Dream Corp LLC

Dream Corp is unlike anything on Adult Swim, which is saying a lot. The show tries to do a lot in 11 minutes, although it's billed as a comedy first. It can have a lot of fun with characters during their animated 'dream therapy', i.e. watching a conservative old lady let loose and give the bird to her family members. The comedy during live-action sequences isn't as impressive: save for secretary Joey who is hilarious by nature, the staff members don't make memorable characters.

However the meat of the show is psychedelic and nightmarish. The rotoscoped animation is great, rotoscoping is a really under-appreciated technique. Plus the live-action set has great lighting and feels very unique. And on top of all this Dream Corp tries to express some of the patients' deeper issues. The problem is that these issues can be pretty ambiguous, and the abstract animation does little to help. When a patient is diagnosed effectively, the insane dream sequences make sense, it's rewarding, and it makes me want to re-watch the episode straight away. Other times it's just played for laughs, like how a woman is almost cured of OCD before being tranquilized from off- screen, which is obviously not rewarding.

Overall though I think the show is a winner. The rotating cast are all memorable, the structure of each episode is great and the mix of realism and absurd-ism works surprisingly well. If the show were half an hour it would make a bit more sense, but late-night TV isn't really supposed to make sense.

The tone is somewhat absurdist, with world building being incidental, but the character exploration is both crass when Dr Roberts simplifies but nuanced and subtle with both visuals and occasional insight from the qualified intern. The show is unlike anything else, with little coherence and I think intentionally so. What the show is about and what happens is less important than the experience, or maybe it's not.... it's a mess, a beautiful mess. Enjoy it however you want.

Each episode, a new patient's dreams are examined in a sort of psychedelic computer-generated Inception dreamworld. The show's short runtime ensures that there's never a dull moment, though it's sometimes unsatisfying (it'd be nice to flesh out each character and plot more). The characters are all quirky and unique, and the soundtrack is great. My only complaint is that I'd like more of it and longer episodes!

To give it a 10 it would need to have atleast 20min episodes and a stronger running plot.

Didn't think this was going to be for me but I was SO wrong! I looooove this show, the cast, the people who make it, just *kiss*. The storylines, the scenes, the e v e r t h i n g. Thank you to everyone who had a hand in making it, I appreciate this work of art and I sincerely mean it 🙂