Author Topic: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography  (Read 4494 times)

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Offline poparena

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #15 on: February 22, 2012, 06:09:20 PM »
#4 - Lost in images from a mind larger and older and so utterly strange (#4 The Message)

It's October 1996. "Macarena" keeps a death grip on pop music, the summer movie season had come to an end and people were now turning to films like The First Wives Club and Sleepers.  Beast Wars debuts on television, reinventing the Transformers franchise into something that isn't obvious thirty-minute toy commercials. In real news, the US launches Operation Desert Strike, a series of cruise missile strikes against Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein starting genocidal campaign against the Kurds. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, banning all nuclear explosions for any reason, is signed in the United Nations, which nobody ever actually follows. And finally, the O.J. Simpson trial begins.

Back in August, a three-year old boy had climbed the wall of a gorilla encampment at the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Illinois and fell more than eighteen feet to the hard concrete floor below, knocking himself unconscious. At this, one the female gorillas named Binti Jua walked over, cradled the boy like her own infant, and carefully carried him to one of the service entrances. The incident became a brief media sensation, and people began to debate the nature of the animal's act. Was it some kind of training, or a shining example of altruism in the animal kingdom? No doubt, K.A. Applegate was watching the incident and thought to herself two things: "I'm gonna do that in one of my books, only have it be a crocodile pit! Yeah!" and "What exactly was the gorilla thinking?"

So far we've discussed the alien invasion side of Animorphs, so it's time we touched upon the morphing aspect. One of the key motivations for K.A. Applegate in the creation of Animorphs was the idea of getting inside an animal's head and seeing through its eyes. Applegate credited this as an interest in existential phenomenology, the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view. In the case of Animorphs, the act of morphing produces a completely new structure, the processing of human thoughts and memories through the brain chemistry of an animal. For the first three books, this followed along a steady concept. The Animorphs would morph an animal, struggle against its instrincts, be it the playfulness of a dog or predatory instincts of a hawk or the ongoing fear of a shrew, and eventually win out. But then comes book four, and everything changes.

In this book, the Animorphs morph dolphins and encounter a humpback whale, finding they are able to communicate with it in a way that is at least partly telepathic, as it is able to project images into their minds with an unsettling amount of clarity. Regardless on one's opinion on the communicativeness of "whale songs," this act clearly goes beyond basic animal instincts into a realm far deeper and mythic, and brings the series to a point where it straddles the line between science fiction and fantasy. Now, this aspect of sea mammals communicating with each other through mythic means has its roots in some of the more marketable aspects of New Age, a hard-to-pin-down spiritual movement that began in the 1960s and continues to this day with rising and falling popularity. New Age is a very difficult thing to define, as it draws from so many things that people participate in it pick and choose from, many of them contradictory: atheism, monotheism, pantheism, virtually every popular religion, philosophy, self-help, Gaia theory, astronomy, astrology, quantum physics, environmentalism, etc. Two of the biggest marketable images of the New Age movement would prove to be very important to the mythology of Animorphs: dolphins and crystals (dreams about alien forests in a bubble on the bottom of the ocean wouldn't be too far fetched for New Age).

I suppose if you were to define the core concept of New Age, it would be the seeking of unity between the mind, body and soul. In Nevill Drury's 2004 book "The New Age: Searching for the Spiritual Self," he positioned the movement as "a worldview that includes both science and spirituality." This could be seen as the mission statement of morphing itself, as with each morph, the Animorphs must obtain a unity between their new bodies and their consciousness. It is both an act of advanced scientific technology and an act of the spirit. This reflects on the merging of science fiction and fantasy that the series itself participates in. Science fiction can be seen as being about man and his relationship with his tools, while fantasy can be seen as man and his relationship with concepts. Morphing, the central concept of the entire series, is both a tool AND a concept at the same time, and this walking the line gives the characters access to a new avenue to view the world. An avenue that includes magic talking whales.

This all leads up something I plan to cover in greater detail as this series goes on: the Animorphs journey towards enlightenment. That word carries a lot of baggage, all of which I plan to unpack.
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Offline Oceanspray

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #16 on: February 24, 2012, 03:01:43 AM »
^God tier post as usual. 

I want to believe that you remember all of that stuff and that you didn't have to research anything about the time this book was released. 

Enlightenment?  I feel it was more like disillusionment.  The Animorphs had a "whatever works" (true neutral)  mentality toward the end of the series.  Now I shall wait patiently for you to get to the book where you finally explain what you meant by enlightenment.

