Lawrence Mooney and The NeverEnding Story

Kid. He Peter Helly here. Welcome to you Ain't seen Nothing Yet?

The movie podcast, where our chat to a movie lover about a classic or beloved movie they haven't quite got around to watching until now. And today's guest comedian mate Lawrence Mooney.

Ah blow, I want to stay here with you. He's little jobble. Why hate snake shucked?

Hi hail, haven't any right now?

You ain't seen nothing.

Lawrence Mooney is somebody who I've known for the entire duration of my stand up career. We met hanging around stand up rooms and clubs in Melbourne in the late nineties and it's been amazing to see Lawrence's trajectory into becoming a true force of nature in the Australian stand up scene and entertainment scene. Lawrence has done so many shows, both on stage but also shows that you would know him from.

He's one of those guys.

Who would always get a call to be on the new show, whether it be Fixed or specs. Have you been paying attention, Hughsy, we have a problem. He's a guy that you want on your show. A fun fact which I kind of forgot about is that Lawrence actually also was a semi finalist in NBC's Last Comic Standing in two thousand and seven. I think it was Lawrence shows live shows have always been really interesting. He's got

Get my Name's Lawrence Mooney and my three favorite films, Godfather One, We.

Big SHOT's going to give you what you want Too late. They started shooting in a week. I want to make them an awful grown review. Caddy Shack. My enemy is an animal. In order to conquer him, I have to.

Think like an.

Ever possible.

And Manhattan, I really did want to see a light.

I like it when you get an uncontrolabbord.

Yeah, that's my best feature.

And up until yesterday, I hadn't seen the never Ending Story.

Oh no, don't start to dudge yourself to be confident.

Yes, three years before Fred Savage's grandfather read him a tale about the Princess Bride and Vezini and fsick young Bastian played by Barrett Oliver, was in his dusty school

No, I didn't, And conveniently, the high school addict at this particular school or intermediate school. It's hard to know how old Bastien really is. He's probably nine or ten. Yeah, it's like a proper attic. It's got a human skeleton there, it's got stuffed heads on the wall, there's dust, there's old artifacts, there's candles available for him to light it up.

It is there is something about it we don't really have in our design of our houses. In Australia, the attic in the basements aren't really that much of a thing. But in America they're all, says, hugely part of their infrastructure but never taken care of.

And you know that the moment that somebody goes into an attic and starts poking around and opens an old chest, a magical adventure is about to happen. So you know that he's about to step through a portal somewhere Bastian into the portal of the fantasia. That takes a while to happen in this film, you know they had knowledge of his presence. He could see the story unfolding. He's reading the book that we're watching, and it just took a lot too long to get him in there.

Yeah.

Well, there's a lot to talk about, and I want to come back, and there's so many elements and I want to know your opinions and all of those things. But let's talk about your three favorite films. Godfather Part one. I always say my three films I Godfather Part one, slast Part two.

I just combind.

I know it's a bit of a It is a cop out because you have to make a choice, and it is Sophie's choice because it's a hard one.

Yeah, I'll have Godfather Part two ahead of it, would you Okay?

Because because I love the de Niro element, You're always enjoying wherever they put you, Like if you're back in History watching de Niro, you're enjoying that. And then when you go back to Michael, you're enjoying that. It's not like, oh, we've got to go back to Young Godfather now. You know, I enjoyed the whole thing. And Fredo is the other element that I love in Godfather.

Parts of Frida, Yeah, yeah, and the Lake House and the inevitability of yes, well do we do spoiler alerts on these?

We'll just presume that people have seen the films.

Yes, yes, absolutely So god Father Part One? What do you love about that one? Well, I mean it's a cracking film.

Brando first of all, absolutely steals the show and the whole history behind it. And it's one of those films where you're making up the list of your top three and you have to decide do I put in the film that I've watched the most, because you have to leave a few of those out, and it is one of the films that I've watched the most, and I just love the whole unfolding of how Michael is invested with the power and then he takes the power, and then that finale and it all starts, of course at

I love the Mafia.

The assassination scene in the Italian restaurant is just one of the all time great scenes in any movie. In fact, I think it's probably my favorite see the scene in any movie.

