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In this episode, we look at the film that shows how one's imagination can bring a world of fantasy to life; The NeverEnding Story.
Originally uploaded on January 7, 2011.
Originally uploaded on January 7, 2011.
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Short filmTranscript
00:30Groovy.
01:00Groovy.
01:30The year 1984 saw a landmark in fantasy film history with a movie that would be the most
01:43remembered and a childhood favorite among many.
01:47This was The NeverEnding Story.
01:50Not only was it considered the most expensive film produced outside the US or the Soviet
01:56Union at the time, and the only family film by German film director Wolfgang Petersen,
02:02but was also the most challenging film at the time that questioned the nature of fantasy
02:07films and their audience.
02:10Compared to the other fantasy films that came out in the 1980s, this feature proved to be
02:15darker and more compelling than any other magical feature.
02:19The NeverEnding Story.
02:23What can I say about it?
02:26It's compelling, it's moving, it's emotional, and it's like no other fantasy film I've ever
02:33seen.
02:33It's darker, it's complex, it has a plot that can't be beat.
02:39When you look at the previous two that we took a look at, with The Dark Crystal and Clash
02:45of the Titans, they were dark.
02:47They were really dark.
02:49But they weren't grasping into the whole aspect of what happens when imagination clashes with
02:54reality.
02:55And that's where this film differs with a bunch.
02:59I mean, with Clash of the Titans, you had the Greek myths and the brutality of it all.
03:05And with The Dark Crystal, you had what happens when, you know, you set your imagination, you
03:10know, wild and create this crazy, insane world of a different society with different creatures
03:17and different scenarios.
03:20This, on the other hand, shows the connection between those two, and that's what makes this
03:24truly unique.
03:26It shows how grasping reality can be over imagination, how controlling it can get.
03:31And that's something we didn't see in the other films that we see in this.
03:36Because, as we all know, the only way to fuel imagination is, you know, a dreamer or some
03:41sort of person that greatly embellishes into fantasy to create these creatures, to interact
03:46with these creatures.
03:47And that's the unique thing behind this film.
03:49It does something that none of the other two had.
03:52And that sort of has a little way of what happens when fantasy interacts with reality and creates
03:59its own subculture within there.
04:01The first time I saw this movie, I was six years old, laying in a hospital bed, suffering
04:07from a brain...
04:08No, not a brain, a head injury.
04:11And I gotta say, I really didn't like it.
04:16That's...
04:17It's funny.
04:17I did not like this movie.
04:20But then I turned 20, and I decided to watch it again one time.
04:25And suddenly, I don't know what it was, but I liked it.
04:30I really liked the movie.
04:32Neverending Story is a classic. It differs from today's fantasy films, like, say, if you compared
04:42it to Harry Potter, which is another popular fantasy film series that's aimed at kids, you're
04:50being asked to directly identify with the hero in that age group, you know, and in The Neverending
05:00Story, you're being asked to identify with a boy who's reading a book and identifying
05:11with another boy, so it really adds a different level to the experience altogether, I think.
05:22Based on the novel by Michael End, The Neverending Story mostly focuses on the first half, which
05:28consists of a boy named Bastion Bucks that is trying to recover from the death of his
05:33mother and holding on to his dreams and imagination to which his father doesn't appreciate and
05:39feels he needs to grow up. After being accusted by bullies, Bastion hides into a bookstore where
05:45the owner, who takes his presents not too kindly, is reading a book that intrigues our young
05:50hero. Ignoring the bookkeeper's warning of not to read it, he steals it and takes refuge
05:57the school's attic where he begins to take a look at this unique novel. As a result, he
06:03learns of a world called Fantasia that is under the threat of a presence called The Nothing,
06:09an entity of pure darkness that consumes everything in its path. The residents of this imaginary land
06:16seeks help from the childlike empress, but is revealed by her attendant that she has fallen
06:21ill due to The Nothing's rampage. Luckily, she is able to send out a warrior from the plain
06:28people that happens to be a boy of Bastion's age called Atreyu. Given a magical medallion
06:34as his guide called Oren, he is then sent off on a quest to find a cure to save the childlike
06:41empress and the wonderful land of Fantasia, with Bastion joining his journey with a flip of a page.
06:47Speaking of reading, it's interesting to note how similar Bastion and Atreyu can be at times. Even if
06:55he's reading an adventure of a kid his age, he can place himself in Atreyu's shoes at times and knows
07:01what he's feeling and going through. Like most readers, he tends to relate himself to the main
07:07character, which is common when one is viewing a novel. The connection between Bastion and Atreyu is
07:13something that can happen in real life, like with a real person and character of a book. Like whenever
07:20a person reads a book, he or she can imagine himself as the main character of that book. Like if they
07:26are small, meek, or if they're fat and that's what the main character of the book is, they can identify
07:31with that character. Or if you're physically weak and the main character of the book that you're reading
07:38is physically stronger and faster than you are, you can imagine yourself being that. You can imagine
07:43yourself stronger and faster than you are in real life. So the fantasy world is a hell of a lot better
07:49than the real world. Because whenever you read a book, you can imagine yourself doing anything. Like
07:57take Bastion Atreyu. Bastion is a small, shy, quiet child with a big imagination. And when he reads the
08:06book, he reads about Atreyu, this warrior child, this plains person, practically a Native American.
