The Neverending Story (TV Series 1995–1996) Poster

(1995–1996)

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Not brilliant, but not terrible
zingbot10007 April 2004
I find myself agreeing and yet disagreeing with the other user reviews here. When I first saw the cartoon series, I had very mixed feelings about it. I was VERY impressed at how much energy the creators put into making everything feel as much like the first film as much as possible (voices for Falkor, Childlike Empress, Engywook, and Urgle all seemed especially right) as well as the design of the Ivory Tower and Falkor, and even down to simple things like the clothes that Bastian wears. The scriptwriters also were extremely good at writing the dialog to SOUND like the way things were said in the first film . . . however, they were catering to a specifically younger demographic, so the plots were, for the most part, horrifically juvinile.

That being said, I find that there are a few episodes that I very much enjoy. My favorite is, perhaps, "Perilin" because Grograman was my favorite character from the novel that has never shown up in any film. And the voice actor PERFECTLY captured how I would have expected him to sound. The Desert of Colors was disappointingly not so colorful, but all in all, I find myself watching that episode occasionally.

So if nothing else, make sure you see the episode "Perilin" for the closest adaption from the book.
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Just as well this isn't literally neverending.
Victor Field15 January 2003
This animated continuation of "The Neverending Story" and the adventures of Bastian Balthasar Bux in and out of Fantasia lacked the magic and the point of Michael Ende's compelling book and Wolfgang Petersen's wonderful movie - the plot of every episode was jury-rigged to serve as the solution to a problem facing Bastian in the real world, which rankled more than a little (keep doing that and it ends up becoming formula), and what was a captivating journey wound up as little more than a standard adventure cartoon. In spite of the title, it may as well have been "Little Wizards" for all the spirit it kept of the original.

That said, "The Neverending Story" (the cartoon) is still better than "The Neverending Story" (the sequels), which must have horrified the late Mr. Ende if he ever saw them - which I like to think he didn't, given the low opinion he had of the first movie. But that's another story, to be told another time.
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A missed opportunity Warning: Spoilers
"The Neverending Story" is one of my favorite movies from my childhood. Personally, I think it did a great job adapting the first half of the original novel, and while it wasn't a 100% faithful adaptation, I think it captured perfectly well the main essence and themes from the book.

Sadly, the same thing can't be said about the sequels: The first one was a completely forgettable cash grab that butchered many plot points from the second half of the book (Turning it into a conventional "good vs evil" story) and third film was simply embarrassing, changing the serious tone of the first two movies into a cheap dumb comedy.

Now, this animated series could have been the chance to do the faithful adaptation of the original book the fans always wanted: Considering the episodic nature of the second half of the book, this format would have been perfect. Being an animated series, it also wouldn't have the budget problems the live-actions movies had, and it would have been able to do justice to the marvelous imaginary world created by Michael Ende.

Sadly, instead of that this animated series preferred to be a typical Saturday Morning Cartoon with forgettable plots, stereotypical characters and predictable morals that simply didn't add anything new or interesting to the original story.

This animated series borrowed elements from the 3 movies and combined them with a few details from the original book (This is the only adaptation of The Neverending Story where Atreyu is green) and some new plot elements, which sadly aren't anything worth of mention. What a shame, considering this could have a great animated series.

Oh yeah, there are also two other live-action TV series, but both are simply not worth-watching, adding a lot of stupid stuff instead of trying to do at least a somewhat faithful adaptation of the book. The whole situation is very similar to what happened with the Oz series of L. Frank Baum, which had a fondly remembered film version and many other movies, specials, "unofficial sequels", parodies and TV shows inspired by that movie rather than the original books.
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The series is only half as good as should have been
bartallenii28 July 2000
This cartoon died before its time, lasting only 26 episodes, and only half of those shows were interesting. The show should have focused more on Bastian's battles with Xayide instead of stooping to infantile plots. Plus more time should have been given to Bastian's relationship with the Childlike Empress. I'd give it two and half stars out of five.
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List of all characters:
mtrezise-62-7113563 September 2011
Bastian Balthazar Bux Falkor the Luck Dragon Mr. Carl Conrad Correander The Childlike Empress Barney Bux a.k.a. Bastian's father Xayide Junior Baby Rockchewer Artreyu Large Head Barktroll Pyornkrachzark Gluckuk Engywook Urgl Magic Dust Fairy Three Head Whooshwoozool Vermin Morla Ilwan Yor Night Hob Gluckuk's racing snail Mrs. Large Head Querquobad the Silver Sage Argax The Acharis Gmork Dame Eyola Fuchur Four Wind Giants Gaya Meeka Grogroman the Fire Lion Teeny Weeny The Southern Oracle Nimbly Ygramul The Old Man of Wandering Mountain Shadow Goblin Artax Blubb Bastian's mother Mr. Rockchewer Mrs. Rockchewer The Four Heroes Yikka Cairon Jacko
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