So, yeah, I've revisited many shows from my childhood in recent years. Many surprisingly hold up. Quite a few are even better than I remember them being while others tend to be a lot worse. This is kind of in the middle.
While I always remembered this show being weird and even kinda messed up, I certainly didn't remember it being this disjointed, random and trippy. Watching this, more often than not, I feel like I'm on acid. And it's not only during the dream sequences. At least in season 1, many of the live-action segments, you know, the parts that take place in our world are even weirder and more disturbing than the dreams. If anything, the dreams are usually subdued by comparison. (And to be fair, after the first couple of episodes, they do get easier to follow) Episode 1 opens up with this awkward scene where a kid slides vegetables off his plate and onto a stool next to him while his father eats potatoes in this super creepy manner while the scene features more cartoon sound effects than the awkwardly written animated segment.
Season 2 was even more of a mixed bag for me, because on one hand, the live-action scenes improved greatly. Since the actors were primarily teens, the acting was a lot better and it felt more real, despite a few awkward close-ups here and there. Also, the season introduced an actual plot and reoccurring villain. The dreams, however, became much more random and started following the Nightmare Ned approach by ending poorly. Though this approach worked a lot better in Nightmare as that show centered around constantly picking on a kid for our own amusement. This show on the other hand always tries to teach audiences a lesson, but with how much weirdness it throws at you, it's kind of distracting. Some episodes aren't really clear with what the dreams have to do with their lessons, like one episode where a girl complains about farm work, has a dream where she has to find water for plant people and somehow learns to appreciate farm work from this.
On top of that, this is yet another classic 90's show that wasn't allowed to tell its entire story. Say what you will about today's cartoons, but at least proper finales are much more common these days.
Now, with that said, there are enough positives for me to still give this series a meager recommendation. First off, yeah, the main characters are likable enough. Nilus himself is just precious. Also, the TV specials are really good, plus the songs are super memorable. I'm surprised I forgot this show was a musical because it has a great selection of tunes. And while the animation isn't great, I do like how they use a different style for every dream sequence. This stuff I feel makes this show worth watching it only for morbid curiosity's sake.
