History Literature / ImpossibleDreams

* DifferentWorldDifferentMovies: In Impossible Dreams, Daniel finds ''[[Film/{{Gandhi}} Ghandi 2]]'' starring Creator/BruceWillis and ''Film/MissCongeniality'' starring [[Creator/NicolasCage Nicole Cage]], her first film after [[{{Transgender}} transitioning]].

* ShoutOut: The short film opens with Daniel watching ''The Other Side'', a science fiction series based on ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''. The introduction to ''The Other Side'' features the same spinning cone seen in the opening credits of Season Three. When Daniel later discovers that there is a disused building where Impossible Dreams had been the previous night, the ''Twilight Zone'' theme music is heard.

* DifferentWorldDifferentMovies: The entire premise of the story is based on this trope. Pete first notices that there is something amiss when he finds the director's cut of ''Film/TheMagnificentAmbersons'' which includes the legendary lost footage comprising the last 50 or so minutes of the film. Ally tells him that the footage was discovered in a warehouse the previous year. Furthermore, Creator/OrsonWelles is still alive and recorded a commentary for the DVD. On the other hand, ''Film/CitizenKane'' is lost in the AlternateUniverse as William Randolph Hearst found out that it was based on his life and made a deal with Creator/RKOPictures. He had someone destroy the film while the studio guard looked the other way. Welles was forced to start from scratch and made ''Jason and the Argonauts'', which is considered one of the greatest films ever made. There are numerous other differences too. ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'', directed by Creator/TimBurton and starring Creator/NicolasCage as Franchise/{{Superman}}, was produced. The same is true of the Creator/HarlanEllison scripted version of the Creator/IsaacAsimov classic ''Literature/IRobot'', which won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Adapted Screenplay. Creator/DavidLynch directed ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', which was even darker than ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. Creator/RonHoward directed a film adaptation of ''Literature/EndersGame''. George Raft starred in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' instead of Creator/HumphreyBogart and the film did not include the iconic final line, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Creator/BelaLugosi lived longer and starred in several other Creator/EdWood films. Creator/StanleyKubrick lived long enough to complete ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence''. ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' was written and directed by Creator/DavidCronenberg rather than Creator/PaulVerhoeven. ''Film/TheTerminator'' starred O.J. Simpson as the title character and Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger as Kyle Reese. Creator/TomSelleck played Franchise/IndianaJones in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' but no sequels were made. Creator/ClarkGable did not play Rhett Butler in ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' but it isn't revealed who did. Jessica Tandy (who originated the role on Broadway) played Blanche [=DuBois=] in the film version of ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' instead of Creator/VivienLeigh. ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' has a sequel entitled ''The Lunch Bunch''. Sara Hansen is considered one of the greatest directors of all time. Pete speculates that she died young or was never even born in his universe. One of the few films that is the same in both universes is ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', which still starred Creator/JimmyStewart. Ally is just as fascinated as Pete at the differences.

* AlternateTechline: This is played with as it concerns formats as opposed to technology levels. Pete rents a copy of ''Film/TheMagnificentAmbersons'' with the rediscovered footage from Impossible Dreams Video, intending to watch it on his DVD player at home. However, the player can't read the disc as DVD encryption is different in the AlternateUniverse. The next night, he plans to rent a DVD player from the store but he notices that the electrical plug's two posts are "oddly angled, one perpendicular to the other." As such, the store's player would be equally incompatible with the outlets in his apartment. He ruefully notes that it is unlikely that the local Radio Shack has an adapter that would work. The same problem exists with videotapes as they are smaller than VHS and larger that Betamax.

* ShoutOut: The short films open with Daniel watching ''The Other Side'', a science fiction series based on ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''. The introduction to ''The Other Side'' features the same spinning cone seen in the opening credits of Season Three. When Daniel later discovers that there is a disused building where Impossible Dreams had been the previous night, the ''Twilight Zone'' theme music is heard.

* TakeThat: Pete wanted to see Creator/StanleyKubrick's version of ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence'' "without Creator/StevenSpielberg's sentimental touch turning the movie into Literature/{{Pinocchio}}."
* YourUniverseOrMine: Pete has a romantic notion about convincing Ally to allow him to stay in Impossible Dreams Video so that he can stow away to her universe and watch all of the films that don't exist in his own universe. He even thinks that he could become Ally's new roommate. Pete notes that the plan made sense at three o'clock in the morning but he had subsequently realised that it was full of holes. For one thing, he did not even know Ally's name at that point so she wouldn't be willing to welcome him into her life. It might work in a movie but not in real life. [[spoiler: Over the course of the next six nights, Pete and Ally spend more time together and they develop a mutual attraction. Ally eventually decides to settle in Pete's universe as there is nothing for her in her own.]]

The story concerns Pete, a film buff in his late 20s, who discovers a video store from an AlternateUniverse called Impossible Dreams Video that appears for increasingly short periods of time every night. He becomes fascinated with the [[DifferentWorldDifferentMovies differences that exist between the films made in this universe and his own]]. Pete finds a kindred spirit in the store's clerk Ally, who loves movies just as much as he does.

* AlternateHistory: Pete surmises that the [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki atom bomb was never dropped on Hiroshima]] in the AlternateUniverse as he finds a Creator/JohnWayne UsefulNotes/WorldWarII film about the invasion of the [[UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} Japanese Home Islands]] which is described as "riveting historical drama" and ''Film/DoctorStrangelove'' was never made. Furthermore, UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt never became President as Ally fails to recognise his portrait on one of Pete's dimes.
* AlternateTechline: Pete rents a copy of ''Film/TheMagnificentAmbersons'' with the rediscovered footage from Impossible Dreams Video, intending to watch it on his DVD player at home. However, the player can't read the disc as DVD encryption is different in the AlternateUniverse. The next night, he plans to rent a DVD player from the store but he notices that the electrical plug's two posts are "oddly angled, one perpendicular to the other." As such, the store's player would be equally incompatible with the outlets in his apartment. He ruefully notes that it is unlikely that the local Radio Shack has an adapter that would work. The same problem exists with videotapes as they are smaller than VHS and larger that Betamax.

* TakeThat: Pete wanted to see Creator/StanleyKubrick's version of ''FIlm/AIArtificialIntelligence'' "without Creator/StevenSpielberg's sentimental touch turning the movie into ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}''."