There's a great series on stan called.

The Offer Yeah, and on Paramount actually excuse me, on Paramount Thank you very much and Paramount Good Peace. Great shows. So that is discussed at length how al Pacino was going to find that with him in him to do it, but also the logistics and that that scene was brought forward because the studio was starting to lose faith with the project, so they bring on Robert Evans to watch

Beautiful moment where he goes to look for the gun at the back of the cistern the toilet there, and Frans with for a Coppler had like changed where it was, so he actually kind.

Of somewhere, he actually really search for it. It's just a little such a little touch that was so brilliant.

And then just that moment where he's between the two the cubicle and the door to the outside and you just hear the train going from the background. He just puts his hands through his hair, just come a moment before he's about to do what he's about to do. Yeah, it's stunning.

You don't want to rush it.

And I remember from that assassination scene the blood mist that they used, so you hear the gun shot and then you see this blood mist. So it's beautifully artistic too. It's beautifully shot, and then there's another bang and he's been instructed drop the gun and walk out of the restaurant. And as he's walking and don't look at anyone in the eyes, he doesn't let go of the gun.

It's like, you got to let go of the gun. You got to let go go the gun.

And so there's this moment of suspense and finally you see his hand open, the gun hits the floor.

And he's out.

Yeah, it's stunning and life has changed forever.

Absolutely. Caddy Caddy Shack.

This has appeared in People's Top three lists, like this and grandhog Day have come up a bit. What do you love about Caddy Shack?

Caddie Shack was an ensemble comedy film, so they had a bunch of great comedians, including Ted Knight, who was always a big favorite of mine. Rodney Dangerfield is this is the movie where I discovered Rodney Dangerfield. Of course, Bill Murray's in a Chevy chase. It's hilarious and it

This is the movie you've seen more than others, because I mean, I've seen Godfather quite a bit, but it's obviously it's a three hour film.

It's hard to commit to watching it a lot.

I commit to it on flights. I probably have rewatched it on flights where you go, what am I going to watch?

Am I going to watch?

You know?

And Avengers? Or am I going to watch something old? And I think that as you age, just to keep reverting back to your old favorites, like that's just a comfy chair.

You know how it's going to go.

You're not going to be disappointed because watching a film for a long time, then being disappointed is something that becomes more and more disappointing.

You just go, what a wasted time? And that was geez I've done a thin recently.

We've gone back and discovered bands that I didn't give enough time to growing up, even David Bowie, right, it turns out he's actually really good Lawrence.

Yeah, I've heard of it.

Yeah, Yeah, he's really good checking out. So you've been doing deep dive on stuff that passed you by at the time.

Yeah, just kind of like The Smiths as well. The Smiths. Absolutely, Yeah, you're going to go.

I don't know why what was in my head at the time. Why I didn't, you know, jump into this.

You know, were you living at a sharehouse in Collingwood or North fitz Roy, because that's where I found the Smiths. Everyone was playing the Smiths. That was mid to late eighties.

Yeah. Sure, around that time when I was I was in a really it wasn't a sharehouse as me and a mate in Collingwood and around that age, I reckon I very much enjo into Australian like Paul Kelly Weddings Party is anything Billy Bragg obviously he's not.

Yeah, but in that genre, I loved a bit of folk stuff.

Which Eric Bogel Eric Bogan So what kind of folk were you listening to? Bob Dylan. Well, what did I say, folk? A bit of Dylan, A bit of Dylan.

So yeah, Wedding's part is anything I would say his folks, Paul Kelly's take on a genre like folk rock because sometimes on you know the Apple music you can go then various rabbit holes. As far as music adjacent to I love the band of National. They're probably my favorite band.

And I really love that band too. I was put onto them by Dave O'Neill.

Yeah, well, we speak about The National, but we both went to the concert.

Actually, yeah, a long time ago, and because of your we were at the gig and he's really into music and listens to a lot. He said, if you listened to The National and I reckon, I probably bought that album twenty years ago.

Does that sound right? Well, the means which album was the what the White one with high Violet? Yeah?

