MovieChat Forums > Tales from the Neverending Story (2001) Discussion > Questions, so many questions (or rants)

Questions, so many questions (or rants)

posted 9 years ago by TCCPhreak
4 replies | jump to latest

Subject: Lots and lots of questions (or rants)

Hello,

I've had the german VHS box set for years but just now have come around to watch it. I'm only halfway through it but still some questions are piling up. Maybe some of those are just rants about the quality of the show but maybe someone can answer the remainder of them. There also are points in which I believe a much better series is hiding just behind the one that I watched.

It seems like the VHS version (and the DVD-version, too) compiled the episodes into movies and severely truncated them. Each one (of the four movies) has a running time of about 95 minutes but I feel like some scenes are missing and the whole pace is somewhat off. Maybe some of my questions were answered in some of those deleted scenes. Still I have to wonder why - at the time - such recompilations were considered a good idea when nowadays series are released on DVD in episode-forme. I've had a similar problem with "Phantom2040" although this managed to squeeze the first five episodes into 98 minutes..

Oh.. Spoilers, obviously!

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"Movie" 1: The Adventure Begins / Das Buch der Weisen
after watching it and reading the episode description on thetvdb I think this compiled the episodes:
* Heart of Stone
* The Nothing
* The Luckdragon
* Deleting Mr. Blank

Just about every series description mentions Bastian being a regular child of the (then-)modern time, watching TV and playing Gameboy. I've never seen him watching TV. Did he in some of the missing scenes?

Is this description even correct? He has a connection with books via his mother's work and he shows more interest than most of the (typical) then-modern day children would have - reading the same book more than once and even reading more of classic literature. Wouldn't such a story be more fun with a protagonist who really drifted away from reading?

I knew that this is a fantasy movie when I saw the gameboy broken by a simple fall. To be fair: This is not the classic gameboy made from Nintendium (the unbreakable substance).
For someone who is supposed to be quite addicted to the game, Bastian recovers from the loss very quickly. It would have been interesting to see elements from the game crawling into his imagination for some time but for that someone would have had to define the game more complex than "classic movie gameboy" (beeping noises, concept of "levels", child having to smash buttons in completely random way - yet somehow accomplishing progress in the game).

Bastian cannot pay for the book and asks to borrow it, instead. Just a moment ago, Mr. C wanted to replace the broken gameboy with money but didn't have any. Is there some other way that this "dept" was considered paid and there is a reason that Bastian couldn't take the book in exchange? Or did the series just forget about that?

Bastian doesn't start reading the book on the first page. He jumps right into it (closer to the start but nowhere near it). I know that some books have longer introductions that do not need to be read but is this commented somewhere? Or is this the same movie magic that made every "listen to that CD" start right in the middle of a song? I briefly considered that fridge brilliance as some of the Fantasia elements don't seem correctly introduced and maybe that is because Bastian didn't read the introduction but I doubt that so much thought was put into it.

Atreyu was sent on a mission by the Childlike Empress. He was told that the evil princess is the enemy destroying the land. When he sees her in his home village, he has a bow and he has a clear line of sight. He was shown to be quite capable with the bow. Cue a flying arrow; cue Limahl.
He got the mission to eliminate the danger and yet doesn't take one of the best chances of success. Is this explained in any way?

After escaping from the home village via the Auryn (I'm not gonna comment on things that can be explained by magic - however drifting those powers might be), Atreyu meets these children and finds out that he just wasted a month (wasn't he told that every day counts?).
Who are those children? Did I miss their introduction? I also noticed that after these scenes, Atreyu suddenly heads for the oracle without being told - but some flashback later indicates that one of the hero-builders was present and the scene just was cut from the first VHS.
There's also this one girl that parts from the group and turns out to be the evil princess in disguise. Afterwards, I've never seen these children again. What happened to them?
What is the evil princess doing there? Did she put her plans for the Childlike Empress on hold to join a group of kids just in case Atreyu turns up there? Has she been there for the last month? Did she somehow knew about how the Auryn time-stealing-power worked? Is such a hands-on-approach necessary? Doesn't she have some capable minions for that?
Anyway, it worked. She meets up with Atreyu and is able to eliminate the threat to her plan. So she does nothing, parts with the children after hearing Atreyu's next plan of action (oracle) and uses her new-found-wisdom to do... nothing. Or does she?

Speaking of Minions: Mr. Blank is a complete mystery to me, too. If the evil princess sent him that means that she - like her sister - is aware of her world being a story and having an "outside". Her being able to send minions into the real world makes her quite powerful. Why doesn't she use it?
She could easily send out several - to overpower Bastian and steal the book from him. She later tries to get the book (by sending another *one* minion) so she is interested. But what would she gain from it? Are her motives explained? Does Mr. Blank at that point have any motives outside of making Bastian miserable? Does he just feel "happy" among schoolkids in the real world - the same way that the evil princess felt "happy" hiding among those kids for a month?

Where did Mr. Blank get his real-ness? He had enough ID to get hired as a substitute teacher. How did a substitute teacher even get so much presence at school? The real teacher got sick rather suddenly and in her return it is obvious that she is not pregnant. No one could have expected her to missing for more than a few days. So why did the school issue a parking place, an office and a nameplate to Mr. Blank?

