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Favorite Animorphs Quotes?
NothingFromSomething:
Always loved the ending, personally.
Katherine sticking by her guns and raising the middle finger at the backlash in that really eloquent letter-to-the-fans sometime afterward was really, really awesome too.
It's not a "cliffhanger", either, that term sort of implies there's more coming and you have to wait extensively for a resolution. This wasn't that, the ending was the resolution. In terms of this particular story/phase, the Yeerk/Human (and even the Yeerk/Andalite) war being done.
Also, you don't need to have any context for The One, know anything about it or its goals. It's a narrative device, nothing more - that doesn't make it forced, or unearned. What they're getting at is, for someone like Jake, the fight is never over. Their goal in saving Earth might be done, but if a friend's in danger he's going to rally the troops for one last mission. It's just that classic western/gunslinger thing.
Which is why personally I love the interpretation that they all went out like Big Damn Heroes trying to get Ax back, it's just way more satisfying in a weird way if they all die. Cassie's sort of the only one with much left to offer at that point anyway, even Marco sort of acknowledges that he's basically lost and just filling his time with money, fast cars & women, doesn't know what to do with himself.
Think of it in terms of, like, Logan recently. Weathered disillusioned dude coming around to do the right thing, sacrifice himself in a last hurrah to save a bunch of kids. Animorphs isn't exactly the same thing, but it's a similar type of trope: the war's the biggest, most important thing they'll experience in their lives, they've "peaked" at like 17, and now two years later (three? been so long) they're all given this chance to come out of their funk and go help an old friend.
They might have succeeded, they might not have. But we don't need to know which, you can draw your own conclusions. That's not a cliffhanger, that's just smart writing and not treating your audience with kid's gloves. Personally, my take is that Ax was dead and assimilated long before Jake & Pals even showed up, and that they all probably suffocated in the cold void of space in a last hurrah. :P
Which is, narrative-wise, awesome. Of course Jake frickin' Berenson, the Boy General, is going to go out fighting. Plot-wise there's not much more he had to offer anyway, he's the tragic youth hero figure, his arc was done.
ViciousVisser:
--- Quote from: NothingFromSomething on June 17, 2017, 02:15:27 AM ---Always loved the ending, personally.
Katherine sticking by her guns and raising the middle finger at the backlash in that really eloquent letter-to-the-fans sometime afterward was really, really awesome too.
It's not a "cliffhanger", either, that term sort of implies there's more coming and you have to wait extensively for a resolution. This wasn't that, the ending was the resolution. In terms of this particular story/phase, the Yeerk/Human (and even the Yeerk/Andalite) war being done.
Also, you don't need to have any context for The One, know anything about it or its goals. It's a narrative device, nothing more - that doesn't make it forced, or unearned. What they're getting at is, for someone like Jake, the fight is never over. Their goal in saving Earth might be done, but if a friend's in danger he's going to rally the troops for one last mission. It's just that classic western/gunslinger thing.
Which is why personally I love the interpretation that they all went out like Big Damn Heroes trying to get Ax back, it's just way more satisfying in a weird way if they all die. Cassie's sort of the only one with much left to offer at that point anyway, even Marco sort of acknowledges that he's basically lost and just filling his time with money, fast cars & women, doesn't know what to do with himself.
Think of it in terms of, like, Logan recently. Weathered disillusioned dude coming around to do the right thing, sacrifice himself in a last hurrah to save a bunch of kids. Animorphs isn't exactly the same thing, but it's a similar type of trope: the war's the biggest, most important thing they'll experience in their lives, they've "peaked" at like 17, and now two years later (three? been so long) they're all given this chance to come out of their funk and go help an old friend.
They might have succeeded, they might not have. But we don't need to know which, you can draw your own conclusions. That's not a cliffhanger, that's just smart writing and not treating your audience with kid's gloves. Personally, my take is that Ax was dead and assimilated long before Jake & Pals even showed up, and that they all probably suffocated in the cold void of space in a last hurrah. :P
Which is, narrative-wise, awesome. Of course Jake frickin' Berenson, the Boy General, is going to go out fighting. Plot-wise there's not much more he had to offer anyway, he's the tragic youth hero figure, his arc was done.
