The Ending Breaks Jay's Brain! - Never Ending Story First Time Watching/Reaction

[@edinalewis4704]

And that’s how a generation of children learned that sadness can kill you!

[@scottkfilgo]

I like to think it taught us 80s "kids" that actually we can survive it.

[@kathryngordon5115]

I like to think it helped us understand actual depression and how to reach out to those we love who suffer from it.

[@The2ndQuest]

@@scottkfilgo Even if only as a zombie horse.

[@thane9]

We knew. We knew long before we should have known. But this movie did give some of us hope.

[@yermatedave4930]

I've survived some pretty deep and dark depressions in my life, times where I've understood how Artax must've felt... And I hate that I made loved ones feel like Atreyu felt watching Artax drown...

[@fusionaddict]

Artax traumatized me as a kid. You know what traumatizes me as an adult? "They look like good, strong hands, don't they?"

[@garretthenderson5738]

Oh I've delivered that monologuing at least a hundred times "... but I couldn't hold on to them!"

[@bridgethaines7127]

Artax will never NOT traumatize me, no matter what age I am.

[@SjSalvidge]

This is where most of our Gen X trauma started. This whole movie 😢

[@TorIverWilhelmsen]

@@SjSalvidge Boomers had Old Yeller, we had Artax.

[@scottkfilgo]

I'm technically a Boomer, (born 1963) but I have Artax trauma, not Ol' Yeller. I actually never watched Ol' Yeller and I was 20 when Neverending Story came out; but the trauma was real.

[@dkoch2]

I met Noah Hathaway, the actor who played Atreyu at an event last year and he explained that at an event years back, he put like a fishbowl full of dollar bills on his table with a sign that said if the horse scene traumatized you, take a dollar as an apology...the money was gone within a half hour lol

[@happyninja42]

Yeah that was a rough scene, but I also always got sad for "They look like good.....strong...hands....don't they?" That survivor's guilt

[@happyninja42]

I also think part of the thing that makes that scene hit so hard, is the way Noah sells the fear and desperation at losing his horse.

[@Michelle-DiPalo]

That's fantastic.

[@Hellbilly709]

I watched this as a child who had a horse and this DEEPLY traumatized me. 😅 I was visiting family and they put this on in the family room for the kids to watch and I WAILED. 😂

[@T.Florenz]

@@happyninja42 yeah 🥺

[@garretthenderson5738]

And just as Jay and Adam were watching Bastian, others were with them. They were with them when Jay admitted he hadnt seen Krull, they were with them when he dreamed of owning a racing snail....

[@IgnisKhan]

And just as Garrett was commenting on Jay and Adam, others were with him, commenting alongside him.

[@garretthenderson5738]

@@IgnisKhan ahhh shit.... my brain just broke

[@danmcdonald3723]

Now you've got me looking over my shoulder trying to break a 5th wall...

[@mattc3581]

4th wallception

[@elizabethparker4511]

Hasn't seen Krull? No traumatization from the cyclops? Poor baby.

[@thactotum]

as a small child I was haunted by the 'they look like such big strong hands...' the sense of helplessness and not being powerful enough to save the ones you care about from forces out of your control, and the giving up the struggle paralleling the awareness of the meaning of letting yourself get swallowed by sadness. It's a good movie that is fantasy if you only engage with it on that level, but it's also a study on grief and the end of innocence.

[@Ghypes83]

Moonchild is the name he gave her, after his mother. Who from the 60's or 70's might have been named by Hippie parents herself, hence the name. Long story short, Bastion named the Empress after his mother, and a way for him to embrace and cope with her death. This movie is on so many dimensions of awesome no wonder it holds up

[@happyninja42]

Yeah I thought it was a nice touch, the naming her after his mother, so that in a way, she doesn't die, and has a kind of afterlife in his mind.

[@miriam8376]

Yeah, it also helps explain the dad’s behavior. He was married to a hippie (and maybe was one himself at some point) and was so disillusioned with the optimism of the movement at some point that he swung hard to the opposite perspective. It adds an additional layer of sadness.

[@happyninja42]

@@miriam8376 hey can you actually read this post? I've been having some issues with my YT comments lately, and while they show up on my screen as posted, I haven't received any replies in like almost a week now. So I'm not sure if they are somehow being hidden or something without my knowledge? Can you reply to me simply saying whether or not you can read this post just so I can confirm if it's an actual bug or me overreacting.

