# It was all a dream (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044 "2004-05-07T17:58:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [May 7, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/1 "2004-05-07T17:58:47Z")
Recent threads have talked about television series that used the idea that the events of the series were just an extended dream that one of the characters were having. Off the top of my head, I was able to think of four shows that used this device: Dallas, Newhart, Roseanne, and St Elsewhere. Are there other examples? (I’m not including single episodes.) ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/2 "2004-05-07T21:06:15Z")
In season six of _Married…with Children_, Peg Bundy’s pregnancy turned out to be a dream. Katey Sagal suffered a miscarriage in real life, which was why they made the change. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/3 "2004-05-07T21:37:46Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Recent threads have talked about television series that used the idea that the events of the series were just an extended dream that one of the characters were having. Off the top of my head, I was able to think of four shows that used this device: Dallas, Newhart, Roseanne, and St Elsewhere. Are there other examples? (I’m not including single episodes.) I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the final plot of Roseanne. In the final episode, she does a 15-minute monologue which reveals that the series was all a book she was writing, based on her life. “As I wrote about my life, I relived it, and what I didn’t like, I changed.” ---
**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/4 "2004-05-07T22:10:05Z")
It’s a movie, but most of (or perhaps all) of Total Recall is a dream. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/5 "2004-05-07T22:17:17Z")
If we’re going to start mentioning movies, why not **The Wizard of Oz**? It’s the most obvious example I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/6 "2004-05-07T22:25:18Z")
Well then I have to throw in **Vanilla Sky** as well. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/7 "2004-05-07T22:37:36Z")
I can think of a few episodes of **The Twilight Zone** that use the “waking up from a dream” devise, though they most certainly weren’t series closers. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/8 "2004-05-07T23:19:06Z")
> [@dalovindj](#): > > It’s a movie, but most of (or perhaps all) of Total Recall is a dream. There’s a certain amount of argument about that. The whole of Legend of the Four Kings is a dream. I tell you this now to save you the pain of watching 12 interesting episodes just to have it all ruined by the most lame ending in history. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/9 "2004-05-07T23:30:29Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s a movie, but most of (or perhaps all) of Total Recall is a dream. Or is it?!?! Mwah ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/10 "2004-05-07T23:32:36Z")
_Charles in Charge_ ended up being a big dream. **Prince of Darkness** was a dream…or was it? ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/11 "2004-05-07T23:40:52Z")
Er I haven’t seen Prince of Darkness in awhile but I don’t think it was ever implied the whole thing was a dream. The dreams in it were message from the future about a possibility. They defused the first possibility to have it replaced with another future just as bad. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/12 "2004-05-07T23:52:52Z")
> [@Darkhold](#): > > Er I haven’t seen Prince of Darkness in awhile but I don’t think it was ever implied the whole thing was a dream. The dreams in it were message from the future about a possibility. They defused the first possibility to have it replaced with another future just as bad. Not exactly. Brian was having a nightmare based on what he remembered of the future transmission that anyone who sleeps in the church finds overwriting their dreams. You’re right, though, it was never implied it was all a dream - in fact, the voice on the transmission from the future specifically states that it isn’t a dream, but that they’re projecting a message back in time into the recipient’s unconscious mind. So when Brian wakes up into a _second_ nightmare, it’s actually implying the opposite: since the future transmissions overwrite your dreams, Brian couldn’t possibly have been receiving a new future transmission. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/13 "2004-05-08T05:19:58Z")
**Evil Death** Hmm that’s not how I remember the movie but as I said it’s been years. As I remember it the ‘new’ future shows her comming out of his apartment building because that was the future now instead of her comming out of the church. I’ll have to watch it again someday no doubt I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![GreyWanderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@GreyWanderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreyWanderer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/14 "2004-05-08T06:00:43Z")
It’s hard not to get spoiled in this thread, so you don’t know _which_ movies are going to be spoiled before you read their titles. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/15 "2004-05-08T06:23:50Z")
> [@El Elvis Rojo](#): > > _Charles in Charge_ ended up being a big dream. Really? Whose?! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/16 "2004-05-08T08:12:57Z")
> [@Darkhold](#): > > **Evil Death** > > Hmm that’s not how I remember the movie but as I said it’s been years. As I remember it the ‘new’ future shows her comming out of his apartment building because that was the future now instead of her comming out of the church. It’s absolutely, definitely the church. I’ve watched it in the last few months. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/17 "2004-05-08T13:39:46Z")
**St Elsewhere** was actually revealed to be the view of events from the mind of an autistic boy, not exactly a dream. The stage show **Forbidden Hollywood** wraps itself in a dream sequence by the character “Forest Gump” a la “Wizard of Oz.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/18 "2004-05-08T14:35:55Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Really? Whose?! I’m curious, too. Unless this is a whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/19 "2004-05-09T20:44:40Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Really? Whose?! It was all Charles’s dream. It’s been an insanely long time since I saw it, but the last episode kinda went along the lines that he passed out on the couch one day, and the entire bit about the second family was all just a fanciful dream he had. As for **Prince of Darkness** , I haven’t seen that since I was a little kid either, but this is what I remember the main guy wakes up to find his lover skinnned in his bed, then wakes up again alone. He walks into the bathroom, looks at the mirror, starts reaching for it, and the movie ends So, unless I’m thinking of a completely different movie, that pretty much said “it was all a dream” to me. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044/20 "2004-05-09T22:29:39Z")
> [@El Elvis Rojo](#): > > As for **Prince of Darkness** , I haven’t seen that since I was a little kid either, but this is what I remember the main guy wakes up to find his lover skinnned in his bed, then wakes up again alone. He walks into the bathroom, looks at the mirror, starts reaching for it, and the movie ends [spoiler] You’re somewhat mistaken. He doesn’t wake up next to his lover Catherine, he wakes up next to Susan - the blonde girl who was hosting Satan. The bathroom scene you have right, but I always read it as him wondering if his dream of the future message with Catherine in it might not have been a real message, and was finding out if he could open a portal to the dark side and get her back. It was a hanging moment, and I don’t see any logical reason to interpret it as the whole movie having been a dream. [/quote] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-all-a-dream-spoilers/244044.md?page=2)