Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Duff on May 27, 2009, 11:21:12 AM
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On Michael Grant's blog Stupid Blog Name (http://stupidblogname.com/) he writes "4- Talked to various Hollywood weasels re: ANIMORPHS and GONE. Results: blah blah blah, we respect your work, blah blah blah."
So we can ascertain that they are at least still talking about an Animorphs movie! It hasn't been picked up and shelved, it hasn't been given up on. It still hasnt been picked up apparently, but who knows...
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Hmm I read that and I figured they we're just bsing with him
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so all we know for now is that there are no definite answeres. I just hope there isn't much adaptation decay. There is bound to be some, but hopefully not a lot.
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Hmm I read that and I figured they we're just bsing with him
But some bs is better than no bs
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I hate to be a debbie downer but the way he was talking about it sounded more like small talk or something idk.
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It sounded to me like he was earnestly pushing it and getting big smiles and nicely-worded rejections...
But God I love the two of them for still talking about it after all this time. <3
Lots of older, quieter fandoms (GI Joe~) are getting their new, shiny movies. It's Animorphs' turn. >=
Also, that last comment, about the preteen who fell in love with Gone, was sweet. ^^ Yaay for happy parents.
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Wow, what a bunch of...well, yea I guess Debbie Downer works...thanks russ
GI Joe is still a new fandom, yea its roots are pretty old but its still putting out new material and movies and action figures
I havent given up hope
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ahhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Well, this is somewhat good news.
I want this to happen so badly even if so many other movie adaptations of books I've liked have disappointed me.
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well...the longer it stretches do you think it would be successful if a movie did come out?
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Lots of older, quieter fandoms (GI Joe~) are getting their new, shiny movies. It's Animorphs' turn. >=
i agree, we should all send emails to the movie houses to petition for it. if they refuse, we should send a tiger, a wolf, a gorilla, a bear, and a red-tailed hawk into their offices..
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Lots of older, quieter fandoms (GI Joe~) are getting their new, shiny movies. It's Animorphs' turn. >=
i agree, we should all send emails to the movie houses to petition for it. if they refuse, we should send a tiger, a wolf, a gorilla, a bear, and a red-tailed hawk into their offices..
lol Ok, let's do it!! And if even that doesn't work, let's send a Taxxon, an Andalite and a Bug fighter!
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I think the difference between the shows and cartoons that are getting renovated for the new generation and Animorphs is that all the other cartoons have a considerable fanbase and most importantly, tons of merchandise. As popular as Animorphs was 10 years ago, they didn't have any kind of merchandising, and there isn't a big fanbase anymore. It's too risky of an investment, and I can understand why producers are apprehensive about it.
What they should really do, is get an animated series going on Cartoon Network. That way, if it turns out to be popular, they would have more of a chance to get producers interested in a movie.
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i always thought they should go cartoon .
it was my dream back in teh day heheh not that it is not now XD
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cartoon...hmm...unl ess its awesomely animated and a mix between serious and laid back.
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I think the difference between the shows and cartoons that are getting renovated for the new generation and Animorphs is that all the other cartoons have a considerable fanbase and most importantly, tons of merchandise. As popular as Animorphs was 10 years ago, they didn't have any kind of merchandising, and there isn't a big fanbase anymore. It's too risky of an investment, and I can understand why producers are apprehensive about it.
What they should really do, is get an animated series going on Cartoon Network. That way, if it turns out to be popular, they would have more of a chance to get producers interested in a movie.
Animorphs had lots of merchandise. The problem was that most of the merchandise was based on the TV Show, which itself, was horribly received by both fans and non-fans alike.
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I would rather see an animated show than a movie, but the problem is, animorphs is a pretty violent and bloody books so I doubt Cartoon Network would take it unless they put it in their Adult Swim slot(I wouldn't mind that actually) If it were live action than I'd rather have the "Heroes" or "Smallville" staff to work on it so the effects wouldn't be complete crap (like the original show, but let's not talk about that abomination)
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I would rather see an animated show than a movie, but the problem is, animorphs is a pretty violent and bloody books so I doubt Cartoon Network would take it unless they put it in their Adult Swim slot(I wouldn't mind that actually) If it were live action than I'd rather have the "Heroes" or "Smallville" staff to work on it so the effects wouldn't be complete crap (like the original show, but let's not talk about that abomination)
I can't believe you used 'Heroes' and 'Smallville' as examples of good shows. No offense to fans of any of those (I'm not trying to start a flame war), but they are borderline from 'OK' to 'SUCK'. I'm talking overall here, because neither of them has been consistently good throughout their run. It's the last thing I'd want if Animorphs was finally relaunched, whether on TV or as a movie. If you're strictly talking effects people only, then okay, but the writing staff on both of those shows can go to hell.
If I had to pick one show as an influence for a new Animorphs show, then I'd pick 'Battlestar Galactica'. Not only are all of the space battles and creature effects great, but many of the themes present on the show mirror those in Animorphs (guerrilla warfare, genocide, etc) plus a whole lot more than any sci-fi show I've ever seen touch upon.
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LOL this would be so much easier to reply to if I could use quotes(damn this bet)
well I've actually never seen Smallvile but I've seen its effects and they're pretty good for a TV show. lol and u not liking Heroes will trigger a war involving a good chunk of old RAFians (especially Claire) LOL but I didnt mean their writers just the effects specialists. KA would be the writer of course LOL. I've never seen Battlestar Galactica but honesty, just like smallvile, it seems really stupid
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Disclaimer: Ember acknowleges that her opinions are relevent mostly to her and does not expect anyone to take her fangirling seriously. =P
Generally speaking, I think, and have for a long time thought, that a cartoon would be better overall than a live-action show. (And <3 to the person who brought it up.)