08:13He's stronger than Bastion. He's faster than Bastion. He's more clever. So Bastion can identify with
08:22someone like Atreyu. He wants to be like Atreyu. In fact, when he reads the book, he practically is
08:28Atreyu. I mean, when he reads the book, like when Artax dies, you see him crying like he just lost
08:35because he lost his mom and he can identify with the death of another creature that someone cared about.
08:44Or when Borla showed up, he screamed his head off because he imagined himself being there in the swamp
08:51when she appeared. So that's why I like the connection between Bastion and Atreyu. It's kind
08:59of like a brother and brother or a mentor and a student kind of relationship, but not knowing of
09:08each other's existence. Kind of like that. Yeah. And also it greatly shows that Bastion was there every
09:15step on the way from Atreyu's journey. He may be reading it, but what we don't know is that he's
09:20actually an important key part to it. And it's greatly proven in the sequence where Atreyu has to
09:27pass these two statues and when they would open their eyes, they would, you know, shoot laser beams
09:34at whoever trespasses. Bastion is the heart and soul of what prompts them to continue forward. It's not
09:43that Atreyu's knowledge or thinking. Well, I don't think they're similar. I think they're more
09:50opposites that attract one another. Bastion is more of a loner who has trouble with some of his peers at
10:06school. And Atreyu is a born leader. But the more they get to know each other, the more they both adapt
10:18characteristics of the other. In fact, if you actually remove the Bastion scenes and just have
10:23an adventure on its own, it just mainly focuses on Atreyu in this alien world trying to, you know,
10:31show that good can triumph over evil. With Bastion scenes incorporated, however, it proves this
10:38logical lapse that what really provides the power and motivation and energy for the characters
10:44is really the reader. And that's what really keeps them going throughout the adventure. It's not the
10:50hero himself. It's really how people interact and connect with the character, which is a very
10:58interesting edition. And it also sort of mirror images how we read books these days. We picture
11:05ourselves at these characters. We want to see these characters triumph over evil. We want to see them
11:12get through good. We want to see them have a happy ending. And so that's what I find very interesting
11:16about this scenario, that it greatly shows how people tend to treat their heroes these days. They
11:24really look up to them and they want to see them seize the day and the end of it all.
11:28Bastion and Atreyu are similar in the fact that they both have a very big taste for adventure.
11:37I mean, otherwise you wouldn't be reading the book. I read books all the time that are fantasy,
11:43adventure novels and whatnot, and I gots to have my adventure when I'm reading. And that's,
11:50I think that's the connection that these two have. They both have that similar taste for adventure.
11:59And I read a ton of books. So I've read, let's see, I've read the Redwall books, I've read the
12:08Warriors books, I've read the Guardians of G'huul books, just to name a few. And it's always that sense of
12:19adventure that is compelling the reader to keep going. I know and have felt it.
12:27While we spend little time in the real world, a majority of the film is placed in the mystical
12:32world of Fantasia. There, we meet all sorts of inhabitants, ranging from a man and his racing
12:39snail, the massive rockbiter, the enormous and all-knowing turtle Morla, the wise and grumpy gnomes,
12:46Engiwook and Urgle, the menacing wolf, Gamorg, and of course, the benevolent luck dragon,
12:53Falcor. This cast of creative and memorable characters that help our hero throughout the
12:59journey are considered some of the most memorable characters in movie history.
13:04There are a lot of creatures of Fantasia I could really go into great, you know, talk about to,
13:11but I think the one character that people don't really seem to talk about much these days,
13:18aside from the principal characters like the rockbiter or the empress-like child and
13:26Mona, the giant turtle, the one person that no one I'm actually surprised to see that no one really
13:32talks about is really the Gamorgh, sort of this werewolf type of creature that's sort of a servant to
13:40you know, the Nothing. And I know the Nothing is a villain, but in a way, if you kind of look at it, the
13:45Gamorgh is sort of part of this whole thing. I mean, in the novel that it was based off of by Michael
13:52Ende or Ande, however you pronounce it in question, he was originally a much more obedient servant to
14:00this entity and would actually, you know, appear in reality and sort of feed off of people's fears
14:07and the depressing moments of reality itself, which is a really good connection. Unfortunately,
14:12that's lost here in this film. Instead, he's a representation of what we fear the most. And I
14:20think the one other reason why people don't talk about it that much is because we see very little
14:25of him. And I think that also raises questions as to who this character is. He has like a couple of
14:32scenes and the only thing we can get off of him from the bat is that he's evil and that's it. If we
14:37go in deeper into the scenario, he's a very, very villainous character. He has this one-track mind. He's like
14:47the Terminator. He's sent out to an objective and he wants to get it done. I think the more pivotal
14:53sequence is where he meets up with Atreyu in this temple that contains these adventures and stuff,
15:00which contains these very suspicious pictures of what he's come through out in his journey. And
15:06there's this little brief conversation they have about the destruction of Fantasia and why it's
15:12crumbling to the ground. What is really important about that sequence is here you have
15:17good and evil meeting each other for the first time and sort of embellishing their own ideas of
15:24how they see the world in general. And then you have this thing that's supposed to be representation of
15:29knowing the true coldness of reality finally says it that this place is falling apart because
15:38nobody is having any hope or any belief. It, you know, is empowered by imagination and that's where
15:46it greatly connects. And that's when it shows the connection of how Fantasia is greatly important to
15:53everybody in the real world. It's a representation of people's dreams, people's imagination,
16:00people's fantasies. And without that, then it's not going to be a pretty good life.