Erasing Mr. Blanks works because of magic. I accept that. However, isn't erasing something or someone and casting it out of the world by book-definition the most evil thing that can be done? Isn't it kind of the evil princess's signature move (and one of the only things she really does)? How can Bastian smile about that? This could have been a nice stegway into him falling slightly to the dark side but I haven't seen other hints. Neither have I seen Marley and Lucas have any active role in the series, before. More missing scenes?

According to book magic, calling something by it's name pulls it back from the Nothing (Fly Girl's mission). So why does Bastian run around asking everyone whether "Mr. Blank" really is gone? Isn't that a huge risk?

I think that it is implied that everything in Fantasia happens because Bastian reads it in the book. So when the evil princess scolds Mr. Blank for failing his mission (?) in the real world, this is something that Bastian reads. Why doesn't he connect the dots?

How does the Evil Princess even know that it was Bastian and friends who banished Blank out of the real world? Blank couldn't have told her as he didn't find out about the plan.

It is also strongly implied that Mr. Blank was responsible for the mother's accident (in stray dog forme), thus starting the whole story of Bastian finding the book and becoming a threat to the Princess. Leave the mother alive and Bastian stayed a TV-loving boy, wasting his whole youth to complete the Johto Pokedex and never meeting the Book. Is this some serious screwup on Blank's side? Is this some serious screwup in the Princess' plan? Or does she need to get him the Book to really exist and start her campaing?

The Death of Artax: The Nostalgia Critic lists this scene in the original movie as one of the saddest in nostalgic movies and I think that the series tried to recreate this sadness. In my opinion, they failed. What exactly happened? The "Swamp of Sadness" (from the original movie) strongly indicates that there is more backstory to Artax than what was seen; no such reason is given in the series. Why did the spring water have this effect on Artax? Did the evil princess poison it after knowing Atreyu's plan? Is this some kind of magical spring water that can only be safely drunk by the Luckdragon?

Why doesn't this come up at some later point? Atreyu seems to have had a soft spot for his horse so when he finds some very knowledgeable entities later, he could ask: "How do I save the princess? And what the he## happened to my horse? And how can I turn it back?". Forgetting Artax five minutes later is something that Peter Pan would do (literature Peter, not Disney Peter) but Atreyu is not Peter Pan.
Again, this could be fridge brilliance as Atreyu is Bastian's Alter Ego and Atreyu forgets about his beloved horse (once the dragon arrives as another method of travelling around Phantasia) as quickly as Bastian forgot about his beloved gameboy (once the book arrives as another method of travelling in fantasy worlds).

I genuinely thought it was a nice idea that the story didn't continue beyond a given point until Bastian agreed to accept the loss. However, this just posts much more questions:
* Does the book suddenly have infinity pages?
* What does that mean if you try to skip the beginning - as Bastian did?
* What would happen if the evil princess could keep Bastian from reading any further? Would Fantasia be frozen in time? Is that her grand plan? Then why did she start him reading in the first place?

I also thought it was a nicely explained why the luckdragon looked so fake. It wasn't just cheap budget.
Fly Girl has maps and can return Nothing-land back to Fantasia. Magic - I know. What does that mean for the people and animal who lived on that land? Do they magically return from wherever they fled? Have they been erased, before, and simple come back to life? Or are all those lands just green wastelands devoid of life?

How can someone having such many maps not know where she is? Don't maps usually indicate which other map to use once leaving one in a given direction? Couldn't that information be added to that maps if missing (using the magical instrument called a pencil)? This sounds like someone in the long line of Fly Girl's heritage should have done and - if not - should be first thing on her priority list. It could save some time in the long run.
If Atreyu cannot read a letter, can he still read the letters on a compass? Would he even know what that instrument is? I've never seen him use one (maybe I missed that moment, maybe it was cut) but from what he told about his navigation in the woods, it should be a new concept to him.

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"Movie" 2: The Gift of the Name / Die Macht des Auryns
The Gift of the Name
Home Sweet Home
The Sceptre

This is where the flashback shows how Atreyu got the idea of visiting the Southern Oracle. I guess, the people compiling this suddenly remembered that this scene might be of some importance.

Bastian works at the bookstore - to earn some money. It was well-established that the bookstore is not profitable and there is no money - did that change in some deleted scene?

Atreyu meets the magical all-knowing turtle is sent to the magical all-knowing Oracle to get some information. Why didn't he ask either of those about his horse?
Is there some fridge brilliance reason why the turtle looks so fake? Is it another maschine built by some yet-unknown technician?

Atreyu sees Bastian in the mirror. When passing through it, he meets the Wizard - at a seemingly other location (see: Magic). Didn't he meet the Wizard, before, when he was summoned to the Childlike Empress?

