Author Topic: Animorphs TV verison  (Read 4427 times)

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Offline Kagebutterfly

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Animorphs TV verison
« on: June 13, 2008, 04:37:54 AM »
Ok now I know that fans "loved" the show, and how much it was advertised on the bookcovers even AFTER the show went off the air, BUT were there any "Decent" episodes at all in the series...?

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Offline AniDragon

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2008, 12:35:52 PM »
Personally, I find that the whole show can be decent if you separate it enough from the books, and if you go in KNOWING that they changed major elements.
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Offline SuperBlue

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2008, 12:51:03 PM »
The episode where Cassie was allergic to the crocodile DNA was pretty good
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Offline Chad32

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2008, 01:53:53 PM »
It was weird, cheaply done, and they changed around too many things. I believe they did Tobias' character wrong, and why did they make Rachel have claustrophobia? And while I'm on Rachel, why did they make her battle morph a lion instead of a bear? Correct me if I'm wrong.

The books had been out for a while, with enough info to make the show be basically an animated version of the books with possibly minor tweaks.

I watched some episodes, but became disinterested in it all. I did like watching Ax in Human morph, though. I think there was an episode that focused largely on him that I liked.


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Offline wolfev

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2008, 02:25:05 PM »
Yeah, Applegate admitted to only watching 2 episodes. And what the hell was with the disk that they were all freaking out about? There are so many issues with that show. The Yeerk pool was pretty sad though. It was like a basement with disco lights. Also, the hawk that was Tobias had the handling straps on its talons. Nothing was done correctly. The Yeerks were cartoonish villains, though Visser 3 is kinda that way sometimes. Tail fighting was pretty sad too.
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Offline Kharina

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2008, 03:36:28 PM »
Personally, I find that the whole show can be decent if you separate it enough from the books, and if you go in KNOWING that they changed major elements.

Hmm, I don't think so.  I could cope with them changing some, or even a lot, of plot elements, but IMO it was really poorly done in acting (for the most part), technical work (as someone else has said, the hawk still had the handling straps on), and just kind of lost the spirit of the books.  They needed a bigger budget, mainly.  I mean, the special effects were so poor, especially the Andalites.  Does anyone remember when v3 and Ax arm-wrestle instead of tail fight?

Although I thought the actor playing Ax as human did very well :)

Offline SuperBlue

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2008, 03:53:03 PM »
I never noticed the handling straps. I liked the show when I was younger and didn't read the books but then I started watching it on the internet about 2 years ago and I was like "....WTF I used to watch this?" They only had one real actor(The guy that plays Jake) The Andalites were scary looking and were made out of rubber, the Hork Bajir were....weird, and there were no Taxxons, Tobias wasn't....Tobias, Rachel only morphed into a grizzly one, Marco's battle morph was a wolf, Cassie's battle morph was a horse, it got canceled before David was introduced,  Visser 3 and Ax were...fuzzy, and a bunch of other stuff I don't feel like getting into right now
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Offline Mongoose

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2008, 04:29:45 PM »
Personally, I find that the whole show can be decent if you separate it enough from the books, and if you go in KNOWING that they changed major elements.

I would have disagreed, but the fact that it did gain fans (including people I was at school with) who didn't read the books proves you're right.

Hmm, I don't think so.  I could cope with them changing some, or even a lot, of plot elements, but IMO it was really poorly done in acting (for the most part), technical work (as someone else has said, the hawk still had the handling straps on), and just kind of lost the spirit of the books.  They needed a bigger budget, mainly.  I mean, the special effects were so poor, especially the Andalites.  Does anyone remember when v3 and Ax arm-wrestle instead of tail fight?

Although I thought the actor playing Ax as human did very well :)

Oh yes, just watched that one today, one of the worst on screen battles ever. Not helped by the actor playing Visser 3 hamming it up like theres no tomorrow. You'd think the director would have asked him to bring his performance down a little.

Overall I think that good writing and good performances can triumph over bad effects over bad effects, however Animorphs fell short in every department.
One thing that annoyed me was the amount of stuff that they did that was in direct contradiction of the books. Rachael's claim that they always used to hang out before or Marco identifying Tom as a controller because he as playing with his ear (I'm pretty sure there was a line in the book that said “It's not as if controller go round playing with their ears). There must have been more, but that's all I can think of so far.
Another problem was the way in which the chose to accelerate the stories. I get that one book per episode can be difficult, but it was done in a way which made the Animorphs look incompetent, not inexperienced, flat out useless. The one that sticks in my mind was when they did The Visitor (episode 4?), they successfully catch and morph Chapman's cat, but fail to lock it up so that it can just wonder back in and blow their cover. It's a basic mistake and one they didn't make in the books.
Then there's the disk. What were they thinking? When it was first introduced I assumed it was going to be a plot device which would give them useful information when they needed it, but no. They had it for about an episode, then they lost it (the incompetence rant again). I mean Jake just dropped it in the Yeerk pool or something, they never even said when, it was just 'oops I lost it'. Interesting side fact though, something that passed my by when I first watched it (ten years ago now!), Ax says that they lost Elfangor's  Hirac Delest.
The casting was also an issue. There have been occasions where good casting can carry a series above the poor effects and low production values (although not flawed writing). However the casting didn't totally work either. Briefly:
Jake: Best piece of casting of the series, Shawn Ashmore really captured the character and it seems appropriate that he's had the most successful post Animorphs career.
Ax: Paulo Costanzo did very well in the role, he was suitably awkward and was able bring out the alien nature of the charter.
Rachael: She might have been good, but the scripts and the direction didn't do the character justice, never really brought out here warrior nature.
Cassie: Same problem, she did a good job with what she had, but never really got the the heart of the character.
Marco: There was just something missing from the performance, he delivered the lines, but he just didn't have the wit to go with them.
Tobias: Wrong wrong wrong. He looked and acted nothing like the Tobias of the book.

