Line #241 Main/DreamIntro


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2	%% Examples have been alphabetized (sometimes by series before title).
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4
5	A work or episode that starts with a (typically short) DreamSequence.
6
7	The dream is most often a CatapultNightmare or FlashbackNightmare, but if it isn't it's usually some version of PsychicDreamsForEveryone -- DreamingOfTimesGoneBy, DreamingOfThingsToCome, or DreamSpying. If the dream sequence goes so long that it takes over the story, it becomes AllJustADream.
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9	The trope is commonly used in a show or movie where it can either provide [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy backstory]] or provide a confusing or surreal hook to keep the viewers watching so that they get answers. In written works, it's usually a vehicle for {{foreshadowing}}, [[DreamingOfThingsToCome prophecy]], or a way to promise the readers the more fantastic elements the story can't open with. In video games, the player may have to choose information about themselves or answer a personality test in the Dream Intro, to make the CharacterCustomization process more immersive.
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11	It should be noted that among writers, at least, this is something of a DeadHorseTrope. Aspiring authors are constantly advised that opening with a dream sequence is frowned upon and even something that will get a potential agent to stop reading, perhaps second only to opening with a MorningRoutine sequence.
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13	May invoke CaughtInTheRipple as characters in a dream are more likely not to react to strange things the way they would in waking life.
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15	Compare UnwinnableTrainingSimulation, where a work starts off with what appears to be a depiction of combat or some other conflict and when the scene ends it's revealed that it was just a training exercise. In video games, this may transition into GoodMorningCrono. Also compare DaydreamSurprise, DangerRoomColdOpen and FakeOutOpening.
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17	!!Examples
18
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
22	* The manga of ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' begins with the protagonist Eren having a cryptic dream, [[DreamingOfThingsToCome apparently about future events]].
23	* In the anime adaptation of ''Literature/TheCaseFilesOfYakushijiRyoko'', the first episode starts with someone who looks like Superintendent Ryoko Yakushiji shoot herself in the head. Assistant Inspector Junichiro Izumida wakes up and finds out that he's in his room. [[spoiler: The dream turns out to be important as references to it comes to their investigation on Shiba.]]
24	* The last episode of ''Literature/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'' opens with both Emilia and Chiho having bad dreams involving Satan. In Emilia's dream, Satan regains his full power and declares his intentions to resume his world-conquering ways, while in Chiho's dream, Maou Sadou informs her that he has to return to his own world.
25	* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', Kakyoin's first encounter with [[VillainOfTheWeek Death XIII]] occurs in a created dream world that soon turns into a CatapultNightmare.
26	* The first episode of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' begins with a scene involving Madoka running through a surreal building to see a girl fighting a monster that has destroyed a whole city, and a strange creature who tells her she can stop the destruction by becoming a magical girl. She then wakes up, but is surprised to meet the girl from her dream at school that day. [[spoiler:Ultimately, it's revealed that it wasn't an ordinary dream but a memory of the previous timeline.]]
27	* ''Anime/TheTowerOfDruaga'' starts with a humorous dream sequence, after main character Jil gets knocked out, with what he ''thinks'' his adventure is going to be.
28	* {{Downplayed}} in ''Anime/TheWindRises''; in the beginning a [[AMinorKidroduction young]] Jiro is shown to be sleeping on his bed. We then see him having a dream where he climbs to the roof of his house and start flying a plane around his town. He then sees a blimp with bombs tied to it, which then drop off and smash Jiro's plane, causing Jiro to fall to the ground. He then wakes up.
29	* ''[[Manga/GoForItNakamura Go For It Again, Nakamura!]]'' starts with Nakamura and Hirose walking home together. Once they are in an empty street, Hirose asks Nakamura for a kiss, and as they're kissing, Nakamura wakes up from that dream.
30	* The ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'' episode "Prediction Predicament - Part I" starts with King Dedede sleeping in his castle, when he is woken up by an intense light, which turns out to be a giant red burning Kirby monster, much to his horror. He attempts to hammer the monster, but a JumpCut reveals that it was just a dream and he hit Escargoon in the head.
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
34	* ''Animation/BhaagamBhaag'': "Guud Luck" begins with Sunny having a dream that a monkey is running off with one of his school books. Sunny plays tug-of-war with the monkey to get his item back; in reality, it's his mother tugging at his blanket to wake him up.
35	* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': In Season 2 episode 5, after the PreviouslyOn… for the preceding episode, we see [=BoBoiBoy=] being chased by giant cookies who are forcing him to consume them. The scene then cuts to reality, with [=BoBoiBoy=] waking up and realizing that he had that dream because Ochobot was force-feeding him [[LethalChef Yaya's cookies]] in order to wake him up.
36	* ''Animation/BoonieBears'': Season 3 episode 30 begins with Tiki having a nightmare where his crown starts to float off his head. As he tries and fails to pull it back down, a giant hand appears and heads straight for him, presumably after the crown, before he wakes up.
37	* ''Animation/FlowerAngel'': Season 1 episode 3 opens with An'an dreaming about her PrecociousCrush, Wangke. Wangke has a potted flower with him and explains he wants to give it to someone special. An'an thinks she's that someone, but it's actually Wangke's grandma. An'an is woken up from this dream by her dad.
38	* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'':
39	** The beginning of Season 8 episode 7 is supposed to be a nightmare that Careful S. is having about [[spoiler:his buddy Kalo's death]], given his CatapultNightmare reaction afterwards.
40	** In a few of the early episodes of Season 14, Smart S. does the same thing after having nightmares about [[spoiler:Happy S. being defeated at the hands of The Dark Demon back at the end of Season 13.]]
41	* The ''Animation/{{Lamput}}'' episode "Meet the Shrink" begins with the docs having a dream where they're chasing after Lamput. The two have trouble catching up with him as usual and [[CatapultNightmare are distressed enough when they wake up to jolt themselves upright]].
42	* The ''Animation/MotuPatlu'' episode "Motu Ka Birthday" begins with Motu dreaming that he is celebrating his birthday with his friends. After they finish singing "Happy Birthday to You", Motu gobbles up the entire birthday cake, causing his friends to get angry with him and pummel him.
43	* ''Animation/NanaMoon'':
44	** Episode 7 begins with Liz dreaming she has become the queen of Moon Haven, with Master Satellite as her king. Liz is woken up from the dream by Grunt.