Yeah, I okay, that was twenty ten. It's about fourteen years ago. Manhattan, What are you album? Well, I'm from being brave enough to step up to the plate, and I think if you be left Wood album movies off. He's come up a couple of times this and any Hall.

What's the problem with Woody. What is everyone backing away from Woody? Is he okay? Is he well, I think he's okay. He's still making movies. Is he still married to I'm not sture what his currently he is. I think he is. I think he's still married to her. It's worked out, hasn't it.

Who was his the adopted daughter of his daughter, one of his first wives. And some people have got an issue with that whole grooming process. But we're not going to talk about that.

Are we.

Down that path a little bit?

Because I understand the whole cultural idea of silencing someone or wiping them, you know, off the back of Michael Jackson and Woody Allen's oove and Rolf Harris thrown out your Rol Harris albums.

Not quite not quite yet, But I can't find my Rol Harris albums. I want to throw them out. So I understand that cultural argument.

But what I want to say is I think that Woody Allen's move are amazing, and it's very hard for me to say, well, I'm not going to watch.

That movie anymore or ignore that movie.

And Manhattan is one of them, and it's a choice between Manhattan and any Hall for me.

Yeah, and I think, I think I'm able to separate the art and the artist sometimes and even to put out on the side. I think, Yeah, if you go through any film, there's gonna be somebody on that set or somebody you know who's got a past or did something inappropriate during that movie. So everyone has their own line. And Manhattan, no doubt, he's a cracking film.

Yeah, And so wood he pursues and falls in love with a student played by Mariel Hemingway of the famous Hemingway family. While we're dropping big family names the Oppenheim's otherway, it's a tortured kind of love affair. He's a neurotic. He always plays, you know, a fairly neurotic jew, New York Jew, and so he's agonizing about everything the whole way.

And that's where it ends with a.

Big, beautiful jazz trumpet out the back of it, and it's just wonderful. And I kind of fell in love with Manhattan without Abbott being there through that movie. It's like, I've got to go there, and so the whole thing was beautiful when I eventually arrived in Manhattan. Wasn't shot in black and white, didn't run into woody. When I say trumpet, maybe it's a clarinet that finishes that film because he.

Played the clarene.

Excuse me, is it a brass instrument or is it woodwind? Because they're different sections. They are different sections.

All right, let's get on to the movie we're here to talk about. This is the never ending story.

The wise one says, you're.

Dying because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams, so that nothing grows strong.

What is the nothing?

It's the emptiness that's left. It is like a despair destroy this world, and I have been trying to help it.

But why Because people who have no hopes are easy to control, and whoever has the control.

Has the nineteen eighty four The never Ending Story, directed by the great Wolfgang Peterson Lawrence Mooney. Yes, did you enjoy the first of a trilogy, The never Ending Story?

I didn't realize it was a trilogy because they do say at the end the never Ending Story will always go on, and so I was teasing.

Forward to a sequel. Did I enjoy it? I really enjoyed it.

Had only ever seen the iconic luck Dragon foul cor Fell flying, you know, as a trailer to the movie with the kid on top, and had that rousing kind of very eighties techno bit of since that song the never Ending Story never Ending, and I think I've sung along to it without even knowing anything about the movie. So it was nice to actually put those parts together.

And those were the two things I knew, So full disclosure, I had never seen this movie. I watch after the first time this week, and I agree that the two things I certainly knew was the dog Dragon didn't even know.

Foul Call's name. I didn't actually know his name. No, I knew that it was a.

Big dragon, and I didn't know that it was a luck dragon and that foul cor yes was his name.

And the song of course.

So even when I saw that was directed by Wolfgang Peterson, I think that was made in Germany, so a lot I didn't know about.

Where do you want to go? First?

I love quest movies first of all, So to talk about The Quest, the childlike Empress as they call her.

She's child like. She's a child, isn't she.

That's the interesting thing for me about the end of the movie because they refer to her as the Empress, the Empress Empress. Then there's a reveal that she's a child supposedly, and then you're introduced to the idea that she I went through the cast and the characters called the childlike Empress. So is it like an adult and she looks like a child And if that is the case, that is wrong and cancellable. Okay on a Woody Allen level,

Sure, sure, sure, this is you know I've been discussion about a movie. You're just processing.