16:05Another thing that's interesting to note is how his character is much differently portrayed in the film.
16:12In the feature film, he's your typical average bad guy, this thing, this minion. In the novel,
16:21however, he's more sympathetic. When Atreyu goes into the temple in the novel, it's different,
16:26and as much as I hate to spoil it, it gives his character a more sympathetic feel.
16:31He finds the Gamork in chains, bound to a wall, just ready to die. And I just see that as a much
16:41more sad sequence as compared to what was done in the film, where in the novel you have a character
16:48that you know is evil, you think he's evil, until the final end you just feel sorry for him. He was
16:54misunderstood, he was just being used, he was controlled, and in the end of it all he dies for what
16:59he did. And that really somewhat saddens me inside whenever I hear about it or even see about it.
17:07It's pretty depressing to note how reality gets killed by its own means of depression, which is
17:16pretty devastating. And without that subtext later in the film, you just have your typical average
17:23badass villain in my opinion.
17:24My favorite characters in the movie are the man with the racing snail, the night hob, and the rock
17:31biter. All three of them together, because to me they're kind of like the Three Stooges or the Marx
17:37Brothers, or just a pack of friends, because each of them are so different. The rock biter is this giant
17:45monster made of rock that eats rocks, the night hob is this witch or goblin looking creature who rides a bat,
17:52and the man with the snail, he's like this Victorian looking man with a top hat and a suit with a racing
17:59snail, and they're all different, but they're all friends. I especially like the uh, the man with the
18:06racing snail out of all of them, just because who plays him. The guy who plays him is Deep Roy, uh, who
18:13later went on to do Tim Burton projects like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Big Fish, and Corpse Bride.
18:19When I found this out, I was like, that was Deep Roy? I never knew that, and it's no wonder I never
18:26knew about it, because he looks so much younger in that movie, and he was dubbed over by an English
18:31person. Uh, Deep Roy's voice in real life, he's Nigerian, so he has like a Nigerian accent, so that's
18:37why they had to dub him over, so he could seem like a native of Fantasia. The night hob is hilarious,
18:44not just how the way he looks, but the way he acts. Like, he has a pet giant bat, or he's, or he's as
18:52small as the bat, or whatever. Anyway, I just love the relationship between him and his bat. Like,
18:56his bat is this lazy creature, and whatever he tries to do, he tries to wake up, like, get him
19:01under control. Like, if he's falling asleep while flying, he just tries to wake up and was like,
19:05stupid bat. I think that's funny. The rock biter has to be the most sweetest, kindest person out of
19:15the entire group. I mean, whenever, when I first saw The Neverending Story, when I was like four
19:21years old, I only saw a snippet of it. I didn't see the entire thing. The snippet I saw was when
19:26the rock biter came into the camp of the man and the night hob, and when I saw that when I was four
19:32years old, I was terrified, because I thought he was going to be this menacing monster who was going
19:36to eat them. But when I was about seven years old, I watched the movie for the first time,
19:44all of it, not just snippets of it, the entire movie, and I was wrong. I thought the
19:50Brock buyer was such a sweet, endearing character. I mean, he's big, he's ugly, but he has a heart of
19:56gold. And at the near the end of the movie, when he's in the wasteland, and Atreyu finds him,
20:02and he's looking at his hands like, these look like good, strong hands, don't they?
20:10He's sad, because no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hold on to his two friends, and
20:17the nothing took them away. He looks like this big, strong monster, this big, strong person,
20:22and no matter how strong he is, he's just nothing against the nothing, and he's just sitting there,
20:29waiting for himself, for the nothing to take him away. He's just waiting there to die,
20:35and I thought that was so sad. But in a way, you kind of feel sorry for him too, because he knows all
20:41these places, all these beautiful things, and when the nothing comes in and starts getting rid of him,
20:48that's an old beauty is gone, and he's a guy that has all these memories, all this stuff that he knows,
20:55and he has no unfortunate time, but instead to accept his fate, which he says later on when Atreyu
21:06confronts him, and he mentions about all these great, great things. He's not only a rock biter,
21:12but he's also one that really likes to talk about memories, in my opinion, just stuff that he's
21:19seen and knows. So in a way, he's kind of like that, you know, classic Obi-Wan character, where he's
21:26seen the world, he's done these things, and it's a shame to see them all go, just because of this
21:31entity that's trying to snuff out a fantastic world. With Falcor, it's different. He is a very helpful
21:41being. He's sort of a combination of the Chinese dragons, you know, the long skinny ones,
21:51and only he's furry, so he's got this really puppy dog-like design to him, which softens up his image,
22:01and that's something you don't really see too much in dragons. The only other time I saw anything like
22:07that was spirited away with, you know, the Hayao Miyazaki film, which was also good, but it seemed
22:15like it was heavily borrowing from the never-ending story in that respect. So yeah, I think Falcor,
22:24Falcor wins. I think without Engie, Wook, and Ergel, the movie would have suffered a lot. Basically,
22:31when you're working with something as compelling and dark, you have to have comic relief, and this is
22:36where these two come in. Of course, you have light-hearted characters like the Rockbiter,
22:42Falcor, Nighthawk, and his friend there, the Racing Snail, but I think out of all these two,
22:49the most underrated of the bunch has to be these gnomes. They sort of have, you know, these scientific
22:55ways. You have, you know, Engie Wook, who's all this scientific stuff, and he's all Doc Brownish,
23:01and he has all these crazy contraptions, and knows a lot about the world. He's a scientist. Then you
23:06have his wife, who's the typical average, you know, why must I come in and see you doing all these things
23:11when I'm trying to do the housework and stuff like that, and you know, without that, it would have been
23:16a much more darker film. And the way that these two stand out for the bunch is that they're funny,
23:22they're reliable. Not only do they give off good information, but there's a lot of great material
23:29that work with that sort of gives a whole typical husband and wife scenario where you have the
23:34grumbling couple that just can't stand each other, but yet somehow live with each other,
23:40and that's sort of a very interesting aspect of that. Aside from the basic monsters and resourceful
23:47characters, the never-ending story has wonderful moments that remains a landmark in one's head.
