(no subject)
When I was little I would get dropped off at a daycare, as some kids were, to waste away the hours while my parents were at work. There wasn't much to do at this daycare besides 1) throw blocks at other children, 2) draw dinosaurs, 3) play Atari (the most popular choice, as it was always accounted for) or, 4) watch VHS tapes. One of the tapes in particular was the fantasy The Neverending Story; which seemed to be a popular choice among a lot of the kids, from what I remember. I, on the other hand, remember it as being absolutely terrifying. Small pockets of memory spring forth when that movie comes up in conversation: a creepy, flying dog, a wolf with scary eyes, a gate that lasered people to death, and a man made of stone. Even thinking about the movie used to creep me out.
Last night I was bored and browsing OnDemand for something to watch. As I scrolled through the list I saw a few contenders, but it wasn't until I got to the "N's" that a horrifying possibility revealed itself; there it was: The Neverending Story. I decided to watch it to see if now, at 24, it was as terrifying as it was when I was about 7 or 8 or so.
I selected it and soon thereafter, it started. I was immediately greeted by some time lapses of a few scary looking clouds and some blaring 80's inspirational music that climaxed with the titular lyrics. "Pretty creepy clouds", I thought, but I could get past it. Twenty minutes later, I was asleep.
Waking up I decided to finish my quest to the Ivory Tower as I didn't want to let Atreyu, or Fantasia, for that matter, down. I re-selected the movie and FF'ed it to the place I last remembered. An hour or so later and the movie was over, leaving me with these conclusions (spoilers?):
Why the Neverending Story is terrifying to an 8-year old (16 years later):
Last night I was bored and browsing OnDemand for something to watch. As I scrolled through the list I saw a few contenders, but it wasn't until I got to the "N's" that a horrifying possibility revealed itself; there it was: The Neverending Story. I decided to watch it to see if now, at 24, it was as terrifying as it was when I was about 7 or 8 or so.
I selected it and soon thereafter, it started. I was immediately greeted by some time lapses of a few scary looking clouds and some blaring 80's inspirational music that climaxed with the titular lyrics. "Pretty creepy clouds", I thought, but I could get past it. Twenty minutes later, I was asleep.
Waking up I decided to finish my quest to the Ivory Tower as I didn't want to let Atreyu, or Fantasia, for that matter, down. I re-selected the movie and FF'ed it to the place I last remembered. An hour or so later and the movie was over, leaving me with these conclusions (spoilers?):
Why the Neverending Story is terrifying to an 8-year old (16 years later):
- Scary clouds (aka The Nothing): I'm apparently afraid of nothing (which is much different than not being afraid of anything).
- Bullies who throw dorky, book-loving kids similar to myself (back then, of course) into dumpsters.
- An elementary school with the scariest attic ever (a wolf's head on a stick?!).
- A hairy little hellspawn that rides around on a narcoleptic bat-glider (which, I admit, I tried to identify).
- A madhatter wannabe who rides on... a RACING snail?!
- The cannabilistic rockman who rides around on a miniature (to him) Fred Flinstone-esque car in a world in which every other being in existance runs the risk of being run over at any time.
- Every single creature at the council on the Ivory Tower.
- A little hero kid who is cooler than me (back then, of course) in every single way possible: from his little Indian vest to his complete lack of fear of all the other monstrosities of Fantasia.
- A swamp which kills you if you're afraid of Fantasia.
- A giant, hill-sized tortoise (which I also tried to identify).
- A gigantic wolf with neon green eyes?!
- A giant flying dog/dragon with what I thought were disgusting blistery bubbles on it's back, but now I can see they are just scales (which isn't much better). Also, WEIRD EYES.
- I actually liked the old gnomey people, although I wouldn't drink anything that witch woman had to offer.
- The "Sphinx's Gaze" gate, which is what terrified me the most as a child, is actually somewhat less scary now that I recognize the full-bosomed nature of the Sphinxes. Seriously, this is supposed to be a kids movie. farm1.static.flickr.com/11/11663258_385ebe5b0e_o.jpg
- The Oracle's (re-colored Sphinx's Gate) faces fall off.
- The wolf fight actually wasn't as scary as it should've been.
- The creepy (yet attractive, BACK THEN OF COURSE) Empress girl and the way she screams "GIVE ME MY NAME!" as nothing consumes her.
- The ending, which reveals the very real possibility that the flying dog dragon (and every other miscreation of Fantasia), can enter OUR WORLD.