I love a Quest movie. And if I was a child, I'd be so into it. So let's ignore my theories on that. But the young hero betray you. The warrior is chosen to go and find a cure for the Empress's illness, and so he has to go through all these different lands, the Crystal Tower, the Silver Mountains, the desert of shattered hopes and hope and nothingness are a big thing here. And every time you heard the nothingness, you're trying to equate it to some one or something like,

Why is it destroying everything?

Because it's so powerful, it has no hopes. I think I started corresponding with you when a tray you, a tray you and his horse attacks got stuck in the swamp of sadness. Now the swamp of sadness works like this. It's quicksand it's sticky mud.

It's very Dagabar from Empire strikes back. Yeah, you wouldn't be surprised if Yoda and Luke's X Wing was just out of shot.

They have a Yoda type character in it. Called smaller, Yes, the giant turtle who's very sage anyway, So a Trayu and Artas are slogging through the swamp of sadness, and the rule is if you become sad in the swamp of sadness, it sucks you down. And then Artax is starting to get bogged, and a Trayo's screaming at him, saying, come on, come on, don't get sad, and it's like, oh,

It was a pretty stunning moment. I have a few thoughts on this, and the first thing is, and I think you alluded to it. We sent one text message. Ugly, I don't converse with the person watching a movie because I want to hear all your thoughts.

But when something like.

Holy fuck, the horses are surrounded the seat of sadness, and I was thinking one, this would have been a more powerful moment if there was more time leading up and we got to know the horse like the horse is almost a.

Bit more of that relationship. So as much as it was full on seeing a horse drown and it was wow.

And I'm trying to think how they actually did it from a movie point of view, but to tray you, actually he's the one with all the sadness. The horse is just being a horse, yes, fearful, and I think it should have been instead the swamp of sadness, a swamp of fear. And that's the more I think powerful thing. To play with it, you have to go through this swamp and not becomemfortable.

Yes, that's a good test because there's a bit of artistic license used. When a tray you a tray you of course becomes incredibly sad that ar tax has died, but the swamp doesn't swallow him up. So yeah, the swamp of fear where he has to just bite down and horses and unnaturally fearful creatures, Peter, they're prey creatures. They're flat toothed grass eaters and so they've always been eaten by other things. I was watching how they did it.

Eyes really good, quite uncomfortable.

Next scene it's just the mud. He's disappeared into the mud. But tray you can really ride because when he gets on attacks and he's just bolting in search of a cure for the Empress to save Fantasia from the nothingness. He just rides for ages. And that's another thing I noticed about the film. It's very light on dialogue. There's very little said, so there's a lot of that eighty

The puppetry I think, or whatever I got. The special effects actually were one of my favorite things about it. I think there's obviously some green screen that looks a bit dated, but I think the creatures were all very forty years this year or very impressive.

Actually, rock Bider, I think he was called. He was great.

He was very believable, and also more of the Big Turtle. It was fantastic, So all of that stuff, and of course the flying Dragon. Yeah, whose name has eluded me.

So these are the two things I thought of. One I really and slightly annoyed. I didn't see this as a nine year old in the cinema. This comes out in eighty four, born in seventy five. I would have this movie would have meant a lot to me. I think he would have saw.

It, identifying with both central characters, which is a parallel universe between Betrayu and Bastion yep. And they're both stricken with grief. Bastian's lost his mum, a tray who loses arttacks. They're both on a quest that's tend to get away from bullies who eventually.

Could get their own.

There's a bit of poetic justice in the end from foul course swooping down into the streets of some American city to chase bullies into a dump STU. So, yeah, as a kid, you would have been Charlie Bucket, or you would have been you know, you would have been straight up there.

As an adult, it didn't have the same You try to put yourself in nine ye old shoes, but all I can say is if I had to send this as a nine year old, this movie would have meant a lot to me. As an adult. I'm like, it seems light on detail. I don't know why a lot of these things are actually really happening. I think this movie, out of all the movies we've covered on you ain't seen nothing yet. I would love to see a remake, I think, And usually you might kind of think, oh,

Get over it. Joined the swimming team please, Yes, that's right.