The Evil Princess invades the Ivory Tower. Considering the defending army (none?) and the huge amount of time (more than a month), this seemed due. Seems like she got bored of playing and finally wanted to do something. But what? Taunt her sister? After the Childlike Empress seals herself in, she just leaves. She could lay a trap for Atreyu (he's bound to come back sooner or later). She could take control of the Tower. Maybe she prefers her dark and organized city to the Ivory Tower but she could have left some capable minion. She could have tried to kill the Empress even within her cocoon.
Did I miss some explanation? Was the cocoon too strong for any of the army's swords? Does the Tower have some magic protection that neither she nor her minions could stand a longer amount of time? Why did she leave all those other people behind instead of capturing them? Even if the Childlike Empress awakens, her spirit might turn out different without anyone around - or subjected to the Nothing. If she turned masses of land into Nothing, why not turn the Ivory Tower, as well?

There also is the next minion in the real world - in the forme of the real estate agent. Let's call her Blank 2.0 - or Blank 1.5, considering that she's not an improvement. She has similar problems:
* How does she provide an ID or any origin? If the Evil Princess can forge these documents, she could make a living by switching over.
* Her return to Fantasia is shown in the movie - thus read by Bastian. Why doesn't he react to it?
* What is her motivation? She get's her hands on the book and proves that the Princess is interested in it. Why doesn't she just take it and run? Is selling the house more important than her Princess' plan?
She tries to connect with the Dad but is seen in Fantasia, later. Either she doesn't plan to use her connection or she can wander between worlds at will - in that case, Mr. Blank could also return. Does she gain that capability via her connection to the Dad?
* If the Evil Princess can send people at will, could she pass over, herself? Why doesn't she send more at once?

Some of this this could indicate that Blank1.5 has more character: Maybe she's not being completely loyal to the Princess. Maybe she's trying to establish her place in the real world. She could become genuinely in love with the father and invested in her work. Does her character get explained later in the series?

According to thetvdb, Bastian get's the name "Moonchild" from a letter from his mother. In my version, he never finds this letter but suddenly has the picture - I guess, that's another deleted scene.

Atreyu and Fly Girl go to the Dark City to save the luckdragon. I admit: Where the Death of Horse (who cared about the name) failed, this scene worked. It is just heartbraking that they managed to capture such a pure and legendary animal and they use it as a power source.
Aaand... Atreyu gets captured. Is there any reason why he is kept alive and healthy? He still is the biggest threat to the Princess's plans and could be easily killed. If the Princess doesn't like to kill, she could still use the Nothing on Atreyu (remember she had that?) and thus eliminate the threat. She just stows him away (in an unguarded place with friends from his village) - nothing can go wrong with that. Are there any items higher up on her priority list than "getting rid of obstacles to the Grand Plan"? Admittedly, she is fixed on The Magic Plot Device Auryn but this could be taken care of, later. Her refusing the Sceptre - The Other Magic Plot Device - was a nice touch. I think everything about the Sceptre (being a simple piece of wood, gaining magic through the Empress declaring it Sceptre and even the effect of it falling apart) was fine - as much as I didlike this series: credit where it's due.

Okay, there is one thing that might be more important than this captive: Fly Girl also gets captured. Considering that she actively counteracts the Nothing - in contrast to Atreyu who almost did nothing except letting the Empress tell Bastian to revive her - Fly Girl might be the real threat (und unsung heroine of the story). She's another good candidate for killing or pseudo-killing - did the Princess misplace her Nothing-in-a-box? Did the Nothing-in-a-box expire in the month that Atreyu was gone?
The Princess could also just burn those maps without being told the purpose - obviously they are important to Fly Girl. At least, she could have taken them away to a more secure spot. Showing the captured luckdragon is nice to break Fly Girl's spirit (or try to) but shouldn't be top priority.

Mr. Fantasia-Blank fails a second time and will not be given a third chance. Does the princess have such a vast amount of capable minions that she can ditch one? After all, Blank did fairly well in his real-world-mission (until being tricked), held his own fighting against Atreyu (and was only defeated by the same magic, Princess didn't see, eigher)
Given, there's the army of armored sword-carriers but they don't do much except marching around.

After escaping, the Atreyu and FlyGirl find out that the luckdragon is gone. Wasn't he supposed to power the Dark City? Wouldn't him being gone power down the city?

When escaping, Atreyu shoves his former friends from his village rather roughly out of the flying maschine. Couldn't he just yell their name to "revive" them?

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That's it for the first two "movies" (or movie-length-episodes). Can I come back with further "questions" after watching the next ones?

Regards,

TCC

[–] TCCPhreak 9 years ago

Hello again,

I made it through the second "half" of the movies. I also found out that for every two minutes I watched, about one minute of material is missing (assuming 44 minutes per series episode and 94 minutes per 3-episode-collection). It makes me want to travel back in time and return the VHS for being a butchered version of a series.

Still I've got to admit that - considering this ratio - the coherence in the story is better than expected. Maybe there is some sense in re-distilling a series and cropping some of the filler. On the other hand that allows me to add "why did they keep this instead of other stuff?" to my list of questions. In some cases I have to wonder whether the butcherers watched all of the series prior to recompiling. At times, it seemed like they only recognized the importance of a scene after it had been cut - so it was retconned or flashbacked, later.

This compilation also is great for showing the main difference between a movie and a series. Instead of a standard 3-act or 5-act-structure, each episode mostly has its own focus and arc. As standalone movies, each one has to introduce the viewer to the story, again, and has to end without being much of a cliffhanger.

