The Neverending Story (novel)/YMMV

A list of some of the Subjective Tropes found in The Neverending Story and all its adaptations.

Book

 * Alternate Character Interpretation: Between the time loop, everything we learn in The City of Old Emperors, and finding out that she'd drawn Bastian into a world that it became more and more impossible for him to escape from even if he was frugal with his wishes and didn't lose his mind without a single warning, it's not too difficult to read The Childlike Empress as the villain of the story.
 * She is supposed to be True Neutral, and give each user of AYRUN equal chances. It's up to them what they wish for. Remember that good, evil, beauty and ugliness are all equal for her. Likewise, insane, mindless husk of an Emperor is just as valuable as an enlightened human being who understands AYRUN's true purpose: both serve to tell a good story.
 * Fridge Brilliance: The first letters of each chapter form the alphabet, in order.
 * Jerk Sue: Bastian is the book's second half, a fully aware use of the trope. Atreyu eventually slaps him out of it.
 * Tear Jerker: The scenes where Bastian discovers the truth about the lion Grograman, and sits with him so he won't be alone.
 * Artax!
 * Every last second of Artax's death scene, with Atreyu desperately screaming and begging for him to move. The fade out following is absolutely heart-wrenching.
 * And Artax knows he'll die, but he can't find it in his heart to resist. So he tells Atreyu to let go and stop trying to save him so he won't drown too, then gently tells him to look away so he won't have to see him go under. Atreyu does, crying the entire time.
 * Woolseyism: The dragon's name was Fuchur in the original German book. Apparently they changed it because it sounds like future in English. Or, if pronounced a certain way, an obscenity.

Film adaptations
"Over the next few scenes, everyone laughs at Bastian's hair, but to be honest, his hairdo looks completely ordinary and commonplace circa 2008. You could go to any shopping mall in America and see plenty of kids with their hair just like this. So, in fact, NeverEnding Story III was a trendsetter, and well over a decade ahead of its time!"
 * Accidental Innuendo: The great threat in the third film is "the Nasty". Yes, really.
 * Adaptation Displacement: In the English-speaking world, the first movie is far better-known than the book.
 * Badass Decay: The Old Man of Wandering Mountain.
 * Non Sequitur Scene:
 * In the second film, Bastian randomly falls down a completely random chute and ends up in an underground room called "The Ship of Secret Plots" filled with odd fantasy characters who are never explained or seen again.
 * Rock Biter singing "Born To Be Wild" in III.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: The titular song by Limahl. Inspired countless remixes.
 * Designated Hero: Bastian in the third movie. The Old Man of the Wandering Mountains describes him as "a special young human, a voracious reader, with great imagination and extraordinary courage", traits that Bastian does not possess this time around.
 * Establishing Character Moment/Ironic Echo Cut: To establish this, when he was described as being "courageous", he's running away from the bullies.
 * Designated Villain: Bastian's stepsister in the third movie may be a bitch, but she actually does something with the power she obtains, and while what she does with it is selfish, Bastian's calling her out for screwing things up falls flat since he could have avoided it all by actually doing something with it himself when he had the chance.
 * Also, she's part of why he wins the final fight, by using the book to give him super kung-fu moves. While he's still got the amulet and, as noted under Idiot Plot, still isn't using it.
 * Hell, even Jack Black shows more initiative than Bastian!
 * Ear Worm: "Never Ending Story...oooaah..."
 * Fanon Discontinuity: The third film. If you need help understanding why, look no further than this recap.
 * First Installment Wins: Though the Sequelitis helped.
 * Fridge Logic: The G'Mork is trying to help the Nothing consume all of Fantasia, so he can control humans once their imaginations are killed... except doesn't "all of Fantasia" include him?
 * Note this is only movie-only. In the book, G'Mork tells Atreyu that, as a Werewolf, he is neither of Fantasia nor of Earth. Rather, he's one of many creatures who have no world to call home. As a result, he is able to traverse the worlds freely and assume any form he pleases. His rationale for helping the Nothing is out of his bitterness for not having a world to call home.
 * Actually, the movie implies that "G'Mork" is not who he says he is, but is in fact a physical manifestation of the Nothing itself. Atreyu essentially calls him out as this before G'Mork attacks him.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: Bastian's gelled-up hair in the 3rd movie. According to The Agony Booth's recap:


 * Idiot Plot: In the sequel, Bastion is given the power to wish for anything and have it come true. That being said, the only reason he went on this giant quest was because he didn't have the brains to consider simply wishing away the entire conflict. Considering he didn't yet know there were consequences to making wishes, there was no reason for his behavior except plain thoughtlessness.
 * The third movie is much worse. Bastian leaves the Auryn out in the open in his bedroom, where it is promptly taken by Nicole. And towards the end, when facing Jack Black, Bastian actually gives into his "Fight me like a man" spiel, even though he's got the Auryn back, and could easily wreak all kinds of vengeance upon him.
 * Large Ham / Ham and Cheese: Jack Black provides this as the only real saving grace for the third movie. What's written as a one-dimensional bully antagonist Jack Black plays as a diabolical mastermind.
 * Most people will admit that if you have absolutely nothing better to do, the third movie is worth watching just to see Jack Black devour the scenery whole.
 * Retroactive Recognition: Jack Black plays the bully in part III.
 * The Scrappy: The Rock Biter baby and the Bark Troll in the third movie literally contribute absolutely nothing to the story. The latter may also be a Creator's Pet, seeing how he's given so many idiotic puns for every scene.
 * Rockbiter himself in the third, where he is given an irritating child, an irritating wife, and sings an out-of-tune rendition of "Born To Be Wild" all in the third film.
 * Sequelitis: the second film or the third film.
 * Special Effects Failure: The optical effects in the first film haven't really held up over the years. Then there's the Animatronics of the second (Sans Falkor and Rockbiter) and of the third... OH SWEET JESUS! WHAT HAPPENED TO FALKOR!?
 * Squick: The way Falcor smiles at Atreyu is... rather unsettling. It's surprising that he's never been turned into a Memetic Molester.
 * Tear Jerker: Two words: Artax's death.
 * The "Good, strong hands" sequence
 * A meta-example: how the rock biter's character was changed in the third movie, compared with above scene.
 * In the second movie, the scene showing Bastian's last memory with his dying mother.
 * The extra heartbreak is that we see this memory because Bastian made a wish. He not only forgets that specific moment, but his mother entirely.
 * They Just Didn't Care: The third movie had the Fantasians making pop cultural jokes, yet they still have a fish-out-of-water experience at the real world. Also, either the third movie's timeline spans from the first day of school to Chinese New Year to Halloween, or they all happened at once (with Bastian going to sleep before Halloween). And Bastian's father suddenly doesn't know about Fantasia anymore despite the second movie.
 * Also they put a TV in Fantasia. And Fantasia needs people reading to keep it alive, whereas TV is the number one reason a lot of people don't read.
 * Actually, that's really not a message of the story. The point is for people to have imagination. Filling your brain with reality TV and talk-shows may be detrimental for Fantasia's existence, but TV as a medium of storytelling is not a bad thing. Since the story was originally a book, and most great stories originate in book-format, it just makes most sense to relay Fantasia's existence through books, but ultimately it's the content that is important, not the medium.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The whole idea of schoolyard bullies getting their hands on the book could have worked, if the writers had actually given a damn.
 * As well as Fantasia characters exploring the human world for a change, as opposed to the other way around. Unfortunately, it's played purely for comedy and not very good comedy at that.
 * Took the Bad Film Seriously: Everyone except (arguably) Jack Black in the third movie.
 * Urban Legend: The "Swamp of Sadness" scene was evidently a troubled production site. Depending on who you ask, the horse that played Artax got caught in the elevator and died (Which scarred Atreyu's actor for life) or Atreyu's actor got caught in the elevator and almost drowned. Not to mention, he was thrown off a horse during training and stepped on, which certainly wouldn't have helped...
 * Villain Decay: The villain of the first film was The Nothing, a classic example of Eldritch Abomination. The villain of the second film, Xayide, was basically the Nothing with a human form, but she was implied to be the manifestation of dying imagination and controller of "The Emptiness," the big Nothing-esque disaster causing Fantasia harm. Then we get to the third film, and the Big Bad is....JackBlack and a group of school bullies called "The Nasties."
 * What the Hell, Casting Agency?: The third film's villain, that's Jack Black.
 * Julie Cox, who played the Childlike Empress in the same film, is an example of both this and Dawson Casting, considering that she was 19 during filming and a good four or five inches taller than Jason James Richter, who played Bastian. In fact, Cox is only slightly younger in real-life than Tami Stronach, the Childlike Empress from the first film—which was made ten years before the third.