Bravo! There cannot be enough movies mocking the Never Ending Story spinoffs. I am a huge fan of the book and the 1984 movie as well and what they did with the series after the original was criminal.

By the way, the artist who did the Never-Ending Story theme was, somewhat frighteningly, a man.

lol, I like the point they made where when the movie came out they played up the "Jesse" kid from Free Willy's name to get children to see it back then, but now all everyone ever talks about is that "Yeah Jack Black was in it" and I doubt very few people probably remember off the top of thier heads the actor's name for the kid.


Its funny when you think about it.

I've heard that for a long time, Jack Black was not very popular at all until recently. I'm surprised how long he's been in movies. I think the first time I heard of him was when School House of Rock came out.

What happened to 1x a week??

I was somewhat shocked to find out a man sings the song...

Complete, criminal mutilation of the first(it's like putting Paris Hilton in a documentary about 3rd world countries).

Next time you do a commentary can you do it on The Room?

Yeah, I think we need that.

already been done by him, look back through the review list

yes definitely

i will never listen to "born to be wild" the same way again... or again in general...

It's a great, classic song.

Oh, I just read the caption in your picture! I've seen it so many times, but I just read it. That's funny.

I agree with you, just because you read the books, it still doesn't make the squeals any better.

If only this squeal followed the books (or even followed the other movies, like the dad knowing about Fantasia) then the movies would of been... OK at least.

And the NASTY really? They could of called them anything, but the NASTY? What the BADTHINGS were already taken?

Also WHATS WITH ALL THE B LIST CAMEOS, DID THEY REALLY NEED ALL THOSE PEOPELE??

Bottom line, everything about this movie sucks, nothing about it makes sense, it never follows the books and they basically BUTT-RAPPED ALL THE OLD CHARACTERS!
(and the person who came up with the reason/no reason answer on why he couldn't wish everyone to the new Fantasia, but let the sister wish for the most tackiest clothes is a idiot)

It is like shit compared to the already shitty squeal.

WAIT, *GASPS* THERE'S MORE!
Jack Black *Smack* WHAT?

Also a guy named Limahl (Christopher Hamill) from an rock band named Kajagoogoo was the person who sung the Neverending story Song

The first movie wasn't terrible, as book-to-movie adaptations go. I read the book, absolutely loved it when I was a kid, the thing is in this case you can argue for the movie being as good as the book, just a different kind of experience.

Personally I liked the book just a teeny bit better because I was like 8 when I read it, and I thought it was clever how they started every chapter with a different letter of the alphabet. Also that werewolf guy was BADASS.

Know what, though, of all Michael Ende's books, they ought to make "Night of Wishes" into a movie. That one would be WAY easier to crank out shitty sequels to, and it's friggin hilarious. And they could cast Spoony as one of the leads! *watches nobody get that joke*

First of all, there are no "books", there is only ONE book, the first half of which is the story of Atreyu (Atreju in the German version) trying to save Fantasia, and the second half covers the story of Bastian exploring Fantasia and eventually trying to find his way back home.

I only read the book in the German original, so I cannot comment on how good or crappy the English translation is. But too often it's dismissed as a children's book, when in reality that's not all it is. It's suitable to be read by children (I read it when I was ten, when it first came out in 1984). But it isn't exclusively aimed at that "target demographic" in the "dumb it down for kids" kind of style we too often get these days.

Much like Michael Ende's other book Momo, children can enjoy The Neverending Story as a straight fantasy story, but there are a lot of allegories and metaphors in there that will most likely go completely over the head of most pre-teen children. Things that you only understand or that only resonate with you when you're older. Unfortunately, much of that was left out of the movies due to time constraints or simply... well... you know.

The first movie is actually a pretty good adaption of the first half of the book, up to the point where Bastian heals the Childlike Empress and enters Fantasia. Some things were left out, such as the Scribe (the Old Man of the Mountain) in his icy fortress who for some odd reason makes an appearance in the third movie. Of course, in the movie they kill all significance of that character and reduce him to some short cameo for exposition purposes.