I'm a bit disappointed you didn't go for the swimming team, and we've got to get on with the job. But also then there's no, you don't see the Father again. No, there's there's a bit of that in that film, where like that storyline is superfluous and we're just stopping it there.

But you could really have the Father being on board.

I think this is an epic potentially, like an epic tale, and I don't think they've committed to getting all of the stakes right to make it feel epic, like tray, even a tray you go on this mission, it's dangerous.

You can't take any weapons. Why can't he take weapons? Who is a tray? You set him up? We don't really know he's a kid? Why is he so?

Because certainly from the performance, and like he doesn't seem to me to be a worrier of note, he's a brave kid.

Sure that he does in the end, you know, pick up a piece of stone and kill themore very quickly too. Yeah, but especially revealing that I'm the one you're looking for, who's going to save the Empress. You're representing the powers of darkness. You know, he's the Darth Vader character in the whole thing. And it has got elements of Star Wars there too, well, the exploding sanctuary of Fantasia. Yeah,

Of course, we might be heading more into eighty six eighty seven with those movies, I think, But maybe would you have even give Tutsi a run?

I watched Twutsy again recently, and it's one of my favorite films.

It's a great one.

I love that film. Dustin Hoffman is amazing, and again Bill Murray's in it too. I thought that, you know, the gender politics discussed in that film still probably beyond their time, very prescient today. So he plays this female hero, of course, and he's a man, and the whole world and university creates is sensational. And Sidney Pollick and it is great too as the manager, so many good people. Michael Dorsey, my name's Michael Dorsey. Jessica Lang is amazing

There was a shot where he looks like kind.

Of sphinxes sphinxes, Yeah, yeah, but it was the en route to the Southern Oracle. To get the answer to what ails the Empress and how to cure her.

Yeah, you are so across these details because I must say a lot of them. It's like going, I'll spend a lot of his movie going what's he doing?

What's he?

You know?

It just felt like, okay, you need to pass this challenge now. Yeah, so that the classic that is the I said quest Yes, yes, but for me it lacked like a real light because they hadn't kind of explained why he couldn't have weapons and why this is going to be so dangerous, and why the Empress was falling ill and what he was actually really trying to achieve, and then then nothingness was kind of for me fell a little bit was too disembodied.

Really.

Yeah, yep. The nebulus is a good word.

Yeah, it's like, okay, I can see you kind of going for like maybe a force kind of thing Star Wars is. I mean, being a big Star Wars fan, I could see the Star Wars influences.

Yeah, a lot of influences.

When so when he's going through en route to the Southern Oracle, he passes through these two I think they refer to them as sphinxes. They expose your true self true and so if you are not a genuine person, then their eyes open up and a laser beam shoots down and you are destroyed. And so with this kind of night in shining armor tries to go through first. So a little bit of the Monty pathons about it. That too, So he is not his true self. He's a pretender in a suit of armor. We want to

So he walks through there and he does look up and there is you know, these are busty sphinx is. You know, it feels like obviously there's not gonna be too much to be sillacious shots but in a kid's film, But it felt like they've gone for it in this one. The eyes kind of open up and actually shoot at him, but he's able to jump through.

And I thought that's a confusing thing for me because they haven't read him at all. He's a good guy.

Yeah, he's a warrior spirit and he's on a quest to save Fantasia and to get an answer. And if you can't get that through your sphinxy heads and you're not.

Up for the job, I think.

And in the remake, which I'll be producing, like I would have had the eyes open, like starting starting to open, almost like they're kind of considering where the street you can still build the tension without actually shooting it and kind of taking away the worth of I tray you.

Now, tray you get through that gate, Peter.

And then he goes on to stage two, Stage two of the Southern Oracle and meets the Oracle and they are again two busty sphinxes. They're speaking to him and they tell him that the answer is he needs to find a new name for the child like Empress.

Again it has to do is changed the name again?