The adult cast was generally not particularly well developed or used, but I would like to give a quick salute to the best adult performance, Richard Sali as Chapman. I thought he played the character really well, showing the classic villain, the mock humanity in the scenes with Mellisa and then actually getting some sympathy for what he had to do.

Sorry I've rambled a bit there, but hopefully I've made some valid points.
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Offline wolfev

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2008, 09:29:12 PM »
I've always wondered what they were thinking when they made it. I mean, was Ed Wood directing? And why is the cast so freakin old? The show just had so many problems and it was as if they made one mistake and once they say they made a mistake they made even more mistakes trying to fix it. There is a whole rant about it that really gets to the point on Animorphs: The Radio Drama Uncensored, I think its in The Message, but I'm not sure.
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Offline morfowt

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2008, 03:27:38 AM »
Marco identifying Tom as a controller because he as playing with his ear (I'm pretty sure there was a line in the book that said “It's not as if controller go round playing with their ears).
Actually, K.A. purposely wrote that in #31.

The one that sticks in my mind was when they did The Visitor (episode 4?), they successfully catch and morph Chapman's cat, but fail to lock it up so that it can just wonder back in and blow their cover. It's a basic mistake and one they didn't make in the books.
actually. it was rachel's plan in the tv series. the other animorphs didn't do anything in capturing chapman's cat in the tv series. not that it makes much of a difference.

I mean Jake just dropped it in the Yeerk pool or something, they never even said when, it was just 'oops I lost it'.
Yeah. that confused me too. I watched #3 and they still had it. Then I watch #6 and suddenly it's in the yeerks' hands(?). I go back and in #4...they just lose it right at the beginning.

Interesting side fact though, something that passed my by when I first watched it (ten years ago now!), Ax says that they lost Elfangor's  Hirac Delest.
yep. in #8 the alien

Offline Nateosaurus

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2008, 05:12:51 AM »
The whole disk plot annoyed the heck out of me.

That show had so many things wrong with it, everytime I watch it I find alot of reasons to laugh.
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Offline CounterInstinct

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2008, 06:23:50 AM »
K.A once said that, to make the Animorphs show as close to the book and realistic as possible, complete battle morphs, tail fights, and all the whatnot, it would require more than what a typical movie production costs. That's why she expected the show to be animated instead.
And yes, I agree with Mongoose, I only liked the Jake character, except for the physical appearance, he was what I expected Jake to be.

Marco character would have been fine, although something Marco is lacking that I just can't put my finger on....
The others were all a wreck, especially the Tobias character.

If it was remade.... animated.... or rather a movie instead.... I think it would look great.
I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To th

Offline musicman88

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2008, 09:07:29 AM »
I enjoyed that episode where it was just Ax and Tobias talking.
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Offline morfowt

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2008, 09:29:06 AM »
I enjoyed that episode where it was just Ax and Tobias talking.

I think you're talking about #16 Tobias.

Offline filmstu2005

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Re: Animorphs TV verison
« Reply #14 on: June 15, 2008, 02:38:27 AM »
K.A once said that, to make the Animorphs show as close to the book and realistic as possible, complete battle morphs, tail fights, and all the whatnot, it would require more than what a typical movie production costs. That's why she expected the show to be animated instead.
And yes, I agree with Mongoose, I only liked the Jake character, except for the physical appearance, he was what I expected Jake to be.

Marco character would have been fine, although something Marco is lacking that I just can't put my finger on....
The others were all a wreck, especially the Tobias character.

If it was remade.... animated.... or rather a movie instead.... I think it would look great.

I agree. I posted this in the other RAF forum:

I've actually been trying to start an Animorph animated series, for quite some time now. No joke, although it does sound like one.

As insinuated by my screename, ive 'studied' film and this is something that I've always been very passionate about. Not only that but the books are a gold mine. The stories and characters are simply incredible, and I've tried tapping into that energy. I've also been trying to contact Scholastic to see if its possible to get the rights to the books. With the help of a production company we can get this show on the road.

I'm pretty sure ive gotten the scripts down really well. I'm still doing rewrites and always open to suggestions. 13 episodes for the first season, of course, which is common for cartoons. Working on a series bible as of now for the show.

After mapping out the books and the storylines it turns out it would take 4 seasons to tell the whole story, 56 episodes which includes 5 2 parter episodes (from five different books), possibly more epis if asked by the network (hopefully Cartoon Network!), and a Hork-Bajir Chronicles one hour tv special. Probably the most important story to tell.

Currently searching for artist to draw characters for a presentation. I could definitely use the help if offered. email is filmstu2005@Yahoo.com. Constructive criticism is always useful.

Wish me luck!!!