For those who have never read the book? I think it wise that you do so. Believe me, the 1984 film was seriously cut short and could have been turned into a three hour film easily.
Take Xayide for instance, she makes her appearance within the book after Bastian saves Fantasia, but she was never mentioned in the 1984 film, and here she is in "Tales From The Neverending Story"
I love the film, I also love the TV series as it has characters mentioned in the book but were omitited from the film.
After reading the book then watching the film, I feel somewhat cheated, but then watching the made for TV series I feel that somewhere out there somebody feels the way I do and tried to rectify that by making "Tales From The Neverending Story" you are getting in a round about way what is missing from the film.
Now I am hoping that somebody remakes the original film and includes Xayide this time because the story does not end after Bastian saves Fantasia, to find out what really happens you need to read the book.