[@happyninja42]

I also think that more recent releases of the movie have reduced the storm/lightning sounds, to make it more audible. Because I remember seeing it in the theaters and years later, and never being able to make it out. I always assumed, even as a kid seeing it for the first time, that they intentionally left it ambiguous, so that any kid watching that movie, who maybe lost a mother or female loved one (sister, grandmother, aunt, etc), could just audience insert their own lost loved one's name into that moment, and have the same kind of catharsis that Bastion had.

[@grump9001]

@@happyninja42 I seriously had the same thought as a kid, like 'oh, you can put in any name' because I didn't hear it over the storm sounds, haha wow ❤

[@Debraka]

At 45, almost 46, years old...I am still salty about never having discovered a cool school attic like the one in this movie.

[@AspenDarkfire]

😂😂😂 I'm 44 ... I did find a cool attic above the gym in my school. But I got caught sneaking out of it and was suspended for a week. 😅

[@AnnekeOosterink]

My school did have an attic, less creepy and dusty like this one though, it was simply storage for all the school supplies. I know I was stoked when I was allowed to go up and pick out a box of notebooks and choose the animal themed box instead of the rainbow colours or geometrical shapes ones. 😁

[@Grenn1471]

Thanks for the warning, but I will NEVER forget Artax, Littlefoot's mother, or Fivel getting lost for as long as I live.

[@Xardion55]

Or Anty _(Honey, I Shrunk The Kids)_

[@DavidRomigJr]

The block sinking with the critically sick Timmy in it as Mrs. Brisby frantically called out the name of her child.

[@justinperry3312]

Everything Atreyu encounters is something Bastian walked through as he processed his mother’s death: •Artax in the swamps (sadness, depression) •The Ancient One (apathy, indifference) •The Rock Biter (helplessness) •The Southern Oracle (facing reality, accepting yourself) •Falcor (hope) •The Nothing (succumbing to despair/hopelessness) •Gmorg (thoughts of suicide) “I was sent by The Nothing to kill you.” he says •The Childlike Empress (his childhood innocence) Etc. It is a profoundly deep & beautiful allegorical movie.

[@FuzzyBunnyofInle]

I was confused by G'Mork's motivations until. Just. Now.😮

[@justinperry3312]

@@FuzzyBunnyofInle and Falcor (hope) rescued him from the swamps of sadness/Gmork (depression/thoughts of suicide). Remember the scene?

[@FuzzyBunnyofInle]

@@justinperry3312 Of course! Why am I crying?!

[@FuzzyBunnyofInle]

@@justinperry3312 And when Atreyu finally stops running & confronts him,..he's defeated. Oh damn, all these childhood memories that were trying to teach me something I couldn't see, falling into place. I'm gonna need a minute.

[@iwyt3995]

*_Yop._* *G'mork is the LITERAL 'Black Dog'!*

[@sullivan108]

“This is a kids movie?!” This is part of why 80s kids are hells of jacked up.

[@grump9001]

And 90s 👍

[@DarkClaw0912]

It’s why we’re just built different.

[@AlexSadof]

The NeverEnding Story, The Secret of NIMH, The Dark Crystal, Return to Oz... stuff was DARK when we were kids.

[@DarkClaw0912]

@@AlexSadof but we ate it up like candy!

[@monie2193]

​@@AlexSadofDon't forget Labyrinth!

[@prestonturner610]

The whole story is about overcoming grief and not giving over to "the sadness" and choosing to live and live the life you want. That's the purpose of those scary and "life scarring" scenes that stick with you the rest of your life.

[@wendigowatermelon6735]

The fact that Adam is wearing a Krull shirt in this reaction and Jay just announced that Krull finally won the patreon watch-a-long is priceless 🎉

[@jRoy7]

I haven't seen Krull in so long. That'll be such a fun reaction to watch!

[@poolhall9632]

"I prefer Krull"

[@thane9]

Krull has quite a moment too...

[@Whatsupbruther]

Real man, it's on the same level as beastmaster 😂

[@mechamanblade8465]

80's Fantasy was unmatched. We had The Neverending Story, Legend, Willow, Dragon Slayer, The Dark Crystal, and Krull. Childhood rocked!

[@ToABrighterFuture]

We also had Conan the Barbarian, The Beastmaster, Deathstalker, Ator, and a whole lot of other barbarian heroes. Back then, summers at the multiplex meant overloaded testosterone, mediocre budgets, and barely-there costumes. These days, all we get are overloaded budgets, mediocre costumes, and barely-there testosterone.