Offline poparena

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #17 on: February 25, 2012, 02:19:32 PM »
#5 - Which just goes to show you why you should never get involved in other people's problems (#5 The Predator)

It's December 1996. "Macarena" finally jumps off the top of the charts, making way for BLACKstreet and Dr. Dre's "No Diggity" in November and Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" in December. I completely forgot to mention in my last entry the death of rapper Tupac Shakur, who was killed in a drive-by shooting. This was just shortly before the release of what would be his final album, "The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory," in which Tupac had planned to change his stage name from 2Pac to Makaveli. The album, which is probably best to be taken tongue-in-cheek, portrays Tupac as the victim of an Illuminati-style organization within the rap scene consisting of all the artists Tupac had managed to piss off throughout his career. The parallels between Tupac's death and the content of the album continues to inspire conspiracy theorists. Meanwhile in the movie theaters, people went to see Romeo + Juliet, Space Jam, Star Trek: First Contact, the live action 101 Dalmations movie and Beavie and Butt-head do America. In the video game scene, "Tomb Raider" and "Diablo" are released.

In real news, Bill Clinton wins a second term in office, the biggest work protest in South Korean history begins, and six-year old beauty pageant contestant JonBenét Ramsey is murdered, a case which remains unsolved. Carl Sagan passes away. There will be an entry on Sagan and his influence on Animorphs, but not today. No, today we talk about the Power Rangers.

1996 marked the fourth season of Power Rangers, and marked the beginning of a tradition of regularly changing cast members, powers, enemies and titles every year. "Mighty Morphin' Power Ranges" transformed into "Power Rangers Zeo" and took a form that was arguably the closest the show would ever be to Animorphs, though that's not actually saying a lot. Whereas "Mighty Morphin'" was equal parts science fiction and fantasy, "Zeo" diminished the more magical elements of the show to focus on the sci-fi elements. The Power Rangers swapped out their dinosaur-themed "technology from another time" suits and weapons for a more modernized set-up, and the villains changed from dark sorcerers invading the Earth with gangs of golems to an entire robotic empire. The show was often proud of showing off the might of the invading fleets, always ready for attack but never actually doing it. In many ways, it was showing us what many readers imagined the Yeerk forces hovering in orbit might look like.

This is not to say that the fantasy elements were completely removed. The original series villains remained as secondary characters, and the new powers the Rangers possessed originated from crystals, tying it to New Age mysticism just like many of the elements of Animorphs. And really, the entire series premise from the beginning mirrors Animorphs in a lot of ways: five teenagers given powers by a mysterious alien to fight off invading forces, having to hide their identities while saving the world. However, this is not to imply that K.A. Applegate took any actual inspiration from Power Rangers. The show is not mentioned once throughout the series, and I have yet to come across an interview where Applegate brings it up. It's easy to believe Katherine and Michael, not yet parents, ignored the series completely. No, Animorphs is not so much influenced by Power Rangers so much as cut from the same cloth: children adventure stories.

That is to say, genre stories in which one or more of the protagonists are replaced with children or young adults. This goes way back and is usually reflective of the popular genres of the time.  Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" puts young Jim Hawkins in the place of other high-seas heroes like Robinson Crusoe or Emilio Roccanera. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" saw Mark Twain dumping his young protagonists into a dangerous crime drama. The 1920s saw the premiere of "The Hardy Boys" and "Nancy Drew" as a teenage answer to mystery serials (Sherlock Holmes was only forty-years old at the time). Marvel Comics made a name for itself doing this, presenting the first teenage superheroes (not counting mascot sidekicks like Bucky or Robin) with Spider-Man and the original X-Men. Even the Ninja Turtles are teenage, it's right there in the name! The popularity for this kind of thing is obvious, as young readers would have an easier time relating to these main characters and therefor could imagine themselves having these adventures.

Not that I had any trouble imagining I was Indiana Jones or James Bond when I was a kid, but the appeal of imagining oneself as a young hero versus an adult hero is that one does not have to fundamentally change who they are when imagining themselves having an adventure. For example, one kid pretends he's a young Encyclopedia Brown-esque child detective while another kid pretends he's Sherlock Holmes. While the first kid's imagination might emphasize aspects like intelligence and skill, they are still basically playing themselves, while the second kid is playing someone who is completely NOT themselves. Both have fun, but the first kid would probably find his fun a bit more empowering. Power Rangers plays to this kind of imagination like a pro, emphasizing that anyone with any skill set can become a Power Ranger, be they athletic or nerdy.

