Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: esplin on September 22, 2009, 12:55:02 PM
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Do you think maybe we give the series too much credit?
Is it as really as good as we think?
Are the characters really as believable and well rounded as some say?
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I still love the series, though I have come to realise it also has a lot of problems. It's not perfect, but I really like it.
There is some alternate character interpretation going on within the fanbase, and amost the different authors.
There have been retcons, details that don't make sense, and areas that could have been expanded on that weren't.
It was great. It does have room for imporvement, but it's still a great series.
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I still love it. Dont get me wrong XD
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I'm of the opinion that if you love something you don't have to rationalize it
you have to rationalize why you like it. Or why it's good.
But love is completely irrational.
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I think the series is deep and well rounded for what it is. And what it is is a book aimed for preteens from the same company that brought us Goosebumps, perhaps the dumbest, most mind-numbing book series ever. I mean, it isn't gonna fair well compared to Ernest Hemingway, but it goes well beyond the boundries it had set for itself.
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Well to be honest, its your review of book one that made me question the quality of animorphs. I doubt that was the intent but hey, you made me think :p
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And there ain't nothing wrong with thinking. :)
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It is a book series intended to be read by children. It's not going to hold up as well as some other "adult" book series might have most likely.
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Hey. I happen to have liked Goosebumps when I was younger. >:(
Though I did move on to Animorphs pretty quick when it came out. :P
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I read goosebumps too XD
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One of the things I loved so much about Animorphs, was that they were written on so many different levels. The stories themselves were written in simple enough language that even young children can grasp what’s going on, and yet, there are also deeper themes and meanings that I’m still discovering to this day.
It’s the same basic concept that made Disney so great. That it can be loved by everyone, no matter how old they are.
But Animorphs trumps Disney, as far as I’m concerned. Disney, of course, never had that sense of realism that Animorphs did. There was always that certain something (the realistic portrayal of the characters, the grisly “shades of grey” plotline, or maybe just the feel of the series in general) that makes you think that, somewhere, somehow, those stories could really be happening.
To this day, I still look a little questioningly at every hawk I see, and can’t help but wonder if he might be looking back at me.
So, yes, I very firmly believe that Animorphs was a great series, despite all the KASUs and tiny plot-holes.
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I think any series that can capture a child and re-capture an adult is an amazing series.
I hadn't read my Animorphs since I was 15, then 6-7 years later, I find this site, and I'm re-hooked on the series.
The characters are rounded, but left open enough that many different types of people can identify them with them in many different ways.
the story-line (main plot) is classic enough that any person would want to read it.
I think it was very well written and well done.
The one issue I had was the direction the ghost writers forced it in. If KA had worked on it solely, I'm sure it wouldn't have half the probs it does.
But wishing for a different yesterday only makes us miss today.
It's a great series for any age.
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I do agree there are many flaws with the series, and it's far from perfect.
However, these books made my childhood. I don't think I'd be the same person today if I hadn't read them. Even now, after all these years, I still have thoughts like, "If I could morph hawk right now, I wouldn't have to sit here in this traffic."
Like Dino said, what made the series significant, despite the plot holes or inconsistencies, were the gray area morals and the fact it didn't baby you like most other book series aimed at that age group.
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reading them as a kid definitely helps in my case.
nowadays i'll spot every little typo, but back then it was just the content that mattered.
not knowing what would happen helped, too.
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I think any series that can capture a child and re-capture an adult is an amazing series.
Agreed. Usually when you watch or read something you adored in your childhood years later, you think to yourself 'I thought it was better than this' or 'I don't remember this being so lame'.
I think I'll always love Animorphs :)
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I get that feeling sometimes too. Like, I'll find something I loved as a kid, but it just doesn't hold me as an adult. But Animorphs will always be great.
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I still love animorphs, but a lot of things that could be improved on. It seems that we all agree on that, but sometimes we give it a lot of credit.
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Yeah, there were tons of mistakes. There were inconsistancies. And some of the books really weren't that great. But even with all of that, the books were still amazing. And I think the fact that we can acknowledge the mistakes and inconsistancies and the not-so-great book and still enjoy the series means a lot. It means it can stand up beyond its mistakes.
Take nearly any other series, once you start noticing the mistakes and stuff, it starts being kinda meh, and your enjoyement drops. But that doesn't happen with Animorphs. With Animorphs you just look at it and go "Oh, a KASU", then keep reading because the KASUs somehow don't manage to ruin the books.
