The Neverending Story Book and Movies 1&2

[JD]

I just finished reading the book a couple weeks ago, and now finished both movies, and it's been fascinating comparing all three, what they share, and what they don't.
I pretty much enjoyed all three to different degrees, with the book being the best, followed by the first movie, with the second movie at the bottom. One advantage the book for doing an adaptation is that it is fairly episodic, so it's was pretty easy to just pick and choose which parts to include.
The first movie definitely stuck much closer to the book than the second one.
One thing I liked in the second movie more than the book and first movie, we got to see what was going on with Bastian's father while he was gone. I also thought the end of Xayide's story in the movie was a lot more interesting that what we got in the book, her anticlimatic death was one of my biggest issue with the book. It felt like Ende was going for something there, but I wasn't really sure what it was.
I was really disappointed the second movie didn't include the knights, I really liked them a lot. I also thought that making Bastian lose his memories because of Tri-Face's machine, made things to simple and easy, compared to the book where it was just a side effect of the Auryn.
Any other fans of the franchise around here?

 

[FormerLurker]

I don't remember much about the second movie, but I thought the costuming for the bird character was fantastic. A human actor wearing prosthetic shoes to mimic bird legs? I loved it. I don't think it had been done before, and I don't think it's been done since.

 

[Tosk]

A human actor wearing prosthetic shoes to mimic bird legs? I loved it. I don't think it had been done before, and I don't think it's been done since.

No love for Big Bird?

 

[FormerLurker]

Big Bird is a prime example of the old school way of depicting bird legs. Just put the actor's legs in whatever stocking you're going to use to mimic the texture, and ignore the fact that the joints are different.

The bird in NE2 has the spindly legs and joints that birds have IRL. It was most impressive.

 

[JD]

Yeah, I noticed that too. The creature effects in both movies are probably some of the best non-CGI, non-Henson effects I've seen. The second one didn't have quite as many creatures as the first one, but the ones we did get were pretty impressive.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

That wolf jumping out of the cave scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.

 

[JD]

I hated the first one when I was a kid because Gmork scared the shit out of me. Once I got over that I absolutely fell in love with it.

 

[Refuge]

That wolf jumping out of the cave scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.

Thank you. I now have a possible Halloween name

 

[Unicron]

I hated the first one when I was a kid because Gmork scared the shit out of me. Once I got over that I absolutely fell in love with it.

I sometimes think it would be nice to have a modern version that's more book accurate, and includes some of the stuff that wasn't adapted for the movies. Gmork's fate in the book is notably darker in ways than when Atreyu encounters him in the movie. I'd definitely like to see a book-accurate version of the Southern Oracle, since she's probably the easiest creature to depict.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Sadly, Gmork's attempt at becoming a serious actor in TNS never garnered him the awards he had hoped for, and after losing out on the role of Teen Wolf to Michael J. Fox, who's not even a real fox, much less a wolf, which is insulting; Gmork returned to a life of relative obscurity, his only later role being a reunion show of his earlier sitcom hit:

Look at all that chest hair. That's his natural pelt.

 

[JD]

I sometimes think it would be nice to have a modern version that's more book accurate, and includes some of the stuff that wasn't adapted for the movies. Gmork's fate in the book is notably darker in ways than when Atreyu encounters him in the movie. I'd definitely like to see a book-accurate version of the Southern Oracle, since she's probably the easiest creature to depict.

I'm having a total brain fart and can't remember how Gmork's fate was different in the book.
I had forgotten what the movie's Southern Oracle was like before I rewatched the movie, so I was a bit surprised when I saw that it was just more sphinxes. All I can think is that they must have wanted something more visual than the disembodied voice in the book.

 

[Unicron]

Spoiler: Gmork's book death

Atreyu met Gmork in a ruined city when he was already dying, because he was imprisoned by the local ruler when she learned his plan to betray Fantasia. The novel confirmed that Gmork was a werewolf who could operate in both worlds, which is why he was recruited as an assassin. He was imprisoned with a collar that only the ruler could open, and then she deliberately jumped into the Nothing so Gmork would be left to die.

 

[JD]

OK, I do remember that now. Definitely much more tragic than the movie.

 

[JD]

Noah Hathaway and Tami Stronach, the actors who played Atreyu and The Childlike Empress in the first movie reunited for the first time since the movie came out at a panel and signing at Wintercon yesterday.

 

[Marsden]

Please don't watch Neverending story 3. I would spare you that pain. It's terrible.

 

[Kilana2]

I'm going to buy the book again - the one I read as child is gone and it was a paperback. I'd like to rebuy it as hardcover an I like the red and green letters.....

 

[Garak]

I was Atreyu for Halloween one year, many moons ago. I love TNS, it's such a great movie

When Atryu's horse died, man that got me in the feels when I was young. Thank goodness he came back at the end or I would've needed serious therapy

"I'm a luck dragon!" is how I answer my phone

 

[Takeru]

I was Atreyu for Halloween one year, many moons ago. I love TNS, it's such a great movie

It's also just the beginning of the story with a shitty ending tagged on.

The Neverending Story is in desperate need of a proper remake that tells the entire story either as a movie trilogy or as a series.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I saw the first movie a few months ago for the first time. The whole time I’m like . I finish it and I’m still in a state of “WTF did I just watch!?” It seems like such a stoner movie.

I liked the dragon who totally looked like a puppy though.

 

[Anwar]

Please don't watch Neverending story 3. I would spare you that pain. It's terrible.

I'm surprised Jack Black had any sort of a career after that.