I would say, why, why is this the key to unlocking? And it might be there, like I've only watched it the one so feel free. Yes, the podcasts at gmail dot com let us know. But why because I read that there was some tie in that his mother's name was Moonchild, so he's actually giving her his mother's name. But that's not If that's the case, that's not clear. That is not clear, And it's not clear that his mum.

Was a massive hippie because his dad's a businessman making an egg and orange juice in a blender and telling him to stiff upper lip. And then they're saying, we need a new name for the Empress, the child like Empress. It's like, no, you need a name because her name the childlike Empress. Yes, you need un name. They're beseeching him to say the name, and she's like, you know the name, say the name. So he goes to this window.

And that was the big connection for me.

It's like, oh, so that's where I am in this because once upon a time I was a moonchild.

Now I'm a Moonman.

So you.

You do the math, Pete. Okay, he's yelling my name out to me. I was a tray whose mother moonchild back in nine point eighty four. That's how I was Moonchild, and now I'm Moonman. So I am the sequel and I am the never endig story. Do I have dragon like qualities to you? If I flap my arms, do you think I could take off?

Yes? I could, and you could ride on my neck, Peter.

That's all I'm saying. That's I can't believe I watched this and not know when he yelled at When he yelled at Moonchild, I just started laughing and it's like, oh my god, I didn't realize that I was part.

Of this movie. Well you are reading the book, that's you. Yeah, you are, Bastian.

Oh I am bashing because my mum also died a couple of years ago, so my dad's not around anymore to tell me to have a stiff upper lip.

Have you joined the swimming team? See? Are you disappointed? And you need to get on with it?

Mate, You need to get on with it and join the swimming I think the ideas in this film are brilliant.

I really do.

And there are some great lines. In fact, they had, like nihilistic turtle you know in the swamp is kind of brilliant. In fact, let's listen, we haven't playing many mala.

I've bring terrible news. Did you know that the Empress is very ill, not mad?

Yes?

Actually, we don't care.

If I don't save it, she'll die. There's a terrible nothing sweeping over the land. Don't you care about that? We don't even care whether or not we care. Do you have a call?

No?

We're a lot shit shit you.

So I love that.

That's a great line. Yeah, I don't even care whether or not we care.

Morea's very zen, the ancient one, and so is sitting you know, with all this milestrom going on around her eventually gives the young warrior a tray. You the instructions he needs where to go? Is that when he goes to the Crystal Mountain?

Or No, I think it's pretty because I think the swamp of Sadas is almost one of the first things he does.

Yeah, he gets across and he's got to go to the Crystal Mountain. She sounds a little bit like mad from Neighbors, doesn't she?

Yeah, No, wouldn't care if we care.

A bit of a chain smoke and mauler, but a definite Yoda quality to it. Yes, wrinkle faced, speaking in riddles.

Almost like a you know, some kind of reptile or yeah, I did.

Look a little bit penile. I'm going to say there was.

On the side it stands, extends towards the child.

It's out of the shell, and it's got a lump on the back of its neck, and that no one's thought that through.

But I do think Bastian he kind of holds the movie together in a way. I think he's really good. I think a Tray is not as strong. His dialogue was dubbed over, apparently, so I'm not sure who Noah Hathaway is. The way I think he's now a martial arts expert. I read about his personal life. You know, when the personal life in Wikipedia is very short. I think the guy who played Bastian his Wikipedia personal life is it?

Is it Oliver? Yeah, Barrett Oliver Barnett, Oliver Oliver Barnett or something like that. Oliver.

Anyway, So Oliver belonged to the Church of Scientology, and his current religious beliefs are not known. The two line. That's disturbing stuff for a child actor. But I thought that kid was great, completely believable. And of course you're looking at the child actor thinking, oh God, I hope your future was okay, because they wig out a lot of the time. But how into the story he was, And when you're talking about, you know, the remake and

At the end.

I think, so you're not remaking the film for the special things. Obviously the special things will be better, but I think there's some of those details in this film could be clearer and more into and the stakes could be a bit high. I did think they'd do a good job of setting his mum's passed away, so you're you are empathetic towards him. He's been bullied, so already you're cheering for Mastion. You know, he gets thrown to a dumpster.