--- End quote ---
When I got finished reading the ending the first time, I'll admit I was sad that it ended the way it did. As a kid, you obviously want things to have a happy ending. Though, in retrospect, I realized that it ended the right way. I give credit to Applegate for ending it the way she did, despite facing a larger amount of backlash because of it.
I also liked how she gave us to option to draw our own conclusions about the final scene. I always imagined them dying in the process of trying to save Ax as well.
Let's be honest: It had to end in the way that it did.
ViciousVisser:
--- Quote from: DinosaurNothlit on June 16, 2017, 10:58:05 PM ---I sure did. :P As a kid, I didn't like the cliffhanger aspect, but as I've gotten older, I've realized that Animorphs had to end on a cliffhanger, because, as Jara says, "stories go on." In other words, the Animorphs will always keep going on adventures, but the physical books had to end somewhere, and the only solution to that paradox is, indeed, a cliffhanger. Any kind of tidy ending would have felt forced and fake (as older me learned when I read younger me's terrible post-54 fanfic :P).
The only problem is, the cliffhanger in question . . . also felt forced and fake. We are given no idea what is happening, or why. Just, a random bad guy, whose motives or relation to the Animorphs is never explained. Since we don't know why we should care, the ending just ends up seeming meaningless, even though it's portrayed as 'epic.'
But, on topic, I think I seem to have a least favorite quote of the series. "Ram the Blade Ship." :P
--- End quote ---
If that's your least favorite, what do you think your favorite is?
DinosaurNothlit:
Like I said, I don't have any problem with the Animorphs going out fighting. I think that's the way it always had to be. I just want to know why I should care whether they win or lose. We don't know what the One wants, or why. We don't know what the remaining escaped Yeerks were planning (if anything; it's possible that they just wanted to be left alone, and given that they haven't accomplished anything of note over the course of three years, I'd lean strongly towards the latter). Heck, we don't even know whether or not Ax was still alive when they found him, let alone still able to be saved. So, yeah, MAYBE they died fighting to save the galaxy and their friend. But, maybe, and in my opinion just as likely, they died for absolutely no reason at all (besides not being able to adjust to life after the war, I guess).
That's the ambiguous element that I can't stand. I agree completely that not knowing whether they live or die makes the ending more awesome, and that's the way it should have been. The part that kills me is not knowing whether or not their hypothetical deaths actually even mattered at all.
. . . Which reminds me of another great quote. "You were brave. You were important. You mattered." -The Ellimist.
--- Quote from: ViciousVisser on June 18, 2017, 03:38:37 PM ---If that's your least favorite, what do you think your favorite is?
--- End quote ---
As I said in my first post, it's "Story have no end. Stories go on." -Jara Hamee. I have informed my family that I want "Stories go on" engraved on my tombstone when I die. Hopefully they remember.
ViciousVisser:
--- Quote from: DinosaurNothlit on June 18, 2017, 07:56:52 PM ---Like I said, I don't have any problem with the Animorphs going out fighting. I think that's the way it always had to be. I just want to know why I should care whether they win or lose. We don't know what the One wants, or why. We don't know what the remaining escaped Yeerks were planning (if anything; it's possible that they just wanted to be left alone, and given that they haven't accomplished anything of note over the course of three years, I'd lean strongly towards the latter). Heck, we don't even know whether or not Ax was still alive when they found him, let alone still able to be saved. So, yeah, MAYBE they died fighting to save the galaxy and their friend. But, maybe, and in my opinion just as likely, they died for absolutely no reason at all (besides not being able to adjust to life after the war, I guess).
That's the ambiguous element that I can't stand. I agree completely that not knowing whether they live or die makes the ending more awesome, and that's the way it should have been. The part that kills me is not knowing whether or not their hypothetical deaths actually even mattered at all.
. . . Which reminds me of another great quote. "You were brave. You were important. You mattered." -The Ellimist.
--- Quote from: ViciousVisser on June 18, 2017, 03:38:37 PM ---If that's your least favorite, what do you think your favorite is?
--- End quote ---
As I said in my first post, it's "Story have no end. Stories go on." -Jara Hamee. I have informed my family that I want "Stories go on" engraved on my tombstone when I die. Hopefully they remember.
--- End quote ---
I think you raise a good question about whether their deaths really mattered. I hadn't really thought about that until you brought it up.
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