Thank you so much, Michael! I appreciate you talking to me for this video. I think the TV aspect of the series really shows. When I wrote this video I still had some hope that it could be adapted to a movie series but...well, I guess we'll find out now!

It took me a while and a lot of looking back, but I've come to realize that this series truly helped me process death and tragedy, especially as a preteen when death and misery didn't seem like the daily update on channel 4. So thank you,very much

Whoah, you're him. I have a question or two. How well do you think increased horror elements (not body) would've worked for Animorphs? Involving the plot, what do you think was the greatest short coming in hindsight? Aside from the Ghost Writers?

@@JMObyx We always placed Animorphs in a 'secular' universe. IOW no magic, just science. (That's right, science: I have the equations for FTL around here somewhere. . .) But without magic, horror tends to go stalkery, and we weren't into that. In hindsight we wish we'd have been more overt/braver on gay rights. We sort of edged around it in one book, but we weren't up for a fight with school systems or potentially our publisher, so we soft-pedaled it. Not a good look for either of us. But in terms of the writing qua writing? We had three weeks to produce a 140 page manuscript. And because we were just six months ahead of pub date (the norm is a full year, minimum) we had zero room for rewrites. Also by the way, Animorphs was not all we were writing. If we'd had time we'd probably have worked more on the prose (you'll notice Katherine won a Newbury, the woman can write) but OTOH the sheer adrenalin-soaked deadline panic of the whole thing was probably part of what made it work - we didn't have a lot of time for chin-stroking, we wrote what was in our heads, so Animorphs is raw, unfiltered, unrefined and cask strength.

@@michaelreynolds5773 "We sort of edged around it in one book, but we weren't up for a fight with school systems or potentially our publisher, so we soft-pedaled it. Not a good look for either of us." Actually I think soft pedalling it is a win in the realism category. If you look back at the 90s homosexuality was, while not institutionally persecuted (I think), it was still very much a cultural no-no. Marco's reputation already was questionable, if the dude had gay feelings I think it would be VERY in character for him to do more to hide it. Or, well, Marco had those feelings but never cared to express them, seeing fit to contend in that strange neutral area. Marco DOES seem the kind of character to try to avoid picking sides, wouldn't be that big of a stretch for him to do this on the inside too. As for the horror, it doesn't need much supernaturality in it, many non-horror scenes and scenarios in Animorphs could be easily tweaked to be scarier. Maybe if instead of the Animorphs just stumbling onto the Chee, Erek is the only Chee who's "alive" at the time because due to the combined stress inflicted by the Howler's wiping out his people, and being forced to hide in holograms for entire lfietimes, the Chee began going insane, even violating their programming and causing several disasters which cost many lives. The other Chee had to shut them off, this happened until only Erek was left, and his "father," who's almost completely unresponsive. And Erek ws on his way too, and becoming scarily close to losing it himself, this time with no other Chee to stop him. So the Pemalite crystal was the only hope to restore himself and the Chee. But when he got his hands on it, it would serve as a pretty terrifying "Oh shit" moment, until he saves the Animorphs. That aside one of my biggest problems with the series is that Cassie of all the Animorphs, despite being your wife's favorite, never really landed because the story didn't allow her to adequately take off. This isn't intentional on your end, it's just something I noticed with the benefit of hindsight.

Technically I'd say the more accurate description is; elvish gamer race attached to massive lightweight crystals with nothing better to do than play VR simulations all day

@@andrewmalinowski6673 that's just a more detailed version of the same statement. The original is still accurate, you just added more details to it.

This is what untitled goose game should have been

@@tituslafrombois1164 more details means it's more accurate... Not that the original is inaccurate

@@highcaliber350 channeling my best "Um, Actually" it makes the statement more precise, but not necessarily more accurate. I kinda hate having written this comment already. Sorry.

i would like this but... i cannot. edit: there were 69 likes when i wrote this.

Purge the giant Zeno filth! For the Emperor!

You can still talk to the Emperor psionically. Or at least Primarchs can.

