The Sandman Bonus Episode was released a few weeks after the show’s release and in a two-part story collection, it tells the short story of a Siamese cat dreaming of a new world and a writer in desperate need of inspiration cross paths with Morpheus.
This episode is an adaptation of Dream Country, the arc that spans issues 17-20 of The Sandman comic. However, Episode 11 includes only two of the four stories from that issue – A Dream of a Thousand Cats and Calliope. In the comics, Dream Country follows The Doll’s House, the comic issues depicted in Episodes 7-10 of the series.
Dream of a Thousand Cats is directed by animator Hisko Hulsing and includes the voice cast of Michael Sheen, David Tennant, James McAvoy, Sandra Oh, and Neil Gaiman himself. Meanwhile, Calliope is directed by Louise Hooper and features Melissanthi Mahut as Calliope, Arthur Darvill as Richard Madoc, Kevin Harvey as Larry, Amita Suman as Nora and Derek Jacobi as Erasmus Fry.
The Sandman Bonus Episode Explained
The two-part bonus episode includes two stories in one, the first animated short story of a cat going to the Dreaming after facing a harsh reality in the human/waking world. There the Cat of Dreams shows the Siamese cat that once cats were huge and ruled the world like humans do today.
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In the past, they used to be cats’ servants and could be hunted by them. However, just like the Siamese cat, a human also gets the vision that dreams can shape their world. He asks his fellow beings that if they all dream together of the same thing, then they can create a world as they like. And so it manifested into what we know of the world today.
With this revelation, the cat makes it her vision to impart this astounding truth and reverse back nature to what it was. She says that even if a thousand cats dream the same thing, we can change our reality. Although other cats think of it as a silly story, we see the kitten dreaming the same, as the humans fawn over the cuteness.
It tells about the core theme of the series that reality is shaped in the most literal sense by the dreams, beliefs, and expectations of humans or animals in this case. It also shows that Morpheus shapeshifts according to how dreamers perceive him, taking the form of any shape that the other person might have imagined him to be. Like Nada sees a different side of him, when Dream visited hell.
The second part is about Calliope, the youngest of the nine Muses of Greek mythology. She was captured by Erasmus Fry when he found her scroll lying by the shore and announced himself her master, followed by burning the scroll. He had promised to release her before his death but instead, he gives her to Richard Madoc, a frustrated writer facing writer’s block.
She also abuses her to get inspiration and success. Tired of being held captive, she finally sorts the help of the three witches, who tells her to get help from Morpheus. She was once his wife in Ancient Greece and their son, Orpheus, descended into Hell to rescue his love, Eurydice, which cost him his life.
Calliope blamed Dream and left him, which resulted in them hating each other for thousands of years until their reconciliation again in Madoc’s house, where he helps her to get out of the contract that binds her. In the series, the timeline was altered according to the rest of the series and they are united in the year 2022.
As compared to the comics when they reunite in 1989 and had much explicit content as compared to what was shown. It should be considered a good move as stories should be upgraded according to the times, they are presented. Now that we are introduced to Morpheus’ Oneiros persona in ancient Greece, and the existence of his son Orpheus.
We might get to see his back story in the coming seasons if they cover the Fables and Reflections collection. Unlike the comics, Dream doesn’t shun Calliope again from visiting the Dreaming and even promises to reunite again to talk about their son and grieve properly. We might also see the interlinking of Lady Johanna Constantine as she was asked to retrieve the head of his son from hell by Morpheus.
The Sandman is streaming on Netflix.
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