Animorphs
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Animorphs is an English language science fiction series of young adult books written by K. A. Applegate and published by Scholastic. The first book of the series was published in June 1996. The term "Animorphs" also refers to the protagonists of the series.
On the surface, the series chronicled the lives of five average human teenagers and an alien (from a race called Andalites) who, with powers of shapeshifting ("morphing") granted them by Andalite technology, attempt to prevent the takeover of Earth by the Yeerks, a race of parasitic aliens. However, Animorphs as a whole focused on how the war affects and changes the characters, rather than on the superficial elements of the plot.
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[edit] Summary
In an undisclosed city in the United States (later revealed to be in California near Santa Barbara), five young teenagers, Jake Berenson, his cousin Rachel, his best friend Marco, his school friend Tobias, and Rachel's friend Cassie walk home one night from the mall through an abandoned construction site (which they are not supposed to do, as their parents seem worried about the area). There, Tobias spots a blue light in the sky, which they discover is an alien spacecraft. The petrified children watch as the apparently damaged craft lands and out steps a strange wounded creature from another planet. This alien is like a deer with a man's torso and a scorpion tail, and calls himself Elfangor; he is an Andalite. Elfangor tells the kids of an alien invasion by a parasitic species known as the Yeerks. The human race is completely oblivious, and it does not have the means with which to fight off this invasion. Elfangor's people are also two years away from sending another force to Earth, and by that time, the Yeerk conquest of the planet would be complete. The youths are disbelieving. However, Elfangor tells them that he can give them powers to resist the imminent Yeerk occupation: the ability to touch an animal, and then become it -- a process known as "morphing." Incredulous, the teens argue amongst themselves but quickly decide that they have no choice but to accept. Within minutes of Elfangor's landing, Yeerk spacecraft have located the wounded Andalite. The sinister beings land, headed by a Yeerk general, Visser Three, who is in possession of an Andalite body. The children escape, leaving Elfangor behind, and watch from a distance as the Visser morphs into a hideous monster and consumes Elfangor.
Frightened and confused, the children are unsure of what to do. They are very young and suddenly have the weight of the whole world on their shoulders. They instinctively turn to Jake, who becomes their de facto, albeit reluctant, leader. In the beginning, they decide not to decide on what to do, but after a while, they make the decision to fight the Yeerks. Marco coins the term "Animorphs," which is what they call themselves from that moment on. Soon, Jake discovers that his brother, Tom, is a "Controller", a being infested and governed by a Yeerk. They quickly identify several other Controllers, including Hedrick Chapman, their vice principal. They also discover that a local youth organization, The Sharing, is actually a front organization for recruiting more host bodies.
The children begin to despair, having just scratched the surface of the immense Yeerk conspiracy. When Cassie is captured by a known Controller, the Animorphs stage a rescue operation in the Yeerk Pool, a vast underground complex where the species feeds. They save Cassie, along with one other woman, and also cause the Yeerks some damage, but they fail to save Tom. Also, Tobias stays in morph for more than two hours in order to keep the Animorphs' identity a secret and becomes a nothlit, a being trapped in morph (in this case a red-tailed hawk), but he will regain his power to morph later in the series, thanks to the Ellimist.
In following books, the Animorphs rescue a young Andalite aristh (an Andalite word for the term "cadet"), Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill ("Ax"), who turns out to be Elfangor's younger brother. The Animorphs destroy a Yeerk logistics ship. Marco discovers his mother (who he previously believed was dead) is host to Visser One, the Yeerk who started the invasion of Earth, and swears to fight until she is free. Jake is captured by a Yeerk that once had Tom as its host, and tries to find a way to save Tom and his parents. Rachel meets the Ellimist and finds a way to destroy the Yeerk food source while dealing with her parents' divorce and her own disturbing penchant for violence. Ax tries to adjust to life on Earth while remaining loyal to his own people. Cassie tries to hold onto her values while at the same time betraying them, while healing animals and being a good student. Tobias must cope with life as a human trapped as a hawk, straddling the line between human compassion and the animal urge to kill to eat.
