Animorphs (1998–2000)

Five human kids and an alien with the ability to turn into any animal they touch vs. an army of parasitic aliens which is slowly infiltrating the earth.

Stars:

Shawn Ashmore, Brooke Nevin, Boris Cabrera

Cast

Series cast summary:
Shawn Ashmore	...	Jake Berenson (26 episodes, 1998-1999)
Brooke Nevin	...	Rachel Berenson (26 episodes, 1998-1999)
Boris Cabrera	...	Marco (26 episodes, 1998-1999)
Nadia-Leigh Nascimento	...	Cassie (25 episodes, 1998-1999)
Christopher Ralph	...	Tobias (25 episodes, 1998-1999)
Paulo Costanzo	...	Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill (21 episodes, 1998-1999)
Eugene Lipinski	...	Visser Three (18 episodes, 1998-1999)
Joshua Peace	...	Tom Berenson (15 episodes, 1998-1999)
Richard Sali	...	Principal Chapman (13 episodes, 1998-1999)

Storyline

My name is Elfangor. I am a prince from the Andalite world. I am dying. My ship has crash-landed on a planet called Earth. This is not the first time my hooves have touched the surface of this vast and beautiful world, but it will be the last. The Yeerks have launched their silent attack on Earth. Yeerks are evil parasites who live in the brains of other species. Now their goal is to enslave every human being on this planet. As I looked into five pairs of innocent human eyes, I knew what I had to do. These young people had no knowledge of the invasion, no idea that some of their closest friends and family members were already under Yeerk control. But they would soon bear the responsibility of saving their entire world. I gave them the power to morph, Andalite technology no other species has ever possessed. Now these humans will be able to use the energy and instincts of any living creature to resist the Yeerks. They can become any animal they touch. Many Andalites have called me a ...

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Plot Keywords:

transformation | alien invasion | alien possession | human transforms into animal | morphing | 

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Scholastic Productions

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 September 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

AniTV

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Angel/Brown Productions, Scholastic Productions, Protocol Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 24 min (1998-2000) 30 min (26 episodes)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Unlike in the book series, where any normal clothing the Animorphs wore during morph was either destroyed or left behind, the TV series showed the Animorphs capable of morphing their clothing whenever they transformed; no explanation was given for this, beyond simple dramatic license.

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Quotes

[Marco complains that he gets all the lame morphs]
Marco: Why can't you be the duck for once?
Jake Berenson: Because I can't afford the bill
Marco: You'd better let me handle the jokes.

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Connections

Referenced in Atop the Fourth Wall: Titans #1 (2009)

User Reviews

Quite different from the books I've read a few years ago, but still worth watching

I remembered reading the books I've read when I was a kid and I think I took a view of the episodes of the TV show it was based on, but there are quite some flaws with this film including the part where Tobias revealed that he's the last to morph where as in the book series, he is the first to morph and the part where the Animorphs meet at Cassie's barn after their first alien encounter, they tried out their morphing abilities with Tobias as a hawk. Rachel's animal form was a cat while in the book her animal form was an African elephant, although in this show, she also acquires a lion form and Marco's animal form was a brown rat whilst in the book he never acquired that form.

With the flaws out of the way, there are some good stuff about this show. The acting is great. Shawn Rushmore did great, Brooke Nevin was good, and the rest were terrific. The action for this show is pretty amazing. The special effects aren't that bad including the morphing sequences with our characters and the music (including the theme song) was pretty decent.

Although, not a classic from the late 90s, Animorphs is still a watchable show if fans of the book series could get over it's flaws.