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I find all the typos and other mistakes now, as well, but I still love Animorphs, no matter what. I plan on reading them to my 7 month old cousin so I can trap her into liking them. Mwahaha. >:D
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This is an interesting question, and one that I've considered before.
I think that KAA is a great writer, and books like THBC, Visser, #26 and #53-54 prove that in particular, because the prose itself is so much more sophisticated. It's as if the further she got into the series, the more free she felt with using more sophisticated language meant for older and/or more experienced readers. Maybe Scholastic also became more comfortable with her using darker stroylines as time went on, too, rather than just providing little tastes of things in the books.
While it was made up as she went along to a certain extent, elements of the stories - such as Marco's mother being Visser One's host, Tobias being trapped in morph, Elfangor being Tobias' father and Ax's brother, Crayak and the Ellimist, "stacking the deck" - and so on illustrate that sophistication and an ability to plan and execute great stories that go above and beyond the idea of children's fiction.
Animorphs certainly isn't perfect, but it's still a great series.
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Oh yeah. Definitely.
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I definitely liked it, since I was around the same age as them when I first started reading it.
I still like it because the concept is great. For a lot of books, such as Twilight (imo), the concept can be freaking awesome but the author doesn't know how to create an engaging plot with the characters and story elements they have. That wasn't so for Animorphs. Applegate really hit the nail on the head.
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For a lot of books, such as Twilight (imo), the concept can be freaking awesome but the author doesn't know how to create an engaging plot with the characters and story elements they have. That wasn't so for Animorphs. Applegate really hit the nail on the head.
I agree with you whole-heartedly.
Twilight suffers awfully from Meyer's complete inability to write a coherent story. It's one of those situations where you wonder where the hell the editorial team were. Were they not paying attention to important elements such as language or the overall pace of the story? Jeez!
Even Harry Potter suffers somewhat from lazy and simplistic writing in certain sectors of the books, although the sheer detail of the whole mythology of the series lifts it above flaws in the prose. Mostly, anyway.
It's a pity that so many of the middle Ani-books were written by ghostwriters (and bad ones at that!) Even the earlier books, wherein KAA tends to use a simpler prose (obviously meant for younger readers), there is still a flair and a depth to her writing that very much makes its presence known in books like MM4 and Visser. If she'd written all of them - or, I suppose, had better ghostwriters - the series would certainly be the better for it.
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Oh, yeah. Definitely. When the subject of ghostwriters came up, she should've told them to shove it up their asses. Those GWs completely skewed the series.
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I'm always confused at how Animorphs was targeted at preteens.
There's a lot of gore, discussion of suicide, the value of freedom, depression, sacrificing things for the greater good, and seeing things in more than black and white.
I certainly wouldn't give this series to a preteen if I was a parent.
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I would :)
then again I plan on sitting my kids down at 6 years old to watch the Exorcist
I DON'T BELIEVE IN PROTECTING THE INNOCENT
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It wasn't preteens, per se, it was young adults. 13+, so it was fun for preteens, but it was mostly for teens, who do already experience these things through other forms of media and personal experience.
I believe in not dumping the whole truth at one time. Let the truth out a bit at a time. Don't sugar coat anything, but don't unload on them. Let them discover the truth, and explain to help them understand it. I believe parents are like an Encyclopedia for children. If the child wants to know, then let them ask. When they ask, don't withhold any truths, tell them as much as they can handle.
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the back of the books say RL5, 009 - 012
I always assumed those were ages
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True, but Harry Potter is also Reading level 5. So it doesn't really mean what the author's target audience is, it's just saying what ages would be able to read the material.
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I agree with you whole-heartedly.
Twilight suffers awfully from Meyer's complete inability to write a coherent story. It's one of those situations where you wonder where the hell the editorial team were. Were they not paying attention to important elements such as language or the overall pace of the story? Jeez!
Even Harry Potter suffers somewhat from lazy and simplistic writing in certain sectors of the books, although the sheer detail of the whole mythology of the series lifts it above flaws in the prose. Mostly, anyway.