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"Film" 3: Badge of Courage / Das Zauberschwert
* The Luck Stops Here
* Badge of Courage
* Deus Ex Machina

At the beginning of the VHS, Atreyu and Fly Girl sneak to the flying maschine to escape - which they already did at the end of the previous movie. This time, the sabotage is shown so instead of a "fly happy into the sunset" their flying maschine crashes and they are back at the children which I haven't seen since the evil princess pretended to be one of them. Seems like they are okay after all. We also get some introduction for them because we might have not watched the first "movie".

They do not repair the flying maschine, they rebuild it from scratch - because a single component (the heart) is sufficient. This is awesome and stupid. It makes the mechanicians stand out as capable characters - who then never return. It's heartwarming to see all those people come together to build something they believe in. Still I wander: did they never think of getting the maschine from the water? This might have been faster.

In the real world, Fallon shows up as a character. Her episode about just pretending to be rich is not too bad and if this was more spelled out in the series, the distilliation might even be an improvement. As Fallon turns out to be a more focussed character, her bonding with Bastian is important. Did she have any spotlight prior to this?

Bastians plight to keep her secret parallels Atreyus struggle to keep his one. It shows that at some times, telling a secret might improve everyone's situation. In this case, Fly Girl's health seems to be magically bound to the flying maschine (or her ability to rescue to luckdragon) so she recovers after it is rebuilt.

Mr. Blank returns to the real world. I think the movies would greatly improve by being more specific on how world-switching works. One time, it is told to be a special ability of certain Fantasians; then the evil princess can send them (implying some work on her part); people can be banished to never return from there; suddenly the Childlike Empress can send people there, too (which she never did, before) and real-world-character can also somehow develop this ability. At some later point even phone calls are possible between worlds. From what I remember, Bastian being sucked into the book was important in the original story and the movie but the series kind of uses this left and right. Is there any explanation to this?

Mr. Blank's part could have been - in my opinion - easily cut. He doesn't achieve anything except breaking one "magical" pencil. Does this pencil have any use? I'm also not sure whether the letter containing the pencil also provided the Moonchild name (from the previous movie). When asked about Mr. Blank, Bastian could also have provided the faked essay or talked about the other (destroyed) work. On the other hand, Blank provided the means to his downfall in such an obvious way - why not use it?

This is considered Gmork failing his mission. But what was his mission? Considering the lawsuit, he might have wanted to get back into school and continue to make Bastian's life miserable. What would that have solved? Could he not simply try to find another lawyer in town?

This time, he failed once too many and the evil princess turns him into... Deku Shrub? What does this transformation mean? And - again - considering the mass of minions who actually do something (about two), might he be more useful doing about anything else? It's not like his actions incommodate the princess; he just doesn't succeed to full exceed. That's still better than just having another Deku Shrub messenger, isn't it?

Also, Bastian reads the part about Gmork returning to Phantasia and is really happy about him being punished. He also seems to be able to read the eyes of world-wanderers. Sending people to "the real world" has come up several times in the book, so why isn't he aware of that? Why doesn't he get very careful whenever he sees that familiar flash in the eyes? Why doesn't he tell anyone (like the magician)? Some additional paranoia might have really helped with Gemma - but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Atreyu is kind of dismissed, stripped of the Auryn, divided from Fly Girl and given a simple rusty sword. Fly Girl gets tasked with delivering (positive) propaganda around Phantasia. I think it's propaganda but it's just a list of words. How do they work? How is Atreyu supposed to find out the name of the sword? Childlike Empress really put him down with this one: "Go back where you came from, give back the magic weapon and instead take this useless one!"

The Childlike Empress also get's out to have a little tete-a-tete with her evil sister and easily returns. Wasn't killing her some kind of priority to the dark side, before?

Evil Princess visits the all-knowing turtle and we learn that it originally sent her on her quest to conquer Phantasia. This might be important and even interesting. Is she just a pawn in some larger game? Is she just an "generic evil" character in a book? Given that she's aware about being in a book, she could have acted upon this knowledge.
It feels like her history could have given more insight into the story, so why is it kept out? Is this because Bastian refused to read the first few pages? It also seems like he doesn't really progress in the book - he always seems to open it far prior to the halfway point.

The turtle also tells Evil Princess that her fate now is in the hand of not one but two human boys. Bastian reads and ignores this. But if the book already is written and contains the story, how could anyone change the outcome? I admit that Connor and Bastian writing parts of the story themselves is kind of clever and interesting - giving it a bit of their personal taste.
Unfortunately, this just poses more questions:
* Can the book even be changed or do they simply plagiarize what already has been written?
* What happens if their version changes from the book?
* If the book can be changed by just writing fanfiction onto another piece of paper (don't get me started on all of the fanfic written on and off the internet - the book was published long before that), why not do that? Even if this is just Bastian's power as the "bookkeeper" which he momentarily shared, couldn't he turn back to "Death of Forgotten Horse" and write "and suddenly horse was alive, again". Couldn't he prevent the luckdragon from being captured or taken away before the team tries to free it? Couldn't he have prevented the crash and Fly Girl from being sick?

