History Fridge / TheNeverendingStory

!! [[Film/TheNeverEndingStory The Movies]]:

* Watching WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic gave me a FridgeBrilliance moment for ''Film/TheNeverEndingStory 2''. The Critic complains that Bastian could [[ForgotAboutHisPowers just wish for Fantasia to be saved]] and be done with it, but think about it. The last time Bastian interacted with Fantasia, Atreyu got sent on a grand quest to find a human child, only to be told that [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong He Was]] [[NoFourthWall Reading About You]] [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong All Along]]. And, the threat to Fantasia is a manifestation of humanity's growing apathy towards dreams and stories. Again. A quick resolution might not keep Fantasia safe for very long. - Classified
** Funny you should say that, because he did the same for me for ''Film/TheNeverEndingStory 3''. After all his lamenting about how [[CharacterDerailment out-of-character]] the characters were, I began to think, and I came to realise: ''They are so out of character for a reason!'' At the point where Bastian comes across Falkor, the Nastys already have a hold of the book and are messing around with the story. Considering the fact that they are probably ''barely literate'', and most definitely don't read, all their ideas of what the characters were like would be ''pretty much retarded''. Take the Rockbiter and family, for instance: They are essentially a fantastic sitcom, because the Nastys probably watch almost nothing ''but'' sitcoms. He sings a stupid rock song because HEY, rock songs are cool! Let's have him sing one while riding on his awesome hog! - Tropers/TheRealCJ
** Same with getting all the characters back in 3, and the wishes-cost-memories machine in 2. If he just wishes for everything, [[AnthropicPrinciple there's no story.]] Fantasia is literally a storybook fantasyland, and with no story to revolve around, it all falls to ruin. Like how VideoGame/AlanWake had to stay true to the story's internal logic or it would have had a TheBadGuyWins DownerEnding, instead of the BittersweetEnding it did have. A copout ending is incredibly bad news. - dvorak
*** I always got a somewhat more cynical impression of why everyone is an idiot in the sequels. Because Bastian is one. At the end of the first film, Fantasia is basically destroyed, but is recreated by Bastian through his wishes. And as his behavior in the 2nd movie shows, he's just not that creative/clever, and even has a streak of jerkass in him. So while his wishes were able to rebuild Fantasia, it's ''his'' version, and just plain not as wondrous as it once was. -Elan
** This arguably causes terrible FridgeHorror: Everyone who dies/gets consumed by the Nothing in the first film ''stays dead,'' because it's not the original characters Bastian wishes back, but ''his version'' of the characters.
*** Alternately, the magic from the single grain of sand that remained may have been enough for Bastian to be able to wish for Fantasia and its inhabitants to be restored.
** Also to consider, the core of any story is the conflict or plot. Take away the plot, the story goes, too. The whole conflict in this movie was that no one was reading books anymore, so taking away the plot - the reason to read a book in the first place - would be very bad.
* A lot of people expressed confusion at the scene in the first film where Artax drowns in the Swamp of Sadness. However, horses are ''very'' good at sensing human emotions, which is one reason why they're used as therapy animals. That's probably why Artax couldn't stop the sadness from getting to him.
** That, and as the book clearly states, the Swamp amplifies a person's sorrow just by being in it, followed by drowning. Atreyu only didn't sink because he had the AURYN.
* The movie breaks the fourth wall near the end, when the Princess is explaining to Atreyu that she is aware of Bastian and knows what he must do. "He doesn't realize he's already a part of The [=NeverEnding=] Story. Just as he is sharing all of your adventures, others were sharing his. They were with him when he hid from the boys in the bookstore. They were with him when he took the book with the Auryn symbol on the cover, in which he's reading his own story, right now." She's referring to the film's audience. The implication is that there is yet another audience, sharing theirs. The [=NeverEnding=] Story, then, is not Atreyu's story, or Bastian's or even Fantasia's. It is the ever-spreading infinity of stories within stories being witnessed and shared. As such, it has no ending.

[[AC:FridgeHorror]]

* Bastian wishes back ''all of Fantasia'' at the end of the movie. That means he brought ''G'mork'' back to life.
** Not so fast, I see it as that he only brought back the good parts of Fantasia. After all, why would he have The G'mork come back?
** In the book, the G'mork states he is not a creature of Fantasia, but a being that can travel freely between worlds and take on a form which resembles the natives of any world. Restoring Fantasia did not bring back the G'mork because Fantasia did not spawn him to begin with.
** Then again, there's the [[WesternAnimation/TheNeverendingStoryTheAnimatedAdventuresOfBastianBalthazarBux animated series]] that follows the events of the first two movies to think about. And guess who one of the main villains is?

!!The Song:

[[AC: FridgeBrilliance]]

** It actually becomes a moment of ''in-universe'' FridgeHorror for Bastian, who after Hynreck has left to pursue the dragon, realizes that he just retroactively created a monster who has been terrorizing innocent people for a millennia. He doesn't ''quite'' have a MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction, but he does think to himself that doesn't want to be someone who creates monsters and causes a lot of grief, and resolves not to do something like that again.

