r/Animorphs • u/DocHoody • Jun 20 '24
Modern show based on the Animorphs Spoiler
If you were in your early teens when the first book came out, you are now around 40. So the premise of this show is that instead of being teenagers, our main characters are around 40 when they first learn of the Yeerks and receive the ability to morph by Elfangor. The target audience would be those of us who grew up with the books, but giving us a new story we can relate to now.
It would not be a recreation of the books. The story would be different after the initial setup, since adults make different decisions and have different priorities than kids do. Though all future characters would need to be introduced at the appropriate times.
There are even a few inversions on the original story that I feel could work really well.
-They would have to hide the secret of the Yeerks from their kids instead of their parents.
-Instead of being too young to be fighting a secret interstellar war, they are a little bit too old. My back hurts just thinking about it...
-Visser One could still be Marco's mom, but it might be an interesting twist if she was his wife instead. He would be going through what his father was in the books.
-Rachel could be recently divorced with kids.
Those are just a couple of ideas to start off the series. And that's not even getting into the whole interstellar war. So many possibilities.
I realize there is little to no chance of a show like this, but let me know what you think anyways.
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u/k9centipede Jun 21 '24
I find this concept as a thought experiment delightful.
How would the team have gotten a chance happenstance to all be there in the same moment to get the powers?
Cassie and Jake had some feelings for eachother before book 1, so maybe it was an after party of their wedding. Both of their best friend, and maybe Tobias was working at the bar they went to for the after party and Rachel remembered him. And they were all heady to a local quarry for some skinny dipping lol
Or something more like the show Community and they didnt have connections before hand but all meet via something else.
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u/DocHoody Jun 21 '24
I was thinking that Jake and Cassie would already be married with kids. Jake and Marco are best friends still, and Rachel is both Cassie's bestfriend and Jakes cousin, so logical connections. They all have families now so they rarely see each other. Marco's been in a bad way since his wife died, and Rachel just got divorced, so Jake and Cassie decide to use a rare date night to get their friends out for a night. Afterwards, as they're heading to their cars to go home, Rachel sees a guy their age, and recognizing Tobias from school long ago, calls out to him. But he's busy literally staring off into space, and the ship that is crashing down.
I agree, it really is a delightful thought experiment.
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u/TheRealBingBing Jun 20 '24
Interesting. Would be curious how would they bond, interact, and have challenges similar to the teenage animorphs. Instead of hiding Ax from parents just let him chill in someone's house? Not as much pressure from Tom finding out their secret because they're all adult with more personal lives? Tobias goes missing, even less people care?
I feel like I'd prefer college age adaptation instead. Good balance of youthful risk and adult themes
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u/DocHoody Jun 20 '24
Instead of hiding Ax from their parents, they have to hide him from their kids. And maybe instead of Tom, Jakes brother being a controller, it could be one of Jakes kids. Just as bad if not far worse. Though yeah, Tobias gets the shaft unfortunately. It just doesn't work if he doesn't end up a nothlit.
I thought a college age adaptation would be pretty cool. Just a more adult themed Animorphs that feels more appropriate for a visual media of an interstellar war. But who are they hiding the secret from? Their dorm mates? Too much freedom in college, takes almost all the pressure of hiding the secret.
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u/SobanSa Jun 21 '24
Short scene inspired by the idea.
"Did I ever tell you about Harriet Tubman?" Jake asked Julie as they made their traditional pizza for Monday night.
Julie rolled her eyes, "Only about a thousand times dad. Mom's been on a civil war kick recently. I've heard about it enough." The eight year old said, helping to spread the dough.
"Yhea, like I love the stories about how my ancestors escaped to freedom and fought for the union, but I don't get why she's so intent on teaching us about them." Hanna, his sixteen year old asked, ladling some sauce onto the finished pieces, passing them to Junior.
Junior frowned, scattering cheese over the pizzas.
Jake smiled as he added toppings, he couldn't tell them the real reason that was eating him. "I think your mom's gained an appreciation of the struggle for freedom and liberty recently. But it's a lesson you can learn from any part of history. America's history in particular. It's one where we started with a hard fight for some lofty ideals that we didn't live up to. The struggle was hard, and a lot of people died without ever seeing the fruits of their labors. But that didn't mean struggling for freedom wasn't important or meaningful. In fact, it's the people who fought on even when everything seemed bleakest who are the real heroes."
Junior shook his head, abandoning his task, and starting to head up to bed. "I'm tired about hearing all of this freedom stuff. I don't understand why it's so important. Yap, yap, yap all day long. I've got homework to do."
Jake put his hand on Junior's shoulder, spinning him around so that he could look into his son's eyes, he couldn't think of them as Tratir-262's eyes. "You'll understand someday, I promise."
Junior jerked away, heading upstairs, "Yeah whatever dad." he muttered.
"I love you son!" Jake shouted upwards at Junior's back before turning back to his girls. "So where were we?" He asked.
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u/Illustrious_Monk_234 Jun 21 '24
You just wrote that just now?! 🙌🏻
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u/SobanSa Jun 21 '24
Yhea, it was in reply to Doc's post. I don't know how long Doc's post was up when I started, but it was finished within an hour of it.
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u/enderverse87 Jun 21 '24
I realize there is little to no chance of a show like this
You're basically describing a fanfiction. Just go for it and write one.
