Neverending Story (TV Series 2001–2002) - Neverending Story (TV Series 2001–2002) - User Reviews

4/10

amethyst-9392113 April 2020

Terrible acting, production, the episode 'plots' were painfully faulty. Just plain bad.

I was asking so many friends to watch this with me for cringing fun.

Think Power Rangers meets PBS' Zoom meets high school theatre departments' reject costume designs full realized.

I hate this series. I hope you do watch it because I cannot believe it happened.

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5/10

Already seen. Not so bad. (With a little revision over all the adaptations)

frigola14 August 2006

Dude, to see a "review" wrote by oneself in a 5 years lapse, can be surely annoying. (My English was really worse, with all those mistakes and internet slang, I did that back then even in my mother language).

I'll try correct it, even if my English is not the very best yet

Since I discovered "The Never-Ending Story" book, I have been a fan, and I consider it magical and full of depth and so on.

About the adaptations it had to the big screen. I can't say anything which hadn't been said. I mean:

1 Movie. Just check Ende's opinion. Despite all that being true, plus the clichés and changes (that "works for cinema"), and the technical issues. I'm kind with this one because it still have philosophical dialog, even for a "children's movie", (Morla, Gmork, the beginning after the en)and it made so much people dream! That it worth it.

2 Movie.What with those crabs, robots and that bird? This one is so weird. But the Xayide's demise here. Uhm! nice! (but cheesy)

3 Movie. Nice try at a twist to the franchise (by different plot). But it seems like they're trying to milk nostalgia and to make it childish (but they don't come to realize that neither children nor nostalgics are dumbs).The animation show it only a little better but still takes from this last movie and its just typical.

The Never-Ending Story (the book) never was for children (not only), not just plain easy fantasy. It's a fable and it's about existence and personal growth, so not only for them and yet they can understand it and they enjoy it.

It drives me to my point in reviewing this very adaptation.

It's just for children, plain and clear for the children but I think it can be enjoyed. It's beautiful, and to be a 2000's series it's like kind of an old school children show (I like that).

OK, It rips-off and it rips-off badly. I can tolerate the whole re-imaging (Fantasia is all about that, re-imaging).

Maybe if it had happened, like, several years after the old adventure and this Bastian weren't Bastian but a new child, and this Atreyu were our old pal Bastian. And had some more depth. It would have worked better.

Some other reviewer told that Gmork being a shape-shifter and a substitute teacher was awful(as far as I remember he's a werewolf and dimension leaper even in the book) so no problem with taking some other form as far as it fit. That was not the problem.

It was a great idea just went wrong, due to seemingly pointless matters that weren't so pointless-

You really have to love the source material to make something about it (like those "Legends of Fantasia" books), even if it's re-imagining (which is not "Oh! I want to do a new thing, even revolutionary in a field but I run out of ideas and/or need a bust so i'll use something already known". As I'm afraid it may be)

I'm still glad with the effort and it's better than some other "adaptations". It's watchable ----

I said it's never going to be a film remake closer to the book, because first movie purist would go nuts. I know now it's going to be a reboot and they say it's going to be closer to the book. To be fair I'm not going to put all my hope or I will be disappointed with whatever it comes. So I look forward to it kindly

Frigola.

Ahhhh it feels nice to purge my old post.

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Neverending Story Should Have Never Ended!

studedude200426 May 2004

Tales From The Neverending Story was a really great series that started from the same premise as the film, but took it in a completely different direction. In the movie, most of the action took place in Fantasia. In the real world, Bastien sat in the attic of his school and read a book about the adventures of Atreyu. In the TV series, the action doesn't just take place in Fantasia. Bastien has adventures in the real world too. At first, they're the type of adventures a normal kid would have, but they get weirder and weirder, because as the series progresses, the book becomes more real, and some characters from Fantasia start to invade the real world. One of them is Gmork, a great funny/scary character -- sometimes he's a werewolf, sometimes he's the worst substitute teacher in the world. And then there's Xayide, the totally Dark Princess, beautiful and way over the top. Both Xayide and Gmork are after Bastien, so along with normal problems with teachers, friends and his Dad, he has to contend with evil forces from another world. Near the end of the series, Xayide starts sending children to the real world to do her dirty work, and even lures one of Bastien's friends into Fantasia and turns her to the dark side. And that's barely scraping the surface. Like I said, a great series.