45	** Liz has another episode-opening dream involving Satellite in episode 48. The two find each other in a flower field, but suddenly Liz has to use the bathroom. While she's in a conveniently-placed outhouse, water floods the place and separates her and Satellite; Liz wakes up from the dream to find that she wet her bed.
46	* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': Some episodes may start with Wolffy's dream of finally defeating and eating the goats (or being unable to eat/catch the goats but landing himself in trouble), or someone else's dream of other things. This is common in Season 1, though it's far from the only season to use the trope.
47	** Episode 101 begins with Wolffy chasing Paddi with a knife, and when he catches Paddi and is about to cut him, Paddi punch Wolffy's eye. It's revealed he is punching Mr. Slowy's eye in reality, causing him to get reprimanded and being forced to stand in the hallway outside the classroom as a punishment.
48	** ''Joys of Seasons'' episode 2 begins with Paddi dreaming that he enters the canteen, sees a piece of cake sitting on top of a cupboard, reaches for it and drops it on the floor by accident, and then notices a bigger cake nearby and heads for it.
49	** ''Joys of Seasons'' episode 39 begins with Wolffy and Wolnie having a nightmare about the Lucky Doll and Unlucky Doll.
50	** ''Happy, Happy, Bang, Bang!'' episode 1 begins with Paddi having a dream where he meets a genie who gives him a flying carpet.
51	** ''Happy, Happy, Bang, Bang!'' episode 30 begins with Slowy having a nightmare about Wilie [[spoiler:betraying the goats "some time later" and becoming a Wolffy clone (complete with an elderly Wolffy appearing in the bush) if he lets him into the Goat School.]]
52	** ''Happy, Happy, Bang, Bang!'' episode 33 begins with Wolffy having a dream about him and Wolnie finally eating the goats, only for the little gray goat they're about to eat being revealed to be Wilie.
53	** ''The Athletic Carousel'' episode 18 begins with the weirdest dream Paddi has had ever.
54	** ''Adventures in the Sea'' episode 56 starts with Wolnie seeing her beautiful self in a mirror before fading into the same but with added pores on her face. She is shocked after seeing this, and the mirrors grew a face and started laughing at her; as she is about to throw the mirror and throw it, it's shown that she's about to throw Wolffy out of bed in reality.
55	** The first episode of ''Mighty Little Defenders'' begins with Weslie having a dream about [[spoiler:Wolffy and the other wolves trying to attack his friends, only for him to appear with a gun to fend them off. Wolffy admits defeat and says he thinks that goats and wolves can coexist peacefully, only for a shadowed General Wolf to appear and tell Wolffy that there can be no such coexistence between the two species.]]
56	* The ''Animation/SimpleSamosa'' episode "Moong Fu Samosa" begins with Samosa having a dream about his fight with Sumo Momo from the earlier episode "Sumo Momo" (a CallBack since Samosa trains to fight Sumo Momo's brother Judo Momo in this episode). After stock footage of Samosa giving the wrestler a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown is used, the scene cuts to Vada trying to wake up Samosa, who grabs him during his dreaming.
57	* ''Animation/YamuchasKungFuAcademy'': Episode 4 begins with a dream where a giant Jubby fights Nao with fire breath.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Comic Books]]
61	* ''ComicBook/{{Orion}}'': The series kicks off with a disturbing dream of an apparently idyllic [[EverytownAmerica American town]] which is slowly revealed to be not quite what it seems. Dan Turpin jolts awake just as he's being cut to pieces by the townsfolk in the dream.
62	* ''ComicBook/Superboy1994'': Quite a few issues start out in Superboy's dreams until the odd or unsettling occurrences within wake him.
63	* ''ComicBook/{{Zion}}'' begins with Desta dreaming about a giant lion head ball calling out to him, before he [[CatapultNightmare wakes up with a shout]].
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Fan Works]]
67	* There's a fanfic based on ''Film/BridgeToTerabithia'', titled ''[[https://www.iini.vip/Du0NQN0QPjLUTtNqM1kDUTWoJ1gHU3OIJI0 The Phone Call]]'', that uses this trope in the first chapter to retcon the original story's ending, in which [[spoiler: Leslie Burke's alleged accident and death is Jess Aarons' bad dream]]. Leading to Jess deciding to take precautions to ''ensure'' the accident never happens, but only leads to bigger problems from there on.
68	* The ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' story "Smurfed Behind: The Other Side Of The Mirror" begins with a Nightmare Intro, as Empath dreams that he and Polaris Psyche were captured by the other Smurfs (who have somehow turned evil) and are subject to death by an alternate version of Empath who strikes Empath with the crystal tip of a power staff.
69	* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' story ''Fanfic/{{Bait and Switch\|STO}}'' and its side story ''Fanfic/ShakedownShenanigans'' both open in Captain Kanril Eleya's recurring FlashbackNightmare of her being near-fatally stabbed defending her ship against a boarding action ten years earlier.
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
73	* ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie'' begins with Max on a field with Roxanne, when suddenly he transforms into his father. [[CatapultNightmare Max then wakes up and bolts up from his bed.]]
74	* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'': The intro starts with Po being [[DreamSue an uber-awesome legendary kungfu warrior...]] and then [[CrashingDreams Po hears Master Tigress and Master Monkey speaking in his father's voice]] and wakes up, revealing that that was just a dream (he's just the son of a noodle cook).
75	* In the intro of ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch2StitchHasAGlitch'', Stitch has a nightmare about turning bad once again and causing destruction to Earth. This is because his molecules haven't been completely charged by the time of his creation.
76	* ''Anime/LittleNemoAdventuresInSlumberland'' opens with the hero Nemo having a dream that quickly becomes a nightmare.
77	* ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted'' starts with Alex having a dream about the penguins going away to Monte Carlo, but however initiate warp drive in the process, causing Gloria, Marty and Melman to become old and the scenery to turn black-and-white. When he notices his old self, the latter shakes him which makes him wake up.
78	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'' begins with [=SpongeBob=] as the manager of the Krusty Krab, saving the day [[MundaneMadeAwesome after a guy gets no cheese on his patty]]. The crowd hoist him over their shoulders and cheer him, but then the cheers turn into his foghorn alarm and [=SpongeBob=] wakes up.
79	* ''Animation/WaltzWithBashir'' opens with a fast-paced and visually dynamic sequence of a pack of dogs tearing through a city. The scene turns out to be the recurring nightmare of a supporting cast member.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
83	* ''Film/AliGIndahouse'': The opening of the film is an over-the-top dream Ali G is having of how much of a [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy supposed]] badass gangster he is.