@@blue-pi2kt So could the Helmacrons, if they find they right person, I guess?

@@blue-pi2kt OR SO THEY CLAIM!

I mean, was wrong to?

To be fair, when you combine their size and the way that they can't actually be killed... They may be one of the few races the Yeerks can't really control?

@@chromaticblue3976 there are a decent number of races "unfit for infestation" A few of the ones specifically called out in the books are a race with no brains but numerous decentralized nural nodes, the Arn who installed a kill switch if they are ever infested, and visser 3's pet regeneraters from the andilite Chronicles. But yeah, helmarcans are definitely in that same category.

@@marvalice3455 I forget after all these years, weren't the Skrit Na classified as "unfit" because they go from a bug to "Roswell Gray" aliens?

@@andrewmalinowski6673 yes! They were unfit as well

I forgot about that book :( Poor Tobias

EXACT one I was thinking of, that shit was dark.

Book 33, actually. The Illusion. I have a funny story about that book. Long story short, it helped me cope in hard times. I used to live in the USA, and this series was one of my favorites. I couldn't afford the books, but my school had a big chunk of the collection and I was making my way through them, complementing with the library's books on the collection when applicable. I decided to start my collection where i was at the time, book 33. Then my parents decided to move back to their third world country because they were/are very misguided individuals. I hated it. Hated it! I still kinda do. The culture shock, the viciousness of the kids in my school, the loss of my first crush/love to a move, all because my parents were homesick about a large house in a horrible country. My only animorphs book was a token of what I had lost. The ruins of a would-be empire. So much potential, LOST. But I read it anyway. For old time's sake. Tobias' torture felt to almost embody how I felt inside, and the moment that girl decided "you can steel yourself against pain, so what if I alternate between pain and pleasure?" it was real. REAL in the sense that I had good times snuck here and there, but I still cried myself to sleep. I would have friends, but they never really understood. I was around family, but they judgmental douchebags. And so I would read the book and cry. Cry to commiserate. Cry to let out my feelings and my grievances to a bird being tortured by a blonde amputee... And I slowly made it through that rough time. And now, even after all these years, I'm still stuck in a shitty country, but I see the light. I see the way out and I'm just a few steps away from being back in a place where I can persue my interests, where I can live without fear of judgemental family members and maybe find love. And when I'm finally back, one of the first things I'll do is order the whole collection on ebay.

It's been so long, there's so much of these books I don't remember. I don't remember how he got caught, who exactly Taylor was, that the torture took up half the book, but one of the parts I do remember(unfortunately)was Tobias finally breaking down and begging her to stop and that he'd tell her everything. I can't remember why she didn't hear that or react to it, but I remember how upsetting it was to see Tobias break like that. That he reached his limit and couldn't think about the consequences anymore. I don't remember if they killed Taylor or not. I think Rachel wanted to but I don't know if they did.

@@Blackspidy619 I love your story..I’m wishing you hope & happiness for all you desire!

I know what Animorphs fans have been waiting for: analysis of SEC filings. But seriously, thank you! And credit goes to Scott Moore for the music! The guy's a magician.

@@LordRavenscraft I think you forgot the weird Visser Three being Tobias' fake cousin from "The Pretender" because to me that was the weirdest WTF moment in the story

Or the second most crucial part of the House formula. "It's not lupus."

@@codofwar666 it's never Lupos. Except I think there was one episode were it was lupos or House actually thought it was lupos.

@@TheEnoEtile There was. The title of the episode was even just "It's Lupus"

IT'S NOT LUPUS!

Sadly actually know someone who has lupus.

I would love to make a long form high budget Animorphs show. Set in the 90s for the nostalgia points, kind of like Stranger Things and the 80s. Also unafraid to balance the youthful tones with the more serious brutal stuff. I want that so badly.

@@Etticos. we have the technology to make a better Animorphs show now.

Needs to be an anime series.