[@justinjack502]

Don't forget 'Labyrinth'.

[@FAFO4wisdom-s9o]

​@@justinjack502 BINGO! or the Princess Bride!

[@FAFO4wisdom-s9o]

​@@ToABrighterFuture barely there testosterone 👀💀💀💀🤣🤣🤣🤣 it's funny because it's sad, it's sad because it's true.

[@toddhadley9002]

Don't forget Ladyhawke. An amazing story with an embarrassingly dated soundtrack.

[@tadcooper9733]

I'm loving this "Jay hasn't seen the movies that you'd think obviously ARE Jay movies" series. Good job Adam, I continue to love and appreciate. All hail the stickbug!

[@wordstowordlessthings]

the Gmork speech is more explicit in the book, that the Fantasticans dying are becoming lies in the real world - "Maybe you’ll help them to persuade people to buy things they don’t need, or hate things they know nothing about, or hold beliefs that make them easy to handle, or doubt the truths that might save them.” like damn

[@GewuerzwieseI]

If anyone wonders why this is so dark. the film is based on a german children book. existential dread is part of growing up in germany.

[@johnw8578]

This movie helped me as a kid deal with my father's death.

[@ZestonN]

Jay: "This Is A Kids' Movie?!" Me: Welcome To The 80's, Jay. Come for The Whimsy, Stay for The Trauma.😊 I think in the Subtitles, The Childlike Empress's Name is "Moonchild'. But, the Thunder was meant to distort it; as a "What Would You Name Her?" Twist for the Audience. :)

[@kimmeyer2843]

🤣

[@fitnessandfandom]

100% on both points. The movie isn't about Bastian's trauma. It's about our trauma... 🤯

[@Defender7591]

The film is largely an adaptation of the first half of the Michael Ende novel. The second half of the novel makes the first look like a trip through Candyland, as Bastian's ability to wish every whim that comes to mind slowly corrupts him. The book is -wild-.

[@TheNerdySinger]

Which they touched on in the sequel

[@peterdennis4394]

Yeah, the kid has a really crazy imagination. It's nuts.

[@voxdraconia4035]

Yeah, Dark Emperor Bastian, Atreyu leading an army...oh boy. Sadly the movie sequel ... never really goes full into all that

[@roaaoife8186]

In a way, it is very much about Whimsy, but whimsy as a form of defiance. It's about holding onto your sense of wonder even when despair rolls in.

[@GuanoLad]

When Bastian gives a name for the Childlike Empress, he is now involved directly in the story, no longer passively reading, and that's what brings Fantasia back. And that's why it's called The NeverEnding Story.

[@lawrencebaker9438]

This is hands down one of my favourite uses of fourth wall breaking in any fiction. Like everyone loves Deadpool breaking the fourth wall and then almost 30 years older there was this masterpiece.

[@HeatRaver]

That was 5th wall breaking! The Empress addressing Bastian would've been the 4th wall break of their story, and addressing us the audience is the 5th! 🤯

[@robertgronewold3326]

The Never Ending Story is based on a German book, and the death of Artax is actually WORSE in the book because the horse can talk and is lamenting his own sadness as he's dying. And this is the bit where Bastion figures out that the book he is reading is not normal, because the scene is so sad that he keeps trying to skip it, turning the pages to avoid it, but the pages all become this scene, insisting that he read EVERY word. Also, this film is only based on the first half of the novel. The second half Bastion winds up in Fantasia, and finds that he has the ability to wish anything he wants into existence, at the cost of each wish taking a memory and slowly robbing him of his personality. It gets extremely deep and heavy.

[@iiearlgreyii]

I think the sequel covers most of the second half.

[@robertgronewold3326]

@@iiearlgreyii The sequel is inspired by the second half, but tells a wildly different story. One of the main things is that in the book, when Bastian loses his memory while in Fantasia, he decides to declare himself Emperor and winds up with a fractured mind.

[@Engiflux]

​@robertgronewold3326 which he kinda deserves as Bastian is also a bit insufferable who keeps blaming others for his own follies

[@erinsilver3920]

Yeah we don’t talk about the sequel.

[@lucy_76]

that's interesting, I didn't know that about the original story that it went even darker, I'm kind of glad because if I had read it being any harsher at a young age it would have devastated me for years. but isn't it so true? the actual sinking into despair can take away your life.

[@grandpaladin1701]

And what'll really pickle your cucumber, is that Alan Oppenheimer, the voice actor who voiced Falkor was the voice of Skeletor in the classic He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon. Glad Jay finally watched this!