It's a pity that so many of the middle Ani-books were written by ghostwriters (and bad ones at that!) Even the earlier books, wherein KAA tends to use a simpler prose (obviously meant for younger readers), there is still a flair and a depth to her writing that very much makes its presence known in books like MM4 and Visser. If she'd written all of them - or, I suppose, had better ghostwriters - the series would certainly be the better for it.
And I agree with your statements on Harry Potter. A lot of people herald Rowling as an amazing author, but she wasn't that great of a writer. Damn, could that woman weave a tale, but her writing definitely needed help. I did not understand a thing in HP5. It took me awhile to realize that he wasn't being emo, but that his emotions were really Voldemort's and that his mood swings weren't because he was growing a vagina and that PMS was taking over x.x
I definitely agree with Applegate's writing style. I remember being extremely bored with the GW books, simply because they were so bland. They completely lacked the personality Applegate added to the ones she wrote.
I still need to get my hands on Visser ;-; I think that's the only book I haven't read.
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True, but Harry Potter is also Reading level 5. So it doesn't really mean what the author's target audience is, it's just saying what ages would be able to read the material.
you don't have to feel bad about liking books meant for children, parker.
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I hope you never have children, anijen... Forget protecting the innocent minds... you're out to dement those minds... lol...
But I don't think that Animorphs was not child-friendly... As far as content goes, anyway... A lot of preteens might have had difficulty understanding what was actually going on... but only because those kids have trouble understanding a lot of the world around them anyway...
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don't worry my cynicism and low self-esteem have already essentially sterilized me
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True, but Harry Potter is also Reading level 5. So it doesn't really mean what the author's target audience is, it's just saying what ages would be able to read the material.
you don't have to feel bad about liking books meant for children, parker.
:facepalm: :disgrace:
Happy birthday Jen.
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UGH IS THAT WHY MY FONT IS ALL NASTY? make it go back :'(
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UGH IS THAT WHY MY FONT IS ALL NASTY? make it go back :'(
LOL... I like this a lot... :)
(sorry anijen... it was just really funny...)
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Sorry, you got that color for 24 hours. You could try using the color code, but I don't know whether that or the b-day color takes precedence.
Anyways, I'm not ashamed to admit I enjoy children's books. I'm part of a children's book forum. Though as your post was more than likely a sarcastic comment for lack of a valid response, I'll leave it at that.
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lol no you just seemed to be getting rather defensive about the recommended reading level and I was kind of like "dude look who you're talking to" you know?
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Nope, not defensive, informative. Someone asked, I answered, you made a comment, I explained with an example.
"Text doesn't translate context."
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but you were wrong
and then you got defensive when you were wrong
oh whatever idec
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*Off topic convo moved to PM*
I actually think that you can't appreciate some of the undertones in this series and in the indivdual books until you get older.
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When I started reading the books I was an English language learner in High school with a limited English Vocabulary. Some of the words I didn't understand back in the day. But Even with that i thought the story was very deep and interesting and i was totally hooked and even made the effort to find the Spanish versions.
Today I think I'm able to notice things and issues that back when i was younger and with a limited Vocabulary could never have understood.
It has the KASU issues but if you take those little things aside and remember that it was aimed at a younger audience you can apreciate it more than if you are looking for errors.
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Purlease don't diss Animorphs. I just stared watching the tv show online! (so far i lurve it :) )
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I'm not. hehe i love my books
I just found a copy of Megamorphs 3 at the local used book store hehe got it for 35 cents so awesome
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I'm not. hehe i love my books
I just found a copy of Megamorphs 3 at the local used book store hehe got it for 35 cents so awesome
Nice find! I got one from the library for 50c a few months ago <3 That rocked.
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Nice find! I got one from the library for 50c a few months ago <3 That rocked.
yeah! i already have a personal copy so i'm going to mail it to Zohrra <3
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Gah, I hate buying used stuff. I grew up getting hand-me-downs, so now I try to buy new everything.
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good luck with that XD
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Well, I won't need luck in a couple years! Since they're re-releasing the Animorphs with new cover art!
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i guess i guess we will be having a new bunch of Ani fans once they read teh re release
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You know it!! We should put on our hard hats early as a precaution ;D
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yeah. i just hope they are not go with the flow fans liek so many we see today. they are fans cause others are fans. oh well
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Oh you know they will be for a while. That's how fads work. :)
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yeah but the fake ones will be weeded out after a while i suppose hehe.
They will eventually get bored and leave
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Yep, unless RAF hooks them in and they stay for the peeps and not the books.