For one thing, I don't think it'd be as sparkly marketed to the older audiences of Battlestar or Heroes. After all, Animorphs has always been about kids, rising to new expectations and fighting for their home and their families. It's about kids facing adult challenges, and that plotline generally works best when accessible to kids (not that I don't think there'd be plenty of adult fans, too, a la Avatar and other, similar cartoons). I therefore feel like a somewhat dark, but also somewhat light-hearted/comic/fun cartoon style, with more action and less shadowy personal gloom than live-action Sci-fi shows, would suit it more.
I've compared them before but again, I think of a Teen Titans cartoon style, only a little more realistic and a little darker, when I think of Animorphs. Or what Runaways would look like if it were animated.
As far as violence... I think a little blood- Jake limping away from battle with a red stripe or two down his side, for instance, rather than missing his foot and half his face as might be described in a book. =P- would prolly be fine. And there are plenty of cartoons/animated movies with some violence, whether shown and just kept mild (Mufasa from The Lion King getting trampled to death and yet managing to remain seemingly unbroken, or characters falling from cliffs/buildings and just never being seen to hit the ground) or implied but not shown (the villain from The Incredibles falling into an airplane's rotary blade). I think there'd be a way to keep the gore more-than-tasteful.
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eh I guess that would work, it might be a good chance to bring Toonami(cartoon network time slot dedicated to anime and other types of action-y shows) back and bring Cartoon network back to it's original glory(I hate the utter crap it's turned into now)
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I've never seen Battlestar Galactica but honesty, just like smallvile, it seems really stupid
Trust me, it's anything but. I favour writing and characters over spectacle. BSG does both really well. Do yourself a favour and watch the Mini-Series (http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/1811/battlestargalacticathem.jpg). It's the pilot of the series.
Don't read any summaries for the show either. Just watch it. It's not a show you want to be spoiled on.
I won't go off-topic any further, and will leave it at that.
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Ive never watched BSG either, but i would prob like it if i did lol
I dont think the problem is that we didnt have enough merchandise, I think its that pretty much every old 80's/90's fandom thats getting the big budget treatment had some kind of adaptation while it was still around. Whether it was a tv series or comic book or whatever. Animorph's adaptation was super super lame and unsuccessful lol which makes filmmakers weary not only fearing that they will make an equally lame product but that people will associate the two and sales will suffer
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Okay so back on topic. I think their are going to be some changes to the movie I think they arn't going to go in an entirley different direction like they did with the show but it is definatly going to have to be different to keep up with the times. I think that all of us here at the RAF (not the royal air force) forget that the books were made in the 1990's and its been at least 13 years since the first book was written. I just hope they keep the characters right I mean in the tv show Rachel was not even the slightist bit aggressive (personaly I think the reasons they didn't give her a temper were sexist and conservative) and Ax not to appear that retarded (I am not using this adjective to mean stupid. I mean retarded.) Later in the book he is an advanced alien after all. Also I think they are going to have trouble deciding the age of the characters. In book 53 Jake says that he has been fighting the yeerks since thirteen. In the tv show they are already in high school.
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bsg is my new favorite show of all time
and
michael grant lists bsg as one of his favorite shows on his myspace
/stalker
but yeah I agree, an animated series would be sweet. Animation is a medium, remember, not a genre, and you can do some pretty awesome, adult, dark stuff with it. But at this point in the fandom's life, I will take whatever I can get, even if they're just some graphic novels or something.
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Okay so back on topic. I think their are going to be some changes to the movie I think they arn't going to go in an entirley different direction like they did with the show but it is definatly going to have to be different to keep up with the times. I think that all of us here at the RAF (not the royal air force) forget that the books were made in the 1990's and its been at least 13 years since the first book was written. I just hope they keep the characters right I mean in the tv show Rachel was not even the slightist bit aggressive (personaly I think the reasons they didn't give her a temper were sexist and conservative) and Ax not to appear that retarded (I am not using this adjective to mean stupid. I mean retarded.) Later in the book he is an advanced alien after all. Also I think they are going to have trouble deciding the age of the characters. In book 53 Jake says that he has been fighting the yeerks since thirteen. In the tv show they are already in high school.
I think the main problem with the TV show was the budget. I can think of a cash-money reason for pretty much every gripe I had with the TV show (except that disk...why did you add the disk?) Rachel was more submissive, not because of chauvinism, but because sticking forks in people's ears is an effect that costs money, and the actress portraying her was really no good, which probably meant she was cheap. Same goes with Ax--portraying Ax's naive misunderstandings about humanity and food addiction are cheap. Portraying Ax the awesome Andalite that can kill a Tyrannosaurus Rex is not. Remember his showdown with Visser Three in that one episode? How they like...arm wrestled? God I am still cringing from second-hand embarrassment.
ANYWAY THE POINT IS...well, I have no idea how much animation costs compared to live action, but I assume drawing any one thing is just as expensive as drawing any other. Animating action sequences is probably more costly than animating dialogue, since you can probably just photocopy people sitting still and animate their mouths, but that's okay since 80% of any one book was the Animorphs standing/flying around figuring out what was going on.
This is a rather long-winded way to say: Yes. Without the budget, animation is the only feasible way to portray this series.
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You cant really bring all the shows problems back to budgets
"sticking forks in people's ears is an effect that costs money" they could save money and use a plastic fork...