23:53Whether if it's uplifting, sad, or thrilling, these are scenes that are truly remembered from our first
24:00viewing and memories we never forget. I think the one sequence that people want to talk about these
24:07days is the death of Artex, Atreus' horse. It greatly raises a lot of questions about what animals
24:16are feeling and thinking these days. Here you are walking in the swamp of sadness, and you think
24:22to yourself, there's no way they're gonna, you know, let the swamps get to them and consume them.
24:29But then, that's when you see the horse, and he's sinking into the swamp. And that's when you think
24:35to yourself, wait a minute, how can a horse have depression? And then you sit back for a second,
24:41and you think to yourself, what is he sad about? Is it because of the fact that he has no hope for
24:48things to come? Is it because he thinks or knows that he has a rough life? What is he sad about?
24:55We never know. We just never know. And the sad thing about it is, he doesn't get out of it. And thus,
25:04the swamps consume him. And that's the end of that. It's a very emotional sequence too, because
25:11here you have two really great friends, and then in the end for the rest of the journey,
25:16it's all relied on one person to just go out there and see what can be done. And that's truly the most
25:24heartbreaking thing of it all, because he has nobody to rely on except himself. And that's the sad part.
25:31It's not because of the death of a horse, but because of the fact that now he has to continue
25:37this journey without, you know, any help at all, except those that are around them. And that's
25:43pretty unfortunate. So he has to go in and meet all these new strangers that he's never seen or heard
25:48of. And that's pretty, pretty sad in my opinion.
25:54I have to say my favorite scene in the movie is the ending where Bastion is riding on Falcor,
26:00because it's not Atreyu riding it because he was a fictional character. It's you. You were reading
26:05the book and you imagine yourself riding a dragon. And at the end of the movie, you are riding that
26:09dragon. Plus, I just love the revenge he gets on the bullies who picked on him. What better revenge is
26:14there to chase down your bullies riding a giant dragon and just chase them into the alleyway and watch
26:22them hide into a garbage bin. I think that's funny. I would love to get my revenge on bullies like that.
26:30So I can identify with that scene because who hasn't had a revenge idea like that to get back at someone
26:37who's picked on you or made fun of you. The flying sequences with Falcor are great as well.
26:43They're sort of these, it's sort of like a break from everything that is happened in the first and
26:50the second act. And you finally get to see something so pure and wondrous. I think
26:56the good thing about the flyover scenes with Falcor is that they're kind of like a break from
27:02all the heavy stuff that's happened in the first act and in a way transitions into the final climax.
27:09Because here you have all these very, very incredible things that have been going on in the first half
27:15of the film and you're like, wow, this is pretty heavy stuff. A beautiful lush fertile land that is
27:21going to get crushed by an entity that feeds off of depression and fear. With the flyover sequences,
27:29you get to see a lot more Fantasia in your own mind and it leaves a little ambiguity that
27:34there's no end to Fantasia at all. There are these beautiful landscapes, these seas, these rivers,
27:39these mountains. And it's just so amazing to see you fly right past them and just look at them.
27:46Sort of just, you know, seeing the goodness, the greatness for what this imaginative land is.
27:53And in those scenes where you're flying over and seeing these vast, vast areas, it's, you know,
28:01a sit back, relax type of break. Just looking at, you know, the scenery, the beauty of what Fantasia truly is.
28:09Pure, marvelous fantasy. The only scene I really remember well is the scene in the bookstore that
28:22sets up the entire movie. In the beginning, when Basham runs into Mr. Coriander, and Mr. Coriander,
28:29the bookkeeper of this shop, is, you know, simply telling him, you know, this is unlike any book you've ever
28:37read. This is nothing compared to what you've seen. And the way he describes what it's like to,
28:43you know, get into the characters' minds and sort of, you know, feel what they're thinking and how he
28:48describes it with a scene from, uh, 20,000 leagues into the sea really, really somewhat haunts me to
28:55this day. It gives you the idea of, you know, what would it be like if you're in their shoes and felt the
29:00fear and the emotion of what they're going through. The fact that you're there, the fact that you're this,
29:06you know, pivotal role going through this situation. And the way he describes it is
29:13creepy and pretty chilling at the same time, just the way he says it.