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1/10

Awful Beyond Belief!

liberalgems29 April 2009

You know you're in trouble when you constantly can't help saying to yourself: "I could act better than him, I could act better than her!" After a while I realized I could act better than any character in the entire film! The acting is that unconvincing and poor - it's beyond belief. Some other words to describe the acting talent of the performers is - cardboard, camp, dopey and annoying!

If the acting was not bad enough, the story was even worse! This film was totally devoid of any entertainment value, whatsoever, for the mind of an adult! Personally, I think most children, and certainly teens, would be bored to tears!

It's obvious to me that Tales from the NeverEnding Story - The Beginning is an attempt to make a quick buck off of The NeverEnding Story. To essentially turn a wonderful story into a commodity, like toothpaste or underarm deodorant. If you must see this godforsaken film out of curiosity, at least buy it used so you won't encourage a sequel!

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1/10

Terrible!

trainor-a1 October 2007

This film adaptation was depressing. I am not sure what the screenwriters were thinking--did they even read Michael Ende's fabulous story? If you watch "Behind the Scenes" on the first installment of this painfully cheesy and uninspired series, you'll hear the writers and actors waxing philosophical about how this movie is all about imagination, the struggle of good vs. evil, and how we can use the power of great stories to help us work through our own real life difficulties. And yes, that is what the book was about. But the book told a story that was truly creative without heavy handed moralizing. Watching this film was like being battered with the heavy club of self-righteous anti-modernity: Smash that game boy and read a book! I like computer games too, but come on. We *get* it--reading is good; OK, stop shouting at us through your filmaking. Oh, lest I forget--the most frightening thing about the book and the old movie-- The Nothing: a powerful, disintigrating force that dissolves all life and matter, that grows in virility as lies and disinterest spread-- is recreated as this weird green stuff that comes out of a jar and sucks all the color out of your face. Michael Ende found a cool, truly scary was of talking about apathy and dishonesty; this movie goes and twists that into some lousy B-movie green goop.

Even if you've never read Ende's book or seen the iconic 1984 version, this new film adaptation is just stupid. The effects suck, the acting is awful, and the plot is beleaguered with confusing side stories that make no sense, even if you have read the book.

I could go on and on... I guess the most important thing to say is that I bought this disk for $2.50 at Kmart. I should have known better.

Be forewarned! See the 1984 version, or better yet, read the book.

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1/10

This is Awful!!!

wv_rivers17 March 2006

This movie is an utter perversion of Ende's Fantastica. I'm just glad that he didn't live to see this piece of horrible junk. I, unfortunately got this as a gift and after about ten minutes of watching it I was ticked off. The people who made this show, obviously, never even looked at the book. The fans of the book and the movies already went through enough with the creation of The Neverending Story III so we didn't need this blow to the gut. I don't know who in the world thought that doing this show would be a good idea. And I can't fathom how some people like this. Read the book people and you'll see my point. My advice to everyone is beware this show, DO NOT watch it. This show gets an F-.

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7/10

Mona The Vampire, v1.01

annevejb2 December 2012

Warning: Spoilers

For me, it is important to consider 'Tales' as a television series for kids rather than as a set of feature films. It is a matter of expectations and at that level I consider it to be successful. This is way above the level of many series for kids, in some ways near the level of the best series.

Wiki, November 2012, mentioned it as a set of four two hours episodes, USA television and DVD, and 13 one hour episodes, UK television. This is based on a quoted internet reference that no longer exists. My region 2 DVDs are around 90 minutes each, so the 2 hours might have included a lot of advertising time. UK as likely to be approx 30 minute episodes of kids television.