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I LOVE Prince Elfangor Sirinial Shamtul! <3
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Just wanted to throw this out there....
I hadnt read Animorphs in about 7 years; I read them from the age of 9-11, hungrily devouring the books; our school library had a great deal of the books, not all but most, so I read most of them but a bit out of order, and the last 10 books except for the last book (the beginning) weren't there. Regardless, I loved Animorphs and in my elementary days would take out a few books from the school library every week.
I did own a few books that werent in the library, and I found them a few weeks ago, and it brought back the memories of animorphs, of the days where I had immersed myself into the story of the teenagers who turned into animals... I had this craving to read the series again, and I found this website.
I'm 17 years old and somewhat of a literary scholar; I consider myself an excellent writer and reader, and have read and enjoyed books of all levels since my days of animorphs- from Harry Potter to A Tale of Two Cities.
I went to the E-book section and became hooked. In the past two weeks i read all the books from the main series and I have to say, in my opinion, these books do indeed have the levels discussed earlier- i had appreciated them as a kid, and now, almost 10 years later, i enjoyed them greatly now. They are literary triumph because they mix light humor, action, dark themes, and adventure. When i was a kid i hadn't read the last 10 books, so i was actually surprised how EPIC the battle actually became, and the decisions Jake made near the end, in the second to last book. I really don't think i could have appreciated the political and moral commentary there.
The books are written simply, yet the style (i am slightly disappointed to find out they were written by ghostwriters, but i couldn't really tell the difference) flawless in its simplicity.
I can definitely say that the books are not just as good as i thought they were, but far better. Animorphs is awesome.
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i guess i guess we will be having a new bunch of Ani fans once they read teh re release
I doubt it. For one, I don't think it will be well advertised, so most people won't have it. For two, I think modern media watchdogs won't like the gore, and discourage it. For three, it's not the empty headed 'literature' with no meaning that kids these days like (I'm looking at you Twilight). For four, most kids these days probably won't jump on to a 60+ book series; younger kids have the internet now that we didn't have at that age. For five, most grade school libraries (where many of us first found the books) won't stock them because it's a lot of books to buy and they aren't interesting in spending money now when they have plenty of books anyway. For seven, there are already too many popular book series on the market right now to compete - back then, the only competition for Animorphs was Goosebumps. For eight, don't comment on the fact that I didn't put a six. For nine, don't go back to make sure I didn't actually put a six. So basically, don't randomly expect a hoard of new fans to flock to RAF - not only will it be very unlikely, but also, they'll probably be younger kids who won't stay for long, and probably just get mad because of all the spoilers everywhere.
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You know, it's funny. When I originally read the series, I had no idea some of the books were ghostwritten. Now, when I look at the list of ghostwritten books, it almost exactly corresponds to the books that I don't remember at all. Only Lady Applegate's writing seems to have stuck with me. I think the fact that I loved the series so much had as much to do with her writing style as it did with the insane epicness and the instant entertainment value at almost any point in the books. Really, to me back then, every book was an amazing new adventure, but looking back, it would have been about the same to me if the ghostwritten books had just not been written (that cuts the series in half, give or take). That said, it's still the only book or series I've ever actually been anywhere near that obsessed about, and I wouldn't trade my young geekiness for anything, especially considering I always got the feeling that most of the kids in my school were not... uh... cool enough to read anything at all.
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Yeah, I never knew that they were ghostwritten either.
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I didn't know either until I came here, and found out most of the second half of the series is ghostwritten. I think it started around book 20-25.
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Yeah, I was relieved when 26 was confirmed KAA written.
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Yeah, I was relieved when 26 was confirmed KAA written.
Yeah, I second that.
Wikipedia has a (presumably complete) list of the ghostwritten books; The first ghostwritten book was 25. From 25 until the series ended, the only regular series books written by KA were 26, 32, 53 and 54. Ghostwriters also did the Alternamorphs books (which is also kind of a relief, because those were awful)
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I think 32 gets some flak from some of the fans, doesn't it? 26 may be the last book written by her that most of the fanbase likes, since I haven't heard many people say it's bad, and that's a sad thing. Not that I didn't enjoy some of the ghostwritten books, but that's 26 book books out of a 54 book series not counting the MM and alternamorph books. Possibly the chronicles too. Assuming my math is right.