The real problem was they dumbed it down for kids and made it just a silly kids vs aliens gooftroop and didnt delve into any of the deeper issues that really wouldnt have cost any money
but thats not what we're talking about lol
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in before AtlA
But seriously, they should do an Animorphs cartoon modeled on that.
GN would be cool as well (speaking of which, whatever happened to that project...)
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You cant really bring all the shows problems back to budgets
"sticking forks in people's ears is an effect that costs money" they could save money and use a plastic fork...
The real problem was they dumbed it down for kids and made it just a silly kids vs aliens gooftroop and didnt delve into any of the deeper issues that really wouldnt have cost any money
but thats not what we're talking about lol
lol omg
well don't forget, anything good is going to cost more, including good writing. they wasted all of their money on live animals.
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Ahem . . .
Disclaimer: The following is strictly point of view, if I happen to insult a cartoon you like I'm just stating how I feel about its animation style unless specifically noted otherwise, you can go right on ahead liking it because I don't actually care.
Moving on . . .
I'm rooting for Animorphs the Anime the golden age of cartoons with nice action, plot/character development, and good animation quality for their time like Batman, Gargolyes, X-Men and Exosquad (Wingcommander, though no one agrees with me there) are gone and dead, Avatar tried to give them a comeback and it was pretty much like one of those scenes where one guy stands up to lead a charge and no one follows him. Oh, and it was kind of sort of semi-cancled because Spongebob is cheaper, more addictive to kids, and did I mention always freakin' on!?
We're reduced to the likes of Transformers Animated which I hate with a passion, Total Drama Island, which is the sort of thing a college kid could animate on a weekend, that barnyard thing, and other trash like that, mind you I'm talking about animation quality and alleged style, not to how good these shows may or may not be plotwise (not that TFA has one) wheras with Anime yeah you get some utter trash too but you also get some really fantastic stuff, like Record of Lodoss War, Robotech, ZOIDs, Blood: The Last Vampire or Cowboy BeBop, heck even DBZ which mostly consisted of powering up and speed lines to indicate where a fist probably is but is moving to quick to see.
For Animorphs to be treated decently it's going to need to be an anime because cartoons kind of stopped trying when Sailor Moon and DBZ came in to kick down their sand castles and steal their ratings. For that to happen someone in Japan would have to somehow get the rights to it, start it up and get enough of a viewing audience that it gets to the states, which . . . well, honestly, probably won't happen, so we're stuck with live action, bad animation, or 3D animation (like said barnyard thingy, or Clone Wars) which would make it too high budget and thus too high risk if it didn't blow Spongebob out of the water in exactly the way that Avatar didn't, and given how utterly braindead most kids today are, I don't see anything with a plot keeping them entertained, I've lost far too much faith in humanity.
Kids today don't want to watch war stories or see character development, or see tragic romances about hawks and teen idols, they dont want to think of the morality behind life and death decisions, if there's action they just want action, if there's humor they only want really simple humor, if there's plot it had better be restrained to a single epsidoe they can easily skip. They want bright flashing colors, lack of anything remotely inteligent, characters who are clearly dumber than they are.
The exceptions . . . well, they read books so they'd be all set with the Animorphs book series.
Even educational shows are getting dumber, look at Dora the Explorer . . . for starters no kid I know actually remembers the spanish they learn from that show for more than a flippin' hour, and she seems to demand common sense rather than brain straining. "Which shape is freakin' glowing kids?! Which shape is surrounded by light!? Guessed yet? Huh? HUH!? Well let's just stand here fore ten seconds while I let you figure it out! Come on, which one's glowing!?!? Just in case you guessed wrong I'm going to tell you, then pretend you got it right, you stupid little pile of stunted growth!! Pay my studio money! Do it now! Buy my dolls! Buy theeeem!"
It's great for self esteem I guess . . . my little brother is always so thrilled with himself when if guesses right . . . nevermind that he's like eight years old by now, knows what a square is, and still doesnt speak a word of spanish beyond "hola", "amigo" and "uno". Anyway animation just keeps going downhill, its like when Dumbledore says we can choose between what's right and what's easy, the studios keep picking what's easy and nothing new gets made, when it does it's just the same as the current crap but with a different face, characters named differently, same boring tale.
. . . then you go to Anime and you've got chicks in short skirts with abnormally large chests and thin waists sure, but you've also got more proportionally correct vampire girls in skirts that, miraculously actually go past their knees chopping demons in half with swords in exactly the way Buffy wishes she could, giant robots beating the crap out of each other, people, sometimes main characters dying, main characters actually learning things, subtlety and . . . so many cat girls you can tell they're just waiting to get their hands on morphing technology!
I grant you sometimes Anime is uber repetitive too, i.e. Tenchi, Ranma, whatever the crap all about one mildly attractive teenage guy with martial arts ability very noticibly not acting like a real teenage guy and taking advantage of the large number of unrealistically eager girls who apparently don't notice all the other guys in the series, shows like Robotech, Zoids, Gundam (feel my hatred!) Big O, all about giant robots who don't like other giant robots, Pokemon, Digimon, Monster Rancher, all about kids nobody seems to be supervising enslaving little monsters and making them battle for their amusement, the difference is when compared to the utter sameness of the current US lineup, which is about five different shows about idiotic main characters who prance about showing off their lack of intellect, three shows that are pale imitations of the shows they're supposedly remaking, and two shows about some kid who turns into like fifteen aliens and hangs out with his cousin because none of the writers can in good concience pretend someone likes him enough to be his friend, giant robots fighting, men with actual restraint and monsters beating the snot out of each other actually sounds worthwhile!