29:20Have you ever been Captain Nemo trapped inside your submarine while the giant squid is attacking you?
29:26If, you know, some cliched actor said that, it'd probably be just something along the lines of,
29:33have you ever been trapped inside a submarine with a giant octopus attacking you? It's kind of like
29:38that, you're feeling the character's emotion. It wouldn't sound right, but the way he says it,
29:43it's pretty frightful. Just thinking what would it be like to be in those characters' shoes and
29:48knowing what they're going through. It's pretty, pretty emotional.
29:55While the never-ending story is considered a fantasy at best, what most viewers don't get on the first
30:01watch is the hidden subtext laid within how the pure thoughts of hopes and dreams are fanning away
30:08due to the harshness of reality. This symbolic message reflects today's times and how many find
30:15themselves in the darkness and despair that focuses on the light side of reality's cruel times.
30:22I think if you showed this movie today, a lot of people would make connections on the dark and
30:29depressing times and how there's very little imagination and fantasy going around these days.
30:36People would be, you know, thinking to themselves, there's very little wonder in the world and it all
30:43has to rely on the mind of the kid. Well, unfortunately, with the internet and television,
30:49just sitting around watching this stuff, it leaves very little creativity. Now, I'm not saying it's a
30:56bad thing. I mean, I know there's a lot of kids that probably grow up on heroes like superheroes and
31:03stuff like that, as well as even, you know, looking up things online. It greatly degrades from their
31:10level of originality on developing something great and grand. And in these days, when you have stuff
31:17going on like war and, you know, are we going to take care of the environment, how long we have yet
31:24to live and stuff like that, it really gets in the way of reality. And it sort of slowly erodes what
31:32little fantasy there is. It's like the nothing. There's all this depression, this fear, this anger,
31:40and it's sort of succumbing or breaking into your dreams, your imagination, your own fantasies.
31:49And that's what the never-ending story is almost like. You have this kid who still has
31:55a lot of purity in him. He still dreams. He still, you know, has all these memories and fan
32:02fantasies and stuff like that. And you have reality trying to come in and crush those things.
32:06And we see those scenes very early on in the beginning where over at breakfast, Bastian's father
32:12is talking to him and, you know, saying these things like, you're doing this in school, you're
32:16doing that in school. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but there are times where he must
32:19get over and grow up. Especially considering how he's trying to, you know, move along with the,
32:27you know, mother being dead and stuff. And the fact that she was the one thing that Bastian relied
32:34on throughout his whole life. And you have Bastian's father, you know, saying, I'm trying to be a good
32:38father here. Please work with me. Get over what you have. It's life. Deal with it. It's okay.
32:47But then of course, he's still hanging on to what motivates him. That's his own imagination. And
32:54that's what really makes this film very work. It injects something from reality, a basic real life
33:00setting and sort of mixing and muddling what reality does to it. It's simply telling you to get your head
33:10out of the clouds and just focus on what's on the ground. I've been told many of that a lot of times,
33:16but still fantasy has a way of over empowering reality in many ways. It's an escape. It provides
33:24you to take a break from what's going on in the real world and just focus on what's going on in
33:29your head. And in the end, that's what we see. Bastian literally escapes from his own reality,
33:36in a way, and starts relying on his imagination to overcome the fears of what happened in his time.
33:44And that's the great significance of this film, showing how it greatly confronts reality and shows
33:51that has never-ending possibilities. Movies nowadays are so unoriginal. There are times where you see
34:04movies come along that, you know, like two movies that are exactly the same,
34:09or at least one similar enough to the other that it seems like there's some kind of connection. It seems
34:19like they're running out of ideas. And it's this whole concept that there's nothing new under the sun,
34:25and therefore we should just give up using our imaginations and stop trying to come up with
34:33something new. And that's not true, you know? You can definitely think up new ideas all the time,
34:43I think, at least. And besides, if two movies are coming along, and one movie's similar to the other,
34:54but, you know, one movie sucks, and how much is the other one going to suck? It's really going to suck.
35:00So, I would say try to be as original and unique as you possibly can, even with your fantasies.
35:08As mentioned earlier, The NeverEnding Story was the most expensive film at the time to be shot
35:15outside of the United States. Mostly filmed heavily in Germany, aside from some filming in Vancouver,
35:22it's interesting to note how a visual wonder could come from a movie disguised as an American-made flick,
35:28one of foreign film at heart. Well, one of the reasons it passed out as an American film,
35:34first of all, they shot in Vancouver to give the location scenes an American look,
35:44as opposed to shooting in Germany. They couldn't have in those days. It would probably be easier
35:50to fake it now. But they shot all the location stuff in Vancouver, and of course did all of the studio
36:01work in, at the time, the largest studio in Germany. But what they did was they did a lot of developing
36:10the script, much more so than was usually the case back in those days. Back in those days,
36:15you had other German directors like Dan Mahatsog bragging about writing a script based on a novel,
36:22writing it in five days. And they took months and had numerous writers involved.
