PLEASE don't lock this thread or anything! I've added ALOT of things that people here should consider on a second go-around. Just read this post first and then decided to do what you will with it.
1) A 30-minute animated TV series for kids by Bruce W. Timm or Paul Dini or Dwayne McDuffie playing on Saturday mornings on the CW or Cartoon Network.
Amber Heard as the voice of Rachel, Aaron Ashmore as the voice of Jake, Jessica Szohr as the voice of Cassie, Victor Rasuk as the voice of Marco, Dustin Milligan as the voice of Tobias, Jacob Zachar as the voice of Ax, James Lafferty as the voice of Tom, Hugo Weaving as the voice of Visser Three and Tony Goldwyn as the voice of Principal Chapman.
2) A much darker and teen-oriented prime-time TV series for the CW. Here, the gang is 14 or 16 rather than 13.
It's 4 seasons long tops. 45 minutes long for each 18 episodes of each of the maximum 4 seasons. Very big budget for this limited series because of expensive f/x. Like around 50 mil+ a season. ((IF there's a season 5, it will be set 4 years after the events of the last season. Here in this spin-off in the vein of "Star Trek," Jake is captain of a ship called the Star Wolf as part of a starfleet from the new Andalite-Human alliance that patrols the galaxy stopping evil Yeerk factions and other terrors of the galaxy).
Each season is either freshman then sophomore year and so on with the Animorphs at age 14 or (like "One Tree Hill"), the seasons are the first and second halves of the Animorphs junior and senior year. The Animorphs are 16 at the beginning if that's the case. (I prefer the former).
Like "Lost," each 18-episode season plays straight with NO REPEATS beginning in January and ending in April/May.
Adapts all the regular books and the megamorphs books with original stories filling in the rest of the episodes in the four seasons. Brian Henson directs the two-part pilot which is an adaptation of "The Invasion." (Actually, I want the Jim Henson Company and their puppets to back this show after seeing their great work on the brilliant TV space opera "Farscape" and the film "Labyrinth.")
The Hork-Bajir are puppets/CGI, the animals are trained/CGI, the Taxxons are CGI, the Leerans are CGI, the Andalites are puppets/people in make-up and costume, the Chee are CGI/puppets, the Helmacrons are people in make-up and costume, the Nartecs are people in make-up and costume, the Drode is a puppet, the Nesk are CGI, the Mercora are puppets, the dinosaurs are puppets/CGI, the Veleek is CGI, the Venber are puppets/CGI, the Iskoort are puppets, the Yeerks are played by real-life leeches and slugs.
All the Chronicles EXCEPT "The Ellimist Chronicles" are adapted as straight-to-DVD live action movies by Brian Henson. There will also be a film called "The Pemalite Chronicles" where we see Erek King's as narrated to Marco from creation by the peaceful Pemalites to living among humans for thousands of years. Also on the film's DVD, there'll be a bonus animated 30-minute+ short called "The Taxxon Chronicles" where we learn what happened with Arbron in between "The Andalite Chronicles" and "The Answer." There will be plenty of references to the past of these characters in the TV series so know one HAS to see these films to understand what's going on in the show. (In the episode guide at the bottom of this post, I'll post after which season one of these movies should be released).
The theme song is "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" by Fuel. "What I've Done" by Linkin Park plays at the end of the pilot. "Breathe Me" by Sia plays at the end of the series finale. "You're all I have" by Snow Patrol plays at the beginning of the third episode while the gang is having fun flying. "It Ends Tonight" by All American Rejects and "Savin' Me" by Nickelback and "Don't Panic" by Coldplay and "From Yesterday" by 30 Seconds to Mars and "Fine Again" by Seether and "Have you passed through this Night" by Explosions in the Sky are featured on the soundtrack.
It's set in Seattle, Washington rather than Northern California but the location will only be alluded to rather than outright revealed until the final episode.
Marco is 100% Hispanic rather than only 50% Hispanic from his mother's side. Eva, his mother, dies in "The Revelation."
The Andalite homeworld is actually given a name rather than being unlikely referred to as 'the Andalite honeworld.' The planet is called 'Andal' now.
Hugo Weaving as the voice of Visser Three. Tony Goldwyn plays Principal Chapman.
Like the original TV series, you can morph clothes and shoes just fine. The rest of the rules still apply though ie. the two-hour time limit, can't morph from one to the next, etc.
Kind of pointless, but each episode is titled "The [something]" like the books-with the exception of the Megamorph adaptations of course.
An animorph narrates each episode but only a brief voice-over at the beginning (starting with 'My name is [insert name]') and ending of each episode ala "The Twilight Zone."
The Ellimist no longer has that covoluted origin story of before. "As I said above, "The Ellimist Chronicles" will NOT be adapted into a film and his origins won't exist in this TV universe at all. The Ellimist will simply be a benevolent member of a type 4 alien species called Ellmists (like the Q of "Star Trek"). Same for Crayak. The Ellimist wants to preserve life and promote peace and unity across the stars while Crayak seeks to punish and enslave and spread fear and misery and cruelty throughout. (Go here to learn more about type I, II, III, IV civilizations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_Scale).
Actually, I'm going to seriously downplay the two super aliens' effect influence on the Animorphs' lives. For example, in "Back to Before," there's not gonna be any of this 'stacking the deck' crap and 'subtemporarily grounded' nonsense and it'll just be a glimpse that the Ellimist shows a weary Jake, ready to quit, how important his role in the fight was.
While I wouldn't say get rid of the Tobias being Elfangor's father subplot, definitely clean up some of the messy time paradoxes that Applegate left with this matter.