The second movie is still somewhat faithful to the book in that is takes bits and pieces from the second half and cobbles them together into a dumbed-down new plot. Admittedly, the 2nd movie already started with a disability, since the first movie was never designed to have a sequel and tied up the story by just sending Bastian home right there. In the book, the grain of sand that was all that was left of Fantasia when Bastian entered the tower of the Childlike Empress at the halfway point in the story was the seed of the Night Forest. The witch Xayide appeared much later, and while she was a villain, she wasn't THE villain. Much like the first half, the second half of the book does not have a real villain... unless you count Bastian, who goes more and more to the deep, starts a war and decides to crown himself the new Emperor. The memory loss is caused by the nature of the AURYN which grants wishes. But the whole point in the book is that Bastian needs to find out what his True Wish is, and to find the Waters of Life. The second part of the book is pretty much a Hero Journey which gets rather dark towards the end and increasingly allegorical.

All this was completely left out of the second movie, of course, when they opted for a straight good-fights-evil plot instead. In the book, Bastian is told that good and evil as we define them are meaningless concepts in Fantasia as every Fantasian creature that exists is equal before the eyes of the Childlike Empress. All of Fantasia was born from human dreams (thus it is unmappable and endless) and the land itself rests on a bedrock of forgotten dreams, thus good and evil, beautiful and ugly are all necessary parts of the whole.

Likewise, the message of the book was not "children should read more books", but that the Nothing destroying Fantasia was caused by people no longer daring to dream and giving in to grey hopelessness, lovelessness and banality. Which is where the Waters of Life plot came in, but this is too complicated to sum up here.

The third movie however has nothing whatsoever to do with the book in any shape or form. In the book, it is made very clear that it's impossible for Fantasians to cross over into the world of Man. But that's the least of that movie's problems. It's just bland and cliché. Boy is bullied in school, boy gets revenge by means of plot device, yadda yadda.

I just wanted to write the same thing, but you did it first and much better than I would have.

The only other things missing in the first movie where the 3rd door of the oracle, how the oracle really looked like and behaved and this one monster that was compiled out of many many many bugs. I guess the last was just not possible to make with the specially effects of the 80ies.

SEQUEL. SEQUEL. Also, pretty much everything you said here has already been said by the Critic.

How is the Nerd running out of games to review? There are, what, only around 100,000 or more games in existence right now? Even if, say, 1% of those suck, that's like still 1000 games. At one review a month, that's enough reviews for a lifetime. Seriously, I love Doug's stuff, but the Nerd is awesome as well, and this comment was just stupid. Running out of games. Jesus.

OK, OK, maybe he isn't running out of games, but his reviews aren't quite up to par with his older stuff.

The point was, there are still tons more bad movies for the Critic, and his reviews are still as good as they ever were.

Actually, although you probably already know, the Nerd limited his game reviews to one a month because he's doing other things as well, and all of this is causing him to suffer from 'burn outs' or something...which is where he becomes extremely fatigued and even sleeping doesnt help.

So to stay healthy and alert, he sacrified his reviews of games to once a month.

He's quite a busy guy.

I see the avgn cult is still in full swing.

I thought that was the point of that Day Dreamin' Davy game review. The Nerd found it to be a boring game, and so he acted "bored" over it while playing.

That aside, the nerd'll probably never run out of games to review, just like the NC'll probably never run out of movies to review.

Song was sang by a dude. Limahl.

http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=dwF4PPoEWD4& feature=related

Seeing the effed up versions of these characters genuinely angered me at first.

Bulk and Skull as professional assassins. Man, how funny would it be to see them in Assassins Creed? Wouldn't be able to take the game seriously though.