36:29There was a very interesting story that recently surfaced this year from Wolfgang Peterson himself,
36:35who did an interview. And he actually said that he met with Steven Spielberg to actually have,
36:42you know, some sort of comment about the film he did. And so he showed him a print of The Never
36:47Ring story. And this is according to a blog on MTV News, I believe. It's up there online. And he
36:55mentions about how he previewed the film, gave his comments, and that was about it. And I think they
37:01have two directors, one who's never done a fantasy film other than dramas and war epics, getting a
37:08little opinion and feedback from someone who's worked with family films like E.T., Close Encounters,
37:15Raiders of the Lost Ark. Getting sort of an idea of how to create this international American version is
37:23actually pretty interesting, considering the fact how here you have someone who, you know,
37:31knows child psychology in a way, gets sort of this whole idea of how to deal with, you know, families
37:38and, you know, the kids' reactions to certain scenes and stuff like that. But what was trimmed was very
37:44little in the end. They're just basically, you know, shots that were lingering on, some extra bits
37:51that were snipped off, like of Bastion entering the attic, just to quicken the pace. There was one
37:58scene I know that was removed in its entirety for the American release, where Bastion is reading the
38:04ever-ending story, and suddenly he hears the footsteps of someone coming up, and it's just this janitor
38:10putting the stuff in. And it kind of leaves this logical lapse of, is there anyone that really knows
38:16that this attic really does exist? And it kind of proves that. But then you think to yourself,
38:22no one's been up in this room for years on end, so who really does visit it? And I think also,
38:28character-wise, that's kind of why it got cut, because if you really think about it, no one's been up in
38:33that place for years, storing stuff and such. But again, it does kind of leave this logical lapse of,
38:40if no one goes up there, then who knows of it except for Bastion? It is how it is. Also on the side,
38:47the American version had quite a lot of differences too, considering how music-wise,
38:53it went from this epic, dramatic, and moving fantasy film to 80s pop culture. In the German version,
39:07they had this beautiful orchestra, and this lovely score. And for the American version, they had this
39:14pop synthesizer. So take, for example, this first shot you see of the ivory tower. For the German version,
39:20you have this beautiful, lush, and wondrous, you know, orchestrated number, which is somewhat similar
39:26to a much more slowed-down version of the flyover sequences. It's very calm, it's serene, it's tranquil.
39:34And then, of course, for the American version, which they used a pop synthesizer for, you have
39:39something that's also dramatic, but yet it sort of dates the film. So it really goes into a means of
39:46how you want to make your own movie. Do you want it to be dramatic, compelling, and epic? Or do you
39:54want it just to be your typical average fantasy film? And that's where the two cuts greatly differ,
39:59in my opinion. They are available, but over here in America, we just have the international cut. This
40:06dated 1980s, uh, typical family-esque picture. Where else, overseas, you have this dramatic,
40:19compelling, and powerful feature film no one's ever seen the likes before, and it greatly shows how
40:26one can treat a film differently in many ways. It's like taking Citizen Kang and adding music and making a
40:33comedy out of it. It's very interesting to see what you can do with pictures these days, in terms of
40:38editing. Despite a massive positive reception from critics like Roger Ebert, the never-ending story
40:46underperformed at the American box office, grossing only 20 million dollars, which was a tad close from
40:53getting back its 27 million dollar budget. Compared to the 40 million dollar grosses of contemporary films
41:00with similar themes, such as the dark crystal and time bandits, this box office take was far less.
41:08However, when the movie was sent to home video, it became one of the highest selling VHS releases
41:15at the time, and a popular staple on Christmas day television. Since then, it has retained a cult
41:22following as big as any other fantasy film has created.
41:26Never-ending story definitely holds a candle to today's movies, because I guarantee you,
41:32if you released it in the theater now, it would still hold up with all of its old-school effects,
41:41puppets, and whatnot. All that is still very believable, very valid. And hey, I don't want to give
41:50out any ideas, but you know, maybe they'll do a 3D version one day.
41:57A lot of people today might say, well, you know, it doesn't have any computer animation,
42:01etc., etc., but it basically boils down to the story. Even though it was criticized at the time
42:09as only covering parts of the novel and being rather superficial, back in those days, the author
42:20of the book even tried to have the movie stopped because he was not happy with it, it has become,
42:26despite its dramatic faults in terms of the book, it's become a classic.
42:34I think this film really does hold up with today's work, in my opinion. I mean, you have films that,
42:42you know, question the aspects of dreaming and imagination, and they prove a lot of great questions
42:51as to how one would take that. With the never-ending story, it does that, but it goes a little more
42:57deeper into its meanings, considering how it's all done for the perspective of a kid reading a novel and
43:03knowing the emotions of what these characters are going through as he reads them on. He's sort of
43:08imagining and picturing in his head this world that he hasn't seen, but yet he sort of knows about.
