"Animorphs" TV series

7/28/2019 "Animorphs" TV series

1/5

GIST TV Features for CNN http ://www.GIST. com/cnr/story_cnnap.dpg? genre:scifi &adf=sffO90 I 98

FEATURES

AnimorDhsMORE

Patrick Macneeon lhe AyenqersWonder Womanvs. The BionicWomanExclusive: TheLost Eoisodes ofWeird Science

@ 1998 Cable NewsNetwork, lnc. All RightsReserved.@ 1ee8 glslCommunications. lnc.All Rights Reserved.Igre under which thisservice is provided toFeedback I To Advertise IPhoto credits

SCIFII Was a Teenage AnimorphThe sci-fi setial Animorphs, the hoftestbook series in kidlit, comes to TV.N|K-Fridays, 8:30 to 9 p.m. ET,repeating Saturdays, 9:30 to 10 p.m.,beginning Friday, September 4.By Frank Lovece,GISTWStaffThe Power Rangers? That's soooo five minutes ago.Goosebumps? Been scared, done that. Don't you have somethingwith Yeerks and Andalites in it? And how about a Sario Rip and theHork-Bajir?lf it sounds like your kid is speaking an alien language lately (andso what else is new?), he or she probably really is. lt's the jargon ofK.A. Applegate's sci-fi book series Animorphs, which hassupplanted R.L. Stine's Goosebumps novels as tops among pre-'teens. The ongoing saga of-five teenagers imbued with an alienpower to change, or "morph," into animals, it's currently the best-selling children's book series in the country. So of course it wouldmorph into a TV show.Like the books, the new TV series (NlK, premiering Friday, Sept. 4,8:30 to 9 p.m. ET) has a tone far closer to the X-Flles than thePower Rangers; one character in the premiere even says, "Trust noone." The scripts, says executive producer Deborah Forte, "will bebased on the books for the most part, but we're not doing eachstory based on a book. We've used Katherine's characters andoverall story arc, and telling stories both from the book and newstories for the television series."


2/5

And kids being kids, yours will probably have comments and let youknow. How to respond so as to seem da bomb and not a dweeb?Just tune in below for an Animorphs primer.The Basic Story

Elfangor (pronounced El-FANG-or), a warrior prince from theAndalite world, crashed his spaceship onto Earth while battling theYeerks. Mortally wounded, he explained to the five teens whodiscovered him that the parasitic Yeerks have begun taking overhuman host bodies. He used a glowing blue box to imbue the teenswith the ability to morph into animals (even insects) and so defendEarth. Each teen need but touch an animal once in order to absorbits DNA paftern, and can then change into that animal anytime atwill. However, if they remain in animal form more than two hours,they cannot change back.Elfangor (full name Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul) was killed minutesafterward by the Yeerk known as Visser Three. ln Applegate's spin-off book series lhe Anda lite Chronicles, we learn Elfangor hadcome to Earth once before, and sired a son with a human namedLoren.

The HumansJake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, Tobias

Jake (Shawn Ashmore): The serious-mindednatural leader, red-headed Jake is Rachel's cousin


3/5

Gassie (Nadia Nascimento): An African-Americanwho lives with her veterinarian parents, John andAisha, at the \Mldlife Rehablitation Clinic animalpreserve, Cassie is best friends with Rachel and isfond of Jake.Marco (Boris Cabrera): Marco,whose darkly humorous asidesmask a real concern about the danger andresponsibilities of what they're doing, lives with hisengineer dad, Jeremy. Jake's best friend, he cameup with the team name "Animorphs." Marcobelieves his mother, Laura, is dead. However, inthe book series and almost certainly in the TVshow, he discovers that mom had actually been taken over aYeerk-the powerful Visser One (see 'Aliens: Yeerks," below).

Tobias (Christopher Ralph): A parentless loner,shuttled among relatives, the soulful Tobias shortlyoverstays his two-hour animal limit and remainsstuck in the form of a red-tailed hawk. This lastedthrough ten books before his morphing powerswere returned-and ten books after that, Tobiasdiscovered his parents were Elfangor and Loren,and his uncle is the Andalite called Ax (see below).Tobias is developing romantic feelings toward Rachel.

The AliensYeerks: These are slug-sized, vaguely trilobite-looking parasiteswho enter host bodies through the ear canal and take over thehost's brain. Humans or animals inhabited by tfiem are known as.Controllers. The primary Yeerks in the series are Visser Three,


4/5

conquered by the Yeerks. A Hork-Bajir-Controller hunts Jake in thefirst TV episode. The Leerans are orange frogJike telepaths.The Author

Katherine Applegate proposed the series, then called "TheChangelings," in 1995. An editor at Scholastic suggested the title'Animorphs." The first of the monthly books came out in June 1996.Applegate had previously written, by her count, more than 100 teenand children's books, including entries in the young-adult series"Sweet Valley Twins," "Girl Talk," "Ocean City," "Summe/'and"Making Out," as well as movie novelizations, Disney books,Harlequin Romances (pseudonymously) and the American LibraryAward-winning Sharing Sam.And Let's Not Forget...The Sario Rip: A tear in the fabric of time. Well, how e/se wouldthe Animorphs get to the era of dinosaurs?Zero-Space: An otherdimensional place that stores the excessmass when someone morphs into a small creature. And just wheree/se would it go?Kandrona Generator: Well, how e/se would the Yeerks get theirKandrona energy? Geez, the things we have to teach youhumans... !


5/5

Animorphing Onto TVBy Vincent LoveceThis article is about lhe Animorphs television serles. I've read at least 11 Animorphs books,plus The Andaifte Chronictes and the tvro Megamorphs books. Now, you may be thinking,"Why would an adult be reading a children's series?" Well, believe it or not, I'm only ten yearsold.The first episode of the Animorphs, titled "My Name is Jake," is about five teenagers who findan alien named Elfangor in a deserted construction site. He tells them about the Yeerk threat.He explains that the Yeerks are an evil alien species who climb into other species' heads andtake over their mi'nds. Elfangor gave the teenagers the ability to morph into any animal theytouch.My opinion is that the plot was good and interesting, but at times it's a little dull because thereis a lot more talking than action. A lot of the action you don't see, but only hear, while theteenagers are looking at it. And while this series may be based on the books, this first episodestill has some differences. For example: lnstead of going into the 'Yeerk Pool" (a place underthe high school where the Yeerks are fed via beam generators), the teenagers return to theconstruction site. Also, Elfangor gives Tobias (one of the Animorphs) a disk. This is notmentioned in the book. I saw the second episode, too, where the story continues. They don'tmention Jake's brother, who's in the first book. He got taken over by a Yeerk and has to berescued.Lastly, I'd like to say that the actors played their parts very well.Vincent Lovece is a Ftfth-grade student in Manhaftan. He wrote this without parentalasslsfance-eve n the phrase "via beam generators."Relevant Links:Retum to I Was a Teenage AnimorphPhotos courtesy of Nickelodeon/Scholastic Productions

"Animorphs" TV series

Documents

Transcript of "Animorphs" TV series