84	* ''Film/AloneInTheDark1982'' opens with a nightmare that one of the main antagonist mental patients is having, where a normal visit to a diner turns surrealistic and lethal.
85	* ''Film/BatmanBegins'' starts with a FlashbackNightmare by Bruce, retelling his first encounter with bats when he was a little kid. The nature of this sequence is slightly given away by the [[FlashbackEffects echoing voices]].
86	* ''Film/BringItOn'' beings with Torrance and her cheerleading squad doing an awesome, boastful cheer in the school gym... then she's suddenly naked and humiliated in front of the crowd. She wakes up realizing it was just a bad dream. All the direct to DVD sequels begin something like this too.
87	* In opening scene of ''Film/TheCell'', the protagonist is riding a horse in a desert; the horse turns into a statue. The scene is revealed to be a child's dream which the protagonist (a child psychiatrist) has entered using a new technology.
88	* ''Film/TheCityOfLostChildren'' opens with a nightmare scene which turns out to be part of an experiment done on a test subject in Krank's lab.
89	* ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'': The film opens with Sarah having a nightmare about dozens of zombie arms bursting out of a wall and overwhelming her.
90	* ''Film/DeathWish4TheCrackdown'' starts with the vigilante protagonist offing two bad guys, only to discover that one of them has his face. Then he wakes up, and the implications of his dream are never brought up again.
91	* In ''Film/DressedToKill'', the opening [[{{Bookends}} and closing]] Hitchcockian shower scenes are revealed to be [[DaydreamSurprise dream sequences]].
92	* ''Film/TheGate'' opens with the main character walking into an eerie empty house, then climbing a tree which gets struck by lightning and falls down... And then he wakes up to the sound of the trees being cleared in the next lot.
93	* ''Film/GoodBurger'' begins with Ed taking a customer's order, before finding a bunch of hamburgers coming to life and asking him to become one them - they start hovering in the air, bringing him up into the air with them before dropping him into pit; he wakes up just as he supposedly hits the bottom to the sound of his alarm clock.
94	* ''Film/HostelPartII'' starts with the Final Boy from the first film dreaming about giving a policeman (and the audience) an infodump on the premise of the franchise.
95	* The second scene of ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' turns out to be a nightmare of the hero dreaming of crashing his jet fighter.
96	* ''Film/IvansChildhood'' starts off with a HappyFlashback dream of the protagonist, depicting a heartwarming moment with Ivan and his mother. The dream abruptly comes to an end with a scream and a CatapultNightmare by the boy.
97	* The 2008 film version of ''Literature/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth'' starts with a PursuedProtagonist intro in which the hero is being chased by a T-Rex, culminating in him falling into a lava pit. A CatapultNightmare reveals this sequence to be a bad dream.
98	* At the beginning of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'', Frodo has a dream that [[PreviouslyOn reminds us what happened to Gandalf at the end of Part 1]], although in this case it continues into a sequence which he [[UnreliableNarrator couldn't possibly have seen]].
99	* ''Film/MissionImpossibleFallout'' opens with Ethan marrying Julia at a lake, except the priest turns out to be Solomon Lane, who tells Ethan that he should have killed him. A nuclear bomb goes off and incinerates Ethan just before Ethan wakes up.
100	* The shootout in the opening scene of ''Film/TheNakedGun 33⅓'' turns out to be a nightmare Frank Drebin was having.
101	* A regular occurrence in ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet''. EVERY one of the films starts with the main character having a nightmare about Freddy before waking up in a CatapultNightmare right when he's about to kill them (because otherwise, it would obviously be a pretty short movie). The only mild exception is in [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet3DreamWarriors the third one]], and that's just because the protagonist is awake for a few minutes before falling asleep. And in ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' it's because the movie opens with Freddy himself recapping his origins.
102	* ''Film/MuppetsFromSpace'' opens with Gonzo's dream wherein he is denied passage on Noah's ark since there is only one of him on Earth.
103	* ''Film/{{Orphan}}'' begins with Kate having a nightmare about her stillbirth.
104	* ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure'' begins with Pee-wee winning the Tour De France, but as the crown is about to be place on his head, an alarm is heard, prompting everyone in attendance to just up and leave; we then fade to Pee-wee waking up to the sound of his alarm clock.
105	* The third installment in the ''Film/{{Porkys}}'' series, ''Porky's Revenge!'' begins with Pee Wee's dream/nightmare taking place at his upcoming high school graduation, where everyone is naked under their robes as a prank. His robe gets ripped off on the dais, exposing him to the whole graduating class.
106	* ''Film/TheRoad'' opens with the protagonist's dream of tender moments with his wife before the apocalypse.
107	* One level of the IntroDump in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' shows that Young River's classroom scene is really a dream/memory that River experienced while being "treated" in the Academy.
108	* ''Film/{{Shiri}}'' starts when OP agents Yu and Lee were having lunch when they were assassinated in broad daylight by North Korean commando Lee Bang-Hee, resulting in a CatapultNightmare for the former when he realizes that he's still at work.
109	* The silent film ''Film/StageStruck1925'' starts off with a sequence in which Creator/GloriaSwanson is playing a famous, glamorous actress. It then turns out this is a dream, and her character is actually a poor waitress.
110	* ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' starts with not one [[DreamWithinADream but two of these]], as Captain Picard is having nightmares about his assimilation by the Borg seven years prior.
111	* ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' opens with the protagonist Douglas Quaid walking above a canyon on Mars until he slips and falls head-first onto a pointy rock that shatters his EVA suit helmet and causes an ExplosiveDecompression before he wakes up in bed from what it's revealed to be a recurring nightmare.
112	* ''Film/VanillaSky'' opens with the protagonist recounting a dream to his psychologist in which he woke up to find New York completely abandoned.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Literature]]
116	* ''Literature/Blackbird1986'' begins with Randy's dream in which he and his crush Todd in front of the church choir singing a duet, after which they disrobe and start kissing passionately.
117	* ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'':
118	** ''Tris's Book'', the second book of the series, begins with Tris having a FlashbackNightmare about what happened at the end of the first book.
119	** ''Briar's Book'' is an odd case: the first sentence of the book is "Briar Moss knew he was only dreaming...", and the content of the dream is not particularly significant: sitting in a tree admiring a bag of jewels, then being arrested. It's a logical dream for a street-thief-turned-plant-mage, but not directly related to the book's plot.