Plus, I think the the nothingness destroying Fantasia can really you can have that avatar type environmental message pretty clear that the world is being destroyed.

Yeah.

Yeah, and you know, and it's obviously a plea for kids and adults alike to keep their imagination, you know, ticking over that the guy in the bookstore I thought could have been he was kind of almost like Gremlin's. They go in and there's very mysterious. I thought that maybe like a little bit of mystery about it, Like this seemed a little bit too.

It could have been dimicks.

Yeah, well it wasn't it could have been black books. You almost expect Bob Bill Bailey to walk out of there.

Yeah, I thought there was a bit more in there. Yeah.

I thought like like the also the suggestion of that he's a bit malevolent, that guy. You don't want danger, you can't, but he's you know, coaxing the child towards his quest.

Yeah, And he kind of turns.

Just by the fact that he's read five books, he's read Lord of the Rings, he's read two thousand legues under the Sea.

Is that enough? I was swayed by that.

I thought you were well read, little kid, and he names the you know. Yeah, I did like it as a detail, but I thought I wanted a little bit more. I thought that scene could have been a bit longer. And I'm not necessarily condoning films to be longer than they need to be, but I thought there could have been more setting up for this.

I was actually relieved to see it only around ninety four minutes. I think that any kid's movie should be around about ninety minutes, and I just find it difficult to sit through a longer film. Now, having said that, I did watch Oppenheimer and got through it without a problem.

Thought it was fantastic.

But I'm very glad the never ending story ended because do they I didn't look this up, but merch because Falcore would have been massive.

Merged, yeah, and you don't think of that as merch. So we didn't know his name, like, yeah, massive film made in Germany. Germany got behind it as a nation.

You know, they yeah, they really when they throw their weight behind something as a nation, they really commit to it, they.

Really go for it. I can't think of any other examples off the top of my head.

But no, but the Never Ending Story is a really good one to throw you away behind it.

I imagine it was a little bit of like, we're making this film, and this is a film made in Germany by you know, I imagine a lot of Germans, obviously a lot of American casts in there. But I imagine it's also like, this is something that's positive, it's got nothing to do with our history, you know, something we can be proud of. So I think there might have been a little bit of like, yeah, lets this could be part of our moving on.

I think so.

And because you know, you think about nineteen eighty four, it's only forty years after the end of World War Two, and so that is relatively recent history. We're talking about something that's forty years old now, so of course they would love to be seen to be putting a positive light back into the world. Yeah, And I think they deal it with Never Ending Story because it is a big, happy ending.

And it's pretty war coming down as well, so still be going on in Germany. But I let's just quickly talk about the and the author of the book this owned the movie because he hated the ending. He hated the fact that Falkore came into.

The real world. It was always basically about.

Bastian kind of disappearing into Fantasia and that world, and that he thought broke the fourth wall a little bit like him coming in and it's scary. I can understand why wolf Gang Penis and maybe one of them. It's a nice movie moment, but it doesn't completely make sense.

No, and what Bashian should be given is the tools to go back to the real world as the infant human or the child human and confront his own enemies and demons with the tools that he's acquired from this boy warrior and from Falcore and the childlike Empress.

So he's now fit.

The idea of Falkore flying through the streets of an unknown American city or unnamed American city kind of had for me. Would you fly a jumbo jet down a street like that just seemed out of context.

And one of the Covidis of that that this dragon as appears in the real world. I haven't seen the sequel apparently the bully steal the book and that kicks off. I think that's the sequel, that there's three of them as well. Let's talk about good performances. Bastian is fantastic, but let's have it. Listen to the childlike empress who first time she's ever really appeared, I thought she was extraordinary.

He doesn't understand that he's the one who has the power to stop it. He simply can't imagine that one little boy could be that important.

Is it really me?

He doesn't know what he has to know, what doesn't have to do.

He has to give me a new name. He's already chosen it. He just has to call it out.

It's only a story.

It's not real. It's only a story. I tell you now.

I dream, Bastian. Why don't you do what you dream?