A commentary of The Room would most likely result in a slight case of insanity... for everyone

Besides why give Tommy Wisaou the chance to try and take it down again. >_

Hey yeah! A commentary on The Room would be highly appreciated. lol

And is it just me, or does Jack Black look like Gomer Pyle from Full Metal Jacket in this movie?

Commentary is a great a bonus, keep em coming! :D

It´s almost Wednesday! woho!

You two need to do a musical.

Seriously.

I don't mean review one, I mean sing in one.

[/audiophile]

Anyway, great commentary. Always love hearing these. :)

I remember watching this at my aunt's house when I was about ten or so. I can recall that even then, I really didn't like this movie. Mainly because of how much I loved the original. I've only ever seen it that one time. And to think, I actually forgot about that scene with the rock bike... Damn you Doug and Rob! Damn you both to the Never Ending Story 4!
Also, I agree with the others, you should totally do a commentary on The Room. I'd love to hear you guys talk candidly about all of what happened with that mess.

Born to be Wild, by Steppenwolf.

You two are the best sibling duo in the longest time!!! :D great job!

Your not going to believe this, but while straightening the DVD racks at the discount store I work at tonight, I saw an animated Neverending Story movie. I was to scared to even try and figure out WTF it was about, just the atrocious cartoon image of...I'm thinking Bastion...on Falkor was bad enough.


Oh and one was based on the first half of the book, two was VERY loosely based on the second half. Three, they just pulled out of there ass completely.

Neverending Story animated?! Why?!!

The Neverending Story theme was a duet between Limahl and Beth Anderson.

The original empress (Tami Stronach) is half Scottish, half Persian Jew.

How do you do those effects? Like the jawdrop. Your reviews are awesome

He said he did it with Photoshop. Didn't you listen to the commentary?

That jawdrop preview image burns my eyes for some reason

Mine too. Somehow, it shocked me more than anything Cyriak did.

It was performed by an English Pop Singer named Limahl, from the 80's band, Kajagoogoo. And yeah, it's actually a guy. XD

I first watched the reveiw with my sister! Can't wait to see this commentary

Great stuff. Always love the commentaries.

Oh yea, here in Canada we always make sure our criminals have plenty of hiding places eh. We have decorating specialists everything eh lol

PS Limahl sang the Neverending Story song and he is a guy with the scariest mullet I have EVER seen.

What about Billy Ray's mullet?

Billy Ray's is pretty scary, but Limahl's takes the cake.... not by that much tho lol. You gotta see it to believe it lol

Ps I think ALL mullets are scary lol

Unfortunately, Billy Ray Cyrus is no longer known as the country singer with a mullet. He is now the former country singer who spawned Miley Cyrus. Of course, I don't blame him for Hannah Montana. I blame Disney.

Mr. Black is channeling Duncan from Some Kind of Wonderful. Pretty hard, actually.

As for whether this movie is anything like the book. . . it isn't, though I suspect the writers read the book at some point. In the book, unlike this or the first film, wishes have a price. Wishing for stuff at random and for little cause is a bad, bad thing but this movie never explains why that is.

All right. Here's a dumb question. I'm just taking a shot in the dark here. I know that the odds are very slim, but are you Kari from MythBusters?

Song is done by a guy. Can't remember his name though

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (ironic eh?) is a VERY good book.

The First movie was actually the first half of the book. Almost verbatim (til near the end) and where Bastin goes into the book and names the Empress (MOONCHILD, btw which was his mother's name as well, (remember this book was originally Written in German)which you can hear Bastin yelling at the end, if you already know what it is he's saying)
The Second Movie took Elements of the second half of the book and messed it up.
The third, as I'm sure you've guessed, went completely off the rails (only the book reader/writer at the begining was actually in the book in addtion to the familiar charchters. He appears after Atrau fails and the Empress goes to him in his Giant Egg-like house in the mountains and tells him to read her the story from the begining, and this is how Bastin finds out that he's been part of it all along)
There was no "The Nasty" (ies) and the bullies were just a tool to get him into the bookstore. Yes sadly that sweet vengence scene with Falkore flying at the baddies at the end of Movie 1 was only in the movie.