43:16And so it gets this really interesting idea of what people are thinking when they're reading something
43:23off of a page of a novel, sort of picturing this world that they never visited, but they do have a
43:29great idea and aspect for. So in a very interesting way, while the other films like A Nightmare on Elm
43:35Street or Inception or Brazil, while they do discuss about, you know, imagination and dreams and go a
43:43little different to their aspects, they kind of go more alternate routes. With Elm Street, you have the
43:49idea of connecting dreams into reality with, you know, people's deaths and all that stuff. With Inception,
43:55it gives you the idea of, are we really dreaming or is it really reality? The same thing with Brazil,
44:01in my opinion, which is also a pretty good film to look into. But with The Never Ending Story,
44:08it goes a little deeper into the idea of what people are thinking and feeling and seeing when they dream,
44:17when they imagine, when they think, what are they exactly knowing, what is their own knowledge,
44:25what's their own purpose and what they're going through. And that's the interesting thing about
44:29The Never Ending Story, in my opinion at least. It sort of goes a little more heavy into the emotion
44:35people are going through when they're escaping from the darkness of real life and how they see their
44:44own imaginative world. Is it something joyous? Is there conflict? Is it a place they would visit to
44:52every single often day? That's how it's done, that's how it is, and that's what's really very interesting
44:59about it. Aside from its growing popularity in the 1980s, Warner Brothers green-lighted a sequel in
45:08response to the reception it would develop over time. Titled The Next Chapter, while it contained
45:14some material not used in the second part of the novel, it was criticized for being too light-hearted
45:20and differed heavily from the original. While it failed to do justice at the box office,
45:26it too gained a cult following on home video, which was accompanied with the Looney Tunes short,
45:32box office bunny. It wouldn't be long till a third Never Ending Story would be completed in 1994,
45:39but wouldn't be released in the United States after two whole years when it was placed in limited
45:45releases and rushed out to home video. To this day, many fans consider it the worst of the bunch
45:53for departing from the novel and being heavily watered down to the point of being a G-rated flick.
46:00Now with a reboot on the way that promises to stay more true to the Michael Ann's classic novel,
46:06fans are beginning to question if it will hold up the charm and originality that the 1984 epic had.
46:13I think looking back at the sequels and thinking of the reboot that is coming up, or at least what has
46:22been announced recently in search of a director and all that stuff, it's pretty interesting to sit back and
46:28think of the many alternatives to where it will go. I guess I should first briefly mention the sequels
46:37that Never Ending Story fans have bickered about for the last few years. With the second film,
46:44it was supposed to be a follow-up, but it really falls flat of being a very good follow-up.
46:50Need I remind you, the first movie and the second one were both directly based off of the original
47:00novel that Michael Ende did. And with the first film, while it was different and it focused on the
47:08first half of the novel, despite dropping and changing a few things for budgetary reasons,
47:14and timing and pacing and all that such, it still remained very true to the dark nature that the
47:21novel had, questioning the connection between reality and imagination. Where else with the second
47:28film, it does pull a couple of themes and material from the second half of the novel, so I can kind of
47:35forgive it. But in a way, it comes off as a guilty pleasure in my opinion. They do carry over the villain
47:41Zyida and the idea of having the Orin being a memory waster that with every wish you make,
47:49a memory removes from your dream. That I can accept. But it's the logic, the execution, the acting,
47:57everything about it that makes it fall very short of being a very good sequel. I enjoy it still,
48:03even though I still see it as a pretty cheap follow-up, considering how it greatly dumbs down
48:10the compelling and challenging material that was done for the first film. And in a way,
48:15it kind of tends to be much more family-friendly-esque type of feature in my ways.
48:21Well, the sequels failed to work because, as is so often the case, people forgot all about what the
48:29movie was about, what the book was about. Usually in situations like that, producers just see dollar
48:37signs and they don't do their work properly. They just think if they throw money at it,
48:45they'll get more money back. And that's not the way it works. However, compared to the third movie,
48:50that's where you begin to question it greatly. I mean, with the third film, in my opinion,
48:57they were trying to do something greatly different with it. And as a result, it failed.
49:01Heavily, heavily failed. They were really trying to push the boundaries and making it more
49:08kiddie-esque. Here you have the first movie where it was sort of showing the bitter coldness of
49:16reality going up against dreaming. With the second film, it was pertaining a little more of, you know,
49:24dreams and not too much of the harshness of reality, but kind of focusing a little more dreaming
49:31aspect in a way and sort of trying to make much more kiddie fare out of it, which is what probably
49:37Warner Brothers saw out of it. But the third one...
49:44By God, I wish I had every single print so I could burn it.
49:50Logic is thrown out the window. Characters are given different personalities. Some are even replaced,
49:58such as Atreyu being sacked with Bark Troll, this bit of comic relief that's sort of hit and miss,
50:07but mostly annoying. The rock biters are dumbed down to a Flintstone reality. And overall, it just
50:15falls apart. And, you know, when you compare all three together, you can kind of see where it
50:22greatly degrades, where you add something grand, dramatic, and sweeping to something that still has
50:28those aspects, but yet, you know, pushing it down a little for a much more commercial, family-friendly
50:35aspect. And then you have the third one, where they were just strictly focusing on one audience,
50:42and one audience only, and that was younger viewers. And so that leaves older audiences to
50:47take a look at that, compare the two, and think to themselves, well, the first movie was dramatic,
50:54it was great, it was grand, and it had all these amazing things to make it a good film.