120	* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' begins with a man checking on what's going on upstairs, only to be confronted by Wormtail, then Voldemort. Turns out it was a nightmare Harry was having. [[spoiler:A [[DreamSpying psychic nightmare]], as that was actually happening.]]
121	* ''Literature/LivInTheFuture'' appears to begin with Liv as a badass secret agent... at least, until the [[RealDreamsAreWeirder giant singing pufferfish and the glowing-eyed cat]] appear. She's having a dream the night before her high-school graduation. The corridor the dream began in and the cat later appear once Liv travels to the future.
122	* Creator/AndreNorton's novel ''Literature/PostmarkedTheStars'' begins with Dane Thorson dreaming that he's crawling through steamy, greasy mud. He wakes up and finds himself not in a humid, gluey swamp but in a room in a small, cheap inn near a spaceport.
123	* ''Literature/Quarantine1992'' has a {{justified\|Trope}} instance: Cop-turned-private-investigator Nick Stavrianos has a [[BioAugmentation neural mod]] that allows people to [[ExpositionBeam implant information directly into his head]], but only while he sleeps, because the information transfer can be dangerously traumatic for a conscious brain. The end result is that the recipient wakes up feeling as if they [[TalkingInYourDreams dreamed the communication]] (although in this case, it's a one-way transfer, not a conversation). The story opens with a new client offering him a job this way.
124	* ''The Darkness that Comes Before'', the first novel of the ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'' series, starts with a DistantPrologue describing the first Apocalypse several thousand years ago. Then it {{Time Skip}}s to the present day, and begins with a DreamSequence in which Anasurimbor Moenghus [[TalkingInYourDreams contacts the Dunyain monks in their dreams]] to tell them to send his son Kellhus to him, which kicks off the plot of the entire series.
125	* Several ''Literature/WarriorCats'' books start out with dreams. Many of them involve the characters [[DeadPersonConversation receiving a prophecy/warning from [=StarClan=]]] (''Midnight'', ''Twilight'', ''Tallstar's Revenge'') or speaking to other dead cats (''Sunrise'', ''Thunder Rising''). ''The First Battle'''s prologue involves Gray Wing talking to another living, dreaming cat over a great distance. There are also several "ordinary" dreams as well:
126	** The first chapter of ''Into the Wild'' opens with the protagonist dreaming of chasing a mouse. This inspires him, upon waking, to explore the woods: a small decision that affects the entire series.
127	** ''[=SkyClan's Destiny=]'''s first chapter begins with Leafstar having a nightmare about a flood.
128	** ''The Sight'''s prologue is Firestar dreaming a flashback of him receiving the Power of Three prophecy from Skywatcher.
129	** Though it is very brief, ''Fading Echoes''' first chapter opens with Dovepaw having a FlashbackNightmare of Rippletail's death.
130	* ''Literature/FrozenIIAForestOfShadows'' opens up with a NighmareSequence in which Anna encounters a gigantic wolf. Seeing blood on its paws, she's terrified it's gotten her sister, Elsa.
131	[[/folder]]
132
133	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
134	* ''Series/AllyMcBeal'': In "The Blame Game" (season 1 ep. 17, if pilot is ep. 1), the opening has eponymous young lawyer and her colleague Georgia (who is also Ally's ex's wife) on a plane exchanging usual pleasantries, when the plane starts to shake and apparently rapidly crashes. It being a dream is revealed by the cut to Ally's waking up in panic. Dialogues with a trusted friend reveal that although Ally could have been influenced by the plane crash case they work on, there is also that fact that offscreen part of the dream included decapitation of Georgia and miraculous survival of Ally.
135	* Subverted in the pilot of ''Series/AmericanGothic1995''. After the ActionPrologue, Gail has a CatapultNightmare and we are to assume the opening sequence was a bad dream of hers. But then we see that the story is on TV.
136	* ''Series/BabylonFive'': One episode starts with Ivanova dreaming that she's reported for duty on the command deck [[NotWearingPantsDream naked]]. She naturally has a CatapultNightmare wakeup.
137	* ''{{Series/The Chosen\|TVSeries}}'': "Intensity in Tent City" opens with Claudia (the wife of Pontius Pilate) having a dream, in which a serpent slithers toward Jesus. Shortly after waking, she is startled to notice her husband putting on a snake-themed ornament.
138	* One episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' starts off with Reid dreaming that he is about to get married, only to find out that his bride has no face.
139	* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': "[[Recap/CSINYS06E18 Rest in Peace, Marina Garito]]" opens with Stella dreaming that she gets in a traffic accident and is helped out of her vehicle by a young woman. She awakes with a start, and that day gets presented with a new case - the murder of the very woman she was dreaming about, whose missing twin brother Stella has been searching for for quite some time.
140	* The start of ''Series/TheDumpingGround'' webisode "Liam's Story" opens with Liam dreaming he is a music artist. We see him learn from his agent that he's number one in the US, France, and Germany, but only number two in New Zealand. Liam sacks the agent, but tells her to get a glass of water. The agent throws a glass of water into Liam's face. He then wakes up and it turns out Jack (Liam's brother) chucked the water into Liam's face to wake him up.
141	* ''{{Series/Legion\|2017}}'': "[[Recap/LegionS3E7Chapter26 Chapter 26]]" begins with Charles Xavier experiencing a nightmare where he watches himself (dressed in a bull costume) being killed onstage by a matador, and then the Devil with the Yellow Eyes snarls at him, "You should never have come."
142	* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': "The great wave" starts off with Miriel dreaming that she is celebrating a holiday centered around new-born babies. She is blessing the babies when the palace starts to shake, and the dream suddenly turns into a nightmare where Miriel sees the city being taken by The Great Flood. Then, she wakes up realizing that it was a dream.
143	* ''Series/LovecraftCountry'' opens on a scene of trench warfare, which quickly devolves into a sci-fi battle with [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds Martian Tripods]], {{flying saucer}}s, [[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars scantly clad, red-skinned princesses]] and a miniature Cthulhu which is [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu fought by a bat-wielding]] UsefulNotes/JackieRobinson. It turns out to be the dream of the African American protagonist Tic, a Korean War veteran who's a fan of science fiction.