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Didn't KAA write all of the Chronicle books?
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I forget. I really liked them all, except maybe Ellemist. Parts of Ellemist i liked, and it does explain some things, but it just didn't take me in as well as the others.
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She wrote all the megamorphs and chronicles.
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Ok. That's cool.
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Good, Yeah, The Ellimist Chronicles doesn't grab me either. I still haven't finished that book. ::)
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You should try to work yourself through it, like I did with the weirder books and alternamorphs.
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It's partly that, it's also partly that I'm not too big on reading. I have to be in a special mood to read.
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The Ellimist was quite hard to read, and to understand ^^' (I read it in English, of course, it wasn't translated). I didn't get so much into it, even if I finished it.
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Yeah, the visuals were very confusing and so off the wall. You had to do a LOT of imaginary image translating.
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I never had trouble getting into Ellimist Chronicles, actually. It's one of my favourites, actually, but then again I like all the Chronicles books.
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I never had trouble getting into Ellimist Chronicles, actually. It's one of my favourites, actually, but then again I like all the Chronicles books.
Same here. The chronicles books are probably some of my favorites in the series. I liked the Ellimist Chronicles, just not how the ending gave away that an Ani would die.
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Ah, please use spoilers!
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We're really not in the habit of using spoilers. Probably either need to start teaching ourselves or make differetn forums for new members cropping up that may have never read the series.
[spoiler] It's Rachel who dies. And in such a bad way.[/spoiler]
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I am morally opposed to spoilers, especially almost 10 years after the work in question was published.
You can't fault the people who are talking about the work for not using spoilers, but you can fault people who haven't finished the work visiting fan forums expecting the plot details to remain secret.
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Ah, please use spoilers!
I didn't give anything specific about the plot itself, like how __ actually ___ ___ and ends up ___. The book just ends with the death alluded to of an unspecific Animorph.
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Look, it's just this one book that I haven't finished. I'm asking for spoilers about just this book. I'm sorry if it's inconvenient.
Ah, please use spoilers!
I didn't give anything specific about the plot itself, like how __ actually ___ ___ and ends up ___. The book just ends with the death alluded to of an unspecific Animorph.
Yeah, it was mostly just a proactive request.
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lol what? How have you posted over 5000 times and still don't know how the series ends?
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I know how the series ends, I don't know how The Ellimist Chronicles ends.
That's why I said just this one book.
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oh, that part's just a framing device, so if you know how it starts you pretty much know how it ends.
Just plow through it. It's only what, 180 pages? YOU CAN DO IT PARKER!
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Meh, I can only stand reading if I'm in a certain mood. Otherwise I have to read the same paragraph over and over.
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read with a pencil. Trace the words as you read them. It will keep you on pace and force you to focus.
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Yeah, but the problem is, I don't want to. Besides, I don't like to deface my books.
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so if you don't want to read it why are you giving people flak for talking about it?
PICK A SIDE PARKER
ETA: and I didn't mean LITERALLY TRACE, I just meant like follow along, like the bouncing ball for karaoke you know?
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I do, just not at this moment. Like I said, I have to be in a certain mood. I want to read it, eventually.
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I really don't get it.
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Of course not, you're not me. ;D
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I really don't get it.
Well for example...have you ever started watching a tv series and missed the last few episodes? You download the ones you missed, but you just haven't had the chance to watch them or just haven't been in the mood to watch them. Then someone starts to talk to you about what happens at the end...and you panic and tell them to shut up ;D coz you wanna watch the ending yourself!
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no I get that part, I don't get how he can seriously request that the rest of us don't talk about it when he "just doesn't feel like watching it." I'm pretty unforgiving when it comes to this stuff, though.
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You're unforgiving about those who don't want others to spoil books for them? If you're talking about Sixth Sense, and someone says, "oh, I haven't seen that yet, don't talk about it, please." You get mad at that person?
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at this point, yes. It's been out for years.
Don't get me wrong, I was getting pissed as hale when a bunch of people were posting Deathly Hallows spoilers 2:00 AM the night the book came out, but Parker it's been 10 years. These things have shelf lives.
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So because someone doesn't read or watch a show by your timeline, you won't respect their wish to not have the plot spoiled?
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if it's just you and me, and I ask "oh have you seen Citizen Kane" and you're like "No," it would be a pretty douchey thing for me to go "IT WAS HIS SLED LOL."
