The Dreamstone

The Dreamstone. What can one say about it? It remains one of the best children's tv series of the 1990s. In my opinion, nothing has surpassed it yet, although Bimble's Bucket, another of Mike Jupp's creations, comes close. Having been lucky enough to meet the talented and very nice Mr Jupp, I can honestly say that the Dreamstone will always remain my favourite cartoon. I just wish ITV would do the decent thing and repeat it! I also wish it would come out on DVD! I strongly recommend buying Mike Jupp's novel RETRIBUTION, too. If you liked Dreamstone, you'll love this:

This remarkable cartoon series from 1990 goes to the top of my wish list for a return! It was created by Michael Jupp and produced by Martin Gates (he also produce another childhood favourite of mine "The Wind in the Willows: The Adventures of Mole") and with this animated T.V series's state of the art animation and beautiful songs it blew me away! It follows the tale of Rufus, an Nook who are cuddly, friendly and hard working creatures who assist the Dream Maker who help to bring sweet dreams to the world but the Lord of Nightmare has other ideas, he wants nightmares to rule! Only the Dream Maker with the help of the magical Dream Stone can stop along with Rufus at his side and not to mention his pet Albert, a goldfish with a doggy attitude! This has captured my heart and I want it so much to return to terrestrial television! 10/10

I have spent about the last five years not only trying to find people who remember this show, but to remember the name of it myself. It's quite hard to find others who remember it when you describe it as "A cartoon with these bear kind of things who flew around on leaves and sent out good dreams with a crystal thing...you know the one...a dream crystal or something?" Blank stares. And today I finally Googled it just as 'cartoon 90's dream' and lo and behold! The Dreamstone (I know, could it have been any more obvious...unfortunately my brain doesn't work that way)! Anyway, the point is, it was an EXCELLENT show, right up there with Captain Planet, Widget the World Watcher and Samurai Pizza Cats...go 90's cartoons and everyone who can remember them!

This was one of my favourites in the 90s and still holds up today. It is unique in that the main characters are the baddies, and they're only bad under sufferance. It is a witty and imaginative show which doesn't fall into the trap of condescension and allows the viewer to draw their own conclusions from their imaginations. It is beautifully animated, has a wonderful soundtrack and is in every respect a piece of art. The original Mike Jupp concept piece is available on YouTube and demonstrates that in its earliest iteration this was a much darker piece called "The Dream Thief". Some of that darkness remains lurking in the mountain of Viltheed...

At last there is a full remaster and DVD release available, and with a collectible miniatures line and board game being promised for 2020 we can but hope there will be a bit of resurgence in recognition for this beautiful work.

'The Dreamstone' was absolutely fantastic. I'm lucky to have four episodes, including the double-length pilot on video. The show is absolutely stunning, a visual tour de force, with believable characters and some truly fantastic voice-over work. The scripts were never dull, the stories never boring, the show mesmerised me in a way no other cartoon has ever done, or probably will ever do. The Noops, Rufus & Amberley were fully-dimensioned, Rufus in particular so wonderfully realistic that many I know have actually dubbed me as the human version of him. We have the advantage of seeing the show now with our older, more cynical eyes - and that everyone who has seen the show since that I know still holds it in great adoration as a result is a testimony to it's sheer brilliance.