144	* ''Series/MenBehavingBadly'': "Babies" begins with Gary seemingly about to marry Deborah. It's not until the marriage gets weird (culminating with both of them becoming pregnant) that it becomes apparent that it is a dream.
145	* Episode 12 of ''Series/MimpiMetropolitan'' apparently starts with Alan and Pipin having a romantic moment after closing Pipin's shop, although the dream filter is noticeable. When Alan kisses Pipin's hands, he notices something smells off and it turns out that he is kissing Prima's feet in real life, making him wake up.
146	* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': "Murdoch Air" opens with Murdoch in bed dreaming of his and Julia's wedding. She balks at the word "obey" on her vows, he turns and jokes to the guests about negotiating that part, then there's a pounding sound and Julia thinks it's her first husband Darcy. In fact, Constable Crabtree is pounding on Murdoch's bedroom door. Murdoch wakes up and Crabtree urges him to hurry up and come see the flying machine in the sky over Toronto.
147	* ''[[Series/Napoleon2002 Napoléon]]'': After UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte's defeat in Moscow, the next episode opens with him quietly watching his troops retreat and slowly freezing to death while being relentlessly hunted down by UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}}. This is revealed to be a nightmare when Napoléon wakes up in Paris.
148	* An episode of ''Series/NorthernExposure'' starts inside Joel's sex dream where he's Robert Palmer singing "Simply Irresistible". There's a SexyDiscretionShot fading to the opening credits when things turn steamy.
149	* ''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce'' has a couple of episodes, including its first one, open with Troy (the red ranger) having a dream involving numerous [[Franchise/PowerRangers Power Rangers]] teams fighting a massive battle.
150	* ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'' opens with Mack (the red ranger) on an adventure where he escapes from a plane. We then see him fall out of a hammock and turns out he was just daydreaming.
151	* [[OnceAnEpisode Every episode]] of ''Series/{{Providence}}'' starts this way, with protagonist Syd having a dream featuring her mother who is in limbo.
152	* One episode of ''Series/QuantumLeap'' opens with Sam on a beach making out with Terry Farrell - but then he wakes up, discovering that it was a dream and he's actually a Navy ensign accused of murder.
153	* The ''Series/SpaceCases'' episode "The Impossible Dram" opens with Catalina dreaming that she and her friends are all in a medieval court.
154	* The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Phantasms" starts with Data's dream program giving him his first nightmare.
155	* The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Waking Moments" starts with four of them simultaneously, including one with [[NotWearingPantsDream Tuvok naked]], which turn out to be induced by a telepathic alien.
156	* ''TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' - the PILOT episode begins with a very expensive one with CGI robot fights and an atomic explosion.
157	* An episode of ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger'' opens with Umeko going to the control room of the base, only to find the other rangers have been knocked out by a monster, she tries to chase the monster down one of the tubes leading to their mechs, only to wake up in the bathtub, having apparently fallen asleep. She then goes to the control room where Jasmine changes into the monster from Umeko's dream. They then have a fight with each other which ends with Umeko being killed, only for the audience to discover this was also a dream.
158	* ''V: The Final Battle'', the second miniseries in the ''Series/{{V1983}}'' franchise, opened with a slow-motion nightmare in which Mike Donovan tries to escape from a Visitor ship with his captured son before he's shot to death in front of his father by a group of pursuing soldiers, prompting a CatapultNightmare.
159	* ''Series/WimziesHouse'': "Am I Dreaming?" starts with Wimzie running from Jonas, both in silhouette, as Jonas continues to grow larger and larger, taunting Wimzie by saying he was never her friend and her never liked her, which turns out to be a dream, that causes Wimzie to spend the rest of the episode holding a grudge against Jonas, much to his confusion.
160	* ''Series/TheWonderYears'' episode "Heart of Darkness" begins with Kevin having a dream where he's in a cave but then ends up in math class wearing pajamas.
161	* The ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS04E23Demons Demons]]" begins with a FlashbackNightmare for Mulder. It's not much of a surprise opening because of the standard flashback effects and the fact that it depicts him as his younger self together with his sister Samantha.
162	* ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'': The season 2 episode "Land O'Smiles" opens with Frank Fink performing a Judaic prayer with his [[spoiler:deceased]] sister Laura and her children before gas suddenly starts to come down from the ceiling when he wakes up from this nightmare.
163	* ''Series/TheExpanse'': The second episode opens with a dream that Jim has of the time he met his recently-deceased girlfriend while he was actually dozing off for a brief moment.
164	* ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse'': An episode called "Camping Out" where Pee-Wee has a dream called Allegretto. After the dream Pee-Wee finally wakes up and notices that the viewer has come for him.
165	* The ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode "The Slicer" opens with Elaine waking up in bed with [[AmicableExes Jerry]]. As she starts to tell him that she needs some space, it's revealed that [[BedmateReveal George is in bed with them too. And Kramer]].
166	-->'''Elaine:''' I can't breathe...I'm suffocating...I can't breathe... ''([[CatapultNightmare wakes up]])'' [[WithFriendsLikeThese You're all killing me!]]
167	[[/folder]]
168
169	[[folder:Video Games]]
170	* The first mission of ''VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'' is a nightmare the protagonist is having about his own impending death. Towards the end of the game, the RemixedLevel version of it is played in the waking world, although the outcome is slightly different.
171	* The introduction of ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'' shows an odd gold-and-crystal humanoid figure flying through a cloud of bubbles that each have an object or concept in them, ''Albion'''s logo being the first. The view then leaves the scene and zooms in on a spaceship, eventually reaching Tom's cabin and showing him sitting up and saying "That strange dream again..."
172	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Ann's introduction begins with her having a FlashbackNightmare where she awakens in an abandoned town surrounded by snow and briefly walks towards an EldritchLocation before being woken up by someone knocking on her door.
173	* ''VideoGame/BearAndBreakfast'' begins with Hank having a nightmare about a dark, mysterious bird staring at him before flying away in a storm. He then wanders around in the darkness to look for his bed, which serves as the movement tutorial, and then wakes up remarking that he [[AcidRefluxNightmare shouldn't have had dumplings before bed.]]
174	* ''VideoGame/BrokTheInvestiGator'' begins with Brok having a nightmare about finding himself in a burning building and attempting to get his deceased wife out of the rubble. He eventually hears her voice telling him that it's all his fault for her death, which causes him to [[CatapultNightmare wake up abruptly]], beginning the game proper.
175	* ''VideoGame/ChoroQ'' starts out with Norahike having a nightmare/flashback of his best friend dying at the grand prix.