Animorphs, on the other hands, uses this same approach, but almost as if it were a trap. Anyone can gain morphing powers, be they athletic or nerdy. Who doesn't want the ability to turn into animals and fly around as a hawk or swim about as a dolphin? It's a good hook that many young readers grabbed onto early, but as this series progressed, this fantasy was gradually perverted, revealing itself as a candy apple with razor blades inside. Book five is the more perverse yet, the Yeerks raising Marco's mother from the grave as a military zombie. Kids who came into the series wanting to turn into elephants and kicking alien butt, only for the series to reveal that the morphing powers were more of a curse than a gift, and that the aliens were so, well, alien that not even death is sacred to them. The Animorphs are completely incapable against them, they only survive this book thanks to bickering inner politics, their morphs only helpful in hiding their identities. In this book, our heroes, the people whom the readers imagine themselves as being, are in constant retreat. No battle, no taking a stand, nothing to make you feel better about yourself in the end.

This is not Power Rangers, kids.
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NateSean

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #18 on: February 26, 2012, 01:49:20 PM »
One thing that stands out about Power Rangers was the watered down approach to danger or a life threatening situation.

A villain never said, "Kill them" or "bring me their heads". It was always, "destroy them". Because of course children can't grapple with the idea of someone wanting them dead, even though schools have guest speakers teach them about such things throughout their lives. And there are more than a few places in the world where children are familiar with the concept of someone wanting them, or not caring one way or the other if they die.

The Animorphs came face to face with people who wanted them dead, or thought they were nothing but weak little things to be used and tossed aside (the rapist from The Visitor) pretty much every single day.

Also, never once do the Power Rangers try to negotiate with villains or try to play for the lesser of two evils. Putting aside that choosing lesser evil is still evil, sometimes we have to make compromises to take care of ourselves and our loved ones.

I remember one of Rita's monsters being willfull and disobedient. It had a very specific obsession with a certain type of egg, that Rita used to rein him in. I remember being ten years old and thinking "Wait a minute. He has no personal politics and if they can build weapons and other crap from the so called morphing grid, surely Zordon could create those very eggs and use this monster as a potential ally."

But no. It was all black and white and with the short sightedness of teenagers, the Power Rangers vanquished this monster. Because in Power Rangers there was a very clear distinction between good and evil. If you were a human being and in control of a massive ancient robot, you were the good guy. If you were a monster made from clay and having no real concept beyond what your creator was forcing you to do, you were the bad guy.

In Animorphs, they freed two Hork-Bajir. They negotiated with Aftran and gambled with the idea of a peace movement that would help to slow down the Yeerks. They even allied with Visser Three on a number of occasions when the alternative was death at the hands of a much lesser enemy.

And lets not forgot, David wasn't Tommy. He didn't turn around suddenly and there he was, a good guy that would use his powers for good against the enemy.

Offline Morilore

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #19 on: February 27, 2012, 01:40:14 AM »
Oh hell yes.  This is solid gold.  Please continue.

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #20 on: February 28, 2012, 03:30:12 PM »
Awesome posts once again.

Offline Intrepid

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #21 on: March 01, 2012, 09:17:15 AM »
This rocks. I could read these all day. More please, so i can do just that. :)

Offline Noelle

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #22 on: March 03, 2012, 07:20:06 AM »
I love this series, takes me back to my middle school days. 

Except I was totally a fan of the Macarena.   :XD:

esplin

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #23 on: March 03, 2012, 07:38:00 PM »
I love this series, takes me back to my middle school days. 

Except I was totally a fan of the Macarena.   :XD:

Heeeeeey Macarena.

I liked the song too. XD I will admit.

Offline poparena

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #24 on: March 22, 2012, 10:57:29 AM »
#6 - Reveling in a fantasy of promotions and power (#6 The Capture)

It's February 1997. Toni Braxton sat on top of the charts until the last week of February, giving way to... well, we'll talk about them next time. Daft Punk releases their debut album "Homework" while Ben and Jerry's releases a new flavor of ice cream named after the band Phish. February kicks off the Star Wars rereleases with an updated version of Episode IV: A New Hope, complete with Han Solo talking to a really ****ty CGI Jabba the Hutt. Television adopts a rating system, just in time for the premiere of "King of the Hill." "Final Fantasy VII" is released for the Playstation, the first in the popular RPG video game series to use 3D graphics.