[@epaul525]

That’s why my friends and I call this movie “Babies First Existential Crisis!!”

[@jasonhoagland8444]

These were kids films when I was a kid. And Watership Down, and The Last Unicorn. All amazing films you should watch, but all fun and sad at the same time.

[@johnw8578]

Let me add Plague Dogs to that -- and Return to Oz.

[@brandibastian4193]

The Last unicorn is another banger that I really really loved watership down I didn't see until adulthood I had heard about it when I was younger but I never saw it

[@MrCarlBackhausen]

The black wolf was one of my worst fears when I was a child. After seeing this movie the first time I couldn´t get over that fucking wolf for many, many years. I saw it in my nightmares and anything that scared my beyond that. Don´t know why now anymore as an adult. But as a child it was one of the worst and scariest things I had ever known or seen. I had a child therapist because I was born with a horrible auto-immune disease, so I needed therapy to help prevent life-long ptsd and such things. His job was helping me get over that fucking wolf more than my disease and everything else in my life at that point. It is honestly hilarious how scared I was due to that wolf and this movie.

[@ambergallen4144]

I think i finally stopped crying over the horse first watch then had the crap scared out of me.

[@MrCarlBackhausen]

@@ambergallen4144 Ikr! The movie is a trauma ride.

[@Vibe_with_Z]

This wolf was also the thing that continuously haunted my nightmares my entire childhood as well.

[@MrCarlBackhausen]

@@Vibe_with_Z IKR! Seriouly

[@shawnadams1460]

This is one of my favorite movies OF ALL TIME, it is permanently in my top 5! Labyrinth, Princess Bride, Goonies, Never Ending Story, and Willow will be in my collection forever. This movie broke your heart, had you cheering, and literally broke your brain all at the same time. Jay's reaction was beyond EPIC!!! Movies in the 80's PULLED NO PUNCHES, they absolutely WRECKED US MAN!!! Between this and the 86 Transformers Movie....to quote a famous Asian internet meme champion..."EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!!!" Keep the reactions coming!!!

[@cen_nii]

Mouth dropped when I saw the notification - Never Ending Story was one of those cassettes that gave me nightmares as a kid, but I'd still sneak into the living room at night to watch it anyway because it was just so so SO good. Holds such a special place in my heart and will forever be one of my absolute favorites.

[@earlmason1954]

The movie is good but the book is so much better.

[@TheRatsCast]

That is a perfect list of movies

[@shawnadams1460]

@@cen_nii IKR!! I still have a VHS copy of it...dont even have a player anymore...keep it just for nostalgia's sake...lmao

[@shawnadams1460]

@@earlmason1954 Oh, you aren't kidding! Though to be honest, I didn't know of the book before the movie came out, but once I watched it I immediately checked it out of our library!

[@TheWokeWarlock]

This is one of my favorite films of all time. It has so many layers. On its surface it is an epic legend set in a whimsical fantasy world. In its depths it is an allegory on personal loss, a display of human depression and hope juxtaposed, a deep expression of the human experience, and a subtle lesson on social connection. Not to mention a 90 minute promotion about the power and influence of books and the imagination. Also.. the name he gives at the end is Moonchild.

[@CalliopePony]

Ah, 80s movies! They entertained us, they traumatized us, they gave us food for thought about things we probably couldn't fully understand. Any chance you guys might react to Watership Down?

[@johnw8578]

Watership Down and Plague Dogs -- a double dose!

[@reconsoldier135]

It blows my mind that Jay hasn’t seen this movie

[@lboogi]

Same! I just watched this in the theater because it’s one of my all time favorites

[@Melancthon7332]

Princess Bride was far more shocking, as not only is it a perfectly Jay movie but unlike TNES, its window of opportunity goes well past childhood and deep into adulthood.

[@the_petty_crocker]

This movie came out when I was seven years old. It was the first movie my parents let me go to the theater to see by myself. Thirty minutes and one Artax later, I regretted my entire life up to that point. I love this movie, but it had me all the way f***ed up, and still kinda does. Thanks for reacting to it!

[@grump9001]

"One Artax later" lmao. yeah. it was this movie and Black Beauty that sealed the trauma about horses deal for me lol

[@DoranGale]

Traumatic Movies We Saw As Kids: The one where the horse dies. The one where the people are turned into pigs. The one where the kids are turned into rats. The one where the stone guy tries to eat everyone. The one where toons die screaming in acid.

