How an Animorphs movie should be done

[Yorick Brown]

I just want to say first that while I'd still see it because I'm such a big fan, I'd hate a movie rather than a TV series (like the one I've mapped out in this thread: http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,940.0.html because there's just too many stories to tell with too many details and it'd be ridiculous making many, many sequels. Now I continue.

It's a film trilogy unlike "The Lord of the Rings" where each movie was really just a big piece of the same story without an individual premise. Think "Scream" and "Spider-Man" where each film has it's own separate story featuring the same characters in another adventure.

Changes:

-Tobias is not trapped in a morph
-Marco's mother is actually dead and not Visser One
-The Andalite Chronicles never happened; Tobias' father is not Elfangor and he was orphaned at a young age when his parents died in a car accident
-The Yeerk menace isn't the result of the Andalites' folly
-The Animorphs can morph clothes and shoes just fine
-No Erek King and the Chee
-No Crayak and his servant, the Drode
-No Leerans
-No Helmacrons
-No Aftran and the Yeerk Peace Movement
-No traitorous David
-No Hork-Bajir Colony

Todd Holland directs, Drew Goddard writes.

Blake Lively plays Rachel and Dustin Milligan plays Tobias. Hugo Weaving as the voice of Visser Three and Tony Goldwyn as Principal Chapman.

1) Animorphs: The Invasion Begins (or Animorphs)

Combines the events of The Invasion and The Visitor.

Plot: 5 ordinary teenagers on their way home from the mall take a shortcut through an abandoned construction site. They notice a light in the sky and realize it's a spaceship. The spaceship lands and a mortally wounded centaur-like alien walks out. He informs them that Earth is being secretly invaded by slugs from another planet that take over your body. The Andalites, members of his race, are too busy fighting the alien slugs, called Yeerks, elsewhere so Earth is doomed unless the Yeerk menace is somehow stopped or slowed down enough till the calvary arrives. He trusts the teens with the ultimate weapon: the power to morph. To change into any animal they touch by absorbing their DNA.

The teens are granted this power and manage to escape the construction site where the dying alien was finished off by the malevolent leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth and only Yeerk to infest an Andalite, Visser Three and his army of human slaves and terrifying bird-lizards.

The next day the Animorphs realize that last night was no dream and they're able to morph into animals. They dub themselves the Animorphs and decide to use this power to spy on high-ranking controllers and attack the underground Yeerk Pool complex under the guise of 'Andalite bandits.' They won't stop fighting till they stop the Yeerks.

(It may feel like an ambitious TV pilot (like this year's film "Jumper") more than anything else but this is the best bet.)

Scene Selections:

-At the Mall/The Players
-The Shortcut/The Light in the Sky
-The Dying Alien/The Invasion Warning
-The Power/The Blue Box
-Visser Three
-Jake's House/Jake morphs Homer
-Fun Flying
-Controller Tom
-The Sharing
-Distant Friend
-Rachel the Cat
-Spying on Chapman
-Sad Melissa
-Discovered Again
-The Construction Site
-Rachel Rescued
-Cassie's Barn
-Suspicious Policeman
-Tailing Principal Chapman
-The Gardens
-The Yeerk Pool
-Rachel's Letter
-'Until then, we fight'

2) Animorphs: Nowhere to Run (or Animorphs 2)

Combines the events of The Message and The Mutation.

Plot: Animorphs Cassie and Tobias are having strange dreams about the ocean and a voice crying for help. When they learn on the TV news about an artifact with Andalite writing that washed up on shore, the Animorphs decide to investigate their two members' dreams. They use dolphin morphs to explore the ocean for any clues that solves the mystery that links the strange dreams and the mysterious artifact.

After some death-defying adventures, they find Ax. Ax is a young Andalite and brother of the dying alien from the first film who was trapped for weeks in the remnants of a downed spaceship after a successful Yeerk sneak attack. Ax was the lone surviver and tried using his telepathic abilities to call for help from any fellow Andalites.

The Animorphs accept the alien youth into their group and try to reach the surface but not before battling the Yeerks who also heard Ax's message and brought a deadly submarine. They also have to deal with an ancient race of mutant fish people living on the ocean floor.

Scene Selections:

-The Dreams
-The News Reports
-To the Ocean
-The Shark Attack
-The Whale's Message
-Seagull Stowaways/Return to the Sea
-The Dome Ship
-Ax
-Yeerk Attack
-Whale Save the Day
-The Sea Blade
-The Cavern
-The Nartecs
-Queen Soco
-Operating Room
-Escape from Atlantis
-A New Animorph

3) Animorphs: The Legacy Survives (or Animorphs 3)

Combines the events of The Stranger and The Familiar.

Plot: After a deadly battle where they escape just by the skin of their teeth, the Animorphs are growing weary of this seemingly never-ending war.

Using ****roach morphs, the Animorphs sneak inside a the Yeerk Poll via an entrance at the local mall. There, a giant wormy alien attempts to eat the Animorphs but then time freezes.