Or maybe I'm getting too old, maybe I just can't let go of the past . . . but then that's probably because shows with stories, characters you can relate to rather than feel superior to, and all that, actually demand enough of an emotional response to be worth remembering in my old age. I expect nothing less from an Animorphs movie, or an animorphs TV seriers, sadly I don't think the people with the power to make it happen actually . . . hmm, what's the word . . . oh yes "care"
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That was a very good post, JFalcon. It's true that Disney is dead, and American cartoons are just never going to be the same again. Now I would like Animorphs to be American made, just for the fact that the setting is in California. However, it will likely need to be made in Japan in order to do justice to the books. It does need to be animated, and the best animation nowadays is Japanese. Or thereabouts. I think Avatar is made mostly in Korea.
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I do think an animated series would be better off as more of an anime. People just accept more action when it comes to the anime-style. I'm obsessive about some anime (DB/DBZ[i pretend DB:GT doesn't exist :-P],Death Note, InuYasha,Monster Rancher, Digimon [Only Seasons 1&2],Sailor Moon[more for nostalgia, because now that i'm older i realize all the stuff in that series that makes no sense lol], and of course,Hayao Miyazaki's films). So i could easily see myself becoming obsessed with an Animorphs anime lol.
The anime-style never goes out of favor. I think Nickelodeon proved that with Avatar....their most successful animated series turns out to be one influenced by anime lol
I think with an Animorphs one, i would like the character drawn in the style of mangas/animes like Death Note...where the drawing style is more "realistic" than the usual anime-style
I would love if they got a big enough budget to do a computer-animated one. When some CGI-films, I get so shocked how natural some things look...but Animorphs would have to have like a super-large budget to get that kind of animation. So I think traditional animation would work best.
I also think a good idea is one that has been mentioned before whenever movie talk happens...live-action mixed with CGI...the Narnia movies and the Golden Compass movie showed us how we can get CGI-animals that look pretty much realistic...they would have to keep the animals 100% CGI so people would accept it. Because I hate when films/shows use live animals in most scenes but then switch to an obviously CGI-version for fight scenes. But again, that would be another budget issue lol
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I also think a good idea is one that has been mentioned before whenever movie talk happens...live-action mixed with CGI...the Narnia movies and the Golden Compass movie showed us how we can get CGI-animals that look pretty much realistic...they would have to keep the animals 100% CGI so people would accept it. Because I hate when films/shows use live animals in most scenes but then switch to an obviously CGI-version for fight scenes. But again, that would be another budget issue lol
I agree! CGI animals are very good now, it'd be great for an Animorphs movie.
And I'd also accept an anime version, even if, I'd also prefer a Disney cartoon version.
In fact, if they follow the story and the comedy-tragedy we see in the books (I mean, if they don't make it childish, with good guys and bad guys and nothing between...), I don't really care if it's a movie or a cartoon or an anime or a TV show...
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You cant really bring all the shows problems back to budgets
"sticking forks in people's ears is an effect that costs money" they could save money and use a plastic fork...
The real problem was they dumbed it down for kids and made it just a silly kids vs aliens gooftroop and didnt delve into any of the deeper issues that really wouldnt have cost any money
but thats not what we're talking about lol
lol omg
well don't forget, anything good is going to cost more, including good writing. they wasted all of their money on live animals.
good point, but it wasnt all that poorly writen, the problem was just the direction they took it. They aimed for it to be a lame little kids show cause thats what they thought would sell
And the animals prob did use a big chunk of their budget, and they didnt even get the right animals lol it was basically whatever live animal they could wrangle up from the set next door they'd throw on screen lol
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Yeah. If you're going to go the live animal route, you could at least get the right animal. Though how easy is it to train a gorrilla and whatnot.
Let's see. Rachel was a lion, Marco was a wolf, and Cassie was a horse. Jake was a white tiger instead of an orange tiger, but compared to the others that's quite excusable. At least he was a tiger. Tobias had the same problem as Jake, didn't he? Wasn't he some other kind of hawk instead of a redtail? But again, at least he was a hawk.
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I do think an animated series would be better off as more of an anime. People just accept more action when it comes to the anime-style. I'm obsessive about some anime (DB/DBZ[i pretend DB:GT doesn't exist :-P],Death Note, InuYasha,Monster Rancher, Digimon [Only Seasons 1&2],Sailor Moon[more for nostalgia, because now that i'm older i realize all the stuff in that series that makes no sense lol], and of course,Hayao Miyazaki's films). So i could easily see myself becoming obsessed with an Animorphs anime lol.
The anime-style never goes out of favor. I think Nickelodeon proved that with Avatar....their most successful animated series turns out to be one influenced by anime lol
I disagree because anime is kind of a niche market. Animorphs is already a niche fandom and they don't need to alienate people who don't like anime for whatever reason.
I think that they should do a live-action CGI. They could have 4-6 movies that simplify the stories and cast unknowns for Animorphs and bring in big stars for the smaller roles (Tom, Visser 3, Visser 1, Mr Chapman, etc.). I also think it would be a good idea to re-publish the books as a tie-in with the first movie and possibly stagger it as more movies come out.
Yes/No/Maybe?
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To be perfectly honest, I don't really mind just-for-fun drivel-entertainment. In fact I like it. 300? Not meant to be historically accurate, meant to be This Is Sparta! Open Season 2? Deserved it's direct-to-DVD release, but, heck, I enjoyed it for what it was. If things were different, and I were living in Japan now (and had the necessary language skill), sure I'd spend the thousand yen to go see this year's Pokemon film in July.
But, I'd be excited for the Evangelion release later this month, too.