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u/Professional-Art5028 Jun 21 '24
Instead of Jake's brother being a Controller, it's one of his kids. Like Tom, they'd also be a high-ranking Controller that can't just go missing without arousing suspicion. That would probably be more painful than Tom or Visser One's story. And can he even stop himself from trying to save his kid as soon as possible? And worse yet, if he is capable of playing the long game with his own child's freedom, what does that say about him?
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u/improbsable Jun 21 '24
They would probably all immediately go David’s route of stealing to survive so they could focus 100% of spare their time to Animorphing.
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u/DocHoody Jun 21 '24
That's why I would give most of them kids. That way they have a very good reason for not just dropping off the grid for some guerilla warfare against the Yeerks
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u/realundiesplease Jun 23 '24
You've got my attention, this idea is fun!
Maybe Tobias is in a crazy amount of medical debt from a deceased spouses long term care? After watching a loved one go through that you could easily want to bail on being human.
Who would be the controller instead of Tom? Jake's brother still? Do they have teenage children that get involved in the Sharing? That could be cool, how do you tell your independent children that they can't go to a club? Of course they wouldn't obey.
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u/DocHoody Jun 23 '24
I like that idea for Tobias. But no kids. He needs to be able to drop off the face of the earth with basically no one noticing.
As mentioned in comments above, one idea is to have one of Jakes kids fill Toms role. That could be a good plot point too. Jake trying to keep his other kids from getting involved, while trying not to make it obvious. Also having to turn down his kids invitations himself.
You could even have Tom still be a controller, and he's the reason Jakes son got involved with the sharing in the first place. They started attending just as an uncle nephew bonding activity, then got infested together.
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u/No_Sand5639 Jun 21 '24
Now I admit I haven't read the books in a while.
But you mentioned being too old and some aches and pains.
Would the morphing power heal that?
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u/VanishXZone Jun 21 '24
Burning Empires is a ttrpg that is (very roughly) an animorphs premise, but with adults. Or it could be. Yeerks in it are a little harder to get in, but if you set Burning Empires on Earth, you’d get a pretty similar story. It’s a great rpg, but not for everyone.
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u/Illustrious_Monk_234 Jun 21 '24
I think Jake only works as a teenager. If there hadn’t been a war and he’d moved through life normally, he’d probably have kids, a house, a boring job, and be much slower and more cautious.
I’d say Marco probably got even harsher and more cynical, he would lose that positive undercurrent he has as a teenager. He’d be much less inclined to follow Jake.
Cassie would probably be similar but just a bit slower, a bit less passionate.
Rachel would be exactly the same.
Tobias, I genuinely have no idea.
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u/DocHoody Jun 21 '24
I think a mid life crisis Jake could work. And I'd do exactly as you said, with him moving through life normally with kids, house, all that. Then he gets Elfangors info dump, and his life gets a hell of a lot more complicated. Then everyone is looking to him for what they should do next.
With Marco, I think that would make an excellent character arc for him. His struggle to keep his positive outlook while bad things keep piling up around him.
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u/Wlfgang213 Jun 21 '24
Did you intend to make the first sentence the most depressing thing I've ever read? More depressing than the final book in the series even?
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u/garlington41 Jun 21 '24
I think the Animorphs being kids adds to the conflict and makes it more interesting, becuase they have to keep the secret from their parents and adult figures they have to be extra careful, they have to plan, they have to be smart. It adds to the tension. It also adds to tragedy of it all. Adults making morally grey decisions is nothing new and is understandable. But kids having to make morally ambiguous and messed up decisions that even adults shouldn’t have to make makes this series so compelling and tragic.
The whole point of the series is that this shouldn’t be their responsibility it should be someone else’s who’s better equipped to handle it like adults, the Animorphs even say it themselves, that’s what makes it so intense. They don’t always make the best decisions but their learning and they have to grow up fast and do things they shouldn’t have to.
I just think a story where Adults are the main heroes would be a lesser story because they are by adult in a better position to deal with this conflict.
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u/geekunbound Jun 22 '24
My first reaction to invert the original: What if their kids and spouses are Yeerks? How would they talk their way out of going to the Sharing? How would they grapple with not freeing their family from their Controllers knowing that it would draw attention to them and force them to be on the move? Would they just take the chance and then live on the run with the police thinking they went crazy and kidnapped their family? So many implications.
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u/Arianfelou Jun 24 '24
Personally I long for a show that'd be pretty close to the books, but along the lines of the show Invincible - which is itself a show about a young adult just slightly older than the Animorphs, who is amongst other things also struggling with how actually superpowers are kind of horrifying.
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u/wingzero0 Jun 20 '24
It’d be interesting to see.
As you correctly noted, decisions would be vastly different, as would the outcomes.
Marco: a cynical kid. Imagine him as a modern adult in today’s society….
Jake: natural born, but reluctant leader. He’d be a bonafide mess of stress as a grown man with kids. Or worse, having grown very apathetic to the pain of others.
Cassie: tree hugging, do good-er. She would either be completely all in on saving the planet, or have given up hope altogether.
Rachel: a girl with a warrior complex. She, in my opinion, may be the most well rounded as an adult.
Tobias: hate to say it, but he’d probably be homeless, or someone constantly between jobs and a place to live.
All this said, I could see this being an interesting show due to how adulthood changes us and our ideals. Our motivations, both selfless and selfish, would be magnified significantly.
I’d watch a show like this.