176	* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' starts with a DreamingOfThingsToCome sequence in which ther hero Serge, Kid, and a third person infiltrate Fort Dragonia. He wakes up after reaching a plot-significant door.
177	* Subverted in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI''. The game starts with a trio of heroes entering a demon lord's castle, getting their asses kicked, and then one of the three wakes up, starting the game. [[spoiler: Turns out it wasn't a dream, the demon lord turned their bodies into statues and sent their spirits to the dream world]].
178	* ''VideoGame/DrawnToLife: The Next Chapter'' for the DS begins with Heather joining her friends over for a picnic, then they suddenly turn dark and creepy, that the darkness covers up the area. Heather was almost caught by it, until [[CatapultNightmare she sits right back up in bed.]]
179	* The opening cutscene of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' is a dream the PlayerCharacter is having before being awakened on the prison ship. In it, you see various landscapes of Vvardenfell and receive some cryptic guidance from a mysterious woman, who eventually turns out to be the Daedric Prince Azura.
180	* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' begins with a playable dream that [[DreamingOfThingsToCome foretells an event of a later chapter]].
181	* ''Videogame/HalfLife2'': "Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman. Rise and... shine." This occurs at the beginning of the second game after Gordon Freeman was put into storage stasis by G Man. Upon awakening, he is met with the mysterious and very dreamlike image of G Man, who attempts to awaken him with a cryptic message.
182	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
183	** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' starts off in a dream to help the player design his character, to give Sora a Psychic Dream, and to establish the bizarre nature of the plot.
184	** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' follows the lead with a similar dream for Roxas.
185	* ''VideoGame/SacredOdysseyRiseOfAyden'' begins with Ayden meeting Princess Evanora in a dark void, before he wakes up... because his uncle caught him dozing off while doing his chores on the farm.
186	* The opening stage of ''VideoGame/ShadeWrathOfAngels'' have you suddenly thrown into the action, where you're immediately fighting mummies in a cursed pyramid. And then you wake up, and it's another one-third of the game before you enter the actual cursed pyramid.
187	* ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVbeoSPqRs4 begins with]] Kerrigan (as Queen of Blades) laying waste to Augustgrad, before cutting back to her dezerged form waking up from the nightmare. [[spoiler:It's also DreamingOfThingsToCome, since the last few levels are you doing exactly that.]]
188	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
189	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' begins with a scene of Ganondorf chasing Princess Zelda on horseback, which turns out to be a nightmare that Link is having. This ends up [[DreamingOfThingsToCome occurring for real later in the game]].
190	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' begins with Link dreaming first of [[ExpositionFairy Fi]], then of [[BigBad the Imprisoned]], despite not knowing of either.
191	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'' begins with a scene of Link having nightmare of facing Ganon.
192	* ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' starts with a scene of Max at night by the lighthouse during the storm which turns out to be a DaydreamSurprise she was having in class.
193	* ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' is a subverted example: while it looks like a dream, when April visits the same location in the waking world, she can see the traces of her actions from when she was "dreaming" about it at the start of the game. In other words, it was real from the start, she just didn't realize it then.
194	* In ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'', Zero's storyline starts with him having a nightmare of a mysterious figure telling him to destroy the world.
195	* ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground'' uses this to justify giving the player ATasteOfPower. After you finish your first race, driving a fully pimped-out car, you're dragged out of your fantasy by your female companion and prompted to purchase your first ''actual'' car, which is much slower and plainer.
196	* Just before the first case of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', Phoenix has a dream of the Judge slamming a giant gavel on him to the tune of Music/JohannSebastianBach's ''Music/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor''. It turns out it was just a meaningless [[AnxietyDreams Anxiety Dream]] triggered by a cell phone with the ''Toccata's'' first few bars as its ringtone. And then the exact same dream comes back during the fourth case, [[IronicEcho this time with more meaning behind it]], since [[spoiler: Phoenix now has to defend a blatantly guilty person in court.]]
197	* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' starts with a cinematic of the orcs and humans going to war (again), before it cuts to Thrall waking from his CatapultNightmare.
198	* ''VideoGame/WarioWareDIY'': In the intro, Dr. Crygor dreams about playing a Nintendo Wii, when suddenly several characters come out of the TV screen and fly towards him. He wakes up and is then inspired to make the Super [=MakerMatic=] 21.
199	[[/folder]]
200
201	[[folder:Web Comics]]
202	* The "Power Fantasy" arc of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2012-04-02 opens with]] Sarah having a dream about battling a hedgehog monster in her [[HerCodeNameWasMarySue Wizard Sarah]] alter-ego. The author jokes about the obvious TitleDrop in the commentary [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2012-04-03 here.]]
203	* ''Webcomic/{{Metempsychosis}}'' begins with a dream sequence, wherein a [[FeatheredDragons dragon]] is hunted by another creature on an alien planet.
204	* The story of {{Webcomic/PRISMWING}} begins with a flash from Indigo's dreams.
205	* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-16-page-02 Chapter 16]] opens following Undine and Kokoro's first kiss and RelationshipUpgrade at the end of the previous chapter. At school the next day, Undine approaches Kokoro and begins to [[LetsJustBeFriends gently apologize]] for the previous night, saying that she "might have done something [she] shouldn't have." Kokoro promptly awakens in her bed with a start.
206	-->''"AAAAAAARGH! Shut up, brain!"''
207	[[/folder]]
208
209	[[folder:Web Original]]
210	* The ''WebAnimation/BeeAndPuppycat'' episode "Food" opens with Bee dreaming she is floating in the middle of nowhere with a group of Puppycats. She touches her Puppycat, gets an electric shock and wakes up.
211	* Done in ''WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers''' "[=Retarded64=]: the 1337 p0lice". At the start, Mario has a dream about a paradise where he flies past Wario and Toad, and lands in front of a [[BodyHorror distorted]] Peach, whom he dances with. Then the dream switches to him and Luigi reuniting together, when suddenly Luigi says he's pregnant, causing Mario to wake up with a start.
212	* The ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' video "Mario The Babysitter!" starts with Bowser kidnapping Rosalina, when Mario appears in a Franchise/{{Superman}} suit and [[WeaksauceWeakness defeats Bowser with his hair]]. When he grabs Rosalina, they both bump into a wall and Mario instantly wakes up. Needless to say, he is less than amused.