The problem is that studios, quite rightly, treat serious films as a risk. The best it seems we can hope for in the West is something that's funny-with-heart, like Pixar's work or intended for an established adult audience--which means live action here, probably building on a preexisting and decently popular franchise.
Incidentally, that's where the raft of comic-book adaptations have come from.
But, animation, even though it's mostly escaped from the "animation age ghetto" is still stuck in the "silly story ghetto." In short, while Americans have learned that not all animated media is "kid friendly" (I feel sorry for any parents who made that mistake with Akira, lol), they have yet to accept that animation can be really gritty or deep. We've got snarky, slapstick, and pointed adult animated series (South Park, Futurama), but nothing with the intensity of, say, the recent Batman films.
And no studio is willing to take the risk of changing the status quo.
Really a shame, because there were TV shows in the 90's that respected the intelligence of their kid audiences. Even something comparatively silly like Transformers: Beast Wars had enough literacy to still be interesting today.
Falcon's observation that animation quality is decreasing is relevant, too. I've been watching Gargoyles and Digimon Tamers recently, and, yeah they're a lot smoother than even good anime from the past year or two, Code Geass.
You know, I'm feeling really nostalgic. They just don't make TV like they used to.
I guess I'll just sit in my corner and cry in my gin.
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I like you
but I'm on the more optimistic end of things. I think people are slowly realizing that animation is a medium, not a genre, and thus can pertain to more than just kid fluff. Movies like Persepolis and like you said, Akira (though that's a little older) are shifting the *zeitgeist* or *paradigms* or w/e big word you want to use there. And even Pixar, which, at the beginning, produced mainly fluff (talking toys and happy ants? yeah six-year-old marketing base!) is getting a little grittier. I don't think the first half hour of Wall-E could really be considered a kids movie. And most of the well-respected animated shows skew a little bit older, or at least, gain fans who are a little older. Avatar, the Batman series, Beast Wars, like you said, all aim for stories that are a little deeper, a little more gray, a little less...fluffy.
Though I disagree with JFalcon. I love Transformers Animated and I don't care who knows it.
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Time to be cynical...
I don't see an Animorphs movie happening anytime soon. If we're really lucky, we might get a throwback that turns out to be of good quality, even if it isn't entirely true to the originals (See Transformers).
The problem is that, as of now, it's a niche series, with two distinct sides. We have the young side that the series was intended for, and the more mature audience that delves deeper into it, like ourselves.
Based on film maker stereotypes, if it were made animated or like a cartoon in any way, it would be more geared to the younger audience, as a simple fact. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but they are few and far between.
If it were made to be animated, we'd surely lose the battles beyond anything more than near misses or completely survivable or exaggerated blunt trauma that the victim just walks away from.
The more mature the film gets, the more serious it gets, the more it alienates the younger audience. It would be grittier and more enjoyable for us, true, but it would also be live action, most likely assisted with high-quality CGI.
For something as small and forgotten as Animorphs, I find it highly unlikely it would be geared lower, but still with the high quality of larger, more well known films geared to younger audiences, such as Narnia.
There's still trouble. I find that a film geared to younger audiences would not really happen simply because the books are long out of print, and that audience has likely not even heard of Animorphs. The more mature audience is far to small to warrant the budget needed for the quality to make a movie geared to the more mature audience.
This is best realistic possibility that I see: Another ten, fifteen years pass, and Hollywood is looking for ideas. They come across Animorphs, and while it was originally set for kids, they see it definitely had capacity. They decide to go with it, and make a high budget film. It wouldn't follow the plot in any real way beyond using the name, characters, and basic premise.
Basically, what happened to Transformers.
The problem with this idea is that Transformers was on TV, a show that the vast majority of people had some concept of, even if they weren't real fans. They would react to the film by recognizing the title, and deciding to see it out of nostalgia.
Animorphs was a long book series, and if a person didn't read them, they'd basically be clueless as to how things go. It wouldn't have the nostalgia affect on nearly as many people. A large sum of them would think it was based on the Nickelodeon TV show, and decide it wasn't worth a second glance.
You need to remember, filmmakers don't care about having the best movie, just the one that's most profitable. Sadly, Animorphs simply isn't that marketable. We might get lucky with a throwback in a while, but beyond that, I don't expect much at all.
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I would have to agree with Think. As good an idea as we might think Animorphs is, the movie market will probably largely avoid it because it just isn't that popular anymore. I'm sure we'd like to think so because we love it so. ;D
As my sister put it "Hollywood re-makes stuff because they know people will watch it. They're afraid to make original things because no one will know what it's about. People want to see things they know they'll like."
Then again, they did make an Underdog movie geared towards today's young generation, and the adults that grew up with it. But if my mom hadn't told me about the original cartoon I wouldn't have had any clue.
Personally, I would go either CGI or CGI/live action if a movie was ever made. I'm also not sure if this would be a multi-film project or just one movie that covered the origin of the group and the start of their fight. If there was the potential for more films it would be one of those projects that was based on how the first movie does in theaters, I think.
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I don't think I'd even want to see an Animorphs movie. While it's an interesting idea, in practice movie adaptations often miss something, which tends to upset a good portion of the fanbase. Either the main idea of the series is dumbed down (Animorphs especially might be in danger of this; the people behind the movie/series might decide to put less emphasis on the darker aspects of the series and emphasize the "wow! aliens! spaceships! lasers!" aspect), or characters are changed for whatever reason. Either way, it doesn't feel right.
Take the Lemony Snicket movie, for instance. As a big fan of Snicket's series, I felt the movie was rather "off the mark."