The Ellimist appears. A highly evolved, near-omnipotent being that can manipulate time and space. He offers the Animorphs a choice: stay fighting this war where they will eventually lose or come away to a planet where their friends and family and select humans and animals will live in peace without fear. The Animorphs decline but the Ellimist promises he will return to make give his offer once again. The Animorphs escape being an alien meal by using a drop shaft that they noticed when time froze.

After their near escape, the Ellimist returns to give them his offer once again but now he shows them a terrifying future 20 years later where the Yeerks have successfully invaded Earth. Humans are slaves, bred like cattle. The Earth is devoid of animal life. Marco and Rachel are dead and Tobias and Cassie are leaders of a small resistance group. The Animorphs join Cassie and Tobias in destroying a Yeerk Pool but are confronted by Visser Three in Ax's body and his lieutenant controlling Jake's body. The Animorphs are then sent back to the present, horrified with what they've seen.

They realize that that wasn't a future where the Animorphs KEPT fighting but a future if they STOPPED fighting. They also realize that the Ellimist was giving them hints. Hints how to escape the Yeerk Pool and where the location of the Kandrona is.

The Animorphs destroy the Kandrona starving all the Yeerks to death and Ax finally gets his vengeance on Visser Three who he defeats in battle at the ESG building.

Scene Selections:

-Close Call
-Weary Jake/Suspicious Tom
-Pool Entrance at Mall
-The Taxxon's Tongue
-Time Freezes
-The Ellimist
-The Proposition
-The Escape
-The Future
-The Resistance
-Jake the Controller/Destroying the Pool
-The Present
-The Classroom/ The Butterfly Effect
-The Revelation
-The ESG Building
-Visser Three
-The Kandrona
-The End

[Mongoose]

Ok, I tried to do the same thing on the old board, so I appreciate how difficult it is to condense the the Animorphs series into a trilogy of films. One or two thoughts on your ideas.

1) If you're trying to turn the Invasion into a 2 hour film I'd bring in the surveillance of Chapman in from the Visitor. I think it's important to show him home life and the effect the Yeerks are having on his family.

2) For the main focus of film 2 I'd go for the free Hork Bajir, making the climax of the film the battle for the Hork Bajir valley, this was a major arc throughout the books and needs to be explored.

3) Basically needs to follow the major story arcs of 45 onwards. I wouldn;t say adapt the beginning since most of the book was focused on the aftermath, and the climax would be the final battle. I'd drop the One ending as well, but that's just me.

Much as I loved the Helmacrons I admit they have no place in a film series. The Ellimets and Cryak bring things onto a much grander scale, making the war a pawn in a much larger game, for this to work it needs to focus on humans vs Yeerks. I liked the David arc, but there's no way to introduce it, which is a shame.
However I think Visser one needs to be there. She was too important to Marco's character development and motivation to leave out. I'd say bring her in in the second film. I think the auxiliaries should be there as a reflection of how the war has changed them and how they're willing to recruit.

[Essam 293]

It seems kinda pointless to have another thread for this. It's like we're getting doubles for the same topics on this board now

[Yorick Brown]

I was actually thinking of adapting "The Visitor" into the first movie but I felt that there was just too much plot in "The Invasion" already. On second thought, maybe checking up on Chapman could fit.

No Ax, Mongoose?

[Mongoose]

I was kind of building on your ideas, so the film opening with the rescue of Ax was already established, but instead of "The Deception" or "The Andalite's Gift" I was thinking pursue the free Hork Bajir storyline. Ax is one of the team, there's no way I'd just drop him like that.
I was also thinking, that since it's the fashion these days, that Andalite/ Hork Bajir Chronicles and/or Visser could be released as companion straight-to DVD animated films, just to flesh things out a little.

[Tim Bruening]

I just want to say first that while I'd still see it because I'm such a big fan, I'd hate a movie rather than a TV series (like the one I've mapped out in this thread: http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,940.0.html because there's just too many stories to tell with too many details and it'd be ridiculous making many, many sequels. Now I continue.

It's a film trilogy unlike "The Lord of the Rings" where each movie was really just a big piece of the same story without an individual premise. Think "Scream" and "Spider-Man" where each film has it's own separate story featuring the same characters in another adventure.

Changes:

-Tobias is not trapped in a morph
-Marco's mother is actually dead and not Visser One
-The Andalite Chronicles never happened; Tobias' father is not Elfangor and he was orphaned at a young age when his parents died in a car accident
-The Yeerk menace isn't the result of the Andalites' folly
-The Animorphs can morph clothes and shoes just fine
-No Erek King and the Chee
-No Crayak and his servant, the Drode
-No Leerans
-No Helmacrons
-No Aftran and the Yeerk Peace Movement
-No traitorous David
-No Hork-Bajir Colony

Todd Holland directs, Drew Goddard writes.

Blake Lively plays Rachel and Dustin Milligan plays Tobias. Hugo Weaving as the voice of Visser Three and Tony Goldwyn as Principal Chapman.

1) Animorphs: The Invasion Begins (or Animorphs)

Combines the events of The Invasion and The Visitor.

