The Never-Ending Story is one of the most beloved fantasy movies of all time. The story of young Bastian, Atreyu, and of course riding Falkor the flying luck dragon was a part of many 80’s and beyond youth. The NeverEnding Story was actually filmed almost entirely in Germany at a place called Bavaria Film Studios. (The street scenes and the school interior which were shot in Vancouver, Canada, and the beach where Atreyu falls, which was filmed at Monsul Beach in San Jose, Almería, Spain are the only parts that were not.)
So You want to ride Falkor?
Bavaria film studios these days is kind of like a tiny German Universal Studios or an interactive museum film tour. The best part is they have the ACTUAL Prop Falkor set up, in front of a green screen, with fans AND the Never Ending Story theme song playing that you can take a picture on. Yes. Really. As part of the tour, you get to get on and take pictures flying on the back of Falkor, the luck dragon. The studio is doing regular maintenance on the dragon to keep him up for pictures! WHO DOESN’T WANT THIS PICTURE?
On top of that, there are several other props from The Never Ending Story to view. The Rock Biter, Mora the Turtle, The Fast Snail, The mystical desert statues, and lots of behind the scene photos from the movie!
Never Ending Story Film Props
A few more things if you are going to make the trek to Germany, my geeky friends. Bavaraih FIlm Studios is mostly in German. They do offer 1 English tour a day at 1 pm. You are also able to use their free WiFi and download an English self-guided tour at any time. The whole place will showcase many different German films besides The Neverending story, like Alfred Hitchcock first film – The Pleasure Garden, Stanley Kubrick – Paths of Glory, 1957, parts of Mel Stuart – Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 1971, Wolfgang Petersen’s – Das Boot 1981, Oliver Stone -The Snowden Files, 2015, and Claude Zidi – Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar, 1999. Many of the films have green screens that allow you to act and participate in movie magic. It even has an old-school outdoor McDonald’s on site. The tour will cost you roughly 14 Euro.
So start your planning…. and you can soon live out your ultimate 5-year-old you dreams.
Reach the stars….. Fly a Fantasyyyyyyyy-eee-eeeeee-yyy