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well..that's why they'll make the movie in a few more years, like 5 or 10 years. By then the fan base will be so small the movie people can ahead and ignore basic stuff, completely change the story, and come out with something that is completely different, but just has the Animorphs logo on it.
Either that or make a movie that is close to it and rename it.
An animorphs movie would be interesting for me because of how they would do the animals. It'd have to be believable and its hard to do that with real live animals.
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i agree with Wild, maybe this just becuz im obsessed with anime but I would definitely watch an anime styled animorphs show. LOL that's actually one of the things I daydream about when I should be paying attention in school(and yet i've still be recommended for 3 honors classes ;D) it could totally work out if had Naruto, Bleach, Inuyasha, or Soul Eater styled animation. Death Note style would be great too but that goes along the lines as too realistic for me. lol I can totally image Animorphs with a kick ass anime opening like the kinds Bleach(9th bleach openign FTW) and Naruto(7th Naruto Opening FTW) have. LOL I've actually imagined an Animorphs version of the 9th bleach opening
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8NcdSlAklM[/youtube]
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I don't think I'd even want to see an Animorphs movie. While it's an interesting idea, in practice movie adaptations often miss something, which tends to upset a good portion of the fanbase. Either the main idea of the series is dumbed down (Animorphs especially might be in danger of this; the people behind the movie/series might decide to put less emphasis on the darker aspects of the series and emphasize the "wow! aliens! spaceships! lasers!" aspect), or characters are changed for whatever reason. Either way, it doesn't feel right.
Take the Lemony Snicket movie, for instance. As a big fan of Snicket's series, I felt the movie was rather "off the mark."
I think even a bad movie would be better than no movie at all. Either way it'd bring in some new fans.
Using a personal example, I saw the 2004 Phantom of the Opera film when it came out and thought it was pretty good. It led me to read the original novel, get the London cast recording, and look at other versions of the story.
After getting into the fandom I began to realize that the 2004 film was actually quite bad. But I'm still very glad they made the movie, because I never would have discovered the musical, book, or older films without it.
And while the film did upset the existing fanbase, it also revitalized it and gave fans something new to discuss.
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I don't think I'd even want to see an Animorphs movie. While it's an interesting idea, in practice movie adaptations often miss something, which tends to upset a good portion of the fanbase. Either the main idea of the series is dumbed down (Animorphs especially might be in danger of this; the people behind the movie/series might decide to put less emphasis on the darker aspects of the series and emphasize the "wow! aliens! spaceships! lasers!" aspect), or characters are changed for whatever reason. Either way, it doesn't feel right.
Take the Lemony Snicket movie, for instance. As a big fan of Snicket's series, I felt the movie was rather "off the mark."
I think even a bad movie would be better than no movie at all. Either way it'd bring in some new fans.
Using a personal example, I saw the 2004 Phantom of the Opera film when it came out and thought it was pretty good. It led me to read the original novel, get the London cast recording, and look at other versions of the story.
After getting into the fandom I began to realize that the 2004 film was actually quite bad. But I'm still very glad they made the movie, because I never would have discovered the musical, book, or older films without it.
And while the film did upset the existing fanbase, it also revitalized it and gave fans something new to discuss.
I agree: I began to read Anne Rice because I liked the movie Interview with the Vampire ;)
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I don't think I'd even want to see an Animorphs movie. While it's an interesting idea, in practice movie adaptations often miss something, which tends to upset a good portion of the fanbase. Either the main idea of the series is dumbed down (Animorphs especially might be in danger of this; the people behind the movie/series might decide to put less emphasis on the darker aspects of the series and emphasize the "wow! aliens! spaceships! lasers!" aspect), or characters are changed for whatever reason. Either way, it doesn't feel right.
Take the Lemony Snicket movie, for instance. As a big fan of Snicket's series, I felt the movie was rather "off the mark."
I think even a bad movie would be better than no movie at all. Either way it'd bring in some new fans.
Using a personal example, I saw the 2004 Phantom of the Opera film when it came out and thought it was pretty good. It led me to read the original novel, get the London cast recording, and look at other versions of the story.
After getting into the fandom I began to realize that the 2004 film was actually quite bad. But I'm still very glad they made the movie, because I never would have discovered the musical, book, or older films without it.
And while the film did upset the existing fanbase, it also revitalized it and gave fans something new to discuss.
I never thought about it that way, actually. Reminds me of how I got into Frank Herbert's Dune series. I watched the 1984 David Lynch Dune movie and thought it was pretty good. It led me to read the book, and then I realized how much the movie contradicted the book.
I still think a movie wouldn't be the best format. The people behind the Snicket movie tried to squish 3 books into the one movie and did a horrid job of it. A TV series would probably be better; they'd be able to really develop the characters more and focus on important plot points rather than just getting everything into a 1.5 hour form.
The way I'd do it, is I'd probably try to make each book (or two books) into an episode, perhaps cutting out some of the less important parts (like the Helmacrons? Were they really that necessary?) and perhaps making movies out of the Megamorphs and Chronicles books.
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I think that if they have to make a movie they should just do AC or HC.
they can be easily condensed and you don't have to worry about having to make squeals ( but teh option is open if they want to)
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I think that if they have to make a movie they should just do AC or HC.
they can be easily condensed and you don't have to worry about having to make squeals ( but teh option is open if they want to)
Yes, TAC would be an awesome movie, it has space battles, Arbron, romance, Arbron, tail fighting action, Arbron, the rise of Visser Three and of course . . . Elfangor (What, you were expecting me to say someone else's name?) :P
It's a little light on the actual Animorphs of course, and I think Ax is only mentioned, and sort of glimpsed during the Ellimist flashback, though they could throw that scene from book 8 into the ending of the movie, and the movie itself while being self contained (it begins with Elfangor dying and ends with his death after all) still ends in such a way that it encourages people to read the books or else allows for a TV series (me hopes with a good budget) to be made.