Bastian and his imagination writing the book as he reads it could be Fridge Brilliance if there were additional cues to it. But as it turns out later, the book already is decided on some fates - so no rewrites.

Writing shows some development of this bully (getting interested in story-building - even more so than Bastian) and makes us wander whether this character might also be a more interesting one. He hardly showed up, before and doesn't do a lot later. He also doesn't have any more influence into the evil princess' fate - but did Bastian really have any?

Atreyu figures out the name of the sword (how?) and after some shenannigans about being locked up and heros falling again, there is the epic fight scene at the woodlands. Fly Girl's scrolls turn into swords because... "words are mightier than swords" I guess. Atreyu is the only one clashing swords and after defeating a single dark knight, the evil army flees. Connor and Bastian are not enemies anymore and even want to try to write a song. Is anymore of this taken up in the remaining three episodes (in the deleted parts)?

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"Movie 4": Back to Fantasia / Der Kampf um Phantasien
* Stairway to Heaven
* The Visitor
* Resurrection

Gemma shows up. Who is she? Is she one of the woodland children and evil princess did capture one of them? She does not seem to be physically related to Blank1.5. She is introduced and named in the book - read by Bastian. She flashes her eyes on the doorstep - so Bastian sees it. By now, Bastian knows about world-switching and still he only *believes* that she's after him and the book.
He has a lot of alone time with Gemma, so why doesn't he just sit her down for a little talk: "I know you're from Phantasia and reporting the the evil princess. What's your deal, here? What is your wish after stealing the book?" He could also find out more about what life is like in the Dark City. He is so immensely invested in this world and he has a chance to find out more about it - so why doesn't he try?

He kind of figures that she is after the book so he hides it. Why doesn't he just carry it in his backpack like most of the time? At some point he even fetches it from the utility room to read to Fallon right after telling her that he only brings his own books.

There's also this love triangle-thingy which only serves to push Fallon towards the dark side. Being rejected by Connor could have put a seed of darkness into her heart but there is no clue about that. She also seems to have gotten a job at the bookstore, offscreen (Bastian asks her to take his shift and she's quite familiar with the store). It makes sense as she is not as rich as she pretends (in case we haven't forgotten from the previous movie), but did I miss the bookstore becoming so profitable to employ and pay two children, now?

Blank is back in the real world. The evil princess sends him again to... I don't know. Kill Bastian? The book is written so what would that accomplish? They also seem to have some wireless phones called sunglasses to talk between worlds - science has gone a long way since the long-distance call required physical phones and Gmork rotating the levers.

By the princess' magic, Gmork is stuck in wolf forme - until he decides to change to taunt Bastian and then shift again. Childlike Empress knows about this plan (how?) and sends her own warrior into the real world. I think that this is the only time that we see how it works - there is some strange door in a magic room that leads into the real-world-library (where it is hidden behind a stack of books). Do Blank, Blank1.5 and Gemma take this route, too? I also cannot help but notice how drawn-out this chase-scene is. Was it even longer in the original episode?

Meanwhile, Gemma manages to steal the book. It seems like sending an army after Bastian (well, three people instead of one) might be a good idea. Why didn't evil princess think about this, before? Why doesn't she send more of her swordfighters?
It's also ironic how a little recruited child turns out better for the job than her long-time and adult minions.

Then the series seems to decide that it needs a quick ending. Xayide getting the book - which she was after for a long time - is the nail in her coffin. What would she gain from just locking it up?
There's this part about Gemma running away, Blank1.5 opposing evil princess and getting banned to the real world. There she goes to the police about her missing "daughter" - although she knows that Gemma is still captured in Fantasia. What does she gain from this? It might make sense in that she expected her to be sent back by the Childlike Empress and wants to find her as quickly as possible.
Why doesn't she talk to Bastian about her role? Although he should already know about her, he is a person she could be able to trust. Banished to the real world, she might want to keep her connection to the father so why not start with a clean slate with Bastian?

Gemma's escape includes the flying maschine - the other one. Which could easily be recovered from that pond of water. Isn't that easier than rebuilding one from nothing?
It also turns out that dragon hearts are in good supply so the weasels could ship it to the Dark City to sell it to (get it taken from them by) the evil princess. Is every adult in Phantasia useless? Admittedly, this results in the maschine being available for escaping (why don't they really guard it?) but it seems like sloppy writing.

Having a Dark Flying Maschine of Terror also improves the evil princess' army so she can bombard... wait. She only uses it to hunt Atreyu and Fly Girl after they freed the Luckdragon (easily). And they seem to escape without harm. And the freed Luckdragon has no effect on the story.

Evil Princess turns to dust while reading the book - which should include her aging and turning to dust. Isn't that a really good reason to stop reading? Childlike Empress cries about the loss of her sister - who tried to poison and kill her and was the greatest threat to Phantasia ever known. Does she know more about her just being a pawn in the turtle's plan? It also seems to be the most easy way out of the conflict - just skipping everything like a series on fast-forward.

Gemma gets her wish of being in the real world permanently (although she couldn't have had this before her first transit) and returns the book. Everything looks like a very quick and tightened "let's end this" until Fallon decides that Xayide is her favourite character (out of nowhere?). This also leads into them reading the part where the "good" flying maschine gets destroyed by Xayide and the heros get saved by the real Luckdragon - why didn't they show this before? The flying maschine now being unavailable seems to be a major point of the plot.

