I likely watched it a few times on home video when I was in grade school, and as I got older, I would think back on the movie with warm and deep feelings of affection and nostalgia. And that is where I should have left it. Unfortunately, I did re-watch this movie as an adult, and it was a heartbreaking, illusion-shattering experience. Some movies are best left in childhood, only to be revisited in the flattering haze of memory. The NeverEnding Story is definitely one of those movies.
As a kid, we are willing to forgive all manner of cinematic sins, if we notice they exist at all. Alas, as adults, that is just much harder to do. Here are all the reasons why grown-ups should never, ever try to watch this movie again:. The movie is only 90 minutes long, and yet it really does feel like it lives up to its title. As a kid, I guess I was taken in by the fantastical surroundings, and didn't mind watching Bastian Barret Oliver and Atreyu Noah Hathaway stare into the middle distance or travel across large vistas for what seemed like an eternity.
But as a grumpy grown-up, it is distressing to realize I don't have the patience for it now — the characters just aren't interesting enough on screen to hold my attention by themselves. Once Bastian cracks open the eponymous book, we're greeted with three characters en route to meet with the Empress about the encroaching threat of The Nothing: Rockbiter i. I can almost forgive the fact that Rockbiter's mouth barely matches his words — it was puppet technology.
But both characters played by actual humans also suffer from terrible over-dub jobs. Teeny Weeny's voice sounds like a twentysomething American who normally does bad English re-dubs of anime movies. As an adult, it takes me right out of the movie.
The main thing that Moroder added to the film was the theme song, which I loved. I heard it again recently when my assistant Barbara sent me this clip from Jimmy Fallon and Steven Colbert singing the song.
I couldn't believe it! It was just so funny, and so amazing. I remember when they did the recording of that song in Munich with Limahl and Giorgio Moroder. Limahl was a fairly known singer in the U. It's not an easy song to sing. He said it took him giving Limahl multiple glasses of champagne so he could relax enough to really get the courage to go for it.
I had gone to the Tokyo Music Festival and there was lots of famous people there, it was a huge event. It was all a competition that had various judges, and that year, Giorgio was one of the judges.
My manager at the time was an Irish guy with a very feisty personality named Billy Gaff. He'd managed Rod Stewart during his heyday. Billy was very charming. People would say he could sell ice to an Eskimo. So, he sat down and spoke to Giorgio and told him how I was going to be the next big thing. He convinced him that he needed to work with me. When I got back to London, Giorgio's office called and told my manager that he was working on a song for a film and he wanted to try my voice out for it.
I flew to Munich to record it. I remember hearing from the president of EMI Records at the time that he didn't like the song and was thinking about not releasing it. My manager was on the phone just yelling at the guy. I was really young at the time, only like 23 years old or something. Billy Gaff went to bat for me and explained that the song was a hit and needed to be released. He played a big part in getting that song out.
He believed in me and told Giorgio about my voice, first of all. And then he helped convince EMI that the song was a hit. He was right, too. It was No. The movie came out and it was a hit and the song was too. I'm telling you, there's a reason why 35 years later we're here talking about it. I mean, what could we do?
The problem from the very beginning was that he just didn't like the script. He lived in Rome at that time and I said, let me go and see him so we can try to make peace.
Maybe if we sit together for some time to work and write the script together, so that he could be more involved. He liked that idea, so we did that for quite a while, but it just didn't work out in the end. He was a wonderful writer. The book is really an amazing book. When it came out, it was really a smash hit and not only in Germany. People would line up around his house in sleeping bags overnight to maybe get a glimpse at him — this man who wrote this incredible book.
It was truly an unbelievable phenomenon; he was almost like Jesus Christ to them. And all of that went to his head a little bit, as you can imagine. The story was sacred to him and you cannot change that. So, while I was trying to work with him on the script, it was difficult to make any changes.
If I needed to cut something out, he would not understand that. There were a lot of things that at the time we could not do just yet, technically. Maybe today it would be different. The bottom line is, he could not really understand the process of making a 2-hour movie from his big and very, very rich book.
He didn't understand it and he didn't want to understand it. In the end, I wrote the final version of the script together with Herman Weigel and not with him. We sent it to him, and he hated it and we said we didn't care and that it was what we're going to shoot. Later on, he became so angry that he wanted to take us to court, if I remember correctly.
He wanted to go to court to stop the movie, but he didn't succeed, of course. You can't look at making a novel into a movie and think there won't be any changes.
He was not our friend; I can tell you that. Hopefully, he came to enjoy it. He is no longer with us [Ende died in ], but he had a long time to be able to enjoy the success of the film. And regarding whether or not I would like to see a reboot… It is my understanding that some films you should leave alone, and that's how I feel about this film.
