Animorphs

Which is weird to think about, because couples only having one child would necessarily lead to a decrease of the population. Surely some of them had to be having more than one child if they were trying to keep their population at roughly the same numbers.

"I've been following a podcast called Animorphology in which two fans of the series from childhood read through the books along with a total newbie, and it's really fun to hear their thoughts on the series."

Thanks for recommending this. I'm really enjoying their reviews and analysis. Just got through with book 6.

Which, funny enough, I read this one long after I read the last book. So I also found it strange that they were perfectly fine killing a hundred defenseless Yeerks on this book, but there was such controversy in the last battle.

And I'm amused by the changes they made to get rid of the overtly 90's stuff.

In-setting, that was the early days of the war, when they haven't gotten all jaded and tired of the whole thing yet. Flushing a hundred out of what seems like a potentially endless number of Yeerks doesn't really seem like anything. Three years later, they're all grappling with the psychological effects, and Jake especially is suffering from knowing that he sacrificed a lot of good people to get that victory, and he likely included the Yeerks on the pool ship among that sacrifice list. That, on top of knowing that he didn't really make that order because he knew it was necessary the way deceiving Doubleday or the Auxiliary Animorphs was, he did it because he just wanted some Yeerks to die.

Out of setting, I'd say chalk that one down to Applegate and Grant's personal views. They needed to show the costs of war and how it causes you to take increasing steps past the line, so they need to have Jake go on a roaring rampage of sacrificing other people for that final victory play.

But from a laws of war perspective, I'm not convinced that he actually did anything wrong. Being that the Pool Ship at this point is like the main base for the Yeerk military leadership in charge of the Earth theater, I fail to see how flushing the Yeerks there into space is any different from, say, bombing a military base while most of the soldiers there are asleep or during "take your kids to work" day. Them being defenseless isn't really relevant, the only salient point is that they have not surrendered and offered themselves into Animorph custody, therefore they aren't actually owed any treatment as prisoners or war.

As for the 90s changes, I'm more of the camp that they should have just kept all the 90s stuff as a period piece. Alas, this was before the science has settled on just how effective the nostalgia machine actually is, what with Cobra Kai, Stranger Things, and host of other media where a lot of the charm is in having its grown-up audience reminisce about their youth.

Edited by PRC4Eva on Jan 10th 2020 at 3:24:34 AM

What changes were made to get rid of the 90s references? I feel like that's a bad idea. 1. I view is as part of the series charm. 2. I think a lot of the plot breaks if you update the setting too much. Cellphones and constant access to cameras and the internet would make certain aspects of the series illogical.

I admit I don't remember the exact situation of what was going on with the Pool Ship, so I'm not sure what the status of the Yeerks on board was.

The 90's stuff is mostly making specific references into things more general - Circuit City becomes "the computer store" for instance - or replacing them with something that still exists, such as switching out Waldens Books with Barnes & Noble.

As Animorphology points out these changes kinda seem unnecessary. It's not like a kid seeing these names wouldn't get what they were from context. Or even care. I myself recall not knowing what some of these stores were back in the day, but just shrugged and kept reading because they really weren't that important.

There was some instances where it seems they were actually trying to make it more modern. They replace a floppy disk with a flashdrive at one point. And they added a line about Jake not having DVR and having to use the "ancient technology" that is a video cassette and VCR.

The latter is clunky, but I can forgive the first one. Computers haven't changed that much since the 90's put the floppy disk would probably have modern 4th graders scratching their heads.

There's a graphic novel adaptation of the first book coming in October.

I saw that! It's going to be a 90's period piece and I already love the art!

So it sounds like we may be getting a movie(series?). I'd prefer another crack at a TV show but I'm definitely excited if true.

Huh, weird. I don't know how they could do an Animorphs film properly, the series is so episodic. I've long held the belief that an Animorphs adaptation could only succeed if done as an animated TV show (movies don't work because it's too episodic, and a live-action tv show wouldn't work because they don't have the budget to make believable animals on screen 70% of the time).

What would they adapt? The most important early books to adapt are probably 1, 4, 7, and 10, since they introduce the premise, Ax, the Ellimist, and the Chee, respectively.

I think you'd basically have to cut out or combine a ton of books. Assuming it's a series.

So movie 1 is parts of(for example) the first 6 books. We establish the characters, introduce Ax, show Marco's mother is Visser One, and end with the Yeerk Pool fight from book 1 and Tobias trapped as a hawk.

Movie 2 introduces the Ellimist, Crayak, and Erek. It ends with Tobias getting his morphing power back.