Fallon also manages to jump into the book (an ability which Bastian never figured out) and to revive the evil princess - am I even supposed to care anymore? Considering that they read this part from near the end of the book, it cannot be important. The voiceover even says that this is a story for another time - did they really expect to make another season or movies out of this?

---

I'm kind of intrigued if this series would fare better when watched as a series - uncut episode by episode. I wonder whether things made more sense and if the deleted parts contained serious information.

But as of now, I'm just glad I made it through this shortened version.

Regards,

TCC

[–] TheOliverWaters 9 years ago

Hey! Interesting list of thoughts and questions! I've been meaning to plow through the series again, I'll see what I can remember and glean from doing so.

But regarding the sword's name, do you know what an "acrostic poem" is? It's like a list of sentences, and the first letters of each line make a word when read downward:
A brave warrior
True courage has he
Ready always
Expect good things
You can count on him
Up in the sky with FlyGirl
-Makes Atreyu!

The "Propaganda" was an acrostic for Sikanda, and notice Flygirl noted it was this was Empress gave it to her, and Atreyu noticed too - the Heroes thought he referenced a girl called "Anna Crostic".

I hope this begins to help :)

[–] TheOliverWaters 8 years ago

I know it's nearly a year later, I don't know if you still care, but I had a crack at all the answers I know!

EP ONE

Bastian doesn't start reading the book on the first page. He jumps right into it (closer to the start but nowhere near it). I know that some books have longer introductions that do not need to be read but is this commented somewhere? Or is this the same movie magic that made every "listen to that CD" start right in the middle of a song?

I think it's a combination of “movie magic”, and the book starting from the same point no matter where Bastian opened it.

There's also this one girl that parts from the group and turns out to be the evil princess in disguise. Afterwards, I've never seen these children again. What happened to them?

I'm gonna guess she killed them, or turned them into her Nothing slaves.

Speaking of Minions: Mr. Blank is a complete mystery to me, too. If the evil princess sent him that means that she - like her sister - is aware of her world being a story and having an "outside". Her being able to send minions into the real world makes her quite powerful. Why doesn't she use it?

It uses a lot of MP to send them across worlds ;)

Where did Mr. Blank get his real-ness? He had enough ID to get hired as a substitute teacher. How did a substitute teacher even get so much presence at school? The real teacher got sick rather suddenly and in her return it is obvious that she is not pregnant. No one could have expected her to missing for more than a few days. So why did the school issue a parking place, an office and a nameplate to Mr. Blank?

Heh, magic.

Why did the spring water have this effect on Artax? Did the evil princess poison it after knowing Atreyu's plan? Is this some kind of magical spring water that can only be safely drunk by the Luckdragon?

They needed a horsey death scene, and the sinking swamps are expensive to film.

Again, this could be fridge brilliance as Atreyu is Bastian's Alter Ego and Atreyu forgets about his beloved horse (once the dragon arrives as another method of travelling around Phantasia) as quickly as Bastian forgot about his beloved gameboy (once the book arrives as another method of travelling in fantasy worlds).

Good explanation as any!

Fly Girl has maps and can return Nothing-land back to Fantasia. Magic - I know. What does that mean for the people and animal who lived on that land? Do they magically return from wherever they fled? Have they been erased, before, and simple come back to life? Or are all those lands just green wastelands devoid of life?

I think of it as them being “paused”, if they were in lands affected by the Nothing.

How can someone having such many maps not know where she is? Don't maps usually indicate which other map to use once leaving one in a given direction? Couldn't that information be added to that maps if missing (using the magical instrument called a pencil)? This sounds like someone in the long line of Fly Girl's heritage should have done and - if not - should be first thing on her priority list. It could save some time in the long run.

When everywhere looks the same, I guess it's easy to lose track.

EP TWO

Atreyu sees Bastian in the mirror. When passing through it, he meets the Wizard - at a seemingly other location (see: Magic). Didn't he meet the Wizard, before, when he was summoned to the Childlike Empress?

I don't think so? He met Cairon, the zebra guy, but I don't THINK he met the Curiosity.

Did I miss some explanation? Was the cocoon too strong for any of the army's swords? Does the Tower have some magic protection that neither she nor her minions could stand a longer amount of time? Why did she leave all those other people behind instead of capturing them? Even if the Childlike Empress awakens, her spirit might turn out different without anyone around - or subjected to the Nothing. If she turned masses of land into Nothing, why not turn the Ivory Tower, as well?

The Empress has some kind of power which means no-one can directly attack her.

* How does she provide an ID or any origin? If the Evil Princess can forge these documents, she could make a living by switching over.

She loves her Dark City too much.

* Her return to Fantasia is shown in the movie - thus read by Bastian. Why doesn't he react to it?

At this point, he still thinks it's just a story.

* What is her motivation? She get's her hands on the book and proves that the Princess is interested in it. Why doesn't she just take it and run? Is selling the house more important than her Princess' plan?

I think part of her niceness came through.