I like the way the film is, with all its old fashion charm — just leave it alone. It is such a beloved movie over the decades all over the world.
It's truly a classic. A lot of people have approached us while seeking out the rights for this story, I think Warner Bros. I know there are difficulties with the estate and the rights, there's some litigations going on. But that's all I know. My understanding is that the rights are locked down tight. It could be wonderful to remake it, but I don't think it's going to happen.
I think what we have to do is reach for the message of the film and support others making really incredible fantasy films. That's what the movie is about, not having a monopoly with only a few people being part of the imaginative sphere. The whole world is richer when all the people imagine.
I think the film is an invitation to grow the space of making and creating. Hopefully, if Hollywood diversifies and there are more women directors, and more minorities writing scripts, the message of the film will be the ultimate winner here. So, I don't think we need to remake this, but I think we need to keep growing the space for everyone.
However, he never manages to catch up with Atreyu, because the latter uses the magical powers of the monster Ygramul's poisonous bite to wish himself to the Southern Oracle. Atreyu finally meets Gmork in Spook City, where he is chained, and Atreyu employs the name 'Nobody' to hide his identity in shame of his failure to complete his quest. Gmork confesses that he has been hunting a boy sent on a quest by the Childlike Empress to find her a new name, but lost him early on.
He then met the Princess of Darkness, Gaya, who upon hearing of his mission to help the Nothing, chained Gmork with an unbreakable magical chain reminiscent of Fenrir in Nordic mythology and leapt into the Nothing, leaving him to starve. Gmork explains to Atreyu the nature of the Nothing, and that if a Fantastican enters it, they become a 'lie' in the human world. Eventually, Gmork reveals the name of the boy he is pursuing, and Atreyu reveals his identity, which causes Gmork to laugh until he finally succumbs to starvation.
However, Gmork's evil lives on after his death. As Atreyu approaches the dead wolf, the carcass lashes out and grabs Atreyu in its jaws. Being held by Gmork, however, prevents Atreyu from being able to give in to the overpowering urge exerted by the Nothing to throw himself into it.
He is freed from Gmork's grip by Falkor, who escapes with him to the Ivory Tower. In the movie, Gmork almost manages to kill Atreyu in the Swamps of Sadness, but Atreyu is saved just in time by Falkor. Their meeting in Spook City occurs in the movie as well. Gmork, however, is not depicted as chained, and does not name "Manipulators" as the power behind the Nothing. He attacks Atreyu, impaling himself on an improvised stone knife held by the young warrior.
In Tales of the Neverending Story, Gmork is a werewolf-type creature under Xayide who invades Bastian's world to assume the guise of Mr. Blank to keep an eye on him and stop his meddling. He appears in the form of a huge lion , who changes colors much like a chameleon based on the color of sand he is treading on. He is said to "bring the desert with him", turning all life around him into sand, thus his nickname. Grograman turns into an obsidian statue at night in order to allow the growth of Perilin.
Grograman is the first creature Bastian meets upon his arrival in Fantastica if the Childlike Empress is to be excluded ; Bastian is protected from the effect of Grograman's death aura by AURYN, and is thus the first living being ever to make friends with him. Grograman is the first one who teaches Bastian something of the nature of Fantastica, and he gives Bastian his magic and seemingly intelligent sword, Sikanda.
One night, Bastian is called away; he promises to return, but is ultimately unable to keep his promise the story states, however, that one day someone would fulfill the promise in Bastian's name. In the animated series, Grograman is depicted as being a fire Lion that burns down Perilin to protect Fantastica Fantasia from being overrun by its roots and branches, he is later captured by Xayide so that this could happen in a plan of hers to take over Fantastica but Bastian who had been visiting at that time sets him free.
Also Grograman is depicted as dying every nightfall rather than turning into stone. It's either the Book or the Empress trying to teach Bastian about the cycles of as the Empress later tells Bastian through AURYN that this is normal for Grograman's realm, for him to die at nightfall so the forest can live, and then for him to awaken at sunrise so the rest of Fantastica can live under his protection from the forest.
Morla , also known as The Ancient One Die Uralte Morla in German , is a giant turtle who, because of her size, is mistaken for a mountain. She lives amidst the Swamps of Sadness, which might be either the cause or the result of her melancholy mindset: as the oldest living Fantasian after the Childlike Empress and the Old Man of Wandering Mountain who are both ageless she has grown to be totally indifferent to the fate of Fantasia and her own survival.
Reluctantly, she eventually informs Atreyu that the Empress needs to be given a new name and that no Fantasia can do that. Unknowing who can provide a new name, she points Atreyu to the Southern Oracle. In the movie she has allergies to youth Atreyu and sneezes violently when they are visibly aggravated. Unlike in the book she knows nothing about the illness of the Empress, but sends Atreyu directly to the Southern Oracle.
