs, keeping it a delicate dance.
• Unpopular Popular Character: All four of the main Urpneys.
• Vanilla Protagonist: The Noops, Rufus and Amberley, end up looking fairly unremarkable compared to the majority of the cast, lacking the foibles and humour value of the villains, and being overshadowed and made redundant by their more powerful and surreal comrades. They take the part well as newcomers encountering the show's different worlds and processes, but the focus otherwise usually sways in the Urpneys' favor due to their more colorful personalities and providing most of the show's slapstick.
• Vindicated by History: Zigzagged. The show was popular in its day, though was barely marketed outside Europe, and a lack of repeat airings after its initial run meant it slipped into obscurity even there. A re-exposure of the show through online companies uploading episodes has led to more people being introduced to it worldwide however, returning it to Cult Classic status.
• Wangst: The Noops really don't like getting bad dreams. The Dream Maker apparently has terrified mobs at his door the moment they get so much as one. Frizz is a Played for Laughs example, even the other Urpneys think he should suck it up.
• The Woobie:
  • Frizz and Nug are meek abused incompetents who don't even want to be villains. There's rarely an episode they don't play Cosmic Plaything or get beaten senseless for being evil bad guys, usually crying and begging for mercy throughout the entire thing.
  • Though more often in something of Hero Antagonist roles, a few of the hero characters got at least one moment in the spotlight where you were meant to feel incredibly sorry for them (eg. Rufus in the opening special, Albert in "Albert's Ailement", Spildit in "The Jolly Bird").
  • Captain Crigg.
• Woobie Species: The Urpneys. Dumb, cowardly, completely luckless, hated and abused by the entire universe (mostly for what Zordrak makes them do) and slowly having their numbers thinned out either by their Bad Boss or their failed schemes. They're usually also the only lot who want nothing to do with the war with dreams (largely because they suffer all the collateral damage of it). The closing points dialed down their treatment, albeit slightly (as in just enough that the heroes didn't look like Jerkasses for beating them).

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