This show would have the sickest pilot since Game of Thrones. You’d start off thinking this was Saved by the Bell, but then the crash happens and it starts to feel like this might be Power Rangers... cut to the first big fight and blood splatters and limbs fly. Shock and trauma from the get-go, and a skeleton for a huge story with satisfying arcs for..... I want to say, everyone?

I mean, in a perfect world, the movies would be in-universe simulations run by The Ellemist or Crayak to troubleshoot plots, that run alongside the canon series of hour, hour and a half long episodes, that eventually differentiate themselves from the books by managing to invade a simulation, pair up with themselves, and find a new awkward cliff to hang off of, but, y'know, just watching the person they cast as Ax declare war on the abominable villain demanding sheets of wrinkly green cloth to access the cinnamon buns would be pretty good, too. Aximili's Kindness, the mortal sin recorded by the Andelites for negotiating with terrorists that deny access to cinnamon buns and/or cigarette butts.

We'll get there some day

Seriously I just found this cannel and even if the content isn’t for me I watch, so well constructed and spoken. I can’t wait for the blow up!

For real. These videos are so well done, I can't believe he doesn't have at least 100k subs

Thick quality

God yes I just found this channel and I am HERE FOR IT. I've watched both Animorphs videos now and have realized that I'm getting emotional about a man I just "met" describing books I read like one of twenty years ago. A+

It always does when someone mentions that movie.

ahah, i didn't even realise! (i'm in such an atla nostalgia phase rn)

...which ripped off so much from Animorphs, specifically Books 34 and 36 that for the past 12 years I've been saying that 34 + 36 = Avatar.

Earth, Water, Fire, Air ...Long ago everything changed when the Yerks attacked!

wonder if the ghost writer was a man who liked military hardware

Yeah thinking about that one again it is weird. But then it does kind of get overshadowed by threatening nuclear annihilation.

@@pauldecker4630 I don't know if I didn't notice as a kid or if that's just one of the books that I didn't read, but it really stood out when I reread the series a few years ago. My first thought was that it read like fanfiction with the author forcing their own interests into it. Also, I feel like they'd always treated morphing humans as kinda taboo, but in that book they all just kinda do it without a second thought.

@@ChesuMori Yeah, like throughout the rest of the series they make a big deal about not morphing sentient creatures, even being really uncomfortable about how close dolphins come.

Its been like 20 years, and i didn't read all the books. Which one was this because it sounds hilarious

That animation should be a standalone video, just the thing this channel needs to bring in the views it deserves, since a 50+ minute video may be too intimidating as an introduction to Animorphs shenanigans.

Honestly, it's amazing 👏 Still laughing

Ellimist chronicles is one of the few things I didn't read in the series, I just assumed the answer was this universe is a simulation and the ellmist and kayak are playing spore multiplayer. After this rendition I realize there's slightly more to the story. Edit: autocorrect made me say kayak but I'm leaving it.

Correction: The Ellemist's work

I found this series in my fourth year in school too lol

Same thing happened to me today... He has a bit of a Billiam feel to his KZfaq channel... Went from Pirates of the Caribbean music to cool antagonist scenes form the movies to his Liars Dice video and finally Animorphs oddly enough...

same, watched the liars dice vid and saw the video before this, decided to watch during my online school, and now i'm here.

I had to pause from laughter lol

Do you remember what either series were about?

@@deadinside8781 I could talk day in and day out about The Babysitters' Club- it's about a gaggle of tween girls who create an agency for babysitting all over their small town and deal with the ups and downs of life including death, diabetes, love problems, and business rivalries. However, I have no idea what Sweet Valley High is about, though considering that my mom confused the two I have to assume there must be some overlap.

@@andreamercier393 Sounds kinda fun XD

Some of the side booms for sweet valley were weird as hell. My favorite was the one where Elizabeth has a vaguely Sapphic deep friendship with a ghost who is haunting a carnival and tries to kill her.

@@verdancyhime Ayyy, beggars can't be choosers. I'd befriend a ghost rn. A good one. Could do without the killing attempts.

Now there's the internet...