He is of the same species as the Childlike Empress, and not from Fantastica. His chronicle contains all events in Fantastica as he writes everything down as it happens, and everything happens as he writes it down. He lives alone in an egg-shaped home on top of the Wandering Mountain, which can be found only by chance or fate. The Old Man appears in the story when the Childlike Empress is forced to use drastic measures to make Bastian fulfill his part in the story.
As she approaches his mountain, the Old Man tries to dissuade her from entering, to the point of insulting her, as Fantastica's origin cannot meet up with its end. On her request, the Old Man begins reading from his chronicle starting with Bastian entering the book shop. As he reads, all events happen again and as they happen again he writes them down again, beginning a vicious circle of eternal repetition which finally drives Bastian into calling out the Empress' new name.
The Old Man does not appear in the first film and his appearance in the third film differs drastically from the book. He possesses the Great Book, which can seemingly write the future on its own accord. He dwells in a hidden crystal cave where he can see outside events using a "magic mirror". He is visited by the Childlike Empress and her guard Big Head, who remain with him until the end of the Nastie crisis.
In this film, he grovels before the Empress and sees it as an honor that the monarch would visit him. Also enjoys bread pudding and pinochle. All four are sent by their respective people to the Ivory Tower to ask the Childlike Empress for help against the Nothing's destructive forces.
In the film, Blubb isn't featured, and his actions are given to the Rockbiter. Among the messengers, Pyornkrachzark, more commonly known as "Rock Biter" in German Felsenbeisser is the most famous. He is a large creature made completely of stone. The Rockbiter species are named due to their diet consisting of only rocks and earth-based materials.
The Rockbiter seen in the movie particularly has a liking for limestone. In the novel, the Rockbiter only appears early in the novel. But in the film he reappears towards the end when he is encountered by Atreyu. He has lost faith in himself after failing to save his travelling companions from the Nothing, who were sucked right out of his hands. Coreander's The NeverEnding Story. And speaking of bookstore owner Mr.
Coreander, he makes an excellent point about the different kinds of books that exist: A safe book allows you to return to yourself unscathed by the end. But a dangerous book will change you, and fundamentally change how you see and experience the world. The NeverEnding Story also introduces young audiences to the notion of metatextuality, stories within stories.
As the Empress says to Atreyu, "Just as he's sharing your adventures, others are sharing his. It's a huge reason why The NeverEnding Story still resonates with audiences decades later.
The NeverEnding Story adaptation focuses on the first half of Michael Ende's beautiful book, about how a little boy saves the world through reading. In this sequel, Bastian is trying out for the diving team, but cannot seem to get over his fear of heights and take the leap. When the Auryn calls to him, he returns to Fantasia where a new evil, the Emptiness, is being fueled by a sorceress named Xayide Clarissa Burt. Xayide tricks Bastian into making wishes, all the while stealing his memories of Earth and home.
This time Bastian battles the Nasty, and reunites with many characters from the original film, like Ergyl and Engybook. The NeverEnding Story has been a source of inspiration for so many who have seen it and in particular those who grew up with it.
Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers included a wonderful homage to the title song in the show's third season , a sequence that serves as a beautiful and lighthearted counterpoint to the darkness of that narrative.
The Childlike Empress herself, actor Tami Stronach , loved the tribute. The movie's legacy has carried over into music as well as film and television. Metal band Atreyu named themselves after the young warrior from the Fantasia plains. When Atreyu reaches the boundaries of Fantasia, he finds a temple in ruins with elaborate paintings. He's shocked to see the paintings are of him and everything he survived.
The NeverEnding Story suggests that Atreyu's journey has happened many times before, and will probably happen again. This cycle of life and destruction and life emerging again is a neverending story. But more than that, the neverending story is also the fight against apathy and hopelessness, and replacing them with hope and faith. Like the symbol of Auryn with two snakes entwined eating their own tales, not only does the story within The NeverEnding Story play on a sort of loop, but the important themes from the story continue to be relevant in the human world.
The fact that after so many decades people still watch, engage with, and adore The NeverEnding Story is simply a testament to the everlasting power of this triumphant tale. Atreyu and the hero's journey, with a twist. Bastian and the armchair hero's story. Making friends in unlikely places through shared trauma. The Childlike Empress and her new name.
Saving Fantasia is a win against hopelessness. Falkor as a symbol of hope and faith. Confronting trauma in the Swamps of Sadness.
Fighting against apathy in adulthood. Triumph of the young human spirit. The NeverEnding Story's clear anti-bullying message. Books and reading are special forms of magic.
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