The Dreamstone

So, Option 1 then?

Although, I suppose they'd enjoy it more if they sent Urpgor to live with his aunt, or something.

Y'know, I've been wondering - do Noops eat meat?

I mean, they obviously eat vegetables and baked goods, but I don't recall ever seeing them eat meat.

Oh. Eh, random. Hmmm....

To tell you the truth they didn't elaborate much on food for the heroes except for that case Rufus was shown to be good at making cakes (only for the Dream Maker to magic a completely better one in two seconds, poor guy can't have anything ).

Urpneys meanwhile live on a more elaborated diet of toxic gunge and slime that goes through an intricate amount of quality control.

edited 31st May '16 12:30:59 PM by Psi001

Yeah, I saw that too. All's I can say is, I'm glad I don't havta eat that stuff.

Hey everyone, question - favorite and unfavorite characters?

For me, my favorite's Frizz, and as for my unfavorite, I'd say Urpgor's Auntie. I mean, sure Spildit's annoying, but considering she's the only inhabitant of the Land of Dreams to show ANY sort of kindness to the Urpneys, it more than redeems her. As for Urpip, she may be a brat but who's to say she won't grow out of it and become the white sheep of Urpgor's family? Auntie, on the other hand, is just a sadistic irredeemable nutcase.

Who do YOU guys like most and least?

Meh, Auntie's at least sorta funny and intentionally unlikeable, thus fits the role of a villain.

Favourite characters, at least in execution are either Frizz and Nug or Spildit (never really got the hatred for her, and most fans I've talked to don't get it either, wonder where The Scrappy reputation actually came from). I might have said Rufus if he'd been kept in his pilot/Season Four characterisation, but alas.

I ended up kinda hating the Dream Maker by the end of the series. He was at least a bit charming and befuddled at the start but by the end he just felt like a walking Deus ex Machina. He could do too much with his magic, meaning he broke the plot and left the Noops looking really unremarkable (why exactly did he keep sending them on missions if he could instantly magic away the problem?). His personality was also so damn priggish and bland. Every hero gave the Urpneys gratuitous flak, but at least the Noops sorta had the excuse of being kids and thus having an irrational, naive viewpoint (when you're a kid and someone's mean to you, you don't rationalise the whole story, you just throw a tantrum and assume it's because they're a mean spiteful bully and thus you're allowed to bully them back). The Dream Maker is the all knowing authority figure that has spearheaded this since the very start of eternity. But we must protect the dreeeeammms!

edited 10th Jun '16 5:52:36 AM by Psi001

I think The Scrappy thing came from the fact that she's a semi-obnoxious Motor Mouth who never shuts up.

Perhaps, but she didn't really have a lot of competition among the hero squad. I wanted most of them to shut up more than her.

And I think being the only character with a lick of sympathy for the Urpneys kinda overrode it.

edited 10th Jun '16 6:16:19 PM by Psi001

Y'know what the most disturbing part of the whole thing was?

Amberley not only experienced being turned to stone in the pilot, she also somehow knew that the Frazznats were fed on Urpneys. Yet despite this, she STILL refused to show them any sympathy. You'd think SHE'D at least cut them a little slack, based on what she'd been through.

I could sorta empathise with the Noops in the pilot since the Urpneys were a lot more dangerous in that instance. They had a really sympathetic motive but they were putting the heroes in genuine peril to make it easier for themselves. At least two heroes temporarily died in that instance. It was blatantly self defence.

After that episode however, the Urpneys suffered Villain Decay, and we were left with only their base provocation, giving people bad dreams. The Noops also had their Revenge Myopia Flanderized after the pilot. Sure they hated the Urpneys in that case, but that was because they were afraid of them and trying desperately to save themselves. In later episodes the Urpneys couldn't harm them and they were smugly aware of it, serving one sided beatdowns or even toying with them out of boredom, not to mention they wouldn't stop obnoxiously pontificating about how evil and lowdown they were and why would they ever want to harm the dreams. Even worse they weren't even consistent about it anymore. Anytime the Urpneys returned to being even a fraction as threatening as in the pilot they couldn't handle it or even reacted cowardly until Plot Armor intervened. They couldn't back up their own bull shit.

Season Four made the Noops more pragmatic again and gave them more of a genuine provocation (and downplayed the Urpneys'), but Frizz and Nug usually remained rather harmless and unwilling, so it still came off as a very delicate dance to keep the Noops looking like the defending party. They could still barely touch them without it looking like Unnecessary Roughness.

edited 14th Jun '16 5:21:58 PM by Psi001

Hey, guys!

Ok, I was wondering - what's everyone's favorite invention from the series?

For me, there's only one possible choice - the Mech-Beav. Not only was it one of the more effective inventions, it gave Blob a chance to show off a nicer side to his personality, considering how adorable their relationship was. It's a pity that it only made one appearance - I would've liked to see it again, even if it was only a cameo. Oh well, there's always my "Blob kept it as a kind of pet" headcanon.

What about the rest of you guys?

edited 24th Jun '16 11:10:23 AM by fruitstripegum

I could always see Mech Beav staying as some sort of Wobbuffet or Mime Jr type mascot.

Tempted to also say the Spidermobile. It offered the Urpneys one of their rare unstoppable moments, and was one of very few things shown able to counter the elder heroes' magic (not even Zordrak could do that). It wasn't even defeated either.

