{"id":30879,"date":"2015-12-30T06:30:16","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T17:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=30879"},"modified":"2015-12-28T22:18:36","modified_gmt":"2015-12-28T09:18:36","slug":"big-worlds-on-small-screens-rebecca-fisher-discusses-the-neverending-story%e2%80%b3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2015\/12\/30\/big-worlds-on-small-screens-rebecca-fisher-discusses-the-neverending-story%e2%80%b3\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Worlds On Small Screens & ” Fantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren\u2019t That Bad”\u2014Rebecca Fisher Discusses \u201cThe Neverending Story\u2033"},"content":{"rendered":"

~ by Rebecca Fisher<\/em><\/p>\n

Some films are not just films but formative experiences. With the long-awaited Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/strong> finally released to cinemas and the swell of nostalgia it left in its wake, it seems only right that my first entry in this sub-series,\u00a0Fantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren\u2019t That Bad, should be a movie that made up a considerable part of my<\/em> childhood.<\/p>\n

\"Neverending<\/a><\/p>\n

The Neverending Story<\/strong> is based on the 1979 novel by Michael Ende, originally written in German and translated into English by Ralph Manheim. The film adaptation was released in 1984, and though it garnered box office success and a warm critical reception (and has since become a cult classic) Michael Ende hated <\/em>the finished project, to the point where he sued the producers and demanded his name be removed from the opening credits.<\/p>\n

Yikes. What went wrong? It’s a question I’ve often asked myself considering I love<\/em> this film, to the point where I think it’s a near perfect lead-in to the original novel.<\/p>\n

Bastian Bux is a shy and unassuming schoolboy, distanced from his father, failing at school, and trying to cope with the recent loss of his mother by escaping into the imaginative stories that books can offer him. This makes him the natural target of bullies, and it’s while he’s running from three such tormentors that he darts into an old bookstore to hide.<\/p>\n

It’s there he discovers a large tome titled “The Neverending Story”, embossed with the symbol of the Ouroboros (two snakes eating each other’s tails) on the cover. He takes it with him on his way to school, and after deciding to skip classes, he finds a quiet place to read in the school attic…<\/p>\n

\"Neverending<\/a>Bastian discovers a book…<\/em><\/p>\n

“The Neverending Story” concerns a boy about his age who undertakes a quest to save the life of the gravely ill, Childlike Empress. She is the ruler of Fantasia, a realm populated by all sorts of strange and mysterious creatures, all currently threatened by a force called “The Nothing” \u2013 a darkness that obliterates everything it touches. By healing the Empress, young Atreyu hopes to stop The Nothing before it destroys his world.<\/p>\n

It’s a riveting tale, and Bastian finds himself drawn in deeper as the hours trickle past \u2013 so deep in fact, that the line between reality and fiction begins to blur. It’s almost as if certain passages are referring directly to him<\/em>. And if that’s<\/em> true, then maybe he can influence the course of the story…<\/p>\n

\"Neverending<\/a>The Sphinxes…
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Because I watched The Neverending Story<\/strong> at such a young age, it’s difficult to describe how much of an impact it had on me as a child. Things like Falcor swooping into the Swamp of Sadness, or Atreyu sprinting past the Sphinxes, or the first glimpse of the Childlike Empress seem to be ingrained in my memories.<\/p>\n

Watching again for the sake of this review was like revisiting childhood, but I was surprised by how well the film holds up. All the animatronics and puppetry for the likes of Falcor, Morla and the Rock-Biter still look convincing, and I’ve always preferred practical effects to CGI. If done right they have more depth and three-dimensionality, as well as something more substantial for an actor to work against.<\/p>\n

\"Neverending<\/a>Atreyu and Falcor, the Luck-Dragon<\/em><\/p>\n

More importantly, the ideas behind concepts such as The Nothing don’t feel trite or simplistic. There’s complexity (for example) in the motivation of the terrible G’Mork, who reveals the truth about Fantasia to Atreyu, one that examines the power and importance of stories.<\/p>\n

I’ve been unable to find out exactly<\/em> why Michael Ende hated this film so much, but it may have had something to do with the fact it only adapted the first half of the book. Yet for me, this works entirely in the film and<\/em> the book’s favour. Treat the film like a prologue, and then carry on with the novel to enjoy the continuing story of Bastian’s adventures.<\/p>\n

In any case, The Neverending Story<\/strong> is one of my favourite films \u2013 not just of the Eighties, but all time. Its magic has stayed with me long into adulthood, and I can’t wait to share it with my nephew and nieces (that’s still a couple of years away though). Somewhat paradoxically, it’s a film about books \u2013 more specifically the value and importance of the stories they contain, and so it’s easy to credit it with my own bookworm tendencies.
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next Time: Legend<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It was weird, but it was hypnotizing. Drawing on old archetypes and imagery, Ridley Scott’s aptly named Legend<\/strong> didn’t impress many people when it was released in 1985, but has since then grown in popularity as an experimental film that might be a mess \u2013 but which is an interesting mess.<\/em><\/span>
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

About The Reviewer:<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com<\/a>, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com<\/a> and her They\u2019re All Fictional<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n

To read Rebecca\u2019s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:<\/p>\n

Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/a><\/h3>\n

Rebecca won the 2015 Sir Julius Vogel Award<\/a> for Best Fan Writer, for writing including Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

~ by Rebecca Fisher Some films are not just films but formative experiences. With the long-awaited Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally released to cinemas and the swell of nostalgia it left in its wake, it seems only right that my first entry in this sub-series,\u00a0Fantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren\u2019t That Bad, should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-worlds-on-small-screens-with-rebecca-fisher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30879"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30889,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30879\/revisions\/30889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}