User blog:E-122-Psi/Were The Urpneys TOO Sympathetic?

NOTE: The contents of this blog represent only the opinions of it's author. They are also long drawn pretentious critique over a childrens cartoon so brace yourselves...

Almost every fan will say one of The Dreamstone's biggest drawing points is the Urpneys. They were a far cry from usual cartoon villains, fleshed out and incredibly humane characters that got a great deal of emotional development and relatability to them. However was it taken to such a point it was an actual detriment to the rest fo the show?

We are given the Urpneys driving pivot from the start of the series, with Zordrak executing Captain Crigg for failure and threatening to do the same to Blob and his minions if they make the same mistake. Through the first episode and some after the Urpney's personalities are quickly established. They are not conventional villains; barely evil or even willing (they will do anything in their power to get out of their mission for that matter), only going into the fray because their evil overlord will do horrid things to them if they don't. Frizz and Nug in particular have few motives and sense of ambition outside getting out of things in one piece (something that rarely happens).

Of course with every sympathetic villain, there must still be conflict, they must surely be some big diabolical pivot in their plans and actions that makes us want to root for the righteous and peaceful heroes....well actually, not a whole lot really. The Urpneys don't remotely challenge the Noops. At all. Their lack of malice and complete cowardice would make even the likes of Elmer Fudd facepalm. In fact even in terms of intentional threat they don't mean a great deal of harm. For all Zordrak's gradious and terrifying dispostion, the entire reason he wants the Dreamstone, the most powerful and precious object in the world, is for the purpose of it's namesake, so it can't give good dreams. The Urpneys have suffered endless collateral damage, slapstick abuse and even tens of thousands of actual deaths to give someone a nightmare (even the show, for all it insists the importance of dreams, doesn't really sell it, episodes such as 'Argorrible Attack' and 'The Nightmare Stone' don't even bother to show the full aftermath of Zordrak gaining a victory, consisting solely of some somewhat peturbed sleepers, and skip straight to the heroes planning their revenge beating on the baddies).

This has somewhat bad repurcussions on the 'good vs evil' premise of the series, the baddies are pitiful and sympathetic, but to such a degree they don't even mean potential harm on the heroes. One could argue this borrows something from the 'winners vs losers' premise of cartoons such as Looney Tunes (that the show is stated to be directly based on), however, even in those, there was a clear sense of karma. The 'stubborn bully' archetype is overused in slapstick cartoons, but it's there for a reason; it's a character that always brings the heroes' malice on himself. Even cases such as Wile E Coyote that were supposed to be more sympathetic than their foes, were still acknowledged as smug fanatics who intended to kill and/or eat the protagonist. Most exceptions to this rule were often met with a deconstruction (the likes of Bugs or Jerry were actually shown to 'lose' if they didn't pick on a provocative enough target).

This brings us to another key problem; the heroes themselves. One could argue the question is not just 'Were The Urpneys Sympathetic?' but also 'Were The Noops UNSympathetic?'. Not only were the heroes' terms of provocation much more mundane than the Urpneys, the latters' extremely sympathetic disposition made them potentially unheroic, as the status quo was not only reliant on them milking rather petty stakes, but being apathetic to the Urpneys' far more serious one. So what if Zordrak will kill them otherwise? So what if they'd surrender at every meeting and could be beaten by just looking at them the wrong way? They ruin dreams!

In hindsight, the heroes were actually far more aggressive than the Urpneys. One could argue this was an oversimplification of the aforementioned slapstick routine. The likes of Bugs initiate slapstick abuse on their foes, but it is kept in a moderated manner that looks playful and mischievous rather than sadistic (Warner Bros were actually revealed to be very wary about Bugs devolving into a 'bully' against his foes, with new stipulations added as they went along). The heroes here are in fact far more relentless and contemptuous towards the Urpneys, and with far less provocation, they insist they squirm and cower before them, and regret the day they had the nerve to be forced into crossing them. One could argue their demeanor is no different from standard 'fiesty' kid heroes from other action series, but said series usually utilized a genuinely brutish villain that would bully and belittle this approach out of them, thus conveying them as plucky and determined in the face of danger. For the Urpneys they have to skip this dynamic, and sometimes even keep it going after their brief invasion is over. Ironically most of the rare times the Urpneys even neared a mean front the Noops actually lost their nerve.

It feels somewhat like a mass oversimplification of genres and setups the show borrows from, and all tend to lean into one same ideal; 'good is good and bad is bad'. Though starting with a good setup in the pilot, the show afterwards does very little to place sympathy onto the heroes, the Urpneys' pathos taking up the large majority of screentime. In some cases the heroes actually tend to resort to more morally questionable methods than the pragmatic villains; attacking their foes on sadistic grounds rather than self defense, brainwashing with intent of slavery in the first season finale, along with other minor blink-and-you'll-miss-them creepy hindsight moments such as turning sentient bugs into discarded bubbles. This is almost never presented as wrong, even in a neccessary evil sense. They're the heroes so it's automatically right, which, considering how the Urpneys got brutalized for minor slights they didn't want to be a part of, makes for an almost unfair double standard ('The Dream Beam Invasion' sorta kinda but not quite punishes them for an overkill beating, that's about it). It's almost tragic to see Rufus turned into an antithesis of his endearing underdog self from the pilot episode; now a self righteous cowardly bully who only comes out on top because stipulations make it pretty much impossible for him not to.

Noticably however, there's a great deal of rectification in the later points of the series. The Noops become a great deal more likable, gaining more spotlight and their charisma. What's more a lot more valid effort is made into making them look like the moral superiors. In "A Day Out" Zordrak reveals a much more deadly apparitions for the stone; to turn it into evil and use it to control the universe, and pretty much swat all his enemies in the Land Of Dreams while he's at it. He also no longer kills mooks, he fires them, the Urpneys are actually working to avoid liberation (even sabotaging one of his own efforts to avoid being made redundant).

Not only do the Noops seem more legitimately provoked by the villains, there actually demonstrate their heroism far more often, while still hardly underdogs against the Urpneys, they more visibly earn their victory, either by showing themselves to be more scrupulous than the Urpneys against a third party or by using legitimate hardship and wits to win. They rarely use violence, preferring a more pacifistic approach or harmless trickery (though aren't against mischievous bluffs). They are characters who quite clearly just want to be left alone, and would rather not settle things the hard way. Note that this is all done while barely altering anything of the Urpneys personality wise (in terms of dynamic, they seem a bit more underhanded now, since they are now the ones willing to sell out the Noops safety to preserve themselves, but this does not effect their normal personalities and chemistry). Perhaps as recognition of their overdone treatment, their abuse was also toned down in later episodes, a frequent amount of times Frizz and Nug got not so bleak endings when they came out sympathetic enough (they sadly never 'won' an episode however, oh well).

It's a stark change that happens in only a short number of episodes (compare Amberley's treatment of the Urpneys post victory in "Wottles" to "Urpgor's Great Adventure" all of four episodes after). It's almost as if midway through Season Three someone told the writers all the problems with the setup and they quickly ironed them out. It's a gratifying change (one most shows wouldn't even bother with) but still one that took two thirds of the series to do. Was it too little too late?

The question after this bloated analysis comes down to this; do you think the show benefited or suffered from the Urpneys being as likable as they were?

Were the Urpneys TOO sympathetic? Yes No Maybe, but for other reasons