213	* ''WebVideo/TechnicolorDreams'' begins with Joseph asleep in bed having visions of a tornado destroying a town, which is then further destroyed and set ablaze by gangbangers, which then turns into visions of Hell, before waking up.
214	[[/folder]]
215
216	[[folder:Western Animation]]
217	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In "Best Fronds", the episode opens with Anne's dream where she relives how she, Sasha, and Marcy ended up in Amphibia.
218	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Season 1's ''The Storm'' starts off with Aang dreaming that he is flying with his friends. Aang is with Appa, Sokka is riding on Aang's glider, and Katara is flying on a giant version of Momo. However, the dream suddenly turns into a nightmare when Aang notices that his friends vanished and sees a vision of Monk Gyatso. Then Aang relives the terrible storm that led to Aang and Appa being frozen in the first place. [[CatapultNightmare Then, Aang wakes up realizing that it was a dream]].
219	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' has Ben transform into Wildmutt (one of his aliens) in order to rescue a boy stuck up a tree. The viewer then notices something is wrong when Ben, as Wildmutt, starts talking. The reason this is wrong is because Ben cannot talk while he is Wildmutt. The boy then transforms into Ghostfreak and then Ben wakes up.
220	* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' starts with Huey having a dream where he told a garden party full of white people that "Jesus was black, UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan was the devil, and the government is lying about 9/11." This supposedly shatters the white man's ignorance, spark a riot. When Huey wakes up, Granddad {{Dope Slap}}s him.
221	-->'''Granddad:''' Mm-Hmm. You were having that dream where you were making the white people riot!\
222	'''Huey:''' But Granddad, I was telling the truth!\
223	'''Granddad:''' What did I tell you, boy? You'd better not even ''dream'' of telling the truth! You'd better learn to lie like your Granddaddy! I'm gonna find me a nice white man and lie to to him right now...
224	* Early in the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainCavemanAndTheTeenAngels'' episode "Cavey's Mexicali 500", Captain Caveman is dreaming that he and Taffy Dare are alone on a small island. A giant pteranodon snatches Taffy, and Cavey flies to the rescue. Cavey wakes up, clutching his alarm clock bird.
225	* The ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' episode "Frightmare" starts with Danny dreaming his life his perfect, complete with Sam being his girlfriend.
226	* The ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'' episode "The Mystery of the Book" opens with a dream sequence in which Mandrake and Kshin are being menaced by a demonic creature named Kronos. The sequence ends with Mandrake being sent plunging into an abyss, at which point he wakes up and goes to check on Kshin, who has just had the exact same nightmare. This turns out to be a case of DreamingOfThingsToCome, as Mandrake and Kshin soon find themselves facing Kronos in the waking world.
227	* The ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode, "The Dream Machine" begins with Dexter having a nightmare where he is having trouble with completing an important test while he sees his sister [=DeeDee=] writing the scientific theory, "The Purpose of Meaning". As such, Dexter fails the test, and wakes up in utter defeat.
228	* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
229	** The episode "Rock-a-Bye Ed" opens with Ed having a nightmare of Johnny 2×4 as his mother ripping off his mouth and lowering him into the "Kanker pit" for annoying Sarah. This sets up the conflict of the episode, in which Ed develops a crippling fear of Johnny.
230	** The special "The Eds Are Coming" opens with Jimmy having a dream of living in a sunshine-and-rainbows wonderland before it turns into a nightmare when aliens attack.
231	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': The Season 10 episode "Girly Squirrely" starts with Timmy and his dad at camp, with the latter winding up burning the entire forest surrounding their tent. He is then noted about his shoe being on fire, and a bus behind them explodes. Cue Timmy waking up [[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl screaming like a girl]].
232	* ''WesternAnimation/FetchWithRuffRuffman'': This happens in Season 3 Episode "Mission Improbable" as well as the ending of the same episode. Both times Ruff was dreaming about his ancestors and both times Ruff wakes up with a scream.
233	** Season 4 episode "Ruff Bounces Back" opening up in a dream where Ruff was given a test from Professor Fange, who asks him three questions, Ruff could only say " I don't know!". Ruff then wakes up with a gasp, relieved that he's not back at Dogwarts after all.
234	--->'''Professor Fange''': ''[off-screen]'' How do you say 'Fetch the Stick' in Chinese?\
235	'''Ruff''': I don't know!\
236	'''Professor Fange''': What are the leash laws in Ecuador?\
237	'''Ruff''': I don't know!!\
238	'''Professor Fange''': George Washington's Dog invented Kibble! True or False!?\
239	'''Ruff''': I DON'T KNOW!!! I DON'T KNOW!!! ''[Sobs]''\
240	''[The scene is revealed to be a dream Ruff was having, the scene cuts to Ruff waking up with a gasp.]''\
241	'''Ruff''': ''[Gasps]'' Whew.... It was just a dream... I thought I was back at Dogwarts.
242	* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
243	** The episode "Arnold's Hat" starts with Arnold flying onto a kite in the sky when he hears several voices saying "Hey Arnold" continuously. [[CrashingDreams Arnold is then woken up to find that his potato alarm clock went off]].
244	** "Heat" begins with Arnold climbing into some giant ice cream cones. He makes it to the top of one, but just before Arnold gets to taste his victory dessert, his potato alarm clock wakes him up before the radio's morning news comes on.
245	** The two-parter produced GrandFinale "The Journal" starts with Arnold dreaming about traveling with his parents on a ship in a vast ocean. However, Arnold spots another ship as his father discovers that it belongs to some pirates and he and Arnold's mother leave Arnold behind to deal with them. The pirates fire cannonballs at Arnold's parents, resulting in a massive explosion. When the smoke clears, the pirates' ship is destroyed, but Arnold doesn't see them and his parents anywhere and he shouts for them to come back. Cue Arnold waking up in his bed, gasping for breath.
246	** ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie'' begins with Arnold exploring the jungles of San Lorenzo as he heads to the temple and finds his parents. Suddenly, Eduardo comes in flying a biplane and picks them up for another mission, leaving him alone. As he looks down to see a heart-shaped hole in his chest growing, [[FadeToWhite the screen whitens]] and Arnold wakes up.
247	* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'':
248	** One episode has Finn dream that he and the other members of the Dark Hand are playing in a band, only for Jackie to show up and beat up Finn for playing off key (that's the reason Jackie gives). Finn then wakes up.