HBC would indeed be another good film since it would show both sides and all but it lacks human characters so those who go to movies just to see cute guys or girls wouldn't actually care, it might do as a sequel to TAC so people would know who Andalites and Hork-Bajir are and people who refuse to read (I know some such people) could still enjoy the epic tale, but really as an introductory movie meant to get peope reading the books or encourage a series with a budget I think TAC, or else the classic The Invasion are the way to go.
But both TAC and HBC have a serious drawback; lack of humans and aliens that resembe humans, unlike Star Trek where they rarely need to bust out CGI for an alien the Hork-Bajir and Andalites would have to be CGI or they just wouldn't work (the TV show's Visser Three and Ax battle comes to mind with the solid thought that a fight in Fraggle Rock would have been more heart stopping) they'd be expensive movies to make in live action due to the need for CGI or else puppets (Hopefully good ones if they go that road) and if animated the movie would be seen as a kids' movie which TAC couldn't be since it involves one major character being trapped forever, one becoming a slave for roughly the next nineteen (I think) years, and these are two plot points that they just can't leave out, even if they wanted to childproof the movie Arbron and Alloran's fates just can't be left out.
Or else they could I guess . . . they could pretend that Alloran was so evil and insane that he became a voluntary host, and Arbron could be raving about how cool the Taxxon body is so kids don't think anything bad has happened . . . but to me that'd be more depressing than the truth.
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TAC nwould be self contained, but I'm not sure if it would make much sense by itsself. People would be wondering about the part where he gives the box to kids, and how the war got started. Of course, I guess that would be feul for sequels and prequels. I would think HBC, but it does have a severe lack of Humans/Human-like characters. TAC could work, but it would need to include Arbron being trapped and Alloran being captured. I wouldn't have much problem with him being protrayed as an evil, crazy person. Until recently, that's how I viewed him. Someone who completely deserved his fate.
Well, I'm not sure if Arbron is such an important thing. He's never really important, except in book 53 to help speak for the Taxxons. But then I don't give a lick about Taxxons anyway. Just having him die on the Taxxon world to explain his absense in later parts would be fine.
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So if Animorphs were to be resurrected in the form of a cartoon style (non-animated) television series, which elements would you want to stand true? And what mood or themes would you like to see presented?
We all know the books reached some pretty dark points, but that doesn't mean it necessarily has to be dark. Some light comedy could shed some light on all that gloom.
However, I think anime is a terrible idea as a design for Animorphs. Anime is way too distinctive, the drawings are very similar and would cast Animorphs simply as another anime story, taking away from what it really was. Anime's cool, but its also a turn off, esp when I see the similarities b.w Naruto, Bleach, ect...
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I think I'd want to have the people behind the DC comics cartoons, like Batman: TAS do the Animorphs cartoon. They seem to know how to stay true to the source material.
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I wouldn't mind Animorphs Ressurected (that's not a bad title, I think) being a bit dark, with some Aesops about war and stuff. Though not so dark as it was in the final arc, and not have the lessons be so hammered in. Some people just want entertainment. Not so much edutainment.
There are a lot of changes that I would make, but also some basics I would keep. Like trying to keep the personalities similar, if not the same. Except tone down Cassie's ridid morality. Or maybe have her be rigidly moral at first, but then develop into something not so extreme that she would screw over the planet, her friends, and sentence someone to a fate worse than death just so she can sleep better at night. Also make Rachel not go so far into the dark side, to where people actually think she's more evil than David or Visser Three. Anti hero, sure, but not blood knight.
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I think I'd want to have the people behind the DC comics cartoons, like Batman: TAS do the Animorphs cartoon. They seem to know how to stay true to the source material.
Agreed-ish, Batman was very good, I personally dislike comic book super heroes (Aside from the X-Men . . . eXcalibur roocks btw) but Batman: TAS was practically an addiction for me as a kid and it resulted in Batman being the only super hero I can say I like without any reservation (Apart from some X-Men). It was easy for me to enjoy because unlike Super Man who wins by being so OP he makes Death Knights look like kittens Batman wins with a large (kind of OP but not Super Man OP) arsenal of neat gadgets and with strategy and I distinctly recal developing a crush on Harley Quinn as a kid which only added to the show's quality--but I digress it was also a very good show visually, not at all like Transformers Animated (yeah I still hate it, try and stop me :P ) and Animorphs drawn in that style with that level of smooth movement and character loyalty would be totally cool.
Now for the "ish" part . . . see I just don't think that kind of animation is around anymore, which is sad . . . nay, depressing . . . maybe if I close my eyes and wish really, really hard . . . just seems like most cartoons today aim themselves at kids or adults and the adult shows are just kids shows with profanity, the kids shows are usually mind draining (I know I'm not supposed to think SpongeBob is genius, but when I see it and shows like it actually making my little brothers dumber . . . ) or pointless slapstick, the days when we had shows like Batman or others which both kids and adults could enjoy are gone, I'm waiting for more than one show to be on the air that proves me wrong, but hey, maybe someday Animorphs will get its chance to be such a show.
However, I think anime is a terrible idea as a design for Animorphs. Anime is way too distinctive, the drawings are very similar and would cast Animorphs simply as another anime story, taking away from what it really was. Anime's cool, but its also a turn off, esp when I see the similarities b.w Naruto, Bleach, ect...