The titles of the set of four as Tales From The Neverending Story, 1 The Beginning, 2 The Gift Of The Name, 3 Badge Of Courage and 4 Resurrection. The DVDs are available in regions 1 and 2. I do not know about other regions.

Several of the reviews at IMDb appeared to be from people who had come at this from the book, Michael Ende's The Neverending Story (1979), or from a cinema grade feature film, The Neverending Story (1984). As such there tends to be a predictable disappointment, but a lot of positive response despite that.

I purchased the disks because of Mona The Vampire. A cartoon series with Emma (Taylor-) Isherwood as the voice of the main part. Those were 1999 and 2001, who is this Emma-Mona? This is another television series for kids, made around the same time, Emma has one of the many supporting roles and is more than just the voice for cartoons.

Emma Mona plays Olano and her slightly younger sister, Sally, plays Yonie. Two of the nice guys of the woodland village. Their pictures are on the back cover of my DVDs for episodes 1 and 4. Little sister Sally-Yonie has the red face paint around her eyes and Emma-Mona-Olano has a red line under her eyes that crosses her nose and goes down her nose as well.

In episode 4 I only notice Yonie, which is strange. This is a story where history and such can change, reality is not fixed. At the end of episode 3 the remnant of the village was under attack by Big Bad, but appeared to face that successfully, no losses. At the start of episode 4 Big Bad had a new recruit, young and female, mind blank, played by Alexina Cowan, and she was given the name of Gemma. As she is a captive of big bad, Gemma has to go to Bastian's world to do some bad guy stuff. Emma-Mona-Olano now Alexina-Gemma?, with all the appearances of being a really bad guy for most of her part of the story. Emma and Alexina both appear in the end credits of 3 and 4, but the end credits are the biggest imperfection in this series.

So I go to this series for the sake of fan stuff re Mona The Vampire, I should expect unreality. But I experience this as very okay in its own right. Ditto, Blake Holsey High, but that is not on DVD.

I have not read the book yet, must do that. Meantime I now have a DVD of the 1984 feature and I personally find the storyline to be weak in comparison to this series. Surprise, surprise, I did see the series first. So, the effects are amazing quality for 1984, a big year for this sort of story to appear on the screen.

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1/10

What did I just watch?.....

Drummer34326 May 2008

What did I just watch?.....

I have no idea what I just just endured but it was not the Neverending Story. That was.... I'm not sure i can put into words but here goes nothing...

The acting was absolutely terrible... like something from a junior high theatre production. The movie seemed to drag on for days on end. This may possibly be the worst movie EVER created. This movie, if you can call it that, made me want to die.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE! Save yourself from the utter brain cell annihilation that is this movie.

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8/10

A thoroughly enjoyable interpretation of the Neverending Story.

bretage24 November 2006

I have been a fan of Michael Ende since childhood and, although this interpretation of the Neverending Story strays from the plot of the book, I still found it delightful to watch. It is beautifully shot with colourful costumes and cinematography. The cast, although young, give wonderfully natural and committed performances. There are some additional characters who add humour and romantic tension where it may have been lacking in Ende's original story. There is more of an exploration of the character of Bastian and his place in the real world, which provides a contrast with the characters in Fantastica. I believe the changes in plot are in keeping with the spirit of the world Ende created. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good fairy tale, regardless of age.

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Yeach!

moribunt13 December 2004

I got this movie on DVD as a present on December 5, and had a chance to watch it today. I'ts in one word: YEACH!

All the charm of Michael Ende's beautiful book, and of the original movie is completely lost. This movie is never exciting, the acting is very very poor, and the effects are of the quality of your own home-video's. Bastian Bux is not the shy introvert boy he is supposed to be, and Atreyu is some sort of malformed Indian from a bad western movie from the seventies. And do not get me started on the dragon..

Michael Ende's story is hardly recognized, only the characters have a slight resemblance with the book.