Movie 3 is David and his story arc.

Movie 4 provides more info on the Ellimist and ends with the discovery of Marco's identity by the Yeerks.

Movie 5 is the auxiliary Animorphs and the buildup to the final story arc.

Movie 6 is the last set of books showing the end of the conflict.

It's not perfect but it works. A series would be better though.

Edit: In less exciting news it appears the Cinnamon Bunzuh blog was taken down. Darn. I was contemplating going back and rereading some of those entries. Adam and Ifi, if you still read this site sometimes, I want to say you were great. Thanks for all the entertainment back then.

Edited by Kostya on Jun 18th 2020 at 3:55:32 PM

It occurred to me that in human morph Ax basically acts like a stoner, what with the munchies and saying words-uh for fun.

I personally think a Netflix series would have been the way to go, but I'll be rooting like crazy for this to succeed. If it ever makes it out of production that is.

I wonder if it was intentional. If I recall there were several covert drug and alcohol references in the books.

Yeah a Netflix series would have been my pick. Preferably animated so they don't have to cheap out on the morphing and alien designs. It would also allow them to do the alien world plots more easily.

Edited by Kostya on Jun 18th 2020 at 9:30:11 AM

Agreed, an animated series is my ideal. Also, animation doesn't have the problem of actors wanting their faces to be shown in a series where the main characters spend 70% of the time as animals, and it would allow the animals to be more emotive than normal animals without them plunging head-first into the Uncanny Valley.

Pacing-wise, I think adapting each book into two 20-minute long episodes or one 40-minute long episode would be for the best, with the Megamorphs and Chronicles books adapted as an hour and a half to 2 hour long movies.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jun 18th 2020 at 7:18:25 AM

Animated series would be fantastic. And you don’t have to adapt every single book, some of them are unnecessary to the overall plot and also pretty silly. Just keep a core set of the best ones.

I mean you need to keep some filler books otherwise the series would be too short. Like my memory is bad but I think book 29 is ultimately filler and it's probably the best book in the main series. The Leeran books are filler mostly but they're pretty good too.

A lot of the books aren't completely necessary for the plot, true, but them being there makes the overall setting and story better. Animated series, period piece works best for this story, with Chronicles and Megamorphs being OV As.

"War is Hell" is a quote from General William Tecumseh Sherman about how war isn't this glorious endeavor people make it out to be, which is a theme throughout the whole series. What I find interesting is he also has another saying, "War is cruelty," which can also be applied to the last battle, particularly Jake's action regarding the Yeerk pool.

"War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over." Sherman made a conscious effort to make war unsexy and devoid of glory. For him, this meant burning crops and farms, freeing slaves, and destroying the infrastructure of the Confederacy. The psychological blow to the rebels' supposedly safe home front killed a lot a support for the war. And whatever dreams of glory on the battlefield some Confederate soldier or leader might be thinking of became hollow and pointless when they found out their families were starving and homeless, leading to mass desertion that fatally weakened the Confederacy.

It's one thing for a Yeerk to be outwitted by another Yeerk, or to be defeated in open battle by the filthy Andalites. But for so many of them to be ripped from the sanctity of their Pool ship, the only home many of them have ever known, to die even without a host to be with them when they perish, without even knowing why. Imagine the sheer violation felt by the collective Yeerk psyche over that. Imagine the individual Yeerks still alive seeing that and realizing the only thing separating them from the empty void was the dumb luck that today wasn't their feeding day. Jake made the war cruel for the Yeerks in a way that shook them to their core. Not even Visser One could make that glorious.

We just finished book 10 the other day. Debating skipping 11 and 12 since as far as I recall they're just fillers that give you a little more details about the setting but it's not like we won't encounter Sario Rips with Ax's explanations when they occur later.

Besides Book 13 gives me an excuse to do my Frank Underwood voice for the Ellimist.

They have some pretty decent explorations of Jake and Rachel's characters. I'd say that you should read 11, at least, since Sario Rips do come up later, even if they work slightly differently.

Book 11 and 12 are both pretty fun. They're definitely less filler-ish than 14.

Graphic novel becomes a meme https://www.reddit.com/r/Animorphs/comments/j87cbm/contest_make_a_meme_using_the_jake_disagrees_with/

Gotta say the character designs and art style really emphasizes how young they are.

I don't even need the words to know that's when Marco tells Jake his brother is a Controller.

Applegate and Grant are no longer participating in the movie's production.

Grant didn't go into detail, but it sounds like the movie is going to diverge wildly from the source material despite their objections.