In real news, Gene McKinney, the only African-American to reach the rank of Sergeant Major of the Army, resigns after nearly 60,000 calls to a Army hotline accused him of sexual misconduct. NASA sends astronauts up to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Divorce becomes legal in the Republic of Ireland. In North Hollywood, two bank robbers wearing kevlar body armor and armed with AKMs are killed in a shootout that resulted in seventeen injured police officers. This eventually results in select police officers being armed with semi-automatic weapons.

The big event, however, was the inauguration and the beginning of the second term of President Bill Clinton. Then came the sixth book in the Animorphs series, the first to focus on the Yeerks trying to acquire a person of high political standings, in this case a governer who is running in a Presidental election. While I won't pretend to know all the behind-the-scenes details, to me this makes it seem like Animorphs was meant to be a monthly series from the start, not the "every other month" thing they did for the first seven books. Had it been a monthly series, this book would have fallen on November 1996, at the time of the election, giving this book a more "ripped from the headlines" feel, intergrating it to real-life events. One could imagine the advice children who would have read the book would have given their parents: "Be sure to vote Clinton, Mommy. Bob Dole has an alien in his head."

What's funny is, had the Yeerks been succesful in infesting the nameless govener, they would have still lost the election. It would seem that the Yeerks have a problem dealing with American politics (and to a lesser extent, world politics) throughout the series, every attempt to invade that system ending in failure, and not always because of the Animorphs. They hit Hewlett Aldershot the Third with a car and he slips into a coma. They attempt to invade a micro-United Nations peace conferance, only to get shut down by random elephants and rhinos. They try to start a war between the United States and China, and lay the success of that plan on one Controller who bends under threat.

The Yeerks have already successfully invaded Earth culture, have already intergrated themselves in education and entertainment, and seem to pervert even basic laws of nature, such as death. And yet somehow, they can't seem to figure out government. Why is that? Let's consider the Yeerk's own governing system. Their highest governing body is the Council of Thirteen, a group of mysterious robe-wearing Yeerks who keep a level of control by keeping everyone in constant mystery. Not all the members are identified, and no one outside of the council know who among the thirteen is the true Yeerk Emperor. The center of Yeerk government is essentially a cult, an Illuminati-style body of influental people, the only difference being that the Council makes no secret of their presence, opting instead to just cloud the details.

Then there's the Visser and Sub-Visser system, which we see created in The Hork-Bajir Chronicles by one Yeerk simply proclaiming himself into a position of power, and everything kind of falling into place haphazardly. The Yeerk military body is in many ways a parody of the Andalite military body and their system of "Princes." Their military forces have a similiar immature quality to them. Their ships have almost toy-like designs, based off of bugs and manta rays and spiders and battle axes, and they all have similiar toy-like names. Bug Fighter. Blade Ship. The only Visser we ever really meet with any kind of professional attitude is Visser One. Visser Three acts like an immature child, throwing lethal fits when he doesn't get exactly what he wants.

This seems to give way to the core of the Yeerk's nature: Yeerks are inherently conceptual creatures instead of structural ones. In their natural state, they are balls of ideas bouncing around in large pools, like neurons clicking against and triggering each other. They are full of ideas but, as blind, deaf and weak, they are at the mercy of external forces, the lapping of the pools, natural predators, the weather, and so on. Structured thought would have been difficult in such an environment, and the forming of organizations beyond the most simple of tribal would have been unlikely. Before they began their invasion of space, the only Yeerk form of government was drenched in old mystic symbolism, a hold over of ancient rituals. The Council of Thirteen might even have theological origins and never had any real political power.

Therefor, as conceptual creatures, Yeerks have no problem understanding human ideals and culture, but they lack the maturity of thought to easily infiltrate a structured system like a world government. Prior to their invasion of Earth, the Yeerks had never tried to take over a statist society. The Gedds were monkeys, the Hork-Bajir were barely tribal and the Taxxons were intelligent but prone to anarchy. Humans, on the other hand, define themselves with structure, from government to family units (and when you think about it, the Yeerks seem to have a problem invading families as well. I don't recall the Yeerks ever managing to take control of an entire family). We are naturally drawn to patterns and systems, and are more willing to submit to structured government than fend for ourselves. Structure like this is a shell that the Yeerks simply have a hard time cracking.

(There's also a matter of time. Yeerks have had centuries to develop ideas, but only thirty years to develop governing systems.)