Its a pure waste of money and time. If you love Michael Ende's "Die Unendliche Geschichte": do not watch this movie, and especially: don't buy it. You can get my copy for free.

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8/10

Fan of the book, I liked the series

arr00720 September 2006

Warning: Spoilers

It is important when watching this series that it is not meant to be a remake of the book. And I will point out that the makers of this show definitely read the book. I was reading through the book and caught mention of a character named Quana (I cannot remember the context) and thought, "flygirl." The one annoying thing is that there seem to be plot jumps. How did Fallin become employed at Coreander's? I prefer the Bastian of the show over the movies, because now he gets to be a boy. I also think the addition of a love interest was a good idea despite its inaccuracy to the book, because that wasn't the goal of the show. Overall, I liked the show although I wouldn't recommend paying money for it. If you can get it for free though, go ahead and watch it.

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A great fun filled adventure

RangerSaga7 June 2004

I recently purchased the four disc complete box set of Tales from the NeverEnding Story, and I must admit that while it's not a clean transition from Micheal Ende's novel, it's fun on it's own. We have to remember that this was never meant to be a remake of the book, or the movies from the 80's. It was a television series, and in order to make it entertaining, they incorporated some of who are now my favorite characters.

Twelve year old Bastian Bux had lost the wonderful imagination he had as a child somewhere between growing older, watching TV, and going to school. But when his mother dies suddenly, his imagination resurfaces. Bastian comes across "The Neverending Story" in a curious little bookstore. In this magical book, Bastian discovers an enchanted world called Fantasia, inhabited by dragons, dark knights, assorted heroes, and villains.

The great adventure begins when Bastian follows his alter ego, Atreyu into a battle against the sinister force of the Nothing. It threatens to destroy Fantasia and its ruler, the Childlike Empress. Only Atreyu, a woodland boy, can save her.

Along on the journey, Atreyu meets the independent Fly Girl, who is on personal mission to restore dreams to Fantasians with her grandfather's machine, designed to look like the mythical Luck Dragon, Falcore, who hasn't been seen in ages. As there emotions intertwine, the two develop feelings for each other.

Although the series leaves off on a large cliff hanger, it was still an interesting watch, but with the series now cancelled, it's pretty easy to decide what happens, but of course, the tale of Fantasia never ends.

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9/10

Great to get lost in!

GaelicArk16 November 2005

This is a really great twist on the story. My family and I (3 girls, 4 boys and myself) find it a nice overlapping of values and virtues for families.

The characters are well rounded and interesting. Atreyu and Bastian are really good "copies" of each other in their own worlds. It is nice to see the tie-ins from world to world and the storyline stays very straight- there's no confusion as to what is going on.

The child-like empress was a very good choice for this story. Her sister, Xayide, is all that the child-like empress is not: hateful, greedy, vain, evil, etc.

This is a great adventure!

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Good but not Neverending Story

lortarg17 November 2004

While I enjoyed the Tales from the Neverending Story it really can't be thought of as the Neverending story. While I haven't read the book (yet, getting it soon), its like the writers watched the movie, grabbed bits they liked and then made the rest up. Throwing in characters and situations of their own devising and barely keeping anything intact from the movie. As a fantasy series though, it is very good. It Reminds me of other fantasy series (Australian made ones) like Thunderstone, Spellbinder and to a lesser extent Ocean Girl (all very good series that you should check out if you can). The characters are all well done, and while some of the situations are a little hard to believe, it is a fantasy show, and can be easily overlooked. Check it out, but don't start watching with the expectation of a remake of the movie.

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10/10

A great series, but the entry is inaccurate

darkeforce17 June 2021

This entry says there are only 13 episodes; there are actually 26.

But definitely completely in the flavour and spirit of The Neverending Story, including a lot of stories based on the actual Novel (which includes a whole lot more than any of the movies ever covered; I strongly recommend reading it.

