The Neverending Story, also known as The Animated Adventures of Bastian Balthazar Bux or The Neverending Story: The Complete Animated Series, is an animated television series, produced by CineVox Entertainment and animated by Ellipse Animation and Nelvana Limited. It aired for one season (1995âÂÂ1996) on HBO, and ran for 26 episodes. In Canada, it also aired on Family Channel. The series is loosely based on Michael Ende's book, The Neverending Story (1979).
A young boy named Bastian helps yet again the Childlike Empress and her people of Fantasia, an imaginary land that can be accessed and influenced through a magical book called The Neverending Story, because the horrifying Nothing and other villains like the evil sorceress Xayide still threaten it. In the process, Bastian learns valuable lessons and gains many magical friends like the wooden Bark Troll, the luckdragon Falkor and many others.
In the series, the Nothing is a recurring villain. The Nothing is portrayed as a black hole with evil red eyes, which belongs to that of a white wolf, and is the television version of Gmork. The evil sorceress Xayide, unlike in , wears green robes with an eye mask with yellow slits. In the original film, her face is created by a special magical cream. The Rockbiter, in the latter two sequel films (including the third film), actually has a wife and a son, Junior. His wife and son appear in the series as well.
The Neverending Story was first aired on HBO in 1995 until 1996. Repeats were aired on HBO's sister channel, HBO Family, until 2005. In Canada, it also aired on Family Channel. Internationally, the show was aired on Nickelodeon (UK and Latin America), Canal+ (France) and Kindernet (the Netherlands).