Ax goes to school with the Animorphs. Tobias returns to school after getting his powers back.
Unsure at what point in the series (maybe as early "The Conspiracy" or as late as "The Diversion" or somewhere in between), but Tom is freed from Yeerk control and turns fugitive. He becomes a part, and later the leader, of the underground resistance made up of former controllers and people personally affected by controllers from "The Stand" that try to sabotage the Yeerks and free controllers forcefully. Tom and the other fighters won't be aware the Andalite bandits are really a bunch of human kids till "The Diversion."
In "The Diversion," the Animorphs are still discovered but don't rescue their parents except for Tobias' mother Loren and Rachel's sister Jordan. They hide out with the resistance. The auxiliary Animorphs are chosen in "The Ultimate" but are mostly made up of resistance members than just all handicapped members. They also have compeltely different backgrounds The auxiliary Animorphs are resistance members James, Collette, Liam and Elena and handicapped members Tim and Kelly.
The Yeerks never get the morphing cube.
Tobias is intially stuck as a hawk like in the books but the Ellimist later gives him his morphing power back but does NOT have to live as a hawk and only morph into a human for two hours. It's just like he was when he first got his powers in the pilot. (You're obviously gonna have to rewrite "The Illusion" here.)
At the series finale, Applegate's pessimistic ending is gone and Rachel (who was never sent on an assassination mission) and Tom (who has long since been freed) live. There's a final showdown between Ax and Visser Three where Ax wins, despite his size, because of his experience fighting as an Andalite in battle unlike Visser Three who always uses monstrous morphs. There's no cliffhanger ending. Many resistance members are dead but are still okay. We don't watch the Animorphs 3 years later but end the series with them on Earth, ready to reunite with their families. (Maybe there are some brief TV news reports of a Hork-Bajir colony preserve and the Taxxon nothlits sent to South America and the surviving Yeerk Peace Movement members given horse and dolphin morphs and a variety of other animal morphs to become nothlits of).
Here are all the episodes (the names in the parenthesis are who narrates each episode):
Season 101) The Invasion I (Jake)
02) The Invasion II (Jake)
03) The Visitor (Rachel)
04) The Encounter (Tobias)
05) The Message (Cassie)
06) The Predator (Marco)
07) The Capture (Jake)
08) The Stranger (Rachel)
09) The Alien (Ax)
10) The Survivor (Jake-based on an episode from the original TV series, the Animorphs try to protect their teacher and former controller from re-infestation)
11) The Lost (Tobias-based on an episode from the original TV series, Ax and Tobias reminisce about their experiences living among humans and life before the Animorphs respectively)
12) The Secret (Cassie)
13) The Android (Marco)
14) The Forgotten (Jake)
15) The Reaction (Rachel)
16) The Change (Tobias)
17) The Andalite's Gift I (None)
18) The Andalite's Gift II (None)
(Despite the fact that I want the two-part episode "The Andalite's Gift" the season 1 finale, it's set BEFORE the events of "The Change.")
-The Andalite Chronicles
Season 219) The Warning (Jake)
20) The Underground (Rachel)
21) The Missing (Tobias-based on an episode in the original TV series, the Animorphs try to stop an innocent civilian from sending a tape of Marco demorphing to a TV show)
22) The Unknown (Cassie)
23) The Escape (Marco)
24) The Decision (Ax)
25) The Departure (Cassie)
26) In the Time of Dinosaurs I (None)
27) In the Time of Dinosaurs II (None)
28) In the Time of Dinosaurs III (None)
29) The Discovery (Marco)
30) The Threat (Jake)
31) The Solution (Rachel)
32) The Pretender (Tobias)
33) The Suspicion (Cassie)
34) The Extreme (Marco)
35) The Front (Ax-based on an episode in the original TV series, Ax discovers that, at his new job, cell phones are being used to infest customers with Yeerks)
36) The Attack (Jake)
-The Hork-Bajir Chronicles
Season 337) Elfangor's Secret I (None)
38) Elfangor's Secret II (None)
39) Elfangor's Secret III (None)
40) The Exposed (Rachel)
41) The Experiment (Ax)
42) The Sickness (Cassie)
43) The Reunion (Marco)
44) The Conspiracy (Jake)
45) The Separation (Rachel)
46) The Illusion (Tobias)
47) The Prophecy (Cassie)
48) The Other (Marco)
49) The Mutation (Jake)
50) The Weakness (Rachel)
51) The Stand (Tobias-based on an episode in the original TV series, Tobias stumbles upon an underground resistance movement of former controllers led by the former teacher the Animorphs saved from re-infestation earlier)
52) The Hidden (Cassie)
53) The Proposal (Marco)
54) The Arrival (Ax)
-Visser
Season 455) The Familiar (Jake)
56) The Journey (Rachel)
57) The Test (Tobias)
58) The Unexpected (Cassie)
59) The Revelation (Marco)
60) The Deception (Ax)
61) The Resistance (Jake)
62) The Return (Rachel)
63) Back to Before I (None)
64) Back to Before II (None)
65) The Leader (Ax-comic story where the Animorphs are misplaced in Africa and then are mistaken for gods by a local tribe)
66) The Problem (Rachel-Rachel tries to prevent her younger and very rebellious sister Jordan from joining The Sharing)
67) The Diversion (Tobias)
68) The Ultimate (Cassie)
69) The Absolute (Marco)
70) The Sacrifice (Ax)
71) The Answer (Jake)
72) The Beginning (None)
-The Pemalite Chronicles (w/The Taxxon Chronicles animated short)