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"Human passions have mysterious ways, in children as well as grown-ups. Those affected by them can't explain them, and those who haven't known them have no understanding of them at all. Some people risk their lives to conquer a mountain peak. No one, not even they themselves, can really explain why. Others ruin themselves trying to win the heart of a certain person who wants nothing to do with them. Still others are destroyed by their devotion to the pleasures of the table. Some are so bent on winning a game of chance that they lose everything they own, and some sacrifice every thing for a dream that can never come true. Some think their only hope of happiness lies in being somewhere else, and spend their whole lives traveling from place to place. And some find no rest until they have become powerful. In short, there are as many different passions as there are people. "
-The Neverending Story
34 YEARS AGO a movie that changed everything made its debut. A whole new generation of children and grown ups got their eyes popped opened and their imaginations flowing with THE NEVER ENDING STORY.
Before the Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings films , and a few years after STAR WARS. A movie was introduced to many of us as children.
The Neverending Story (German: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a German fantasy novel by Michael Ende that was first published in 1979. The standard English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was first published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several films.
It became a cultural icon, a movie that became an instant classic. I remember when it came out on video, we rented it all the time.
I believe the success of the film was because of the mixture of many different key elements.
The TIMING
1984 is a year to remember, with such films as The Terminator , GHOSTBUSTERS, GREMLINS, A Nightmare on Elm Street, THE KARATE KID, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a
udiences were more opened for fantasy films.
THE CAST
As in STAR WARS with HAN, LEIA and LUKE this three characters would become timeless.
Noah Hathaway as Atreyu
Before portraying the young warrior Atreyu and becoming a teen idol, the actor appeared in the original TV series Battlestar Galactica, Mork and Mindy, and CHiPs. He's still acting today (his last role was in some 2013 film called Blue Dream). He also works as a tattoo artist and practices martial arts. He's apparently also totally game to make appearances at conventions and events.
Barret Oliver as Bastian
The actor who played Bastian went on to appear as the android Daryl in the 1985 film D.A.R.Y.L. as well as the kid in Ron Howard's Cocoon and Cocoon: The Return. Oliver quit acting in 1988 to pursue a career in photography. Today, he's a published author, printer, and historian specializing in 19th-century photography techniques. He is the one on the right.
Tami Stronach as Childlike empress
The Childlike Empress is now an adult. She became a dancer and traveled the world with her Israeli dance troupe. She's now a well-respected choreographer and owns the Tami Stronach dance company in New York City.
THE VISUAL EFFECTS
The people and creatures of Fantasia made it real and possible.
Artax, or..... The Horse That Ruined An Entire Generation
Contrary to Internet rumor, the horse did not really die during the filming of the Swamp of Sadness scene. As confirmed by German magazine interview with Noah Hathaway shortly after the movie, and in the years since at conventions, the horse was given to Noah at the end of filming but due to the cost of transportation, need for quarantine, and sterilization, the horse was left behind in Germany.
There's a reason why the Swamp of Sadness scene took TWO MONTHS to shoot. Most horses won’t walk into deep pools of mud if they have a choice. It took two trainers seven weeks to teach the horse playing Artax to stand still on a hydraulic platform in the swamp with mud up to his chin without trying to swim or run away.
The Nothing, or.....The Terror of Non-Existence
After Atreyu loses Falkor he wanders through the broken remnants of Fantasia without purpose, and ends up coming across the man-mountain known as The Rock Biter. With a sad look in his face , lamenting himself just watching his hands and saying "Such strong hands..." you can feel the sadness of this particular character. Then he just decides he is going to stay there and wait for the Nothing to take him.
THE PRODUCTION
This film adaptation only covered the first half of the book. The majority of the movie was filmed at the Bavaria Studios in Munich, except for the street scenes and the school interior in the real world, which were shot in Vancouver, BC, Canada,and the beach where Atreyu falls, which was filmed at Monsul Beach in Almería(Spain). It was Germany's highest budgeted film at the time.
Most of the film was shot in Germany in the summer of 1983. It was Germany's hottest summer in 25 years.
Author Michael Ende decided that he was unhappy with the film's version of his story, and refused to have his name placed in the opening credits. A small credit appears at the end with his name.Author Michael Ende felt that the movie did not follow closely to the book that he urged that production be shut down or the title of the movie be changed. Because the producers refused to do either, Ende filed a lawsuit against the producers. He ended up losing the case.
Petersen showed the film to Steven Spielberg before it debuted asking for help on the editing room.
Spielberg helped Wolfgang Petersen cut the U.S. version of the film, which is seven minutes shorter than the German version. The pacing needed to be a little quicker for U.S. audiences, Petersen told MTV News, so he asked his friend Spielberg—who had learned his editing technique from George Lucas—for help. “There were little snippets, bits and pieces here and there," explains Petersen. “Nothing major. Nothing that’s like ‘take the entire sequence out.’ It was just a polish kind of thing. A pacing thing; a few seconds here, a few things here.”
And for that, Petersen gave Spielberg The original Auryn necklace that now hangs in an enclosed glass display in Steven Spielberg's office.
THE MUSIC
The film score of The NeverEnding Story was composed by Klaus Doldinger of the German jazz group Passport. The theme song of the North American release of the film was composed by Giorgio Moroder with lyrics by Keith Forsey, and performed by Limahl (lead singer of Kajagoogoo) and Beth Anderson. This song, along with other "techno-pop" treatments to the soundtrack, are not present in the German version of the film, which features Doldinger's orchestral score exclusively.
The theme song performed by Limahl was released as a single in 1984, it peaked at No. 4 on the UK singles chart, No. 6 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100.
THE STORY
"Bastian is a young boy who lives a dreary life being tormented by school bullies. On one such occasion he escapes into a book shop where the old proprieter reveals an ancient story-book to him, which he is warned can be dangerous. Shortly after, he "borrows" the book and begins to read it in the school attic where he is drawn into the mythical land of Fantasia, which desperately needs a hero to save it from destruction." -IMDB
Its a story about loss, about how to rise from it. From feeling really sad not wanting to share anything else with the world, to going back out to trust everyone again.
It made us laugh, made us cry, it made us want to fly away, to have adventures, it made us want to run and open book to read stories. It made it possible for us to be on journeys into our minds and imagination. To expand our color palletts and even if you grow up you should hold on to your childhood forever not to be inmature but to always have BIG DREAMS.
"an entirely new world has been created"
-Roger Ebert
"a gigantic melodrama of kitch, commerce, plush and plastic".
- Michael Ende
