# . . . and it was all a dream! (spoilers galore) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950 "2011-04-19T13:20:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/61 "2011-04-21T14:28:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Let’s not forget the greatest work of art based on the theme of waking up and finding out it was all a dream. I refer, of course, to [“I Kissed A Girl”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ShTYMMjQ0) by Kary Perry. I’m surprised that someone called _Little Nemo_ finds that the Greatest Work of Art based on this theme. Ever see **Little Ego in Slumberland** , by the way? > **[Little Ego: Giardino, Vittorio: 9781561630943: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Little-Ego-Vittorio-Giardino/dp/1561630942)** > > Little Ego \[Giardino, Vittorio\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Little Ego ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/62 "2011-04-21T14:34:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’m surprised that someone called _Little Nemo_ finds that the Greatest Work of Art based on this theme. I agree with what you said in your previous post: it was never a surprise ending when my namesake woke up from a dream. The reader always knew he was in a dream. Another example of that type of work would be H.P. Lovecraft’s _Dream Cycle_ (which Brain Lumley has added to). eta: And I have read Giardino’s book. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/63 "2011-04-21T14:39:21Z")
How about _Futurama_ when Leela keeps dreaming about Fry telling her to wake up. It was the one with the space bees. It was actually quite a touching episode. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/64 "2011-04-21T17:34:52Z")
Does _Roseanne_ qualify? . ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/65 "2011-04-21T17:36:00Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > **Monty Python’s Flying Circus** brilliantly subverted this. It was in the single episode of the series that consisted of one episode-long skit - in which Brian Jones (I think) played a mild-mannered… Terry Jones? ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/66 "2011-04-21T18:17:11Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > **Monty Python’s Flying Circus** brilliantly subverted this. It was in the single episode of the series that consisted of one episode-long skit - in which Brian Jones (I think) played a mild-mannered, ordinary British civil servant who through a series of wacky incidents ends up in a Soviet gulag, waiting to be marched out in front of the firing squad. > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Terry Jones? In the [episode](http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode34.htm) he’s thinking of, **Michael Palin** actually plays the mild-mannered man (Mr. Pither) who’s on a bicycling tour of Cornwall, and who finds himself in a Soviet prison at one point. I don’t recall any reason to think Mr. Pither’s a civil servant though. His profession is never mentioned. [spoiler]\* I’m . . . . . just . . . . a . . . . . ♫ Jack in the box ♫ You know whenever love knocks ♫ I’m gonna bounce up and down on my spring BOM BOM BOM \*[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/67 "2011-04-21T18:29:00Z")
I think it was in the fall of 1986 that Madonna appeared on the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” and told us the entire 1985 season (with Randy Quaid, Terry Sweeney and Robert Downey Jr.) had been a dream. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/68 "2011-04-21T18:29:43Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Not just **St. Elsewhere** but shows like COPS, the X-Files, the Simpsons, the original run of _Mission Impossible_, all the Doctor Who’s… they’re all dreams in the mind of Tommy Westphall, the most brilliant child in TV history. > > [http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html](http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html) I question the premise. The kid dreaming about them showing up in St. Elsewhere doesn’t reveal anything: I dream about both real people and people from TV in odd situations all the time. Only people from St. Elsewhere appearing elsewhere would establish them as part of a dream, and then only if we know for sure they have had experiences that the kid had in the dream. Still, I stumbled upon this site a long time ago, and couldn’t remember what to look up to get back to it. So thanks. EDIT: Even the Wizard of Oz movie doesn’t count, as Dorothy insisted it wasn’t a dream, and later went back in sequels. The ending was more of a “Was it just a dream?” ending, at least as I remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/69 "2011-04-21T18:56:34Z")
Isn’t _Click_ (Adam Sandler movie) basically based on the dream sequence formula? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950/70 "2011-04-21T19:04:24Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Even the Wizard of Oz movie doesn’t count, as Dorothy insisted it wasn’t a dream, and later went back in sequels. The ending was more of a “Was it just a dream?” ending, at least as I remember it. The 1939 film is pretty firmly in the “it was all a dream” column, as Dorothy recognized on waking that the farmhands, Elvira Gulch, and Professor Marvel had been transformed in her imagination into the fantastic characters of Oz, in typical dream fashion. “And then I bumped into you - except that it wasn’t you, exactly - you were made of tin. Seemed normal at the time.” Subsequent _Oz_ movies don’t have any bearing, because they weren’t sequels to the 1939 movie any more than they were to '20s version with Oliver Hardy.. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers-galore/578950.md?page=3)