But if you're on a forum, interrupting others who HAVE ALL READ THE BOOK and stop them from having a conversation that at no point included you, then yeah, I get a little irritated.
And I am perfectly willing to admit that the timeline is a gray area. How long does someone have to read Harry Potter, a week? A month? Two years?
My main point is: I don't mind being respectful of people who haven't read/seen something, but you have to be respectful of the people who have.
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Um... Citizen Kane is on my Netflix queue.
How did the convo not include me? I was the twelfth poster on this thread. I posted two spaces behind when ThinkAgain started talking about the ending of Ellimist. I've been a part of this convo for two months.
I didn't interrupt the convo on TEC, I stared it.
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Sorry, Parker, but I'm with her on this one. If it's something that's been out this long and you're on a forum devoted to that subject, you run the risk of so called 'spoilers' and pretty much just have to deal with that.
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yeah, you're right, but you're posting on an Animorphs forum where people talk about Animorphs books. If there's a particular book you haven't read, it's really something to fault the other people for talking about it beyond the point you've read it.
I think there's a certain level of entitlement involved in limiting what other people can talk about based on something as inessential and self-imposed as spoilers. People at an Animorphs forum shouldn't be punished because you can't find the focus to get through a 180-page young adult book.
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This thread isn't devoted to The Ellimist Chronicles, it's talking about Animorphs's value to all age groups. Then I stated that I haven't finished TEC, and I just haven't gotten to finishing it, then TA stated the ending. That's what went down.
There are plenty of threads across this site that mods asked that spoilers are used when talking about the ending. My request wasn't random and out of line.
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dude, they didn't give away the ending to the Ellimist Chronicles, they said that part of the ending gave away that an Animorph would die over in the Animorphs series. That really doesn't give away anything about the plot for EC whatsoever.
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Ah, please use spoilers!
I didn't give anything specific about the plot itself, like how __ actually ___ ___ and ends up ___. The book just ends with the death alluded to of an unspecific Animorph.
Yeah, it was mostly just a proactive request.
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SO...
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after ALL these years I believe that Animorphs deserves its credit NOT because of its characters, but because of the nuances and messages that those characters delivered. The Ani's themselves fall into various cliche's, but the message was strong, clear and well delivered (for the most part). THAT is why it sticks with me.
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I guess I'm going to have to come down and say that all spoiler tags in this forum are a coddling, obstructive waste of time then.
If you don't want to be spoiled about Animorphs, then don't visit an Animorphs forum until you've finished the series. It's not like they're unavailable.
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SO...
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after ALL these years I believe that Animorphs deserves its credit NOT because of its characters, but because of the nuances and messages that those characters delivered. The Ani's themselves fall into various cliche's, but the message was strong, clear and well delivered (for the most part). THAT is why it sticks with me.
Yeah, definitely. And morphing has been a fantasy of humans forever, and KAA did it really well while mixing it with the fantasy of aliens!
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Still, referring to your previous post where you said ThinkAgain gave away the ending, when he really didn't. If you can pick out what he meant by that game of sentence hang man, then you should be on Wheel of Fortune.
My point is, on a board dedicated to a series THIS old, you kinda have to figure people will give away plot points without thinking. If you really don't want to be spoiled before you read the book, then read the book. It really can't take very long.
BACK TO THE TOPIC - Getting into this series got me through a really hard period when I was moving away from my friends and to a new state where I didn't know anyone. It will always be one of my favorite series, if only for that alone, but also because it's just damn good.
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Funny, Cerulean, Animorphs was kind of my helper too, but not because I moved away from friends...b/c I didn't have any. :P
It's always fun to be able to imagine that you can just morph a bird and fly away. Or that some sort of alien species would come and snatch you up and enter you into an intergalactic war.
Hell, I would have been happy to join the Sharing and become a voluntary, if it meant being a part of something. I'm the type of person that would have bought into their bullcr*p...
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I guess I'm going to have to come down and say that all spoiler tags in this forum are a coddling, obstructive.
i wouldn't say obstructive, since they actually make posts seem shorter.
but yeah, i think we can at least not purposely to spoil it to newbies, but we shouldn't go out of our way.
and what about the sled? (i haven't seen the movie)
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lol I really picked a bad movie to make that point with
what's a spoiler that everyone knows? The Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde thing?
