To think, with hindsight, showing The Neverending Story to a class of 6 year olds was a terrible idea?!

[AngeloMysterioso]

I was one of the 6 year olds in question.

The year was 1991. My teacher in primary school (infants year 1) put it on for us one day.

That shit gave me nightmares for I don’t even know how long. I worried the wolf was going to emerge from any given dark nook or cranny and try to kill me. I worried that the random statues that dotted the town where I lived were going to shoot lasers at me out of their terrifying stone eyes.

And of course, Artax… don’t even get me started on poor bloody Artax.

I haven’t watched it in a really long time so I’m sure the special effects and puppetry would look hilarious these days but still… AIBU to wonder what the fuck my teacher was thinking?!

That wolf is terrifying even now.

Having had my first and only baby at 38, almost 5 years ago, I deffo look and feel like Morla the Ancient One.

I remember The Dark Crystal being shown for us to keep us quiet backstage in our primary school Christmas plays when I was about 6!

My son had nightmares for weeks after some childrens video he was shown at that age - teachers need to be careful. I actually was sick in "The day of the locust" which we had to watch for GCSE

So many films and programmes supposedly for children are either pretty scary - e.g. SO many deaths in Disney films, which they describe as "peril" in the certificate, or inappropriate in some other way such as language, e.g. shrek - "what a load of crap". Adults assume they're kids' films but I agree with you that they're just no good for the very young. This is why many films are rated PG. Never ending story is also rated PG. It's not aimed at six year olds.

They seem to want to aim for the descriptor "family", which often means there are scenes and jokes aimed at adults. I dont need to be "catered for" when I'm watching with my kids. Seeing them enjoying something is entertainment enough for me.
yet stuff doesn't need to be mind numbing - bluey is a good example of that.

We were shown Watership Down at around that age - probably not the wisest choice by the school. Several of the class left in tears

I had nightmares after watching peewee Herman at a similar ages. I was absolutely terrified of it because we weren’t allowed to watch tv at home, just the occasional grown up program like Last of the summer wine with my mum and dad. I’d never seen anything with ‘special effects’ before and the whole thing absolutely freaked me out! God knows what would have happened if I’d seen the never ending story 🤣

My year 7 biology teacher put on arachnophobia for us! 🫣 I had nightmares for years and still can't stand spiders... before that I had a spider living next to me on my ceiling when I had a bunkbed for years.

I was shown the poltergeist on a primary school trip by the teacher. My first week away from my family. No wonder I cried at night every night.

Jesus… ok thats definitely worse!

I dont need to be "catered for" when I'm watching with my kids. Seeing them enjoying something is entertainment enough for me. yet stuff doesn't need to be mind numbing - bluey is a good example of that except Bluey totally is catering to adults. For example, the scene where Chilli and Bandit seem to acknowledge their pregnancy loss. It just does it intelligently

I screamed and sobbed at the cinema during The Neverending Story at roughly the same age in the 80s. I was petrified of that wolf and the cinema staff were trying to help my mum calm me down. The Artex scene was the last straw - I had to be taken home at that point. I was convinced the wolf was in my wardrobe for months - possibly years - afterwards.

Tried watching it again as an adult and it brought back too much trauma so I switched it off and still haven't seen the whole thing. That wolf is still terrifying.

Cracking theme song though.

@SleepingStandingUp sorry, I meant the shows with jokes aimed at the parents which go over the kids heads.. Yes bluey is great for parents, and my kids laugh non stop at it and don't have to ask me what part of it means.

For me, it's the scene at the end of Superman 3 when the older lady gets turned into a cyborg. Terrifying as a child!

Same happened with my class, good old Mr D. decided this would be a good watch for 6-7 years old.

I was a tough cookie and loved it, added the video to my Santa list, but so many girls were traumatised, one girl was crying so much Mr D. eventually let her leave the classroom so sort herself out. (I'm sure boys were scared too but they would be 'acting tough' in those days).

I can hardly watch it now, so scary and that poor horse!

So many questionable decisions. My child’s year 3 class had take home books featuring Roman myths, including the one about the hunter turned into a stag and torn apart by his own hunting dogs. I mentioned to the teacher that this wasn’t a great choice for a children’s book and she just shrugged and said kids saw worse on the internet.
At the time I let it go but looking back it’s representative of everything that is failing in modern schools. Maybe I should have objected because turning him into a stag was assuming his gender or something.

Bambi. Not at school, but I had to be taken out of the cinema aged 4 as I was so upset when his mother was shot.

Same! It was a cartoon about a rabbit, so fine for kids right?

Bambi, Watership Down, Return To Oz... The stuff of nightmares.

Get a hold of yer self

Loved Never Ending Story.

I got nightmares from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
....hear me out.😁

The child catcher, acted by the phenomenal, great dancer Robert Helpmann, still brings up problems for me. 😂

Its the bit where the children are hiding in the basement and verrrry slowly the child catcher face appears upside down, through the window.
I think the prosthetic nose doesnt help either.

I remember watching The Last Unicorn in reception in 1989. I think I was so scared I had to be taken out of the room.

I remember at about that age being shown the first half of a film about an otter. We were promised the second half another time.

I don't know whether it was Tarka the Otter or Ring of Bright Water, but either way, I can understand why they never made good on the promise.

I was recently overjoyed to find an archive version of Flight of Dragons cartoon online, I remember it so vividly from my childhood, but very much in 2 minds to show DD6.

On one hand there are a few mildly distressing bits (BIG spoiler - most of the characters are killed near the end, nothing gruesome, a dragon just whacks them with his claw and they're instantly dead on the ground, no blood. One of them stands in dragonfire and chucks a fiery sword at dragon, then dies too. Then about 5 minutes later everyone is resurrected, and happy endings all round). The villain Ommadon (spectacularly voiced by James Earl Jones) is rather scary though so maybe not.

Same thoughts with The Secret of Nimh and the flashback with the poor animals in the lab.

I don't think I'd show her the last unicorn at this age. And definitely not the neverending story or the dark crystal!

end of the school year they showed a film to the whole school on the last afternoon. (kids aged 11-16) Some fuckwit choose ring of bright water. When the otter meets a grim end cue half the school in floods or tears.

Our school let us watch Child's Play. As I recall, one of the kids brought it in from home and said "Can we watch this one? It's about a doll that comes to life."
The teacher pressed play and they all left the room while we watched it. How they hadn't heard of it I don't know, but it had already been in at the cinema, and I think this was some dodgy pirate version 😂