Yeerks essentially remain in a constant conceptual state, they are almost literally an invasion of ideas. How fitting that their physical form should be small bits of grey matter. Yeerks are ideas given organic bodies, ever-changing, merging and multiplying, seeking vessels from which they can properly express those ideas. It harkens back to a bit of classic science fiction filmmaking, the kind of thing Michael Grant would be in to: 1958's Fiend Without a Face, a story where experiments in telekinesis result in the creation of living monsters made of pure thought. Monsters who first attack with an invisible invasion before finally taking on a physical appearance, that of living brain matter. It eventually turns out, much as it does for the Yeerks, that once these thought monsters contest humans, specially an American airbase, in the physical realm, they get their asses handed to them. They are out of their depth.

While the Animorphs did what they could, perhaps an even bigger reason the Yeerk invasion of Earth was slowed down was because the Yeerks simply bit off a little more than they could chew.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2012, 11:02:13 AM by poparena »
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NateSean

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #25 on: March 22, 2012, 11:31:29 AM »
Quote
Before they began their invasion of space, the only Yeerk form of government was drenched in old mystic symbolism, a hold over of ancient rituals. The Council of Thirteen might even have theological origins and never had any real political power.

This ties in with my own theories about why the Yeerks, or at least the one Yeerk we could see through the eyes of Jake, seem to see Crayak right before they die. Before the Andalites came, I have to wonder if a part of Yeerk culture didn't involve some kind of basic religion involving Crayak.

Offline Noelle

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #26 on: March 24, 2012, 05:44:23 PM »
I think that the idea of yeerks not being able to break into the upper government of the US lends itself to a parallel between the US government and the citizen's understanding of the government.  In the complacent culture of the 1990s, there was a lot more trust in the government. 

When the Yeerks took over their hosts, their hosts believed they knew how the government worked and how other people/systems worked.  But the reality was, like the council of 13, there is a lot of mystery and behind-the-scenes that the citizens were just generally unaware of.  Unlike the Yeerks who knew, up front, that the council of 13 was mysterious and hidden, a lot of humans in general had no idea.  Thus, when the yeerks went up against the government, they were foiled at every turn because they really had no clue about what was really going on.  Similar to the situation with Chapman and Aldershot.  Any medical professional (well, I would hope common sense) could tell Visser 3 that if you hit a host with a car hard enough to hospitalize them, the probability of them being a useless host is high.  But with the non-medical knowledge of Chapman's host and the fear Visser 3 instilled against anyone speaking up against his plans (even with common sense), it was like they were playing monopoly against a real estate agent when they didn't even know the rules.

I agree with the idea, in a big way, the Yeerks are nothing but brain matter, creatures that can only know what their host knows, and when their host knows nothing about the world around them (like Visser 3 trying to take over Earth with nothing but an Andalite's knowledge) they are pretty much certain to fail.  Which was, ultimately, why Visser 1 was the biggest threat of any of them, because she (it?  do yeerks have a gender?) actually tried to understand humans, and the power games that got her thrown out was a huge part of the reason why the yeerks failed.

Looking forward to your next segment.

esplin

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #27 on: March 31, 2012, 10:21:13 AM »
I would say that anyone who stood up to Visser 3's plans especially with common sense was doomed to dismemberment.  This segment was very interesting.  I never even noticed how much of a failure the Yeerk's were with Human government.  This is why I love all your Animorphs related stuff pop.  Your insights into the series are totally unparalleled.

Offline poparena

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #28 on: April 01, 2012, 05:32:49 PM »
#7 - Inside your head. Inside this planet. Inside the fabric of space and time (#7 The Stranger)

It's April 1997. March harbors in the American debut of the British pop band known as the Spice Girls with their single "Wannabe," which actually went over better in the States than in the UK, and signaled a change between the soulful R&B and rap dominated chart scene to a more glitzy artificial pop scene, though not without a fight, as April was owned by Puff Daddy, Mase and "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down." The Notorious B.I.G. is shot dead. In theaters, the two Star Wars sequels gets re-released, Jim Carry hits it big with Liar Liar. Other releases include Jungle 2 Jungle, Cats Don't Dance, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, Chasing Amy, Anaconda, 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag and Volcano. DVD is launched in the United States. Toonami begins on Cartoon Network, and Ellen DeGeneres comes out of the closet, both in real life and in her sitcom "Ellen." "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" comes out on the Playstation and becomes one of my favorite games of all time.