@@anthonynorman7545 nothing beats that "oh my gods, new BOOKS!" feeling though.

@@qwinlyn and nothing feels bad like being too broke for them!

@@anthonynorman7545 Nah, my library always got a huge infusion of fresh books at the same time (usually the same ones) so even the poor kids got to read them.

@@qwinlyn what does that have to do with a child enjoying a book fair?

Warrior cats is still going lol

It’s still going and the latest arc has a leader possessed by the ghost of an incel There’s also a thriving animation community!

You know you can find PDFs online right?

I’m in the same boat. I was only able to ever find a handful of books in my elementary school classes, and I could only read some of them before I went up a grade, where I’d find a few more. Now, I only know the beginning and the end, but nothing in between.

Animorphs could live as an anime, probably. Get Gainax to do it. Tell 'em go nuts with the finale.

​@@aprinnyonbreak1290idk. Animorphs dont give anime vibes.

This rhymes. It should have more likes. It. Rhymes.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious or modern major general. Well done good person.

Forgot to mention the androids in the song. But it was epic all the same!

I think the line actually goes " *Excess morphing mass* caused them to rubber band through time and space."

@@Silas_MN Thanks! I did have some trouble hearing most of it. 😁👍 Honestly had to look up the word "termitidae". 🤣

Glad you enjoyed it, thank you!

Yeah it is.

...so, basically, the rest of the tokusatsu genre? (Or, hell, even some of the weirder Super Sentai spinoffs Saban never touched?)

Oh right after Jake is freed from the Yeerk controlling him I remember that. Because in the book where the Howlers, and Crayak are the major antagonistic force it's revealed Jake occasionally had nightmares about Crayak after being freed from the Yeerk that was controlling him.

I scrolled to your comment AS this was happening. Holy shit, I loved that book, and the animation is conceptually pretty close to what I imagined, haha.

Japan already had illustrated novel version of many of the books. A long while ago.

I think I got at least one more in me lol

Was same here was yearly.

They could do the Yeerk pool two-thirds of the way through the movie, and then after they get beaten badly and barely escape with their lives, jump ahead a few weeks to the destruction of the truck ship from book 3 for the final act. That would show that Tobias is still capable despite being stuck as a hawk, and provide a more upbeat ending with the Animorphs managing to beat the Yeerks in a small way. The sequel could then lead right into The Message and Ax's introduction.

I can see the through line. They want Ax on the cast ASAP. Ax is the merch character, and those are critical nowadays. He looks funny, makes weird sounds, and has memeable personality quirks. He's Animorph's Minion, its Chewbacca. Tobias can only fill it by half measure, he's too broody to be the merch character, even if a bird is easy to plaster on things. Maybe at best we're getting "worried hawk face" as a forced meme posted repeatedly by the official social media platforms. Ax is being added no later than 2/3 of the way through the first movie's runtime, even if they need time travel to do it, with just enough time for him to go ballistic over cinnamon buns before the credits, so they can put "Cinnuhmuhn Bunzuh" on shirts, sell the andelite eye stalk headbands, do the Cinnabon cross promotion, and put "Prince Jake" "Stop calling me prince" "Yes, Prince Jake" In the "lull" in the commercial, followed immediately by Ax eating cigarette butts. It's happening. It's unavoidable. The Marketing is the greatest enemy to the animorphs yet.

@@aprinnyonbreak1290 I honestly don't know how comedic the movie will be. I haven't seen the Power Rangers movie from a few years ago, but I expect it to be similar to whatever tone that had.

Same it was hard to keep track back then

For me it was the amount of them. There were just SO MANY.

KINDA did in the previous video, but moreso talking about the character arcs to summarize the series.

I agree, especially the first one.

Imagine if Harry Potter was broken down into 4x the number of books it had. novella instead of novels.

That's part of why the HP movies never worked for me. It felt like a TV show, one where maybe not every ep was the most important, but it still felt like you lost something in transition from book to film. Also, the movies made weird choices I didn't agree with.

There definitely will be!!

Damn dude, your dedicated!