Dream Trilogy
Nov. 6th, 2005 08:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThe dream question in the meme of my previous post made me think about a trilogy of weird dreams I had some years ago, so I decided to record them here:
First a quick note on the strangeness of memory association. Over the space of a few years, I had a series of three dreams, all featuring the same man. After the first two, I tried to figure out who he was. He seemed familiar to me and, upon reflection, I decided he was a German actor who usually played the bad guy in fairly mediocre action movies. It was some months before I saw a trailer for one of his films on Sky and was provided with a name – Rutger Hauer. I still had no idea where the persona from my dreams came from – until over a year after the third dream, when I watched Bladerunner for the first time at uni. Rutger Hauer played the rogue android and it was seeing him in that role that somehow made me realise that the man in my dreams was the enigmatic man in black from the early nineties’ Guiness adverts! So, when I describe Rutger Hauer in the dreams, I’m talking about a tall, compelling German man with a blond mullet, wearing a long black coat and a slightly superior expression.
Anyway. Dream One:
This dream took place shortly after Star Trek Voyager came out on TV – mid 90s, while I was in fith year/lower sixth at school. It was set in Bolton School, but the entire complex was initially deserted (huge, castle-type, sandstone buildings with wide corridors and courtyards). I was there and I was running away from a horde of goblinesque creatures intent on killing me. Leading me in my flight was Rutger Hauer, only he had the voice and persona of Hal the computer from “2001: A Space Odyssey” (despite the fact that I had never seen the film at that point).
Somehow, I knew that he was actually evil and in control of the whole thing – rather than trying to help me, he was tormenting me by forcing me to run away from the creatures, which followed his commands.
I realised that it was some kind of virtual reality in which I was trapped when I kept seeing Commander Chakotay and Ensign Kim from Star Trek Voyager appear in holographic form. They would appear slightly transparent and waver in and out, as if the transmission was experiencing interference, and they would be agitated, telling me that I was stuck in the computer and they were trying to get me out.
At this point, the focus of the dream changed completely. Suddenly, I was in the front room at Grandma’s house in Oxford (now my house), watching myself in the shool part of the dream on television. I remember I was eating cornflakes and mum, dad, David, Grandma and Grampy were all in the back room, watching the same thing on television. As the dream ended, I was running frantically back and forth from one room to the other, asking them what was going to happen and whether the girl on the TV was going to get out before the creatures got her, but they all totally ignored me.
Dream Two:
I had the second dream only a matter of weeks or months after the first one.
This time, it was set in a supermarket, in the evening, at an event that was being held for single people to meet prospective partners – singles night at a supermarket.
I was there, in the supermarket café, and I was talking to Rutger Hauer. He was wearing a business suit under his long coat and seemed well spoken and sophisticated. We were drinking wine and chatting in a very civilised fashion.
Suddenly, the dream shifted and Rutger Hauer started running through the aisles, shapechanging into various items on the shelves, with me chasing after him. He was a futuristic criminal and I was trying to bring him to justice. He would transform into something and hide on the shelves until I got too close, at which point he would leap off, change back into human form and run away. I believe I may have caught him while he was in the form of a toilet brush, but it’s possible I made up that ending later!
Dream Three:
I had the third dream in early December of 1997, while I was in Paris with Ben and Simon. The night before, I had told Simon about the first two dreams, although I hadn’t yet identified Rutger Hauer as the Guiness man – and that night I got the third instalment.
I was at a French theme park with my parents and my brother. We were getting ready to leave because there was going to be a big rock concert by Axl Rose in the evening and we didn’t want to be caught in the crowds. I needed to go to the toilet so I said I would meet the others by the front gate. For some reason, I went to the mens’ toilets and Axl Rose was in there, along with all the people organising the concert. Only it wasn’t really Axl Rose – it was Rutger Hauer. One of the men in charge was complaining that the cameraman, for televising the concert, had not turned up. Somehow, I took his place and recorded the concert.
Afterwards, the dream shifted to me trying to find my parents and brother, only there was a maze of hedges between me and the exit to the park. It was dark by this time and I spent the rest of the dream running down maze passageways and searching alcoves with benches, thinking that my family had left without me.
So, there you go. All three dreams involve Rutger Hauer, who shifts from a threatening presence to a pursued criminal to a neutral figure who is fairly incidental. All three dreams involve running, shifting from running away from danger to running after something to running randomly being lost.
I still have dreams about running, but they’re much more vague. I just know I’m running, either towards something or away from something, but I don’t remember any of the details. I can run a lot faster and farther in my dreams than I can in real life!