[@iwyt3995]

The first one is obvious but I...can't recall the other ones you've listed here?

[@dkoch2]

The name was Moon Child btw :P

[@scifijeff1834]

Subtitles are a wonderful thing

[@johnw8578]

@@scifijeff1834 I never knew until I read the book. I think the movie distorted it on purpose (so you heard your own mother's name in your head). My friends and I (when we first saw this) bet that his mother's name would be Hope.

[@LeadStarDude]

I was born in the mid 70s, and grew up in the 1980s and early 1990s. I believe my age group had the best movies ever to grow up on. The list of iconic movies between 75 and 95 is unfathomable.

[@Ragnirock]

I always thought the Nothing was an allegory for Bastions grief/depression, as it only appeared once he started reading the book.

[@AlbertoMartinez765]

No it existed for years before Bastian Got the Book, remember when he starts reading the Book it starts with the Nothing Already existing and eating the homes of the 3 travelers. This was an 80's kids movie they weren't thinking that deeply and Depression was barely considered a Real Disease.

[@Loulizabeth]

I think the fact that the nothing was already happening was in fact down to the fact that Barton was clearly already affecting Bastian. His grief and the attitude of his father to grow up and forget about his dreams and his childhood is what was bringing it on. The story is basically Bastian's story it's about him having to learn the lessons he needs to live a better life. The other books apparently have him face the reality of other not so great traits that he also has to overcome. Let's be honest early children's stories are easy more gritty and gory than modern day ones. Just look be at Hans Christian Anderson stories and the Brothers Grim stories. Children would have been traumatised well before this if Disney had left fairytales as they were originally written.

[@waywardmind]

The father/Bastion scene is so excellent. The dad is just doing his best. He's suffering. He knows his son is suffering. He's trying. At no point does he raise his voice. He's trying to encourage his son when, no doubt, his own motivation is nil. Watch the scene over again. It's so nuanced -- the looks his dad gives Bastion, who is oblivious to his father's pain. His dad, trying to understand his son and his interests -- which he's invested in! (horse-riding lessons, etc) It's such an excellent scene of a man and his son just not quite being able to connect . . . but one of them desperately hoping that his words have had an impact.

[@PPfilmemacher]

Exactly

[@isaackellogg3493]

Orange juice and egg is part of a DIY hangover cure. Dad has been dealing with his own grief through dehydration.

[@syntia13]

One of the few scenes I remember from the book is from the second half, when Bastian is in Fantasia, slowly erasing his own memories. At one point he has a dream about seeing his father encased/trapped in a block of ice. He tries to reach out to Bastian and says "please help me, don't leave me, I can't get out of this ice alone, please help me!" and Bastian tries to melt the ice, even though at this point he doesn't even remember who that man is. Something something, heartbreaking metaphors of grief and depression and being stuck and reaching out to your loved ones, looking for help and connection.

[@waywardmind]

@@syntia13 Oh, for sure. The book gets BLEAK.

[@LucasxDucas]

The theme of this movie is so profound. Never lose your sense of imagination, regardless of age. It's channels like Preview'd that help maintain that sense of wonder. You guys are the best. Cheers!

[@mark2graves-movies689]

19:00 when I would drone on telling my dad useless info as a kid, he would pause, look at me directly in the eyes and say: "not.. that.. it.. matters" 😂

[@mariesilver6103]

I watched this movie at such a young age that the whole thing is basically imprinted on my brain but the image of the Gmork in the wall is so seared into my memory, it's so unnerving. Rewatching it as an adult, you understand all the stuff you missed as a kid. "They look like good, strong hands" is a line that always makes me emotional. The Gmork talking about how people without hope are easier to control, and therefore those who want you to have no hope are the ones who want power. I read the book in high school and this movie is just the first like, third of it. And the book is way more wild and far darker. I strongly recommend giving it a read.

[@JonathanMartinez-ei4up]

If they ever did a retelling of The Neverending Story, they could have that scene where the princess spikes the camera and references that this original adventure happened, and we all watched it and now we’re watching its next incarnation and the story continues. And It Will Never End.

[@deltablaze77]

The Princess Bride, and now The Never-Ending Story....what is this the, "Jay didn't have a childhood" series? (Edit: Also Adam, I caught that Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog reference, and I appreciate you.)

