The Neverending Story

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.

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.

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

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.