Neverending Story is not a "sweet, saccarine" story; it is quite dark and puts the preteen characters in it in serious peril and dilemmas that could break an adult facing the same situation, but it's a testament to the resilience, ingenuity, responsibility and bravery of kids that is so often denied these days. The story is as lush and beautiful as the visuals, which are fairly faithfully reproduced in this animated series.

An Animated show for both kids and adults, despite the seriously dangerous situations Bastien and Atreyu face.

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Re-invisioning of this kind should be outlawed.

Queer-qatfm1 December 2002

"You plagurized every word from the internet site Dickens.com"

The above is mearly one of the utterly horrific lines in the new reinvisioning of The Neverending Story titled, "Tales from the Neverending Story." I asked for the flick unfortunately on my Amazon Wishlist and my friend Cody was unfortunate enough to buy it for my birthday. Unfortunately.

While Bastian has been replaced by a bemusing red headed Canadian, the entire story has been decimated. From the odd substitute teacher Mr. Blank, to the cringe inducing Atreyu, even the childlike empress was left untouched by a haphazard remake. Sure, there's the death of Artax -- Swamps of Sadness? Try some pond that turns the horse to a block of ice. Sure, there's a luck dragon -- Neither charming nor enchanting. But everything that you know and love from not only the original movie but also the book is skewed and wrong. Additions are built with equal parts cheese and crap crappity crap crap.

I watch alot of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. It was a series that ran on both the Comedy Channel and Sci-Fi for 10 years. Bad bad movies were a staple of the show. I think they would have decided this motion picture was too bad to air. Even with their humor filled riffs shouted back to the screen.

Tales from the Neverending Story: F--

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I'll give it a B

lisa-vega12 November 2004

It's not exactly like the movie but it's a pleasant t.v series for kids.

The nothing is never really explained and i must say i much prefer the movie version where it just sucks everything up. I was a little disturbed by the death of the mother. It was a little much, but after episode one it picks up. Love the little boy with the buck teeth in the tribe. A flying machine replacing the luck dragon is clever.

Though the ease in which everyone learns to fly it is far fetched.

In all, i prefer the original movie (hated the sequel) but who wouldn't.

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Such disgraces I have never seen...

tt2608013 July 2005

Warning: Spoilers

First of all, Bastian is portrayed as a scrawny 12 year old boy... Not a fat, dorky 10 year old as in Ende's book.

Second, Not only does the book have no non-flashback scenes prior to mother's death, the mother CERTAINLY didn't drive a VW neo-bug... and for god's sake! "MoonChild" on the mother's license plate? Where else do we go? Bastian gets "The Neverending Story" not by stealing it, but as a replacement for Mr. Coreander breaking his game boy. Wow. Bastian doesn't make up stories in this film, rather, his mother was an illustrator and THAT is how he got all into reading.

The werewolf from the book has become a creepy looking shape shifter who is Bastian's new substitute teacher, Mr. Blank. Come on! What about the importance of Atreyu meeting the werewolf so that he can understand that for Fantasticans, Fantastica has NO borders? I don't believe the people who wrote this film ever even looked at the book...

But beyond that, Atreyu is a 17 or so year old boy and they give him not only a best friend, but a LOVE INTEREST! Now both you and I know that NOTHING about Ende's book is sexual... especially the Childlike Empress, who in this film is just begging for it...

And since when is Xayide MoonChild's sister!>?!?!? Anyway, to summate, this film should not have the right to claim that it is based on Michael Ende's fantasy triumph, it is merely another bad B movie in the clearance bin at WalMart...

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Victoria Sanchez

kszonew23 January 2003

Despite the awful writing and storylines, the show is worth a look for the very attractive Victoria Sanchez, who wonderfully portrays the evil Xayide. Despite being given awful lines many times, Sanchez looks very alluring in the villianess-like outfits her character wears, and gives her best. Even young Bastian Bux admits Xayide is "hot" in an episode when explaining her character to someone else. Also, though the storylines and writing are awful, the special effects are actually quite good.

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