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Hell, I would have been happy to join the Sharing and become a voluntary, if it meant being a part of something. I'm the type of person that would have bought into their bullcr*p...
Gah, not me. I wouldn't go to there. I'd prefer stay home.
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Aww, Terenia. I kinda know what you mean, since I didn't get any real close friends through most of the first couple years after moving. Reading Animorphs, it was like they were enough to be friends. As sappy as that sounds now.
As for movie spoilers
[spoiler]OH EM GEE, VADER IS LUKE'S DAD. :o [/SPOILER]
And goom:
[spoiler] In the movie, his last words are 'Rosebud' and they spend all this time trying to figure out who Rosebud is. It turns out that was the name of his sled and that for all his riches and power, when he was dying he was reaching out and longing for his childhood toy. [/spoiler]
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Hey, it's Shen. I'm gonna give my two cents, given that I'm exploring the site out of boredom.
I agree with what everyone says about the ghostwritten books being bad. In fact, they were actually so bad that my twelve-year old self could never finish the series. K.A's writing was engaging and beautiful, and when I re-read the earliest books as an adult I find myself just as entranced as I had been then. Because I heard through word-of-mouth how badly the ending came out, I just abjectly refuse to finish on "moral grounds." XDD I want to preserve my memory of what I loved about the series, and simply will know how The End came through the usual sources. ; )
I personally still think Animorphs is good. Re-reading it, I was shocked to find that it was perhaps even better than I'd expected. KA always threw in political nuances and themes on the nature of freedom, the pain of war, and the gray shades between good and evil. Few book series that are written for pre-teens/children have ever done anything like this, and I'm frustrated that the political climate has created a saccharine sweet politically correct media climate. You can't blame the kids today for being so distanced from reality. Animorphs, while grounded thoroughly in science fiction, wasn't afraid to describe the way that the world could be harsh.
In particular upon re-reading some of the books, I almost laughed at how uncensored it all was. I was eight years old when I began this series, and I was reading about pain and suffering and screaming and death? XD It made me wonder just what kind of kid I was. ; ) The series is also part of what has formed my worldview, which includes the belief that people are rarely what they are for no reason at all.
I still think the characters are fairly impressive for a book series like that, despite KA Appelgate's memory lapses. X3
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Not all the ghostwritten books were bad, but certainly none of them were KAA's old Animorphs. And yeah, the series definitely got harder to stay loyal to without her writing- they just weren't as gripping and engaging in my mind. To me, my impression of the series is that the first half was spent building believable, three-dimensional characters with loads of humanity and thrusting them into a world that was unapologetic, grisly, and realistic, and yet at the same time, more fun than I'd ever had reading a book. Am I over-idolizing Lady Applegate? Maybe. I still enjoy them quite a bit today, though. The second half of the series feels like it was spent slowly crushing those characters back down to one-dimensional shells of what they'd become and making the world less entertaining, if still quite dark. Granted, I'm going mostly from memory- I'm still not to the ghostwritten books in my reread, so I'll see if I feel any different when I get there. I'm sure it's not nearly as extreme as I'm making it out to be.
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Funny, Cerulean, Animorphs was kind of my helper too, but not because I moved away from friends...b/c I didn't have any. :P
It's always fun to be able to imagine that you can just morph a bird and fly away. Or that some sort of alien species would come and snatch you up and enter you into an intergalactic war.
The same for me as well. I was basically (am...) a loner, and these books pretty much made a good portion of my childhood. Then, and even to this day I look out the window and wish I could just jump out and fly away. Anything for escape, really.
Hell, I would have been happy to join the Sharing and become a voluntary, if it meant being a part of something. I'm the type of person that would have bought into their bullcr*p...
Eh, not so much. I never was a fan of group "fun" sessions. From how it was described early in the series, I would have interpreted it as cool kids making a club to pretend to be nice to uncool kids to look like nice people. I would have never believed that the people who made fun of me and isolated me would ever randomly accept me into a club, even if it did have other lonely people in it.
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Yeah a bunch of preppies having pity parties and such.
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IMO the Ghostwritten books as a whole aren't bad; there are some simply awful ones, and some that are exceptionally well done; I think of rthe most part the rest are decent with some shades of greatness in them. KA is obviously best when she is in complete control of the book, and she wrote a few extra ones in between the ghostwritten ones, as well as the megamorphs and you can see the difference.