Personally if I were going to do a 3 of this series I would have gone with Bastin as the father and his daughter gets involved.... OMG that might give them the idea to do a NS4!! forget I said a word about it!!!


Read the book, every moment you don't THE NOTHING devoures more of FANTASIA!!! (And God kills a kitten)

How is Michael Ende's name ironic? It's coincidental, maybe.

Random Trivia since you were talking about it: the original Childlike Empress was Scottish-Iranian. Just one of the weird tidbits of 80's knowledge I picked up out of boredom along the way, heh.

And it's strange that I knew that, but did NOT know that the singer for the theme song was a man until maybe a year and a half ago. I was downright shocked! And I felt silly for not knowing seeing as that theme has been a long-time favorite of mine ever since I was maybe 3 years old.

Also, as the unused Mt. Rushmore joke was being described, I got a wonderfully clear mental image of it playing and got a great laugh out of it! It's a good thing I have a vivid imagination (give me the damn Auryn, I'll show ya how to use it, kid! And I'll even give you a 5-second head start!) because it's a shame that gag couldn't be used.

I also got huge laugh out of the boulder-holder rock-bra joke, that just worked too well, heh heh.

She's not Scottish-Iranian, she's Scottish-Israeli; she was just born in Iran.

Wow, that's a GREAT way for YOU to come off as MORE professional, isn't it? Flat out insult someone else, demean them, and loudly, pompously and belligerently proclaim yourself as better, and just toss in your fucking email and pathetically whine and beg Doug to hire you instead, after you just insult other people. You clearly sound like a peach to work with.

Get lost. You are a complete and utter ball of douche and you will never get a professional job with that insulting, disrespectful, egotistical, pompous, bloated, self-important worthless immature rotten attitude. Go away. Don't come back.

You know, I'm pretty sure that Doug does his own effects...

...so...yeah...good luck getting that job.

Bwwwahahahahaaaa! Bwwwwwwwaaaaaaahhahahahah ahaha!

Is this for real? Seriously? PROFESSIONAL?!?!?!

You do know that Doug isn't an advertising company, right? He's a guy putting out internet videos for the enjoyment of everyone. He does a lot of his own effects, too. It's SUPPOSED to not look professional! Then it loses all it's charm, and becomes just another plastic coated artificial hoo-hah produced by Hollywood. The independent spirit and low budget look and feel are what makes his stuff so damn good.

My god, this cannot be for real. It can't. It's got to be Rob or someone posting under a fake account. Wow. Just fucking WOW.

As for people in the commentary , I always assumed that it was the job of people in the comments to fill in small details just because it is the job of the internet to tell us EVERYTHING no matter how dumb.
And why would one destroy Quest for Camelot, it was bad but it didn't hurt a franchise.

I read the book, and I am going to make a video talking about it, since I am a really big fan of the first movie and the book is great... also, the "childlike empress" was 21 years old when the movie was made. Oh... and Rob it's AURYN, not the AURYN... and yes it is supposed to be all caps, that's how it was written in the book. The Neverending Story Theme was actually a duet, the male who sings the first parts the song is Limahl, and the female parts where sung by Beth Anderson, so yeah.

"it's AURYN, not the AURYN"

What's the difference?

Why, the accent of course! Can't you tell?

...wait, this is in text. No wonder it's so confusing! Oh, that tricky Auryn (also, it doesn't have to be in all caps. Because that's just stupid, unless it's an acronym)

The book has it in all caps to show how important it is a to the Fantastican people. It is a symbol of their Childlike Empress's power. It is also referred to as a proper noun for the same reason. It's not simply an inanimate object, but the symbol of the power of the empress... At least that's my take on it. This book is one of my favorites and I kind of wish that I was fluent enough to be able to read it in the original German just to see what I might be missing in the translation.