According to thetvdb, Bastian get's the name "Moonchild" from a letter from his mother. In my version, he never finds this letter but suddenly has the picture - I guess, that's another deleted scene.

I thought it was on the cover of the book Coreandor gave him?

He still is the biggest threat to the Princess's plans and could be easily killed. If the Princess doesn't like to kill, she could still use the Nothing on Atreyu (remember she had that?) and thus eliminate the threat. She just stows him away (in an unguarded place with friends from his village) - nothing can go wrong with that.

He had Auryn – like the Empress, no-one can harm the Auryn bearer.

EP THREE

In the real world, Fallon shows up as a character. Her episode about just pretending to be rich is not too bad and if this was more spelled out in the series, the distilliation might even be an improvement. As Fallon turns out to be a more focussed character, her bonding with Bastian is important. Did she have any spotlight prior to this?

She and Connoor are both credited for 13 episodes, so I guess in the full eps, they're just around being mean until they get their development.

This is considered Gmork failing his mission. But what was his mission? Considering the lawsuit, he might have wanted to get back into school and continue to make Bastian's life miserable. What would that have solved? Could he not simply try to find another lawyer in town? This time, he failed once too many and the evil princess turns him into... Deku Shrub? What does this transformation mean?

I assumed Gmork was there to steal the book, like Gemma later was? And he was waiting for an opportunity?
As for the transformation, I think it robbed him of his identity.

It feels like her history could have given more insight into the story, so why is it kept out? Is this because Bastian refused to read the first few pages? It also seems like he doesn't really progress in the book - he always seems to open it far prior to the halfway point.

I think the book's magic means that wherever he opened it, it would be where he left off – that's why he had to continue from where he got to when he read it to Fallon.

I admit that Connor and Bastian writing parts of the story themselves is kind of clever and interesting - giving it a bit of their personal taste.
Unfortunately, this just poses more questions:
* Can the book even be changed or do they simply plagiarize what already has been written?
* What happens if their version changes from the book?
* If the book can be changed by just writing fanfiction onto another piece of paper (don't get me started on all of the fanfic written on and off the internet - the book was published long before that), why not do that? Even if this is just Bastian's power as the "bookkeeper" which he momentarily shared, couldn't he turn back to "Death of Forgotten Horse" and write "and suddenly horse was alive, again". Couldn't he prevent the luckdragon from being captured or taken away before the team tries to free it? Couldn't he have prevented the crash and Fly Girl from being sick

The way I interpreted it was, the story runs through Bastian, and when he next picked up the book, the “changes” he and Connor made would have been implemented into the story

Atreyu figures out the name of the sword (how?)

The acrostic. An acrostic is a “poem” where the first letter of each line spells a word going down. The “list of words” spellled out Sikanda.

EP FOUR

Gemma shows up. Who is she? Is she one of the woodland children and evil princess did capture one of them? She does not seem to be physically related to Blank1.5.

She has a “Dark City”, so I guess she has some human-like servants on call.

He has a lot of alone time with Gemma, so why doesn't he just sit her down for a little talk: "I know you're from Phantasia and reporting the the evil princess. What's your deal, here?

I think he wasn't yet certain about the world-switching, and didn't want to look crazy if he was wrong!

Evil Princess turns to dust while reading the book - which should include her aging and turning to dust. Isn't that a really good reason to stop reading?

Maybe she thought she could stop it, or maybe it was addictive? In the original book, Fanstasians had a compulsion to throw themselves into the Nothing, could be similar.

Childlike Empress cries about the loss of her sister - who tried to poison and kill her and was the greatest threat to Phantasia ever known.

Haha, do you have siblings? Standard Thursday!

This also leads into them reading the part where the "good" flying maschine gets destroyed by Xayide and the heros get saved by the real Luckdragon - why didn't they show this before?

I guess it's ... I got nuffin.

I'm kind of intrigued if this series would fare better when watched as a series - uncut episode by episode. I wonder whether things made more sense and if the deleted parts contained serious information.

When I next have £120ish, I'm gonna order a copy of the full series!

[–] TCCPhreak 8 years ago

Hi OliverWaters,

thanks for your reply and the answers. I'm sorry that my reply took that long to write.
I gotta admit that my brain archived this series under "Rather bad TV series that didn't get better by condensing into movie series and cutting large parts" and forgot it - until I saw it in the bargain bin at some DVD store - "perfect christmas present" (for people you don't like).

I liked reading your reply - although at points it seemed like you shared my opinion of the series.

(starting in the middle of the book)
I think it's a combination of “movie magic”, and the book starting from the same point no matter where Bastian opened it.

Ironically, this seems to be one of the only cases in which "magic" would be a suitable explanation and not just handwaving.

(Not sending minions across worlds)
It uses a lot of MP to send them across worlds ;)

She doesn't seem exhausted from doing so. Even if she takes a while to recover from such sendaway, she could send strong forces to take over one-by-one. They just should make sure to not get send back too soon.

(spring water "killing" Artax)
They needed a horsey death scene, and the sinking swamps are expensive to film.

Explaining that a bad scene was shot because there was no money for a better one doesn't really raise my opinion of the series.

(maps don't show which map is next to them)
When everywhere looks the same, I guess it's easy to lose track.