249	** Another episode has Jade dream she's in school and is supposed to give a report about what she did over summer vacation. Problem: she does not have a report. She then wakes up and she sees (on a calendar) she still has a few days before school starts.
250	* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E5And6OnlyADream Only a Dream]]" starts with John Dee having an DreamSequence about [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] the League.
251	* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'':
252	** The series has an episode where Kim and Ron are on work experience at the Middleton Hospital. The episode opens with Ron dreaming that he is at the hospital and ends up performing an operation where he needs to swap Kim's brain with that of someone else to cure her of a disease that has left her smiling goofily.
253	** The fourth season's first episode opens with a reprise of the end of the third season finale "So The Drama" (except the sign on the outside reads "Not the End" instead of "The End") with Kim and Ron kissing each other, only for Kim to dissolve like sludge. Ron yells and wakes up.
254	* The ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' Season 2 two-parter finale begins with Blythe running through the International Pet Fashion Expo, trying to find her clothing kiosk as it's nearly her time to be judged. She is surrounded by her friends and the judges unprepared, until she finds herself in pajamas and holding a teddy bear and subsequently wakes up from her nightmare.
255	* ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' episode "Out Of This World" begins with Dorothy Ann having a nightmare about an asteroid crashing into Walkerville Elementary School and destroying it. She's awakened by the sound of her alarm clock.
256	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
257	** The episode "May The Best Pet Win!" begins with Rainbow Dash flying and seeing Twilight's pet owl Owlowiscious. Suddenly, Owlowiscious starts growing body parts of the other pets (Angel Bunny, Gummy, Winona, and Opalescence), which scares Dash so much that she actually falls into a seemingly endless black void, causing her to wake up from this nightmare.
258	** "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" starts off with Princess Luna dreaming about her becoming Nightmare Moon again and the mane six using their rainbow power to stop her. When the dream ends happy, that's when Luna realizes that the Tantabus, a creature that turns dreams into nightmares, which she created to punish herself for the all the trouble she caused as Nightmare Moon, has escaped.
259	* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/NedsNewt'' episode "[[FreakyFridayFlip Newt's Ned]]"; within the first few minutes, a scene is shown where Ned has a dream inside his ears. This is however interrupted by Newton disturbing him with loud speakers.
260	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'':
261	** The episode "There's No Camp Like Home" opens with Piglet having a nightmare about being chased by heffalumps and woozles.
262	** "[=Rock-A-Bye=] Pooh" likewise opens with Piglet having a bad dream where he is going on a picnic with Pooh, Tigger, and Rabbit, only for the three of them to suddenly disappear in strange ways[[note]] Tigger bounces into the sky and doesn't come back down, Rabbit drives off in a carrot-shaped go-kart, and Pooh climbs into his own honey pot and doesn't come back out[[/note]], leaving poor Piglet all alone as a terrible thunderstorm approaches. Piglet then wakes up, [[InsomniaEpisode but winds up afraid to go back to sleep]].
263	* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': "Edge of the World" starts with King, Eda, Luz, and Hooty welcoming King's father and his two younger siblings to the Owl House. King eventually realizes it's a dream because it's TooGoodToBeTrue.
264	* ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'':
265	** "Most Dangerous Witch" starts with a nightmare Zelda is having about Tim the Witch-Smeller.
266	** "Wiccan of the Sea" opens with what appears to be a CrowdSong celebrating the summer, but it turns out Sabrina was just daydreaming in the middle of class - and it's actually winter outside. The teacher says she was humming the song rather loudly too.
267	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
268	** The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E16Duffless Duffless]]" has Bart at the school science fair where his entry is a gun called the "Go Go Ray" which when zapped at people makes them do dances from the 1960s like The Monkey, which Bart demonstrates on Prinicipal Skinner, who then awards him first prize. Bart then wakes up to Lisa repeating the words "first prize" repeatedly.
269	** The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty Kamp Krusty]]" has Bart in class on the day before summer vacation where Skinner makes an announcement over the speakers to tell them to take out their hardware tools to destroy the school, leading to a montage of the kids destroying the school as the song "School's Out For Summer" plays in the background. The dream ends with Bart destroying the school with a wrecking ball and then being woken up and having to attend the last day of school for real.
270	** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E5WhenYouDishUponAStar When You Dish Upon a Star]]" begins with Homer dreaming he is WesternAnimation/YogiBear mauling Ranger Smith, and was about to maul Boo-Boo when Bart wakes him up to remind him that they're going to the lake. Homer goes back to sleep and dreams he's WesternAnimation/MagillaGorilla mauling Mr. Peebles.
271	** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E3HomerTheHeretic Homer the Heretic]]" begins with Homer dreaming he is in a womb when a pair of hands attempt to pull him out. Fade to Marge trying to drag Homer out of bed.
272	* A few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' begin like this.
273	** The episode "Suds" begins with [=SpongeBob=] dreaming that he is eating raining Krabby Patties, [[MarshmallowDream only to wake up and find he is chewing on his pillow]].
274	** The episode "Dying for Pie" begins with Squidward dreaming that he is playing the piano on a tropical island. [=SpongeBob=] appears ringing a bell and saying, "Order up," when Squidward is [[CrashingDreams awakened by what is actually the sound of his ringing alarm clock]].
275	** "Blackened Sponge" begins with [=SpongeBob=] dreaming that he is saving a woman from Jack M. Crazyfish in an old silent movie style (minus the black-and-white format). The villain is tieing the woman to the train tracks and [=SpongeBob=] takes on a muscular form to try and stop the train. Just before the train hits him head on, he is startled awake by his foghorn alarm clock.
276	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "Together Alone", The episode opens on Steven dreaming more PastLifeMemories, this time taking [[spoiler:Pink Diamond's place in playing with an unscarred, emotive, and pink-shaded version of White Pearl while Yellow Diamond looks on suspiciously]]. It takes a sudden dark turn where Steven starts coughing up Rose's hair and White Diamond flashes before he wakes up suddenly.
277	* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollz}}'' began with Amethyst having a nightmare that she went to the mall and her friends didn't know her.
278	* The story "The Asparagus Of La Mancha" from the ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' episode "Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler" starts with Don Quixote (played by Archibald Asparagus) having a bad dream where he is confronted by a horde of pea soldiers that start throwing giant hamburgers at him. [[spoiler:This is one of several bad dreams that he has throughout the entire story.]]
279	[[/folder]]

Context Main / DreamIntro