Plot: 5 ordinary teenagers on their way home from the mall take a shortcut through an abandoned construction site. They notice a light in the sky and realize it's a spaceship. The spaceship lands and a mortally wounded centaur-like alien walks out. He informs them that Earth is being secretly invaded by slugs from another planet that take over your body. The Andalites, members of his race, are too busy fighting the alien slugs, called Yeerks, elsewhere so Earth is doomed unless the Yeerk menace is somehow stopped or slowed down enough till the calvary arrives. He trusts the teens with the ultimate weapon: the power to morph. To change into any animal they touch by absorbing their DNA.

The teens are granted this power and manage to escape the construction site where the dying alien was finished off by the malevolent leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth and only Yeerk to infest an Andalite, Visser Three and his army of human slaves and terrifying bird-lizards.

The next day the Animorphs realize that last night was no dream and they're able to morph into animals. They dub themselves the Animorphs and decide to use this power to spy on high-ranking controllers and attack the underground Yeerk Pool complex under the guise of 'Andalite bandits.' They won't stop fighting till they stop the Yeerks.

(It may feel like an ambitious TV pilot (like this year's film "Jumper") more than anything else but this is the best bet.)

Scene Selections:

-At the Mall/The Players
-The Shortcut/The Light in the Sky
-The Dying Alien/The Invasion Warning
-The Power/The Blue Box
-Visser Three
-Jake's House/Jake morphs Homer
-Fun Flying
-Controller Tom
-The Sharing
-Distant Friend
-Rachel the Cat
-Spying on Chapman
-Sad Melissa
-Discovered Again
-The Construction Site
-Rachel Rescued
-Cassie's Barn
-Suspicious Policeman
-Tailing Principal Chapman
-The Gardens
-The Yeerk Pool
-Rachel's Letter
-'Until then, we fight'

2) Animorphs: Nowhere to Run (or Animorphs 2)

Combines the events of The Message and The Mutation.

Plot: Animorphs Cassie and Tobias are having strange dreams about the ocean and a voice crying for help. When they learn on the TV news about an artifact with Andalite writing that washed up on shore, the Animorphs decide to investigate their two members' dreams. They use dolphin morphs to explore the ocean for any clues that solves the mystery that links the strange dreams and the mysterious artifact.

After some death-defying adventures, they find Ax. Ax is a young Andalite and brother of the dying alien from the first film who was trapped for weeks in the remnants of a downed spaceship after a successful Yeerk sneak attack. Ax was the lone surviver and tried using his telepathic abilities to call for help from any fellow Andalites.

The Animorphs accept the alien youth into their group and try to reach the surface but not before battling the Yeerks who also heard Ax's message and brought a deadly submarine. They also have to deal with an ancient race of mutant fish people living on the ocean floor.

Scene Selections:

-The Dreams
-The News Reports
-To the Ocean
-The Shark Attack
-The Whale's Message
-Seagull Stowaways/Return to the Sea
-The Dome Ship
-Ax
-Yeerk Attack
-Whale Save the Day
-The Sea Blade
-The Cavern
-The Nartecs
-Queen Soco
-Operating Room
-Escape from Atlantis
-A New Animorph

3) Animorphs: The Legacy Survives (or Animorphs 3)

Combines the events of The Stranger and The Familiar.

Plot: After a deadly battle where they escape just by the skin of their teeth, the Animorphs are growing weary of this seemingly never-ending war.

Using ****roach morphs, the Animorphs sneak inside a the Yeerk Poll via an entrance at the local mall. There, a giant wormy alien attempts to eat the Animorphs but then time freezes.

The Ellimist appears. A highly evolved, near-omnipotent being that can manipulate time and space. He offers the Animorphs a choice: stay fighting this war where they will eventually lose or come away to a planet where their friends and family and select humans and animals will live in peace without fear. The Animorphs decline but the Ellimist promises he will return to make give his offer once again. The Animorphs escape being an alien meal by using a drop shaft that they noticed when time froze.

After their near escape, the Ellimist returns to give them his offer once again but now he shows them a terrifying future 20 years later where the Yeerks have successfully invaded Earth. Humans are slaves, bred like cattle. The Earth is devoid of animal life. Marco and Rachel are dead and Tobias and Cassie are leaders of a small resistance group. The Animorphs join Cassie and Tobias in destroying a Yeerk Pool but are confronted by Visser Three in Ax's body and his lieutenant controlling Jake's body. The Animorphs are then sent back to the present, horrified with what they've seen.

They realize that that wasn't a future where the Animorphs KEPT fighting but a future if they STOPPED fighting. They also realize that the Ellimist was giving them hints. Hints how to escape the Yeerk Pool and where the location of the Kandrona is.

The Animorphs destroy the Kandrona starving all the Yeerks to death and Ax finally gets his vengeance on Visser Three who he defeats in battle at the ESG building.

Scene Selections:

-Close Call
-Weary Jake/Suspicious Tom
-Pool Entrance at Mall
-The Taxxon's Tongue
-Time Freezes
-The Ellimist
-The Proposition
-The Escape
-The Future
-The Resistance
-Jake the Controller/Destroying the Pool
-The Present
-The Classroom/ The Butterfly Effect
-The Revelation
-The ESG Building
-Visser Three
-The Kandrona
-The End

Movie 4: The great David fiasco!