** It actually becomes a moment of ''in-universe'' FridgeHorror for Bastian, who after Hynreck has left to pursue the dragon, realizes that he just retroactively created a monster who has been terrorizing innocent people for a millennia. He doesn't ''guite'' have a MyGodWhatHaveIDone reaction, but he does think to himself that doesn't want to be someone who creates monsters and causes a lot of grief, and resolves not to do something like that again.

* The first letters of each chapter form the alphabet. This might seem obvious to you if you have one of the first German pressings, otherwise not so much. Other translations (such as the Brazilian one) kept it.

*** However, the single grain of sand that remained may have been enough to restore Fantasia and its inhabitants to its original glory.

!! [[Literature/TheNeverendingStory The Book]]:

!! [[Film/TheNeverendingStory The Movies]]:

* Watching WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic gave me a FridgeBrilliance moment for ''Film/TheNeverendingStory 2''. The Critic complains that Bastian could [[ForgotAboutHisPowers just wish for Fantasia to be saved]] and be done with it, but think about it. The last time Bastian interacted with Fantasia, Atreyu got sent on a grand quest to find a human child, only to be told that [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong He Was]] [[NoFourthWall Reading About You]] [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong All Along]]. And, the threat to Fantasia is a manifestation of humanity's growing apathy towards dreams and stories. Again. A quick resolution might not keep Fantasia safe for very long. - Classified
** Funny you should say that, because he did the same for me for ''Film/TheNeverendingStory 3''. After all his lamenting about how [[CharacterDerailment out-of-character]] the characters were, I began to think, and I came to realise: ''They are so out of character for a reason!'' At the point where Bastian comes across Falkor, the Nastys already have a hold of the book and are messing around with the story. Considering the fact that they are probably ''barely literate'', and most definitely don't read, all their ideas of what the characters were like would be ''pretty much retarded''. Take the Rockbiter and family, for instance: They are essentially a fantastic sitcom, because the Nastys probably watch almost nothing ''but'' sitcoms. He sings a stupid rock song because HEY, rock songs are cool! Let's have him sing one while riding on his awesome hog! - Tropers/TheRealCJ

* The movie breaks the fourth wall near the end, when the Princess is explaining to Atreyu that she is aware of Bastian and knows what he must do. "He doesn't realize he's already a part of The NeverEnding Story. Just as he is sharing all of your adventures, others were sharing his. They were with him when he hid from the boys in the bookstore. They were with him when he took the book with the Auryn symbol on the cover, in which he's reading his own story, right now." She's referring to the film's audience. The implication is that there is yet another audience, sharing theirs. The NeverEnding Story, then, is not Atreyu's story, or Bastian's or even Fantasia's. It is the ever-spreading infinity of stories within stories being witnessed and shared. As such, it has no ending.

** Funny you should say that, because he did the same for me for ''Film/TheNeverendingStory 3''. After all his lamenting about how [[CharacterDerailment out-of-character]] the characters were, I began to think, and I came to realise: ''They are so out of character for a reason!'' At the point where Bastian comes across Falkor, the Nastys already have a hold of the book and are messing around with the story. Considering the fact that they are probably ''barely literate'', and most definitely don't read, all their ideas of what the characters were like would be ''pretty much retarded''. Take the Rockbiter and family, for instance: They are essentially a fantastic sitcom, because HEY, this was the nineties, so the Nastys probably watch almost nothing but sitcoms. He sings a stupid rock song because HEY, rock songs are cool! Let's have him sing one while riding on his awesome hog! - Tropers/TheRealCJ

* The first letters of each chapter form the alphabet. This might seem obvious to you if you have one of the first German pressings, otherwise not so much.

!! [[Movie/TheNeverendingStory The Movies]]:

* The first letters of each chapter form the alphabet. This might seem [[CaptainObvious obvious]] to you if you have one of the first German pressings, otherwise not so much.

* The story contains [[ShoutOut lots of references]] to [[JRRTolkien J.R.R.]] [[TheLordOfTheRings Tolkien]] and [[WilliamShakespeare William]] [[TheBardOnBoard Shakespeare]] because Bastian probably knows a lot about their works.

** Funny you should say that, because he did the same for me for ''Film/TheNeverendingStory 3''. After all his lamenting about how [[CharacterDerailment out-of-character]] the characters were, I began to think, and I came to realise: ''They are so out of character for a reason!'' At the point where Bastian comes across Falkor, the Nastys already have a hold of the book and are messing around with the story. Considering the fact that they are probably ''barely literate'', and most definitely don't read, all their ideas of characters would be ''pretty much retarded''. Take the Rockbiter and family, for instance: They are essentially a fantastic sitcom, because HEY, this was the nineties, so the Nastys probably watch almost nothing but sitcoms. He sings a stupid rock song because HEY, rock songs are cool! let's have him sing one while on his awesome hog! - Tropers/TheRealCJ
*** Not that any of this was explained in the movie itself, where it would have mattered most.