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Was a Teenage Animorph

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The sci-fi setial Animorphs, the hoftest book series in kidlit, comes to TV. N|K-Fridays, 8:30 to 9 p.m. ET, repeating Saturdays, 9:30 to 10 p.m., beginning Friday, September 4.
By Frank Lovece, GISTWStaff

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The Power Rangers? That's soooo five minutes ago. Goosebumps? Been scared, done that. Don't you have something with Yeerks and Andalites in it? And how about a Sario Rip and the Hork-Bajir? lf it sounds like your kid is speaking an alien language lately (and so what else is new?), he or she probably really is. lt's the jargon of K.A. Applegate's sci-fi book series Animorphs, which has supplanted R.L. Stine's Goosebumps novels as tops among pre'teens. The ongoing saga of-five teenagers imbued with an alien power to change, or "morph," into animals, it's currently the bestselling children's book series in the country. So of course it would morph into a TV show.
Like the books, the new TV series (NlK, premiering Friday, Sept. 4, 8:30 to 9 p.m. ET) has a tone far closer to the X-Flles than the Power Rangers; one character in the premiere even says, "Trust no one." The scripts, says executive producer Deborah Forte, "will be based on the books for the most part, but we're not doing each story based on a book. We've used Katherine's characters and overall story arc, and telling stories both from the book and new stories for the television series."

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Applegate, 42, who lives in Minneapolis with her one-year-old son, Jake, sees each TV script but doesn't have formal approval. "She's . involved," maintains Forte, "but she's so busy writing these books. She writes a book a month, so it's hard for her to take on more [professional responsibilities] than that. lf she has comments, she
lets us know."

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And kids being kids, yours will probably have comments and let you know. How to respond so as to seem da bomb and not a dweeb? Just tune in below for an Animorphs primer.

The Basic Story

Elfangor (pronounced El-FANG-or), a warrior prince from the Andalite world, crashed his spaceship onto Earth while battling the Yeerks. Mortally wounded, he explained to the five teens who discovered him that the parasitic Yeerks have begun taking over human host bodies. He used a glowing blue box to imbue the teens with the ability to morph into animals (even insects) and so defend Earth. Each teen need but touch an animal once in order to absorb its DNA paftern, and can then change into that animal anytime at will. However, if they remain in animal form more than two hours, they cannot change back. Elfangor (full name Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul) was killed minutes afterward by the Yeerk known as Visser Three. ln Applegate's spinoff book series lhe Anda lite Chronicles, we learn Elfangor had come to Earth once before, and sired a son with a human named Loren.

The Humans
Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, Tobias Jake (Shawn Ashmore): The serious-minded
natural leader, red-headed Jake is Rachel's cousin Marco's bdst friend. He's developing romantic feelings toward Cassie. Jake lives with his father Greg, a pediatrician, and his mother Nikki, a writer. His older brother Tom has been taken over by a Yeerk.

ind

Rachel (Brooke Nevin): A pretty blond with a fearless attitijde, she's acquired the nickname 'Xena: Warrior Princess." Rachel lives with her divorced mother, Naomi, a lawyer, and two sisters, Jordan and Sara; herfather, Dan, is a TV weatherperson. She's Jake's cousin and Cassie's best friend, and is developing romantic feelings toward Tobias.

Gassie (Nadia Nascimento): An African-American

Gassie (Nadia Nascimento): An African-American who lives with her veterinarian parents, John and Aisha, at the \Mldlife Rehablitation Clinic animal preserve, Cassie is best friends with Rachel and is fond of Jake.
Marco (Boris Cabrera): Marco, whose darkly humorous asides mask a real concern about the danger and responsibilities of what they're doing, lives with his engineer dad, Jeremy. Jake's best friend, he came up with the team name "Animorphs." Marco believes his mother, Laura, is dead. However, in the book series and almost certainly in the TV show, he discovers that mom had actually been taken over a Yeerk-the powerful Visser One (see 'Aliens: Yeerks," below).