[@pReviewd]

Thank you

[@lazs4578]

My parents have a giant white Chevy Yukon that we call Falcor. It has a bumper sticker now that says "The flying luck dragon"

[@Rusty_Raider]

The 80s were the golden age of fantasy

[@lyndsimartin3889]

Dude, Gmork scared the ever loving crap outta me as a kid. I'd hide my eyes until he was off screen lol

[@matt1839]

Same, especially Tim curry as the devil in legend.

[@saraholiver79]

SAME!!!

[@brandibastian4193]

I swear the first time I watched this movie is an adult I was expecting the gmork scene the last a lot longer I swear it was at least 5 minutes when I was a kid! I thought it was a fairly long battle as a kid nope it's mostly just an extended creepy conversation with a lot of tension and then work jumps at him not seeing that a true has grabbed a weapon and basically leaps directly into the weapon

[@ruule]

Just starting this and Jay's intial outlook 😂😂😂 Jay: "This seems like weapons grade whimsy." Adam: *thinks about all that goes down in the film* "....You'll see!" 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ZestonN]

To be fair, there was Weapons-grade Whimsy in it. 🙂 Along with Thermal Nuclear Existential Dread. There's a reason Young Gen-Xers and Elder Millennials all have the Perfect Thousand Yard Stare. 😁😳

[@ruule]

Falcor: "Never give up" Me & Adam: "Never surrender."

[@ryurc3033]

Galaxy quest was hugely underrated at the time... But the nerdstalgia is real

[@SweetSlytherinGirl-Jennifer]

Bastion followed Atreyu's story, you followed Bastion's, and we follow yours! Neverending..... My favorite 80s "children" movies growing up were incredibly dark and sometimes terrifying - this, The Dark Crystal, The Last Unicorn, The Secret of NIMH, Willow, All Dogs Go To Heaven.

[@nickperkins8477]

“There is no empress, only Zuul.” The funny thing is, The Neverending Story and the original Ghostbusters movie were released in the same year of 1984.

[@aldo4908]

A movie that marked my entire childhood for life, alongside with David Bowie's "Labyrinth" (1986). Being a kid in the 80's was just great. Awesome reaction guys! Thanks for sharing it!

[@EssEll9791]

An amazing analogy of the despair of depression, grief, self doubt, aging and all the things that drain the color and music from our world - the antithesis, whimsy, wonder and wh- fantasy.

[@Trikeboy2]

The mom's name was Moon Child. Also, the 80s was definitley the decade of children's entertainment. There have been a lot of great movies before and after the 80s but not much stuck around aside from Star Trek and Star Wars. We had Spielberg in his prime, Don Bluth in his prime. John Hughes in his prime. So many of the franchises from the 80s are still around today through reboots and sequels made by people who grew up as fans of the franchise. No other generation can really claim that. Something I do recommend, as it had that 80s feel is the movie Damsel with Millie Bobby Brown. If that movie came out in the 80s, it would be as well loved as Goonies, Neverending Story, Krull, and Dragonslayer.

[@elizabethparker4511]

Oh yes! Loved Damsel. Need to make my daughter watch it.

[@kriscynical]

Jay had one of the _best reactions_ I've _ever seen_ to the end of this movie. 😄

[@kenjohns1982]

In the book, Atreyu was told to bring no companions as well. He refused and brought Artex along. That's why he died so early in the story.

[@johnw8578]

This movie is important. I saw this as a kid not long after my father died. I understood what Bastian was going through. I needed to feel the sadness of Artax's death. I needed to experience The Nothing (which had seemed to consume my own world at the time). I needed to understand that there can be hope and escape and adventure again. These movies (although seemingly dark) are really needed. This movie also taught me how valuable books were and good movies were -- where I could escape into different worlds and get away from my own world for a time. I really got into reading fantasy books then like Lord of the RIngs, the Shannara and Narnia books which then led me to science fiction and horror then to classics.

[@johnw8578]

This is also why modern movies fail -- they push the current world upon us when it should really help us escape the problems of the real world.

[@123haninhk]

We need to see more classic movies like this. Has anyone ever seen LEGEND starring Tom Cruise? Or The Last Unicorn? Would love to see the reaction for those films!

[@elizabethparker4511]

I have a dvd and the book for The Last Unicorn. One of my favorite movies.

[@Jenkinscraftingco2.0]

As a child from an abusive home who used books as an escape, this movie means so much to me. It gave me so much hope i carried with me in life.

[@JBlood-gf5pv]

This being one of my favorite, emotional touchstone movies as kid, made seeing Jay watch it for the first time so cathartic. So great.