Bastion? My yeah, ed, give my feet on the ground, call my name, Bastion, please save us. All right, I'll go. I'm saying you.

Do, moonshine.

It took his time, I mean, I guess you know. It's a very weird circumstance to me, and to be reading a book and realize that you're a part of the book. So I understand that it might take some time, but when actually saying Bastian, do you need to do?

Come on?

It's one of the things that annoys me about movies when they're teasing out the climax like that, when we all know what he needs to do and obviously the tempest is getting worse or the apocalypse or whatever, and it's honest, now this is going to go forever. Like the end of one of those, you know, Avengers movies where the monsters are starting to smash up the city and then they punch holes in the road and then they're destroying everything. I thought, well, who's going to rebuild that?

Yeah.

And if he had said moonschild even ten seconds earlier, could have saved the city a couple of million dollars. Lawrence Mooney Potato homework and you have dived in deep to never ending story. As I was watching, I was really curious as to what you would think of it, the fact that you've come with so much detail and understanding of the film.

My daughter is a horse owner. I'm the father of a horse owner, and so we're really into horses now. So when there's a horse in a movie, I'm really switched on. So when Artax arrives and he rides it, I'm thinking that kid can ride. He's really like, he can properly ride. Then Artax dies in the swamp of Sadness and I'm like, what the hell's going on here?

Yes, and there's attacks.

I didn't understand what that was exactly, but it was a kind of a foreboding of what was about to happen. And then he meets the Godork or the Gouk.

And I agree that and there's a nice moment. But there's a lot of nice moments that I'm not quite sure how are why they exist. So and thek there's a big speech and then he attacks him.

He reveals that he's empowered by the force behind the nothingness, the true darkness, so you don't know whether it's the devil or some other malevolent force, and that he's been sent to kill the one that will save the Empress. And earlier on it's the luck Dragon. The plucks him out of the swamp as the Gauk's about to kill him, so he thinks he's missed his opportunity, and then he goes, no, I am a tray you and then the fight is on.

It's very brief. It's very brief. He basically leaves and gets stabs straight awaund and eyes.

I would like to have seen a movie now you spend a little bit more time on a bit of a putting a tray in a bit more danger. Well, I think we should head to a cafe now and start working on a first draft.

I think so of the reboot.

Let's start writing our draft proposal for a grant.

Yeah, Lawrence Mooney, I appreciate your time during the Melbourne the National Comedy Fils for you to dedicate a few hours to not only watch the film, to come in and have a chat.

Peter, we go back a long way.

I was thinking, you know about one of my first memories of you going into the Alphington Dan Murphy at the end of ninety seven or ninety eight or maybe the beginning, and you had just returned from a full moon party in Thailand and you still looked shell shocked. You kid, pete aa and you spun around. It's like your nerves jangling and say, yeah, I've just just come back from Thailand and so yeah, you were still trying to close a few doors that were open.

It it was an adventure. And so some.

Thirty years down the track, here we are. It's nice to nice to be.

We did have a festival. I think it might have been ninety nine. I Reckon where Yourself. Myself and Rove spent a.

Lot of time on Deve.

Carl and Dave Callum spent a lot of time dancers, meeting up after our shows and hitting dance floors and then stages at the High Fire Bar.

Yeah, and we would go to that bar that's now the Cherry Bar in Little lon Star straight. Yeah, it's a pleasure to hang out with you. We go back a long way, so nice to see you.

I love you, mate.

That was Lawrence Mooney, the Moonman, the Moonchild. I cannot believe I didn't actually put those two things together when Bastian yelled at from the attic window.

He's just very switched on Lawrence Mooney, and I was very surprised. No, No, it wasn't.

I was actually very grateful because I only got the watches the once. Like I said, a lot of the detail didn't make a lot of sense to me about this movie, but Lawrence was able to kind of articulate and navigate the world of Fantasia, and I truly appreciate that because, like I said, there were things that got a little bit lost on me. Working on the remake soon. Will keep you posted on how that is coming along.

We want to get more of your voices on this show, and so we

Leave old Pete, save fan sut and to our friends of the radio audience, we've been a pleasant good night