Tobias (Christopher Ralph): A parentless loner, shuttled among relatives, the soulful Tobias shortly overstays his two-hour animal limit and remains stuck in the form of a red-tailed hawk. This lasted through ten books before his morphing powers were returned-and ten books after that, Tobias discovered his parents were Elfangor and Loren, and his uncle is the Andalite called Ax (see below). Tobias is developing romantic feelings toward Rachel.

The Aliens
Yeerks: These are slug-sized, vaguely trilobite-looking parasites who enter host bodies through the ear canal and take over the host's brain. Humans or animals inhabited by tfiem are known as .Controllers. The primary Yeerks in the series are Visser Three, who initially inhabits an Andalite when killing Elfangor, and who runs the invasion force; and Visser One, 14th in command of the race, who inhabits the body of Marco's mom.
Since the Yeerks inhabit hur"n. without any outer sign of takeover, most of Earth is unaware of the invasion. (The Animorphs can detect Yeerks by their scent.) Among the known humanControllers is high-school principal Mr. Chapman (Richard Sali).

Ax (played by Paulo Costanzo): Elfangor's brother (full name

Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthill), Ax was the sole suryivor of the YeerkAndalite battle above Earth. He later morphs into a humanoid disguise using the combined DNA of Jake, Rachel, Cassie and Marco. Ax wants to avenge his brother's death by killing Visser

lhree.
The Hork-Bajir, the Ellimists, the Leerans, the Taxxon: Some of the other alien races the Animorphs encounter. Most have been

conquered by the Yeerks. A Hork-Bajir-Controller hunts Jake in the first TV episode. The Leerans are orange frogJike telepaths.

The Author
Katherine Applegate proposed the series, then called "The Changelings," in 1995. An editor at Scholastic suggested the title 'Animorphs." The first of the monthly books came out in June 1996. Applegate had previously written, by her count, more than 100 teen and children's books, including entries in the young-adult series "Sweet Valley Twins," "Girl Talk," "Ocean City," "Summe/'and "Making Out," as well as movie novelizations, Disney books, Harlequin Romances (pseudonymously) and the American Library Award-winning Sharing Sam.

And Let's Not Forget...

The Sario Rip: A tear in the fabric of time. Well, how e/se would the Animorphs get to the era of dinosaurs?

Zero-Space: An otherdimensional place that stores the excess mass when someone morphs into a small creature. And just where e/se would it go? Kandrona Generator: Well, how e/se would the Yeerks get their Kandrona energy? Geez, the things we have to teach you
humans...
!

Happy Yeerking! For a fan's-eye view of the TV show vs. the books, click here.
Photos courtesy of Nickelodeon/Scholastic Productions

Previous GIST TV SCIFI Articles:

vs. Ene lj1onac

Animorphing Onto TV
By Vincent Lovece

This article is about lhe Animorphs television serles. I've read at least 11 Animorphs books, plus The Andaifte Chronictes and the tvro Megamorphs books. Now, you may be thinking, "Why would an adult be reading a children's series?" Well, believe it or not, I'm only ten years old. The first episode of the Animorphs, titled "My Name is Jake," is about five teenagers who find an alien named Elfangor in a deserted construction site. He tells them about the Yeerk threat. He explains that the Yeerks are an evil alien species who climb into other species' heads and take over their mi'nds. Elfangor gave the teenagers the ability to morph into any animal they touch. My opinion is that the plot was good and interesting, but at times it's a little dull because there is a lot more talking than action. A lot of the action you don't see, but only hear, while the teenagers are looking at it. And while this series may be based on the books, this first episode still has some differences. For example: lnstead of going into the 'Yeerk Pool" (a place under the high school where the Yeerks are fed via beam generators), the teenagers return to the construction site. Also, Elfangor gives Tobias (one of the Animorphs) a disk. This is not mentioned in the book. I saw the second episode, too, where the story continues. They don't mention Jake's brother, who's in the first book. He got taken over by a Yeerk and has to be rescued.

Lastly, I'd like to say that the actors played their parts very well.

Vincent Lovece is a Ftfth-grade student in Manhaftan. He wrote this without parental asslsfance-eve n the phrase "via beam generators."
Relevant Links: Retum to I Was a Teenage Animorph

Photos courtesy of Nickelodeon/Scholastic Productions