The Dreamstone

Yeah, the way it starts is clearly one of the last gasps of the 1980s fantasy movie genre, but I haven't yet seen episodes that do much more exploring of the world; I'd strap in for a series of simple heist plots padded out by slapstick and the occasional magic trick. I still found it charming after realizing it was British!

Season Four (and bits of Season Three) do a bit of world building, or at the very least have more surreal plots which use new characters and realms, but the focus is still on the Urpney humour and much more laid back. "A Day Out" was the nearest to a revival of the pilot's tension and making the heroes the main focus again.

I think after the first few episodes, the writers seemed to lose interest in both Zordrak and the heroes near entirely. They rarely got any focus and their part of the plot was barely developed. They didn't even involve them much in the humour compared to the Urpneys, they were just so dull comparatively.

edited 19th Mar '16 11:34:50 PM by Psi001

It was a good pilot. VERY british, but that's how I prefer it. Lots of influence from the 60s and 70s in terms of music and general vibe. Did not watch it on the "official" channel, since those bastards stretched the video to look "widescreen". I just cannot accept travesty of that nature. So I found the episodes on a different channel.

I didn't mind the widescreen as much as the sound quality with a lot of the videos. Some of the sound channels are tinny or off sync. It's sounds like they rerecorded the OST over it to make it sound stereo.

It sounded stereo on that other channel.

Beats me. It's the Monster Channel ones (ironically the official uploads) that have this problem. Not doing the best remastering job.

edited 20th Mar '16 8:35:12 AM by Psi001

I should probably tell them how much they suck.

NOTHING BAD WILL COME OF IT, I'M SURE.

People have already complained (if more formally) on the videos and Facebook page. Nothing has been said on the matter.

edited 21st Mar '16 5:47:19 PM by Psi001

I guess it is my turn now.

I will be extra polite.

Words cannot describe how much I LOVE this show! SERIOUSLY, if I had to pick one - just one - show that deserves a reboot, this would win hands down (although, I have to admit, I found Urpjaws disappointing - if it were up to me, I'd have ended the show with the Noops, Wuts and Urpneys teaming up to destroy Zordrak once and for all).

I love it so much, I've come up with some ideas for fanfics based on it. Mainly because fics for this series are practically non-existent - there's, like, this one here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6429257/1/Going-Trio

But that's about it.

To be honest, though, since there's gonna be some romance and OCs, like about 80% of Fan Fiction, I'm not sure how my stories are gonna be received - if I ever get around to WRITING them, that is. Never fails - I can figure out what SHOULD happen in a story, but as for actually STARTING it...forget it.

I'd be all for a reboot if they at least fine tuned it. The non-Urpney stuff needed more screen time and personality, and there needed to be a more stable dynamic between the two sides, the Urpneys were just too sympathetic against the Noops, and there wasn't really any sort of chemistry to play on that like other shows had with unprovocative villains. I also kinda wished there more episodes the heroes were given an actual challenge, for an action series, it was really anti climatic most of the time. Everything was dumbed down just to make the Urpneys look more pitiful.

I do feel like maybe if the show had got to go on, it may have ended up this way. Season Four was a decent improvement. Even then though, I think the creators were forcing themselves to care about anything besides the four Urpney characters.

edited 25th Mar '16 5:56:58 PM by Psi001

A reboot? WHY DOES EVERYTHING GET REBOOTED THESE DAYS??

Oh well, it does not matter. A reboot does not make the original go away.

OR DOES IT?!?

I want a complete DVD set, dammit! With proper aspect ratio and the right colour balance. Once I get that, I'll be okay with any reboots.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down! I'd LOVE a complete series release too, but I'd also love a reboot.

And if it ever DOES get rebooted, maybe then we'll get some more fanfiction out of it. I mean, there's the one I mentioned earlier, then there's PSI 001's wonderful comic, and I think there's a couple of DeadFics on Fanfiction.Net and Deviantart, but other than that, it's practically non-existent - and even then, Sturgeon's Law is in effect.