For the next three years, the Animorphs wage a tiring and increasingly desperate guerrilla war against the Yeerks. They visit new and strange planets, and encounter various species no human has ever seen or even known. The Animorphs gain allies, lose friends, lose their childhood innocence, and are forced to grow up quickly, make terrible decisions, and witness the horrors of war, all the while trying to hold on to their normal lives: dealing with school, family, and friends. Ultimately, it boils down to one final battle in which the Animorphs attempt to capture the Yeerk Pool Ship and the former Visser Three, now promoted to Visser One, with it. They succeed at the cost of Rachel and Tom's lives (Tom was a member of a separatist Yeerk movement with whom the Animorphs allied. Tom was killed by Rachel, after which Rachel was killed by one of the Yeerks of that separatist faction). The remnants of this group escape into space where they are absorbed into a strange entity known as "The One." Unable to return to normal life after the Yeerk war, Jake (with Marco, Tobias, and other characters introduced at the end) follow them, and they find themselves in what is possibly the start of another war.
[edit] Character Ages
Throughout the publication of the series, there was some dispute about the exact ages of the Animorphs at the time they received the ability to morph. However, with the help of various hints in the course of the series, many fans guessed their ages to be approximately 13-14 (with 13 being the more likely of the two) at the start. For example, at the beginning of book one, Jake mentions having tried out for his junior high basketball team and not making the team; this puts Jake, Cassie, Marco, Rachel and Tobias, at the very least, around the age of 11-14 as junior high (or middle school) in the United States is generally grade 6-8. Most likely, as they are allowed to roam out by themselves, they are closer to 12-14. This is also supported in book two by Rachel's mention of a cat given to Melissa Chapman by her father for her "twelfth birthday, or some birthday." This means that the characters are at least 12, although since Rachel cannot remember exactly which birthday it was, it has probably been some time since then allowing for at least one more birthday to possibly have happened.
In addition to these hints, Jake says outright, at the start of chapter 2 in book #53, that he was 13 when he started and has been fighting the war for more than three years.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Animorphs
[edit] Secondary characters
- Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan
- Alloran-Semitur-Corrass
- Arbron
- Auxiliary Animorphs
- Crayak
- David
- Drode
- Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul
- Ellimist
- Erek King
- Toby Hamee
- Visser One
- Visser Three
[edit] Minor characters
[edit] Ghostwriters
Many of the novels from the #26-#52 range were written by ghostwriters. Typically, K. A. Applegate would write a detailed outline for each book, and a ghostwriter, usually one of Applegate's former editors or writing protégés, would spend a month or two writing the actual novel. After this, Applegate, and later her series editor, Tonya Alicia Martin, would edit the book to make it fit in with the series' tight continuity. Ghostwriters are credited for their help in the book's dedication page: "The author would like to thank [ghostwriter name] for his/her help in preparing this manuscript."
The books fully written by Applegate herself after #26 are #32 The Separation, #53 The Answer, #54 The Beginning, and all of the Megamorphs and Chronicles books.
The following books were ghostwritten:
- #25: The Extreme - Jeffrey Zeuhlke
- #27: The Exposed - Laura Battyanyi-Weiss [1]
- #28: The Experiment - Amy Garvey
- #29: The Sickness - Melinda Metz
- #30: The Reunion - Elise Smith
- #31: The Conspiracy - Laura Battyanyi-Weiss
- #33: The Illusion - Ellen Geroux
- #34: The Prophecy - Melinda Metz
- #35: The Proposal - Jeffrey Zeuhlke
- #36: The Mutation - Erica Bobone
- #37: The Weakness - Elise Smith
- #38: The Arrival - Kimberly Morris
- #39: The Hidden - Laura Battyanyi-Weiss
- #40: The Other - Gina Gascone
- #41: The Familiar - Ellen Geroux
- #42: The Journey - Emily Costello
- #43: The Test - Ellen Geroux
- #44: The Unexpected - Lisa Harkrader
- #45: The Revelation - Ellen Geroux
- #46: The Deception - Elise Smith
- #47: The Resistance - Ellen Geroux
- #48: The Return - Kimberly Morris [2]
- #49: The Diversion - Lisa Harkrader
- #50: The Ultimate - Kimberly Morris
- #51: The Absolute - Lisa Harkrader
- #52: The Sacrifice - Kimberly Morris
- Alternamorphs #1 - Tonya Alicia Martin
- Alternamorphs #2 - Emily Costello
It is worth noting that Applegate originally intended to write every single Animorphs book herself. However, due to many contributing factors - such as the birth of her son, and the difficulties involved in writing Everworld (which was originally intended to be mostly ghostwritten, like Applegate's third Scholastic series Remnants), she ended up having to have a large number of the books ghostwritten.