In real news, President Clinton bans funding for human cloning, the Heaven's Gate cult commits mass suicide, and the Algerian towns of Thalit, Haouch Khemisti and Omaria are massacred by guerrillas. The first space burial happens while the early days of stem cell research produce the first artificial human chromosomes.

Four months prior, Carl Sagan passed away. Two months after, Contact, a film adaption of Sagan's 1985 science fiction novel, would hit theaters. An astronomer, cosmologist and science popularizer, Carl Sagan was a key figure in making scientific ideas accessable to the common man. His methods of doing this were largely through poetic works. Sagan was as much a man of words as he was a man of science. To date, no one has claimed his title as world's most successful science orator (It is that reason why he is so easy to put into those Symphony of Science music videos you see on Youtube, his poetic flair translates easy to music).

Sagan's most famous work was "Cosmos," a thirteen-part miniseries that first aired in 1980 (Katherine Applegate would have been twenty-four at the time). Each hour long episode explored different aspects of cosmology, from the cellular level to the edges of the universe, with Sagan presenting as a kind nth-dimensional tour guide. "Cosmos" never fell into the Discovery Channel/talking heads/boring CGI stuff we're so used to with our educational cable today. Instead, Sagan transcended him image from that of a science poet and attaining a level of omnipotence within the television medium. Within the domain of television, as long as an episode of "Cosmos" is playing, Sagan's image is that of cosmic authorship, controlling the medium completely to deliver his message.

Just take the very first episode, "The Shores of the Cosmis Ocean." In it, Sagan leads his audience in a journey through the cosmos, both the factual universe and the realms of ideas, in a starcraft literally made of imagination, unhampered by the limitations of space and time. He takes them on a tour from the far edge of infinity inwards back towards Earth, then back in time to walk through the Library of Alexandria, and finally presenting us with a calender covering all of history, from the Big Bang to now, all the while making it clear where we as a species stand among this grand vastness. Sagan, or at least Sagan's TV image, controls the narrative with absolute power, but he is never preachy, never condescending. He leads his audience to enlightenment with a soft voice and steady hand.

And there's that word again. Enlightenment. I used it earlier to describe the Animorphs personal journey in a previous essay, and people naturally pointed out that, if the Animorphs are becoming more enlightened, then how come they end up so miserable? It's true that enlightenment is often a term used to imply a better state of mind, but it is not entirely synonymous with this. To become more aware of ones surroundings is also to become more aware of its horrors, to become aware of how small you are in grand scheme of things. This is the most essential concept in the works of H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote stories about horrifying beings that could scratch their ass and destroy the Earth in the process, and the process of trying to understand this driving people mad. It's a concept adopted by occult author Kenneth Grant, who postulated that when one expanded ones mind into more mystic areas was not a source of wonder, but of terror.

And with the introduction of the Ellimist, the Animorphs find themselves taking a leap into the deep end of the pool of Lovecraftian implications. The situation changes overnight from that of mere alien invasion of something far more cosmic and primal, of space and the endless spaces between spaces (as hinted with the introduction of the Crayak in the last book, witnessed by Jake while in a state between life and death). Their enlightenment to these situations has an almost immediate emotional effect on the Animorphs, and will only get worse the deeper into the Ellimist/Crayak plot they go.

What's interesting here is how similar the Ellimist and Carl Sagan's TV image operate. The Ellimist isn't quite as honest as Sagan, but manipulates and leads his audience in exactly the same way, showing them the beauty of the world and its place in the cosmos in a magical tour, then leading them through time towards a possible future, then producing fractured dream images to lead the Animorphs like a trail of bread crumbs. Like Sagan, the Ellimist has complete authorship over his domain (but which only hints at his true role in the narrative, which we'll touch on when we get to the Andalite Chronicles).

The Ellimist even places responsibility of the human race on the Animorphs in a similar fashion as Sagan does in many of his works, including the opening of "Cosmos," where he says, "For the first time, we have the power to decide the fate of our planet and ourselves. This is a time of great danger, but our species is young and curious and brave. It shows much promise." It is the same kind of sentimentality for the human race the Ellimist expresses, only now he's given the Animorphs a fake ballot to determine its fate.

Sagan's enlightenment and the Ellimist's enlightenment may lead to two different ends, but they both start in the same place, in the same idea of godlike authorship of a medium. They are, basically, both made of star stuff.
Winner, Best RAFproject 2011

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esplin

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Re: Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography
« Reply #29 on: April 02, 2012, 12:51:04 PM »
Another excellent chapter!