To be honest, I'm not even sure if MY stories will be accepted, since they're gonna contain romance (which was NOT in the original show, unless you count all the Rufus/Amberley Ship Tease, and Amberley's one-time crush on Pildit) and OCs (which run the risk of being MarySues). Not to mention, the third one's a Crack Fic.

Would anyone like to know what I have planned?

edited 26th Mar '16 6:46:06 AM by fruitstripegum

I normally don't read fan fiction because it is normally terrible (fans rarely understand what makes a good story).

The only 2 pieces of fanfiction that I read to the end and loved to death, were the russian Wizard of Oz sequels (that had to be written because the real sequels could not make it through the iron curtain) by Volkov and Secret of the Stone (fan story for Secret of NIMH). Those were not just faithful, but great stories on their own, really well-written. And with minimal shipping to boot.

Monster Entertainment have mentioned their having difficulties getting things released onto DVD due to lack of demand, hence the Youtube channel instead. Truthfully, the remasters are such low quality I prefer the free online videos to a purchase.

Ok, I have to say it. As a fanfiction writer, I find that kind of rude. I'm not expecting you to LIKE every single fanfic you read, but not all of them are terrible, y'know.

edited 26th Mar '16 12:51:40 PM by fruitstripegum

Not all. Most.

If you find me rude, I am okay with that. I could still sleep at night.

There is one person who claims to have all episodes on VHS. That person may or may not soon buy a converter/recorder to digitize them. That may or may not solve everyone's problems. I am full of hope.

edited 26th Mar '16 1:07:58 PM by KlarkKentThe3rd

Is the "Better Than a Dream" single supposed to be Rufus-Amberley ship-tease?

I dunno, maybe.

@Klark Kent The3rd: The thing is VHS, no matter how you convert it, is much poorer quality than digital, especially if it's old television recordings (I'm assuming so since the whole show wasn't released officially).

From what has been said, 'Into the Sunset' was supposed to be a love song between Rufus and Amberley. It was an unused song dueted by Mike Batt and Bonnie Tyler, though still got into the show's official soundtrack:

I've never heard official word of it's purpose however.

Curiously the version of 'Better than a Dream' used in the show itself had it's lyrics altered to be more an image song for Rufus rather than romantic.

edited 26th Mar '16 4:45:16 PM by Psi001

I've been browsing Deviant Art, and I found this challenge.

http://go.deviantart.com/journal/Twist-Fate-588761522

It's basically "What If? a heroic character was a villain, and a villainous character was a hero". So, I was wondering - would it be possible to apply the same scenario to the Dreamstone? Y'know, where the Noops and Wuts are the villains, and the Urpneys are the heroes?

In fairness the show already went about half way (early on at least). The Urpneys were blatant Designated Villains against the Noops. In episodes like 'The Dream Beam Invasion' the heroes looked more like incompetent little school bullies.

They'd probably still win. The 'winners vs losers' plot with the Urpneys being loveable chew toys and the Noops being safeguarded from any pain and turmoil seemed more important to the writers than the actual karma involved.

edited 27th Mar '16 9:02:56 AM by Psi001

That's...not good. After all, in this type of show, the hero is supposed to win in every episode (unless it's a Cliffhanger), so if the Noops were evil, it'd be a very short show.

In hindsight, about half of the Urpney army was already eaten alive or turned to stone for failing Zordrak by the start of the series. If they were anything like most of the remaining, they likely didn't want to do their job, and spent most of the time begging and pleading to get out of it. The heroes likely just branded them evil and beat them up and had an "Everybody Laughs" Ending as they were sent back to await their fate from Zordrak. All for the good of dreams everywhere.

edited 27th Mar '16 12:12:02 PM by Psi001

Yeah, but I mean, if morality was reversed and the Noops were the villains, the show would be over in, like, the first or second episode. It'd be all "Noops successfully steal the Dreamstone, defeat the Urpneys who try to get it back, and nightmares rule forever". Talk about a Downer Ending .