Oh, jeeze, this topic is a can o' worms. I'm due for a reread, so I'm sure I'm going to be forgetting points here.
I'm with Snakie in that a reboot should be basically a total restructuring of the series. One of my biggest issues with the series as it stands is that it's got such a fantastic overarching story, and so many heavy, fantastic themes, but the books end up being so episodic, and so many of them are just filler.
Personally, I'd love to keep the main overall story and most of the major elements; the Yeerk/Andalite war, the Sharing, the invasion, and so on; but I'd want to cut out most of the filler and the themes that don't really fit with the spirit of the series. I think I'd drop, as has been discussed, anything relating to time travel or Sario Rips. I'd drop the Nartec and the Iskoort. I might drop the Ellimist and Crayak altogether, honestly. While the Ellimist is fine in concept, he's used in the series as basically a cheap plot device. If we did keep Crayak and the Ellimist around, I'd want to minimize their impact.
I think I might keep the Helmacrons, and some of the other ridiculous themes. The series has a very strong showing in its sense of humor, and I wouldn't want to lose that in favor of 'just another gritty reboot.'
I think I'd actually go for the YA format as opposed to the children's format. The overall series arc would remain the same, but it's a story that could probably be told in ten or fifteen longer volumes, instead of 54 short ones. I may go through, book-by-book, at some point, and decide which of the events I'd keep, which I'd change, which I'd move and which I'd just throw away. I'm not sure how I'd do the narration... one narrator per book would probably still work out well.
I think I'd keep the kids' ages; if we age them up, it feels like we're saying that we don't think kids that young are capable of accomplishing things like this.
The covers in the original series are definitely one of the strong points. Whenever I talk to someone about Animorphs, even if they never read it, they remember those covers. Something that shows a person turning into an animal would be ideal, though if we're doing fewer volumes, some plot elements would be nice, too. I think I'd steer clear of the lenticular covers. They just feel gimmicky to me.
Give the Visser fewer appearances, and make him a little less of a bumbling evil maniac, and a little more cunning.
This. The Visser became a joke somewhere around book 9 and never looked back.
For that matter, a lot of the issues with the original series, in my mind, stem from the lack of an overall plan going into it. Granted, I can't fault KA for that- she didn't realize how far it would go until it was well on its way, and changes were made as time went on, but if we're rebooting it, we know exactly where it's going from square one. I'd want to see consistency in the story and especially in the characterizations. A lot of the ghostwritten books seemed to just use one-dimensional versions of the Animorphs, which is a shame, because I felt like the characters were really gaining some depth and humanity by the end of the David trilogy.
I would flesh out the other factions a bit. The anis would still be the main characters that the books revolve around, but there would be some focus on other groups. Day in the limelight episodes and such.
Now there's an interesting thought. I like this idea. It would add depth to the world, and provide a way to make the invasion seem bigger than just the Yeerks hiding out in the Animorphs' hometown.
Drop the whole "I can't tell you my last name" stuff. We already know so much about the characters, it's laughable that they think it matters that we don't know their last names.
Agreed. That whole intro just got tiresome. I get that KA wanted new readers to be able to pick up any book in the series and be up to speed, but for us die-hard fans, fifty-seven iterations was a bit much.
1) This one will be controversial, but I'd actually like to see a "David" type character as the 6th original Animorph who creates friction in the group early on and ultimately becomes a rogue character who switches loyalties whenever it suites his/her interests. An early mistake by the Animorphs could cost him his family and serve as a catalyst for the increased rift between him/her and the other characters. This will mean that throughout the series the Animorphs are torn between feelings of guilt and feelings of resentment and hatred over being betrayed. It would be especially fascinating if he/she could narrate a few books from time to time as well.
the David trilogy was a major turning point for the Animorphs and I wouldn't want to get rid of that.
Make David a recurring villain of both sides.
There's no reason David can't fulfill all these requirements. David really is a very tragic character, if you think about it, but we're never really given the time or the perspective to sympathize with him properly. The David trilogy arc can still happen, but think about how much more punch it would have if David's a character we've come to know and love up until that point. And then, afterwards, we could still deal with the turmoil caused by the traitor.
6) Character deaths. A major recurring character should die sometime midway through the series.
Yeah, for a series that occasionally tried to be so mature and serious, the fact that everyone always came back unscathed kind of gave it the feel of a Saturday morning cartoon. There needs to be some reason for us to sense that the Animorphs are actually in danger, and killing off a character occasionally would keep that very real.
Even the original Animorphs should be subject. As much as it might hurt us, it would make the series that much more impactful and meaningful, so long as it was handled well. I'm with Chad- my problem with Rachel's death is not that Rachel died. It's that the plot felt forced and it seemed so cheap.
I don't know about david being an original, but I would be for letiing the kids keep the escafil device, and recruiting new members when they can. This would go hand in hand with animorphs dying from time to time.
I'm torn... on the one hand, new members would let you do more things with character deaths, but on the other, if they can recruit people whenever they want, you run the risk of making things too easy for them. I wouldn't want to lose the whole "this is a few kids in so far over their heads" aspect. Do we really want the ability to create redshirts? Cause if the Animorphs aren't able to recruit more members, every death has that much more impact.
4) ...more Chronicles books to flesh out the extended universe...
Yes.
Would fans want a reboot anyway?
Maybe fans feel a reboot would ruin the series that they held so near and dear to their hearts. Maybe a reboot shouldn't happen (although, remember, this is just hypothetical). Maybe other mediums should be explored: manga, comic books, etc. Maybe what makes Animorphs so charming and loved by fans is the nostalgia; that link between fan and their childhood that they can keep with them.
Any reboot is going to ruffle some feathers among fans, but the originals will always be there. Besides, if anyone's going to discuss a reboot, it might as well be fans ^_^
Welp... that was a brick of text... sorry about that >.<
