The Dreamstone

The Dreamstone
Created by	Michael Jupp
Written by	Sue Radley Martin Gates
Starring	Gary Martin Melvyn Hayes John Franklyn-Robbins Stuart Lock Nancy Hendry Ellie Beaven Derek Wright Richard Tate Leonard Whiting Anthony Jackson Jacqueline Clarke Peter Craze Colin Marsh Anne Rye Sheila Steafel Scarlett Strallen
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52
Production
Running time	22 minutes per episode
Distributor	Scottish Television Enterprises
Release
Original network	ITV Network (CITV)
Original release	25 September 1990 – 28 March 1995

The Dreamstone is a British animated television series that ran for 4 series of 13 episodes each between 1990 and 1995. The original concept and artwork were created by Michael Jupp and the series was written by Sue Radley and Martin Gates, the same team behind another animated series Bimble's Bucket (with original concept and artwork by Michael Jupp). The series was produced by Martin Gates Productions (MGP) for a wholly owned subsidiary of Central (a part of Independent Television) and FilmFair, in association with Scottish Television Enterprises. (MGP famous for producing, after The Dreamstone, Bimble's Bucket, and others. Subsequently, MGP appointed Monster Entertainment of Dublin to act as worldwide distributor of these rights.

The Dreamstone is set in an alternative world called 'The Land of Dreams,' and concerns itself principally with the struggle between good (personified by The Dream Maker, a Merlin-esque white magician), and evil (personified by Zordrak, Lord of Nightmares).

The Land of Dreams is populated by Noops and Wuts (the defenders of the land, who fly around on leaves and ward off Zordrak's evil forces with staffs that have orbs of light attached to them, through which they communicate).

The Land of Nightmares, also known as the dark side of the planet, is populated mostly by Urpneys, who basically resemble human beings except for the large bulbous nose and tails. They live in Viltheed, a tall black mountain in which resides Zordrak. Although all the Urpneys in Viltheed are male, female Urpneys do exist, as Urpgor has both an auntie and a niece.

The Dreamstone aired between 1990 and 1995 with a total of 52 episodes. Each episode has basically the same plot - Zordrak instructs his henchmen to steal the Dreamstone, which he plans to destroy, so that nightmares will plague the sleeping world. The plan usually involves Urpgor, his right-hand man and scientist inventing some means with which the Urpneys - led by Sergeant Blob, an archetypal Sergeant Major type - crosses the Mist of Limbo (a vast Purple Mist) to get to the Land of Dreams. The plan invariably fails, the main problem being the cowardice and incompetence of the Urpneys, who often want no more than to 'go home' and get some sandwiches.

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