From what I remember, this was something like "we are on this map - I know this - and now we are leaving it to the north. I don't know which map is supposed to be north to the one we are leaving". This is an information that could (and should) have been added to the maps a long time ago.

The Empress has some kind of power which means no-one can directly attack her.

Until the evil princess directly attacks her some time later?

(Bastion doesn't react to events around him being described in the book he reads)
At this point, he still thinks it's just a story.

And this is our hero?

(Blank 1.5 prefers selling the house to stealing the book she wants)
I think part of her niceness came through.

I think this rather is "The means of the plot outweigh the motivation of the characters".
And I think selling the house doesn't count as "nice".

(Princess doesn't harm Atreyu when she has the chance)
He had Auryn – like the Empress, no-one can harm the Auryn bearer.

Except for when they can? Does she know that ruleset? She could at least have tried.

EP THREE

(Gmork chooses Bastian's father as lawyer)
I assumed Gmork was there to steal the book, like Gemma later was? And he was waiting for an opportunity?

Full-grown-man against a small boy (bookworm with no real physical strength) and no intention of remaining in this world - thus having no fear of consequences... He could have taken it by force instead of waiting to fail again.

(What does this transformation mean?)
As for the transformation, I think it robbed him of his identity.

Apart from him still having an identity afterwards. My best guess is that the series makers planned for him to be gone but then figured out that the Princess has too few minions to lose this one and they have too little time to introduce more completely new ones.
Plus: New Minions mean more characters mean more characterisation effort - nah, let's keep him around.

(Bastian never progressing in the book physically)
I think the book's magic means that wherever he opened it, it would be where he left off – that's why he had to continue from where he got to when he read it to Fallon.

I think I have another explanation for such magic books and I'm very glad that ebookreader have gotten slimmer since then.

(The book's content and therefore the other world can be changed by writing it)
The way I interpreted it was, the story runs through Bastian, and when he next picked up the book, the “changes” he and Connor made would have been implemented into the story

Ok. So he cannot turn back and read a passage again - except for when he is bound to repeatedly Artax' death - and thus cannot overwrite the things he already read. He cannot skip ahead - which slightly indicates that the story is not completely written before he reads it. But I think I remember Connor writing into the book without Bastian being present, thus questioning the "story runs through Bastian"-bit.

(How does Atreyu figure out the name of the sword)
The acrostic. An acrostic is a “poem” where the first letter of each line spells a word going down. The “list of words” spellled out Sikanda.

I admit, I missed that - as in: I didn't expect such a clever way after what I've seen until then.

(Where does Gemma come from)
She has a “Dark City”, so I guess she has some human-like servants on call.

Ahh.. So the makers finally decided that a new and not-yet-introduced character is okay (after three quarters of the series' run). She even got a little characterisation effort.

("I know you're from Phantasia and reporting the the evil princess. What's your deal, here?")
I think he wasn't yet certain about the world-switching, and didn't want to look crazy if he was wrong!

He read about Blank first crossing over and he read about Blank crossing over more times. He reads about Gemma reporting directly about him. He could show her the passages - oh wait; he can't. He's supposed to be a book-worm and not exactly stupid - and he was able to continue writing the book (a skill that quickly is forgotten). I think he could have been very certain about it. He also doesn't have to fear that one girl thinking he's crazy - it wouldn't have changed his relation to other characters.

(Isn't turning to dust a really good reason to stop reading?)
Maybe she thought she could stop it, or maybe it was addictive? In the original book, Fanstasians had a compulsion to throw themselves into the Nothing, could be similar.

"Help, I cannot stop reading although I'm literally aging and turning to dust on the spot - so remember kids: reading books is good for you!"

(Childlike Empress cries about the loss of her evil sister)
Haha, do you have siblings? Standard Thursday!

I have a brother but from what I know he never plotted to kill me and turn the complete world into nothingness so that's not exactly comparable. I do believe that there are times when the removal of one person is necessary to improve a situation.
I tried to look at it from the "Childlike"-point of view: Is it more childlike to believe in "good and evil" and evil needing to be cut off? Is it more childlike to believe that everyone can be saved and everything can be improved? Is it childlike to understand the loss of someone or is that more an adult thing?
I wondered about that since a funeral: "The poor little boy had no real chance of getting to know his grandfather" - but isn't he "better off" than all the adults who have memories and therefore someone to miss?

(why didn't they show this before?)
I guess it's ... I got nuffin.

My strongest guess is that whoever distilled the series episodes into "movie3" thought that these scenes were unnecessary but whoever distilled into "movie4" thought they were needed.
I'm very glad that somewhere in time people decided that series can be sold as series-DVD-sets without butchering them into movie forme.

(I'm kind of intrigued if this series would fare better when watched as a series)
When I next have £120ish, I'm gonna order a copy of the full series!

Where can you get a copy of the full series?
To be honest: I think you should keep your money. The reviews for full episodes don't make them sound a lot better. If the movie only contains the "good" stuff, the deleted stuff can't be worth it.
I might get more out of the complete set (I only had a german version, so english might be a plus) but I think that this series is best archived and forgotten again.

Regards,

TCC