Well not everyone likes anime, not everyone likes cartoons or live action shows either, there's just no medium that would make every fan happy because we're all individuals with our own opinions because Visser One listened to Tom and not me so the Andalites won . . . look, I've said too much.
Anyway I'm not trying to start an argument because I agree with some of what you say, but everyone has their own taste, Bleach in general and the Naruto anime aren't to mine personally, but that aside I'd like to defend the other animes out there by pointing out that Naruto and Bleach are similar because they're made by the same people much like TFA and Teen Titans, they shouldn't be used to judge the medium in general, I also suspect that their respective writers are fairly lazy, I mean Naruto's creator has admitted to "borrowing" from other animes and mangas. There are animes out there that don't strictly follow the Big Eyes Small Mouths rule of animation, though I agree a few too many do that's just their style.
But I share the worry that a lot of what Animorphs is would be "lost in translation" so to speak, but from a visual standpoint north american animation isn't impressing me thus I continue to back the anime idea. Nick clings to Spongebob like a a floatation device (which he isn't, he lives at the bottom of the sea, not the top) Cartoon Network has variety but is lazier still in their animation quality, Disney seems to have kind of stopped existing in any real way at some point (but they're Disney so they'll be back someday . . . maybe tomorrow?) I think WB did too . . . maybe the time is right for a new studio or network to come on the air and light a fire under Nick and CW with goold old fasioned competition.
Not going to happen of course. I'm sad now :'(
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You need to remember, filmmakers don't care about having the best movie, just the one that's most profitable. Sadly, Animorphs simply isn't that marketable. We might get lucky with a throwback in a while, but beyond that, I don't expect much at all.
Animorphs is totally marketable.
Transformers is just as much of a niche series, the masses will watch any movie if there are attractive actors and cool special effects. The content is good enough that if it's done well, it could win awards.
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If animorphs weren't marketable, do you think Nickelodeon would've even made a series, even a mediocre one?
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The Ani series was still in the book 20's when they made the TV series. It could still be marketable, though. Bringing old things to new light has been done before.
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Furthermore, if it weren't marketable, it never would've been published. Tv shows, Movies, and merchandise are merely icing on the cake.
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I don't think anyone's saying it wasn't marketable at one point, I mean it was very marketable in its hay day, but when thinking of making a movie the people who can make it happen probably look at that terrible TV series for research since it's faster than reading a book, then they see it and say "Well this is terrible and even the fans aren't terribly fond of it, we won't make money with this"
I think if the books went out again, and if say . . . an EU existed beyond just chronicles (hint hint K.A. . . . yeah I know she won't see this and Scholastic probably has to be the one to really make the decision anyway) that could appeal to more audiences (if there were, say, a graphic novel run, that'd be amazing, I mean Gargoyles is kind of doing it, they're actually really good) it might help the powers to be more willing to undertake a movie, right now all they have to go on is a book series that isn't really selling anymore (I never questioned that it was still in print since I can still find them but I guess they're out of print?) a TV series that most fans won't even watch (it has its moments, I think but their effects were horrible) and a toy line that, honestly, was a mockery of both Animorphs and transformers, I actually (still) own the Tobias figure and I swear bird or boy form you kind of want to have him put out of his misery, he looks like he's in pain just existing . . . moreso than the regular Tobias from the books that is :P
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I don't think anyone's saying it wasn't marketable at one point, I mean it was very marketable in its hay day, but when thinking of making a movie the people who can make it happen probably look at that terrible TV series for research since it's faster than reading a book, then they see it and say "Well this is terrible and even the fans aren't terribly fond of it, we won't make money with this"
I think if the books went out again, and if say . . . an EU existed beyond just chronicles (hint hint K.A. . . . yeah I know she won't see this and Scholastic probably has to be the one to really make the decision anyway) that could appeal to more audiences (if there were, say, a graphic novel run, that'd be amazing, I mean Gargoyles is kind of doing it, they're actually really good) it might help the powers to be more willing to undertake a movie, right now all they have to go on is a book series that isn't really selling anymore (I never questioned that it was still in print since I can still find them but I guess they're out of print?) a TV series that most fans won't even watch (it has its moments, I think but their effects were horrible) and a toy line that, honestly, was a mockery of both Animorphs and transformers, I actually (still) own the Tobias figure and I swear bird or boy form you kind of want to have him put out of his misery, he looks like he's in pain just existing . . . moreso than the regular Tobias from the books that is :P
Wow, that's some good points JF! Especially the point about the Graphic Novels.
There has to be a way that we (the fans, and the public) can let them know that there is still some general interest in Animorphs. I know several people who'd go see it just because of the nostalgia factor. Maybe they can "Star Trek" it. I'd never really had any interest in Star Trek when I was growing up, but I went to see the movie and actually enjoyed it. Revivals are the new "it" thing in Hollywood right now, there has to be a way we can get one for Animorphs. I feel that now would be a good time.
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Well we just find some spoiled rich girl whose mother or father just happens to be a major producer, get her interested in Animorphs then watch her demand the movie for her "sweet" sixteen since we all know nothing a rich girl wants for her sixteenth fails to happen . . .
Seriously though I think if it were available in a new format, something most of us don't already own like a graphic novel or a new chronicle, or even a coloring book the sales alone would indicate that there is an interest, after all Invader Zim got action figures and DVDs in the same year because the fanbase made it known that they would buy them . . . then they didn't buy them and I never got a Tak action figure . . . but nevertheless a vocal fanbase is great, but money helps too.