[@toukie]

this movie broke my heart as a kid, and it was only as an adult, fighting depression and the big S, that I finally realized how deep the scene with Artax was (No pun intended). I mean, I understood that the more you're sad the more you sink but I didn't understand it, deep down. Fighting every day, though, just to ... keep going... how taxing and hard it is, exhausting and how sometimes you tell yourself it would be easier to just give up. But that movie also taught me that you can't give up. People are counting on you. It taught me that my love of books was a good thing. That my imagination was a good thing. And how you can simply... escape in another world every time you need to. People said 80s kids movies were dark and depressing. No, they taught us to fight and to win. They taught us we will go through hard times, but we'll get through it.

[@saraholiver79]

Yes Adam!!! The Swamps of Sadness are a core memory for an entire generation. Been that trauma and the terror of the Gmork, this movie is burned into my childhood brain!!!

[@NileBoogie]

For the record I didn’t hear the name when I was a kid but when I watched after my mom died …I yelled her name when he said “Moonchild”

[@dennisbay3035]

The Bookstore man told you.. It's not safe. You were warned. My big takeway is when I or someone I know is recovering from some injury.. it's the old lady saying "It has to hurt if it's to heal".. This also has some meaning in the movie.. Bastions' grief over losing his mom.. and Atreyu losing Artax..

[@grifftech]

Being 12 years old when this came out was amazing!!!! I would give anything to relive the 80's!!!

[@TheRRP88]

As soon as i hear Adam’s warning I knew what was gonna happen! Its been 35 years and it still hurts as bad as i did back then! Hell of a great movie!

[@joshuabarnett88]

Can we talk about the unintentionally beautiful harmonies right at the start of the movie? Needing a musical episode from Adam and Jay asap

[@Gokaiman1234]

36:50 the new name is MOOONCHIIIIILD

[@nicolumium7292]

True. I named my cat Tsukiko. It’s moonchild in Japanese

[@grimmwerks]

His mom was named Moonchild? Was she a fan of The Fields of the Nephilim?

[@MeNoOther]

Probably a hippy name

[@caitlinseaton7546]

The parallels between the Swamps of Sadness and actually experiencing depression or having someone you love dealing with depression are some of the most incredible examples of fantasy helping you understand reality ever!

[@KD-xp2eo]

This movie GUTTED ME as a child. I need a hug now just thinking about poor Artax. 😢

[@LVLexus]

still brings a tear...

[@KD-xp2eo]

@@LVLexusright!!!

[@mrs.horton5998]

You guys are just fulfilling some amazing childhood nostalgia wishes. Keep up the great work!

[@theAkildare]

Never Ending Story is from the same Director who later made the Movies: Enemy Mine, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, Troy, Poseidon

[@thorneto2742]

Enemy Mine is probably my favorite movie

[@TheoriginalBMT]

The last time i watched this, VHS movies were still the primary way to rent movies. Gonna have to watch this

[@RemniStrath]

I yelled out in my car when Adam mentioned Krull! We better see that soon! My all time favorite fantasy movie

[@beansfriend7033]

Jay at 22:13 - "Phalcor doesn't die in this, does he?" OMG, I _howled!_ That was everything. 😂

[@TLA79]

I love watching Jay react to my childhood.

[@debramiller8071]

My all time favorite movie! I can’t believe Jay has never seen it!!! I’m so glad I first saw it as a child. That magic was unforgettable!!

[@NarinsNewAge-zz2hf]

Funny you mention the horse talking, because it does in the book.

[@eviive8496]

Jay, us 80's kids we were told that a home-made Orange Julius was OJ, ice, and an egg blended together. Also cooking dry Cheerios in butter was a healthy after school snack! 80's version of Hot Cheerio, baby!

[@KorianBossMonster]

One of my all time favorite movies! Legit the movie that got me into reading more as a kid lmao

[@bug5317]

Adam really hit it well when he said us 80's kids might have been the last to get REALLY GOOD Fantasy movies as young kids. We got wonder and magic and possibilities. Kids today get screentime and pixels and are allergic to everything and have some kind of disorder or "issue" by the time they're 5. I watched this when I was barely 10. Atreyu was my first boy crush! Didn't know it then of course but I watched this movie 20+ times just to keep seeing him. Yeah I cry every time we go through the swamp. Cried watching this one too. Great movie!

