 The first two television movies were released on DVD and VHS in 2002, followed by a complete series box set in 2004.Departing from the canon of the 1979 novel "The Neverending Story" by Michael Ende, the overall story in the series explored the origin story of how Bastian discovers Fantasia from an even greater point of divergence from Michael Ende's novel than the 1984 and 1990 Warner Brothers films had previously depicted.Events from the novel occur out of order, and specific plot points are reversed between characters.