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no the series is great. It has characters that are full of depth and are often times conflicted about what they have to do. Also it doesn't hesitate to talk about what war can do to you and just how unclear the choices you have to make can be and it didn't bother trying to dumb down the violence in it either granted it was protected by the magic of demorphing, but still.
I do however think that people start giving K.A. Applegate far too much credit when people start comparing her to the ghost writers. I'm not saying they were just as good, but I am saying they were not really the huge step down from K.A. that people like to say they were. This is especially true when you consider how many people will tell you of their dislike of the way the series ended keeping in mind that that was when the author finally picked up her pen again.
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I disagree about the characters having depth. Maybe they had a bit more substance to them before the ghostwriters, maybe not. I think you'd have to be looking pretty hard to notice the difference though. Mostly, I feel like the characters are animated tropes: warrior, conflicted leader, voice of peace, comic relief, emo introspection. Marco was the only one who really ever felt like much of a real character to me. That's not to say that this kind of thing didn't work within the series. I feel that it gave the authors ways to voice various philosophies and arguments of logic and morality. For the age group the books are mostly written for, and for the age I was when I read them, those thoughts are pretty deep. I read them for that sort of mental stretching and pondering feeling as much as for the exciting story. And of course, being that young, flat characters bothered me not at all. I fell in love with the destructive, attractive, burning girl-power that is pretty much Rachel's character.
The books don't stand up quite as well for the re-read because now I really do expect strong and developing characters, and the points of deep thought no longer seem quite so deep.
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:] awesome post Amber
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I'm always confused at how Animorphs was targeted at preteens.
There's a lot of gore, discussion of suicide, the value of freedom, depression, sacrificing things for the greater good, and seeing things in more than black and white.
I certainly wouldn't give this series to a preteen if I was a parent.
If I ever had children, they'd be introduced to Animorphs early on, along with Doctor Zhivago and To Kill a Mockingbird. But you are right, it is pretty surprising, the subjects they deal with.
I have to say that Animorphs is an impressive series. I don't want to go fan-girling, but the topics dealt with really hit home- I up until recently was a near- absolute loner. I like books where I can imagine myself a part of the story, like I have done with everything from Sherlock Holmes to Shakespeare to Animorphs. I am glad that KAA did not skim over harder subjects like most authors would, all because "it's for children." The world does not spare the details.
Another series that is in the children's section at the library at which I volunteer is The Five Ancestors, which I love. It's about Kung Fu, kids, betrayal, and a lot of the stuff the Anis deal with. It's really violent, and in some places very dark. Both Animoprhs and TFA have it right- the world is tough.
Okay, but this is from the girl who read Crime and Punishment at thirteen...
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I disagree about the characters having depth. Maybe they had a bit more substance to them before the ghostwriters, maybe not. I think you'd have to be looking pretty hard to notice the difference though. Mostly, I feel like the characters are animated tropes: warrior, conflicted leader, voice of peace, comic relief, emo introspection. Marco was the only one who really ever felt like much of a real character to me. That's not to say that this kind of thing didn't work within the series. I feel that it gave the authors ways to voice various philosophies and arguments of logic and morality. For the age group the books are mostly written for, and for the age I was when I read them, those thoughts are pretty deep. I read them for that sort of mental stretching and pondering feeling as much as for the exciting story. And of course, being that young, flat characters bothered me not at all. I fell in love with the destructive, attractive, burning girl-power that is pretty much Rachel's character.
The books don't stand up quite as well for the re-read because now I really do expect strong and developing characters, and the points of deep thought no longer seem quite so deep.
wow, i was going to write something long and involved, but you sort of did it for me. Thanks! This is almost exactly how i feel.
This is something i thought about a lot on the re-read. i still got shivers, still felt emotion, and still emphasized, but looking at it from a craft and lit perspective i have to be critical and say that there are better written stories, even for the age group.
That being said, i think i'd push these on a kid before almost anything else. Animorphs effected my life in a way that was monumental (i can sort of trace the "me" from the first book Ani book i read) and as a kid the subject matters are very striking. They pushed me to places that adults don't think i should go, past the black and white. And, i actually think that they cover some issues in ways that make adults think. i wrote a paper about it ages ago in my intro to critical literature class.
I wouldn't be on this forum if they didn't mean something to me :)