Ani-Tv:"Likes and Dislikes

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Alright, makes sense. But you'd still have to reintroduce the series. The MMPR film came out while the [original] series aired.

[t0bias]

something i hate about this show is that in one episode visser 3 complained about how the human form was weak.... well why don't you go andalite when your around yeerks? also he proved hi point by showing that the andalite arm is ,uch stronger than the human arm... *facepalm* another thing is that they morph so damn quickly! and all in a predictable order... it ruined something that makes the animorps universe authentic. and the realation to the book series is a bout 66% percent i geuss... animorphs: best book series, worst tv series.

[Josh (J)]

Well, not all the morphs are quick. Jake's morph to Homer when hiding out took some time. Or Cassie's bad croc morph.

[Semeir-Cooraf-Armaheen]

I think morphing had to be sped up because of time constraints. Last I remember in the book it could take several minutes to morph, and in a 30 minute show they couldn't spare like ten minutes of just morphing. So I can understand that. (I liked the sequence where Ax was doing his Frolis maneuver btw. He was all sweaty at the end which shows it took him effort to get that shape.)

[t0bias]

or maybe it was his brother making him sweat... btw if you have no idea what i'm talking about just look at your siggy.

[NateSean]

I see the TV series as a separate universe, not the REAL Animorphs. It feels a lot better if you watch it like that. But, seriously? No mention of the WORD Animorphs?

I agree with treating books and TV shows like two seperate entities, if the TV show is at least entertaining. True Blood comes to mind as a show that does things vastly different from the book series but manages to retain it's originality. The  first major failing (or sorry, it's called "Epic Fail" now) of the AniTV show is that it treated it's audience like idiots. Forget that we read the books and know all the rules. It was those major brain burps that you'd have to be under five or suffering from brain trauma not to notice.

Example 1: They find the oatmeal addiction before Tobias gets his morphing ability back. They go into the Yeerk Pool using mole morphs but never explain how Tobias gets there. For that matter, why did Tobias get shot? Why is he alive in the next episode without any adequate explanation?

To me, the best episode in the entire series of the TV show was one of the last ones. It involved a teacher giving a lecture about survival in the wildnerness. His Yeerk dies from the Kandrona starvation and the host tries to round up more hosts to build a resistance.

Who ever wrote that episode had better have gone on to do better things because it was brilliant. For one it was an original story that didn't try to adapt the books. Jake's Tiger morph was an actual trained animal in the classroom and not an embarrassingly obvious green screen effect, so the actor playing Chapman was believably terrified. The teacher was a believable character and the lesson he gives in the beginning ties in with how the story ended.

Everything was there and if they could have just managed that level of creativity and writing skill from day one the show would have had a much longer run. Or, if it still got cancled as was the case with Moonlight and Firefly, the fans would be justified in fighting to get it back on the air.

And that is my beef with the series. *Gets down off the soap box*

[LisaCharly]

Were we watching the same episode? Because that episode, to me, was the most horrid barring My Name is Erek or Changes pt 3. Or the escalator episode, which was just full of lame.

- Abysmal dialogue ("I saw him feed Tom soup" and Chapman's "you have the upper hand now!" to a frigging tiger, as if Jake didn't before)
- Marco should have shanked Jake the instant the latter started chasing Tom's car yelling "I know all about the Sharing!". Seriously, Jake was alternately an idiot and a total jerk, and yet the episode bends over backwards to try and make Jake look like he was in the right.
- The guy who plays Chapman is just terrible. He had the least convincing yelp of all time. Alikat and I have taken to imitating it for our own entertainment.
- The opening scene with the cricket is horribly framed, horribly shot, horribly acted, just...awkward.
- Just bad acting all around. I'm usually ambivalent about Cabrera as Marco but he can't deliver laughter at all, and there are points when Ashmore is just shamelessly using cue cards.

[NateSean]

Yeah, but the points you've mentioned are pretty much standard in a show created by Nickelodeon past the 95. The few clips I saw of "My Name is Erek" had me wondering what horse they cloned that actor from as he looked like he was chewing something when he spoke.

I'm not saying it was perfect. I'm just saying out of a large steamy pile of what the Anitv series turned out to be, that was at least one fragment of a gem.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     I love how the Animorphs are discussing the fate of the world in the Cafeteria--you know, where everyone could hear and see them--and Chapman walks right by, looking like he was sucking on a lemon. Seriously, he always had this unpleasant look on his face. And what the hell was with all of those little "give-aways?" You know, how they made the controllers OBVIOUS! LIke, the Chapman-twitch, the blank stares on the faces of teenagers. And what were those controllers wearing in the Face/Off episodes? They looked like...I don't know what to compare them to, wearing their bland grey clothing. It didn't scream covert-alien-invasion; it shouted "I ran from an institution just know, and I THINK I'm part of an alien invasion!"

     How come Jake introduces himself four times in parts one and two of "My name is Jake?"
     How come it's Cassie with the allergy and not Rachel?
     Why is Marco so bland when he's trying to be funny, and funny when he's not trying to be funny?
     Why was Christopher Ralph so cool?
     How come all the controllers looked like they were trying really hard not to pass gas?
     Why did Tom look like he was Jake's dad, not his brother?
      Did Shawn Ashmore really read off cue cards? That's hilarious!

[LisaCharly]

My favorite was how so much of Chapman's dialogue was like "cat." "Andalite." "cat." "student." Yeerks learning English?

Yeah, but the points you've mentioned are pretty much standard in a show created by Nickelodeon past the 95. The few clips I saw of "My Name is Erek" had me wondering what horse they cloned that actor from as he looked like he was chewing something when he spoke.

I'm not saying it was perfect. I'm just saying out of a large steamy pile of what the Anitv series turned out to be, that was at least one fragment of a gem.

Nope. That one was horrible! Seriously, it was more egregious than most of the others to me.

I did like the one they did of The Alien (bar the weird Andalite...grapplin g?), and The Leader 1 and 2. And the first season finale had its good moments. Christopher Ralph using facial expressions, oh my!

[NateSean]

Well as long as we're talking about the major brain burps, how about Ax rigging a computer in a busy and very public cyber cafe so that Jake could call Tom. In the middle of a mall where the Yeerks are known to frequent. And leaving all of his equipment beind where anyone can find or trace it.

Seriously, if the Animorphs had been that careless in the books the series wouldn't have lasted past The Visitor.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Maybe the Yeerks were celebrating a civic holiday that particular episode.

[Gumby]

I hated when Ax fought visser 3, it looked like they were bumping into each other instead of slashing.

[LisaCharly]

Not to mention that at one point you can hear a horse neighing as a sound effect during their grappling. Really, Nickelodeon?

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Ooo Ooo Ooo! I got some more!

     Tobias' aunt actually LOVES him!