[edit] Themes
The books throughout the series discuss underlying themes questioning the morality, judgment, and idea of what is good and evil facing the central characters. One such theme is the control of creatures and sentient beings. In the first book, the Yeerks are portrayed as evil and parasitic. Their intentions of aggressive invasion in order to 'control' the bodies of their subjects leaves little question in the minds of the Animorphs about the morality of their actions. However, the morphing technology employed by the Animorphs creates inconvenient parallels with the actions of their supposedly 'evil' enemy.
In the series, morphing is achieved by acquiring the DNA of the subject creature through physical contact. The creature is then replicated in both body and instincts when a morph occurs, but the original creature is left unharmed. The Animorphs are often forced to keep control of the animal's instincts; this is particularly true of certain animals that are described to have highly agitated mindsets, such as mice, or the hive mind instincts of insects such as ants. Thus, the Animorphs are confronted with the question of whether they are no better than the Yeerks, since they too are taking over the body of their host morphs. Throughout the books, they deal with this issue with a mutual agreement not to morph sentient beings (particularly other humans) unless they gain prior consent. However, on several occasions, they find it impossible to maintain this self-imposed rule.
Also present is the theme of war blindness, expressed in the Animorphs' creed: "Fight the enemy, don't become them." This becomes particularly problematic when one Animorph or another loses objectivity in a given situation; the Yeerks take hosts unwillingly, in most cases, and they have no problem fighting among civilians, seeing most humans as expendable. The Animorphs, however, cannot take such views, lest they become as bad as the Yeerks.
[edit] Trivia
- K. A. Applegate has stated in an interview online (no longer available) that many of the names for her alien creatures, races, and locations are actually scrambled names of local street signs or companies that she happens to see during the day or night. For instance, the word nothlit was derived from the hotel name Hilton.
- Although in the majority of the series, the Animorphs are only able to use thought-speech while in morph, the first book in the series (The Invasion) has a small discrepancy. During Tobias's second morph, he and Jake attempt to communicate.
-
- I wondered if Tobias had heard my thought. I concentrated. Tobias, can you hear me?
- <Yeah,> he said.
- "Did you hear my thoughts before that?" I asked.
- <No, I don't think it works that way. You have to think at me for me to hear.>
- However, every other book besides The Invasion has thought-speak only originating from individuals that are in morph. Non-morphed humans are unable to use thought-speech, though they can hear it if it is directed at them. In addition, in book eight, The Alien, Ax states that he cannot communicate in thought-speak when in human morph, yet in later books, such as book 33, The Illusion, he is indeed capable of thought-speech while in human morph.
- Jake complains in the fiftieth book (The Ultimate) about becoming the leader of the Animorphs only because Marco said he was the leader, when in fact it had been Tobias who said that.
- Such discrepancies and errors are referred to by the author and fans as "KASU"s, an acronym for "Katherine Applegate Screws Up."
- Main illustrator David B. Mattingly hid pictures and words about his pets in the sub-cover picture, mostly about his cat, Orson, starting in book 5.
- The cover of the 54th and final book displays the Animorphs in profile in a very similar manner to the Rolling Stones' album Hot Rocks 1964-1971. Included on this compilation album is the hit song (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, which is featured in a scene in The Andalite Chronicles.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- List of species (Animorphs)
- List of Animorphs books
- Andalite terminology
- Hork-Bajir terminology
- Animorphs (toy)
[edit] External links
- Scholastic: Animorphs
- Animorphs Forum.com
- #1 Animorphs forum
- The Animorphs Reference Page
- Animorphs Weekly Newsletter Website
- Animorphs cover artist David Mattingly's web site
- Project AM - Animorphs Movie Project
