Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Alan Fangor on May 15, 2011, 12:32:19 PM
-
First of all, I found a similar topic but it's 1-year ago and a warning suggests to me to start a new topic. I apologize in advance if I made a mistake.
When I read the series I always tried to guess where the story takes place. I made some remarks that make me think that the city most likley is San Francisco. They live in US, on the West Coast, 'cause they have mountains near the coast. There are forests and a fauna typical of those area, and there's a river that runs through the city, and it's described as a very big city, with 60-stories buildings, theme park, water park, subway, a Marriot hotel close to the beach. And in book 38 the local newspaper is called "Chronicle" and there is a San Francisco Chronicle, and I believe that it is the only large city on the west coast to have a newspaper by that name.
Obviously, specific places (like Golden Gate or the Bay) are never mentioned and other places are invented (Beane Tower, Zoo Garden Theme Park etc.).
Few days ago I read a summary of book #54 and I discovered that California is indicated as the State where animorphs live, so my hypothesis is partially confirmed. Between the major cities of California, San Francisco is the one that most fits with the evidences in the books.
On the other hand, some other clues suggests otherwise. In #51 The Absolute Marco says that their state capitol is 350km away...but San Francisco is much closer to Sacramento. The cities at that distance on the coast are Eureka and Santa Barbara but they are too small.
Maybe K.A. Aplegate wanted to shown a generic big city in central or southern California but she didn't intend to refer to a city that actually exists.
What do you think?
-
The general consensus is California or any city along the west coast. There's a beach, a major zoo/theme park and there's a facimile of Area 51 in flying distance.
-
They live in California. It says so in #54. And my guess is they live more around LA, partly because of stuff that's said in #54, and partly because it's said in #51 that the state capital is a few hundred miles away, which rules out San Francisco pretty quickly.
-
Um, San Francisco is much, much, MUCH closer to Sacramento than Los Angeles is.
-
Exactly my point.
-
Maybe K.A. Aplegate wanted to shown a generic big city in central or southern California but she didn't intend to refer to a city that actually exists.
probably
-
When I read the books,I always felt it was always around my state,Georgia.But then again I was just in awe of the books I would think anything about it.
-
I believe the Animorphs live in Santa Barbara, California. Evey piece of evidence can line up fairly well with this location. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_list_of_Animorphs_books (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronological_list_of_Animorphs_books) for... oh wait. That's the wrong kind of evidence. Well, for one, it never snows, not even in the winter. Now you may think, "But there aren't any books that take place in the winter!" According to my research, winter could take place around book 17 (1997), 29-31 (1998: The school dance in 29 could be a winter dance, Marco mentions The Prince of Egypt in 30, which came out December 18th, and Jake mentions Christmas in World War II in book 31), and 45-48 (1999).
As for the distance thing, you said that Marco said in book 51 that they were 350 km away from Sacramento? (Well, "the capital", but still...) 350 km = 217.47992 miles. Santa Barbara is 302 miles away from Sacramento, or 486.02189 km. They could have been 48 miles away from their hometown when Marco said that, but it's been a long time since I've held a copy of #51 in my hands.
-
One Thing that threw me off was in one of the books, Jake mentions to Cassie about her grandmother telling him that the house she lives in dates back to the civil war. Implying that it's on the east coast. yet the last books imply california.
-
Two things:
1. California existed during the American Civil War (1861-1865; California was a state in 1850) (http://www.militarymuseum.org/HistoryCW.html (http://www.militarymuseum.org/HistoryCW.html)) There's still room for a Californian home to "date back" that far.
2. The book you're thinking of may have been written by a ghostwriter. See here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animorphs#Ghostwriters) or here (http://animorphs.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Ghostwriters) for a list. Books 25, 27-31, and 33-52 were ghostwritten. They tend to make minor mistakes; not necessarily saying that that was a mistake, though...
-
In four they're on a ship headed for Singapore. That implies West Coast.
Also, in Visser, Visser One mentions landing in Elay L.A. and she was involved with the television industry. They then move to a suburb outside the city. So yea, its probably L.A.
-
she could have just made up a place and called it calafornia or something...and where does it say they live in calafornia?
-
She could have just made up a place and called it calafornia California or something...and where does it say they live in calafornia California?
It's been years since I read the ending books, but I know it was one of the last few books. Probably book 52, 53, or 54.