First a quick note on the strangeness of memory association. Over the space of a few years, I had a series of three dreams, all featuring the same man. After the first two, I tried to figure out who he was. He seemed familiar to me and, upon reflection, I decided he was a German actor who usually played the bad guy in fairly mediocre action movies. It was some months before I saw a trailer for one of his films on Sky and was provided with a name – Rutger Hauer. I still had no idea where the persona from my dreams came from – until over a year after the third dream, when I watched Bladerunner for the first time at uni. Rutger Hauer played the rogue android and it was seeing him in that role that somehow made me realise that the man in my dreams was the enigmatic man in black from the early nineties’ Guiness adverts! So, when I describe Rutger Hauer in the dreams, I’m talking about a tall, compelling German man with a blond mullet, wearing a long black coat and a slightly superior expression.
Anyway. Dream One:
This dream took place shortly after Star Trek Voyager came out on TV – mid 90s, while I was in fith year/lower sixth at school. It was set in Bolton School, but the entire complex was initially deserted (huge, castle-type, sandstone buildings with wide corridors and courtyards). I was there and I was running away from a horde of goblinesque creatures intent on killing me. Leading me in my flight was Rutger Hauer, only he had the voice and persona of Hal the computer from “2001: A Space Odyssey” (despite the fact that I had never seen the film at that point).
Somehow, I knew that he was actually evil and in control of the whole thing – rather than trying to help me, he was tormenting me by forcing me to run away from the creatures, which followed his commands.
I realised that it was some kind of virtual reality in which I was trapped when I kept seeing Commander Chakotay and Ensign Kim from Star Trek Voyager appear in holographic form. They would appear slightly transparent and waver in and out, as if the transmission was experiencing interference, and they would be agitated, telling me that I was stuck in the computer and they were trying to get me out.
At this point, the focus of the dream changed completely. Suddenly, I was in the front room at Grandma’s house in Oxford (now my house), watching myself in the shool part of the dream on television. I remember I was eating cornflakes and mum, dad, David, Grandma and Grampy were all in the back room, watching the same thing on television. As the dream ended, I was running frantically back and forth from one room to the other, asking them what was going to happen and whether the girl on the TV was going to get out before the creatures got her, but they all totally ignored me.
Dream Two:
I had the second dream only a matter of weeks or months after the first one.
This time, it was set in a supermarket, in the evening, at an event that was being held for single people to meet prospective partners – singles night at a supermarket.
I was there, in the supermarket café, and I was talking to Rutger Hauer. He was wearing a business suit under his long coat and seemed well spoken and sophisticated. We were drinking wine and chatting in a very civilised fashion.
Suddenly, the dream shifted and Rutger Hauer started running through the aisles, shapechanging into various items on the shelves, with me chasing after him. He was a futuristic criminal and I was trying to bring him to justice. He would transform into something and hide on the shelves until I got too close, at which point he would leap off, change back into human form and run away. I believe I may have caught him while he was in the form of a toilet brush, but it’s possible I made up that ending later!
Dream Three:
I had the third dream in early December of 1997, while I was in Paris with Ben and Simon. The night before, I had told Simon about the first two dreams, although I hadn’t yet identified Rutger Hauer as the Guiness man – and that night I got the third instalment.
I was at a French theme park with my parents and my brother. We were getting ready to leave because there was going to be a big rock concert by Axl Rose in the evening and we didn’t want to be caught in the crowds. I needed to go to the toilet so I said I would meet the others by the front gate. For some reason, I went to the mens’ toilets and Axl Rose was in there, along with all the people organising the concert. Only it wasn’t really Axl Rose – it was Rutger Hauer. One of the men in charge was complaining that the cameraman, for televising the concert, had not turned up. Somehow, I took his place and recorded the concert.
Afterwards, the dream shifted to me trying to find my parents and brother, only there was a maze of hedges between me and the exit to the park. It was dark by this time and I spent the rest of the dream running down maze passageways and searching alcoves with benches, thinking that my family had left without me.
So, there you go. All three dreams involve Rutger Hauer, who shifts from a threatening presence to a pursued criminal to a neutral figure who is fairly incidental. All three dreams involve running, shifting from running away from danger to running after something to running randomly being lost.
I still have dreams about running, but they’re much more vague. I just know I’m running, either towards something or away from something, but I don’t remember any of the details. I can run a lot faster and farther in my dreams than I can in real life!