A shame there wasn't more sentient gadgets. I think Mech Beav and Robo Bird were it (though both of them being disobedient may explain why).

edited 24th Jun '16 8:35:19 PM by Psi001

Makes sense, I guess. After all, the Urpneys can be compared to Team Rocket.

*Giggle* Now I have this image of Rufus as Ash, and Albert as Pikachu! But who would the others be?

edited 25th Jun '16 6:11:04 AM by fruitstripegum

Amberley definitely had Misty's hot headed Straight Girl aspect down at times. While Zordrak matches Giovanni as the sinister villain boss that barely does anything.

The Urpney trio were snagging yellow mascots long before Team Rocket made it cool.

edited 25th Jun '16 6:16:40 AM by Psi001

Just for shits and giggles, what would the Dreamstone be like if Bill Cipher was the main villain?

Now THAT is a very interesting question. One which I have no answer to, I'm afraid.

I should really check out Gravity Falls at one point.

To tell you the truth, I don't think The Dreamstone would ever back from making the Urpneys Villain Protagonists. If Bill Cipher were the Big Bad, he'd likely be as demoted as Zordrak.

edited 25th Jun '16 3:27:51 PM by Psi001

That, or he would make the series a WHOLE lot darker. And considering that Bill is much more sadistic than Zordrak and the Urpneys, he would be gleefully tormenting the Noops and causing them severe physical and emotional pain for shits and giggles. Hell, there could be an episode where he destroys the Dreamstone.

The Urpneys are already pretty pathetic, yet relatable villains, but it really shows when you put them next to Bill Cipher.

edited 25th Jun '16 4:47:13 PM by superboy313

To tell you the truth I think there was already tons of wasted potential with Zordrak, even considering it was a nineties cartoon.

Well, what would YOU do different?

Personally, I think he MIGHT have done well as an Ursula-type villain - y'know, making deals with anyone (be they Noop, Wut or Urpney) who seeks him out, and adding them to his statue collection if/when they failed. Or maybe it would've been better if he'd remained in the goat-like form he had originally, but used his One-Winged Angel form for extra muscle.

He was decent in Season One, he was an Orcus on His Throne, but he had some amount of role. Urpgor made the devices, but he strategised how they were used. He was calculating and sadistic, and while he had his usual mood swings he wasn't just generic 'RAGHHH, GET ME DREAMSTONE!' Bad Boss 99.999999% of the time (most of his best threats he adored giving in a cold blooded manner). Also every now and again he'd decide to take action himself. Season One was the only time he personally fought the heroes or invaded the Land Of Dreams.

I like the idea of Zordrak being manipulative however. I always thought it would have been interesting to see how his nightmares affected people, like some form of Mind Rape or something to check out fears or weaknesses of the heroes. 'The Nightmare Stone' also shown him to be Dangerously Genre-Savvy.

Add in his later methods against the heroes and Urpneys to even out the dynamic however (i.e. wanting to corrupt the Dreamstone to take over the heroes rather than just ruin their dreams, and being terrifying and abusive towards the Urpneys, but not lethal, useless ones are just fired so it's their own fault for staying). That way he's more harm to the heroes than the Urpneys, but still making the latter very sympathetic.

edited 26th Jun '16 8:53:37 AM by Psi001

Hey, guys, remember we were talking about the possibility of a Dreamstone reboot a while ago? Well, I was wondering - IF it DOES get rebooted, which animation style would you prefer - 2D, Animesque, or CGI?

Personally, I'd prefer the original Season 1 animation, but since that's extremely unlikely, I'd settle for a style similar to the original animation in these two videos (which I really recommend, by the way):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmw52BqiSII

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc_mwr0wz9E

I did like the original animation and designs when Fil Cartoons were animating it, much looser animation and the designs weren't over the top cutesy. Though some of the Moving Images episodes were very lush for a nineties cartoon (watch Wildit's Whistle or Urpgor's Great Adventure).

I wouldn't mind something in that vein if a bit wilder and streamlined, say like what The Looney Tunes Show did with the original designs and style. So similar to the John Kricfalusi inspiration in that vid I guess, but downplayed a teeny bit.

I'd also like it if they shared out the wacky expressiveness around the cast. You could tell they saved all the animation budget for the Urpney scenes in the original series, the heroes got maybe four or five wild takes through the whole thing, otherwise they usually had that whole 'animated mouth on still image' thing going on.

edited 3rd Jul '16 6:08:52 PM by Psi001

Speaking of which, do you think Ash and his friends would be disgusted by the Noops' needlessly excessive methods of dealing with the Urpneys?

'Da twoips' have used far more excessive methods on Team Rocket than the Noops did on the Urpneys, just the trick there is that it's (usually) because TR are genuinely relentless pricks to them (there are at least plenty of time TR have tried to do equally horrid things to Ash's team first).

Ash and co also shown that limit far more often, what with TR ceaselessly teasing a Heel–Face Turn and other villains causing the two sides to team up or show sympathy for each other. This was never really looked into at all in The Dreamstone, it remained totally black and white.

To tell you the truth, besides some standard 80s/90s cartoon writing hypocrisy (eg. using Heel–Face Brainwashing) the heroes' punishments were pretty standard aside from the fact they did it to a villain that wasn't nearly provocative enough. If they were against one of the nastier villains like Zordrak, Zarag and Urpgor more often (or even just made the Urpneys more dangerous despite their sympathy so it was obvious they were fighting back) they would have likely looked likeable.

edited 5th Jul '16 12:16:27 AM by Psi001