[@PAPAPANDAWATCH]

Never in a million years would I have thought I needed it, but I needed Adam singing Bad Horse

[@PAPAPANDAWATCH]

“That’s a Rush cover” Adam you’re KILLING ME

[@chickwithbricks]

Sad horse - he's sad!

[@PAPAPANDAWATCH]

@@chickwithbricks it’s low-ho silver signed sad horse

[@SteveODonnell]

They did try to teach kids about life being hard back then. Another crazy child scarring movie from the 70s was Watership Down. Its insane how hard that cartoon went.

[@happyninja42]

"This movie seems filled with HeWHIMSY!" ......*me* "These look like....strong....hands.....don't they?"

[@starbrand3726]

The Swamps of Sadness traumatized millions of children all over the world. Surprisingly this movie is only half the book.

[@TinyKrisGaming]

prepare for the trauma. the never-ending story gets us all eventually. you might avoid it as a kid but it will get you later. btw, real horse. they trained him to be lowered into the mud like that. horse was fine.

[@StevenS757]

A movie about dealing with sadness and loss while holding onto your dreams. Such a beautiful movie. Also, his mother's name is "Moonchild", which he screams at the end. It's assumed that she was a hippie child of the 60s.

[@jonnyv5428]

*Billy, why are you still crying. See, the horse is still alive! 😊* Meanwhile, kids growing up in the 80's: 😱

[@ghostsquirrel8739]

Gmork was terrifying as a kid. Forget Artax, the giant talking killer wolf is what disturbed me.

[@Raquelgrl3271]

Lol I introduced my 2 best friends to this year before last. And they had me watch Hocus Pocus for the first time. They saw all the inspirations for ATLA and other things that came later 🤣

[@gaz-a-reno8891]

The Film that inspired the game ‘Shadow of the Colossus’. Such a great well made 80’s movie! 😊❤️👍

[@kharilane1340]

The Mother's name was Moonchild

[@darkphoenix6807]

You guys have to do “The Dark Crystal” (the original movie by Jim Henson). Oh the facial expressions I foresee! 😂😂

[@shediva5705]

Kid's Mom died. Does that make him a Disney princess?

[@shediva5705]

Side note the song was featured in an episode of Stranger Things so it is possible to know the song without seeing the movie.

[@Jaderosefox]

I did a quick and dirty look and didn't see it off the bat so have you guys seen Labyrinth yet? If not *please* watch it. Pretty please. Also the fact that Jay hasn't seen this or Princess Bride cracks me up.

[@DanDaMan8840]

Gmork always gave me the worst nightmares lol

[@alexkramerblogs]

There was a 2-week span when I was 7 or 8 where I watched this and Princess Bride, and I had to banish all my fuzzy stuffed animals because I kept seeing the Gmork and the ROUSes

[@MrOdzplat]

Hey Fellas..... I love you two guys. I'm 51 and saw this in the theater at the age of 11. This is such a special movie in my childhood and I'm glad you all got to this one. 🎉🎉🎉.......and "KRULL" is a "MUST"!!!!!......And always remember....."GEN-X'ers ARE SOLDIERS"!!!!!!

[@CoL_Drake]

Fun fact "power" was rly what he wished for, didn't he become an evil king and fought atreau later in the second half of the book? Because he chooses vengeance? XD I love the never filmed second half of the book so much

[@gonzoronzo6854]

There is a second movie with him getting "evil"

[@cyberwolf_1013]

Even as I watched this as a kid it struck something deep in me when The Childlike Empress explained to Atreyu that his quest brought Bastion and that Bastion in turn brought us. And who knows how many people we have brought. Gmork terrified me as a kid. That last scene when he described the Nothing as the darkness left behind when a person doesn't have hopes or dreams anymore strikes me so differently now. As a newly minted 40 year old with depression I have come face to face with The Nothing many times in the last few years.

[@khaleesimandy74]

I'm so happy to see this. I absolutely love this movie. I took my son to see it when it came out, but I believe he was to young for it. But in all my years, I still don't know what his mom's name is

[@claired2452]

Loving these types of movies reactions, I'd love to suggest The Pagemaster movie. It's similar in terms of nostalgia. Keep up the great work guys!

[@rendalconstantineau1680]

When Jay is like "This just went from 0 to 60", I thought "oh, this movie is still in first gear my friend."

[@brucehutchinson7139]

Adam: You can blame Will Smith for that... he did it too well... Will Smith: Wicki-wild wild, Wicki-wicki-wild, Wicki-wild, Wicki-wicki wild wild West...