50:59While the second film was bad, it still had some great things, like the creatures and all this other
51:06stuff. Where else the third movie, on the other hand, it has nothing in relation to the original
51:14novel, and that's why I greatly hate the third movie. It's on my top 10 hated lists, and if I was
51:23to place it, you know, to either be number one or number two, that is how much I despise Never
51:28Ending Story 3. It has no relation, no follow-up, no connection, nothing at all to the first two
51:37films, and that's why I accept the second one for what it is, because it's trying to continue what was
51:43going on from the first film, and it connects a lot with the first movie in the novel, even though there
51:49are some things that fall flat, and, you know, it doesn't really make much sense, and sort of gives
51:55the film being very, very short of being a good sequel. It still has a lot of things to mention
52:02that sort of makes it a decent sequel, but not one to be greatly acceptable as a sequel in question.
52:11Good god, uh, I don't know where to begin with that. I mean, Never Ending Story Part 2,
52:20okay, so-so, I thought, but I was, what, 10 when I watched that? And Part 3, ugh, I was just,
52:29hmm, uncomfortable watching that. I mean, the worst thing has to be, why did they have the rock monster
52:39sing Born to be Wild? Why? It, it was terrible. It, it was just like, you know,
52:49it came out of nowhere. It seemed totally forced, and now, I love the song Born to be Wild, but
52:56now every time I hear it, I can't, I can't hear it without thinking of,
53:00get your motor running, head out on the highway, make it for adventure, and whatever. It, it doesn't
53:09work. Uh, you've plagued my memories from here on out, but also we got, what, Falkor the Dragon? He's,
53:19he went from being a very humble and soft-spoken character in the first film to the moment he,
53:31he steps out into the middle of a Chinese parade surrounded by a bunch of Chinese dragons. He's like,
53:37oh, look at all the babes!
53:45What happened? What happened to you, Falkor? You're dead!
53:51But, you know, I, the most I can say about Neverending Story Part 3 is,
53:58I guess Jack Black had to start work somewhere.
54:02That was pretty bad.
54:05The, the reboot, as it's being called, uh, looks like it may be very interesting. Uh,
54:13it supposedly involves Leonardo DiCaprio, I'm not quite up to date on this, but, uh, and the Kennedy
54:18Marshall Company, Warner Brothers, and, uh, from what I've heard, they plan on, on doing a lot of
54:25backstory, and, uh, the book is five or six hundred pages. There are plenty of things that the, uh,
54:33topics the book could address. So there's a lot of stuff there. You, you never know. If they capture
54:39the spirit of the book, it'll be a very interesting project, and it could be a very, very good film.
54:45The one thing I have to say that's pretty good about it is that it's trying to be something else. It's
54:51trying to not overpower what the first film did, and instead be something else on its own.
54:59While the first movie was an adaptation of the original novel, it didn't go into great detail
55:03or great length on what was in the novel in question. Creatures got replaced, creatures got
55:10cut out, scenes and moments were just axed off. And with this reboot, I think what they're going to try
55:17to do is have something in the similar style and theme as the first film did, but so it'd be
55:23something else on its own. So at this time, I kind of see like John Carpenter's The Thing,
55:28where it was complimenting how great the original was and trying to be something else. Is it going to
55:35be good? I honestly don't know. I've heard bits and pieces of information. I've heard a couple of things
55:42saying that they're going to try to make it closer to the original power and darkness that the novel
55:50had. So all we can do is hope for the future that it becomes a pretty good movie that sort of
55:58in a way lives up to how great the original was. And considering how great the Karate Kid is and how
56:04popular it is to have, you know, 1980 films being remade these days, even though I'm very
56:11prejudice about remakes, I think there is some hope for this reboot, whether anything comes out of it
56:21or not. I mean, they're still looking for a director as we speak. So all I can say is one can hope.
56:27I actually don't mind. I was okay with the remake of Charlie and the Chalka Factor because the original
56:37look, Willy Wonka, wasn't as faithful as the book, but it's still a classic, whereas the Tim Burton
56:43version is more faithful to the book. I love the new version better than the old version, but that
56:48doesn't mean I hate the old version because it is a classic after all. Neverending Story is different.
56:56The Neverending Story was an amazing film, and I don't think there'll be another film like that
57:03ever again. I mean, with its story, with its special effects, with its characters.
57:08If there's a reboot, I'll go watch it just to see what the original book was like. Because I heard
57:13in the original book, Atreyu was green-skinned, and in the movie, he's normal-skinned. So I wouldn't
57:21mind seeing that in the film. Will it be better? Will it not be as good? I don't know, but the
57:29original Neverending Story will always have a special place in my heart for being a part of my
57:33childhood and for being one of the movies that changed my life forever and inspired me to wanting
57:41to be a filmmaker. I thank the original Neverending Story for that. When the reboot comes out, I'll be happy
57:46to watch it, but it'll never replace the original love for the original film. Aside from some hope and
57:54possible doubts, we will always have the 1980s childhood classic around, a film that not only
58:01tests the limits of what fantasy films can do, but compares reality and imagination in ways one can't
58:08never think possible. While the film is only an hour and a half, what is honestly never-ending about
58:15it is the legacy and impacting memories it leaves with the viewer as it can be visually stunning and
58:22truly a classic for the entire family to experience, even if it's for the first time.
58:38And where upon the rainbow is the answer to our never-ending story?
58:53Never-ending story
58:57never-ending story
59:00never-ending story
59:02never-ending story
59:06never-ending story
59:10cut
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