Animorphs Abridged

[wolfev]

I know there is the worst book thread, but if the series needed to be condensed to a series of Harry Potterish length, assuming book length was not a problem, then which books and plots would have to be in the final cut, and which would be left. Furthermore, why was their filler anyway?

[esplin]

i wish there was more animorphs books and each one was like 300+ pages, imo animorphs should never end :]

[wolfev]

Yea but then they would have nothing to do. It would be like

Rachel: Tobias I love you but I can't reconcile my feelings about you being a predator
Tobias: Don't worry Rachel after 1000 books I still haven't gotten any less pitiful.

Or
Jake: We've tried to defeat the yeerks thousands of times with plans that seem perfect at the time but ultimately end up with us failing, learning a lesson, and the yeerks being foiled somewhat, but I have a good feeling about this one

Or
Sub Visser 11: Gee Visser three what are we doing this book?
Visser 3: The same thing we do every book, TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD

[mrlarry]

ANIMORPHS: The Abridged Version
By KA Applegate, edited by MrLarry

Chapter 1
My name is Jake
"Ram the Blade Ship."
The End

Seriously though, I don't know what I'd cut. I know everyone has the books they absolutely detest, but I think it was all important. Even the ones that were "filler" added to our understanding of the characters.

Besides, if we're assuming length is not an issue, why does anything need to be cut?

[morfowt]

I say add everything, except the alternamorphs. do not, I repeat do not, add the alternamorphs.

[Essam 293]

The alternamorphs never counted as part of the Animorphs main story anyway. They were just a quick cash in by combining the Goosebumps Choose Your Own Adventure books with Animorphs popularity.

There were some filler books that I wouldn't have minded being left out (#44 anyone?), and there were quite a few books where, even though they added something of value to the series in general, just seemed to be a way for the story to be stretched out as long as it could without ending.

I was extermely sad when I first heard that Animorphs was ending, but honestly, the series probably should've ended 10 books earlier than it did. It was definitely loosing its steam around the mid 30s. Everyone was loosing interest, and K.A herself seemed to relying heavily on ghostwriters to be doing her job. Everything from there until the final arc (which started at #45) could've been condensed in one way or another. The important points anyway, because they certainly didn't need to drag everything out that long before reaching the conclusion.

[morfowt]

Hmm...I don't know. the early ones weren't that much better than the mid-30s.

[esplin]

idk i just loved all of their adventures

[ThermalRider]

The early ones were the best I think. It was really easy to see a change in how the series felt once the ghost writers took over. Don't get me wrong, I still like all the books, but the style was very different.

I think that even if they had used the same plots, if K.A. would have been the writer, they would have been so much better than they turned out.

[Mongoose]

If you're cutting the series down the I'd say Megamorphs would be the first to go since they add nothing to the overall plot, followed by the Helmacron (I loved those little guys, but overall they added nothing more than some laughs).
The Forgotten is pretty superfluous to the ongoing story, the clues in the name.
The Mutation can go as well, as can the aforementioned The Unexpected.
I'd have to actually go through the collection book by book to give more, but if we're being ruthless there's probably quite a few that can go.

[Phoenix004]

Alternamorphs DO NOT count and never have done. Seriously, they read like a bad fanfic!

I would never remove the Megamorphs (except possibly number 4) because they were great books. However, to make this easier, how about we just stick with the numbered books? As in 1-54? Then we can just remove the ones that didn't really add to the plot in any significant way, and see how short we can make the series.

Some books could easily be removed in my opinion, such as book 28 or book 41. Both interesting books, but neither added anything relevant to the plot as a whole (unless you count Ax getting a TV!) However, there are some books that could be harder, where they don't seem to add things in terms of plotline, but they do add character development.

[jsh357]

Hi, all.  New here.

I just recently found this site and started rereading Animorphs, which I had quit reading at #44 many years ago (just when it was about to get good again, ironically).  While I've been reading, I kept a record of which books seemed relevant to the overall plot.

Take this with a grain of salt wolfev, but here's what I've come up with.  A lot of the filler books have short references in later ones or morphs than end up being used again, (Cassie's skunk, for instance) but these are what I would suggest to a minimalist.

Must-reads:
#1 The Invasion
#2 The Visitor
#3 The Encounter (Potential skip, but it really helps develop Tobias)
#4 The Message
#5 The Predator
#6 The Capture
#7 The Stranger
#8 The Alien
#10 The Android
#13 The Change
The Andalite Chronicles
#15 The Escape
#17 The Underground (You could skip this one, but it introduces lots of things about how the Yeerk Pool is defended)
#18 The Decision
#19 The Departure
#20 The Discovery
#21 The Threat
#22 The Solution
The Hork-Bajir Chronicles
#23 The Pretender
#26 The Attack
#27 The Exposed (Possible skip, but it introduces the Drode, who reappears a lot)
#29 The Sickness
Megamorphs #3: Elfangor's Secret (Possible skip, but it helps develop Ax somewhat)
#30 The Reunion
#31 The Conspiracy (Possible skip, but almost vital to developing Jake & Tom)
#33 The Illusion
#34 The Prophecy(Possible skip, but this one is fun if you read HBC)
#35 The Proposal
Visser
#38 The Arrival
#40 The Other (Possible skip, but it introduces Ax's bias against vecols)
#43 The Test
#45 The Revelation
#46 The Deception
#47 The Resistance
#48 The Return
#49 The Diversion
#50 The Ultimate
#51 The Absolute
#52 The Sacrifice
#53 The Answer
#54 The Beginning

43 books total, could be taken down to 36 for a hardcore minimalist. 

Narrator stats:
Jake   7 (or 6)
Rachel   6 (or 4)
Tobias   6 (or 5)
Cassie   5 (or 4)
Marco   9 (or 8; KA must have seriously loved Marco)
Ax   5
Others   3
All   2 (or 1)

Other books that I liked a lot/might suggest reading for one reason or another:
#25 The Extreme (This one was just cool, plus they morph the Polar Bears again later)
Megamorphs 4 (Almost completely pointless, but interesting)
#37 The Weakness (I hate this one, but it is sort of a Rachel development book, I guess)
The Ellimist Chronicles (Again, I detest this one, but technically it could be considered relevant)
#11 The Forgotten and Megamorphs #2 (These are fairly cool, but entirely pointless)

Again, these are just my observations.  I'm sure some of the books I haven't listed are worth reading to others.

[Phoenix004]

I do agree with most of what you've said actually, nice work. I'll probably post my own version of the list later.

[Starsword]

Lately Ive been wanting an abridged Ani reference. Like, I barely remember The Forgotten (No pun intended, serious...well maybe a little), and I dont feel like rereading it. I want a shortcut, a paragraph on each chapter of the book. Like the other day I forgot who Hewlett Aldershot was, (google helped there), for stuff like that.

[CounterInstinct]

LOL! you forgot The Forgotten... sorry... it was funny... 
I think Megamorphs 4 is a must read anyway even it contributes squat to the plot. It develops Jake's character, as we see that this book shows he has been vastly weakened compared to the Jake before. Plus, Megamorphs 4 answers one of the ulitmate questions: What would happen if they didn't go to the construction site?