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The Neverending Story (Die Unendliche Geschichte) is a fantasy novel by Michael Ende, first published in 1979. The standard English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was first published in 1983.
The book centres around a young boy, Bastian Balthazar Bux, who steals a book called The Neverending Story from a small antique bookstore. It initially appears that Bastian is merely part of a frame tale, with the real story being the one contained in the book he stole, which relates a quest to save the land of Fantastica, the realm in which all human fantasies and stories are played out. As the book progresses, however, it becomes clear that some of the inhabitants of Fantastica are aware of Bastian, and that he is the key to the success of the quest he is reading about. Halfway through the book, he enters Fantasica himself, and begins to take an active role in events there.
A film adaptation of the novel was released in 1984, directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Barret Oliver, Noah Hathaway, and Tami Stronach. It covered only the first half of the book, ending at the point where Bastian enters Fantastica.
The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter, directed by George Miller and starring Jonathan Brandis, was released in 1990. It used a number of plot elements from the second half of Ende's novel, but told an essentially new story.
The Neverending Story III, starring Jason James Richter, was released in 1994. This film was based only upon the characters from the Ende book, with a completely new story.
The Neverending Story has also inspired two television series.
The 1996 animated series focussed on Bastian's further adventures in Fantastica (not the same as his further adventures in the book),
while the live-action Tales from the NeverEnding Story retold the whole story as an ongoing series.
Whether in book or film format, the story is naturally of finite length. Hence the title The Neverending Story has long been the subject of jokes. Perhaps most famously, in an episode of The Simpsons, the lawyer Lionel Hutz remarks, "This is the greatest case of False Advertising I've seen since I sued the movie The Neverending Story!"Adaptations
Jokes about the title
