Animorphs is a 26-episode adaptation made by Nickelodeon of the Scholastic book series of the same name.
Like the other popular children's book series of the 1990s, Goosebumps, Animorphs also became a television series. Unlike Goosebumps, which aired on the Fox Network in the United States, Animorphs was aired on the cable network, Nickelodeon. Many fans of the Animorphs book series, including myself felt that the television series strayed too far from the story lines that Animorphs fans around the world had become very familiar with, which may have led to the show's cancellation after just two seasons.
One of the show's main story lines, about a mysterious disc given to the Animorphs by Elfangor, was invented for the television series and was never a part of the book series.
Many of the animals that the main characters could morph were changed for the book series. For example: Jake's main morph in the books is a Siberian Tiger, but in the TV show, he morphs a White Bengal Tiger. In the books, Rachel's signature morphs are a African elephant and a Grizzly Bear, but in the TV series, she only morphed a bear once, and never morphed an elephant; her signature morph in the show was a lion. Marco, in the book series, often morphed a male Silverback Gorilla, but in the TV series, his battle morph was a Wolf. Cassie, who in the books used a Wolf as her battle morph, only morphed a horse in the TV series. Tobias, whose first morph was his pet cat, then the Red-Tailed Hawk, and many other animals where he got his powers to morph again by the Ellimists', only as a hawk.
Also, the aliens in the television series were rarely shown. The Andalites and Hork-Bajir, who play such a large role in the books, were replaced with mostly humans in the television series. Visser Three and Ax, both of whom have Andalite bodies, mainly appeared in their human morphs. In the books, Ax and Visser Three appear in human morph only a handful of times, and for only short periods of time. The Taxxons, another alien race that was very prominent in the book series, was nonexistent in the television series.
I felt that since the television show aired on Nickelodeon, a lot of themes, battles, problems, and issues raised in the books were either downplayed or completely eliminated so that the show could be considered G-Rated instead of PG or PG-13. Nickelodeon's other shows at the time, which included the kid-friendly shows Kenan & Kel, The Journey of Allen Strange, All That, Figure It Out, and Cousin Skeeter, were all very non-controversial. Many of the themes common in the Animorphs books, including morality, slavery, and death, simply did not fit in with those of other Nickelodeon shows.
I was an Animrophs fan when it first aired, and read all the books written by KA Applegate. I felt, if the show somehow aired on abcFamily, or WB, it would have done better, and could have been a hit like Smallville, I had no problem with the cast, except Boris Cabrera who plays Marco on the show, Jake played by Shawn Ashmore was decent, Shawn is later famous for X-Men, who plays Iceman, Christopher Ralph was an excellent choice for Tobias, a thoughtful loner. Nadia Nascimento, and Brooke Nevin were good choices for Cassie, and Rachel. The special effects, the morphing scenes where just spectacular to watch, it was quite impressive for that time.
Animorphs was somewhat a fun show to watch, it had some moments, and some great episodes, but compared to the books, yes, the books are obviously better.
Like the other popular children's book series of the 1990s, Goosebumps, Animorphs also became a television series. Unlike Goosebumps, which aired on the Fox Network in the United States, Animorphs was aired on the cable network, Nickelodeon. Many fans of the Animorphs book series, including myself felt that the television series strayed too far from the story lines that Animorphs fans around the world had become very familiar with, which may have led to the show's cancellation after just two seasons.
One of the show's main story lines, about a mysterious disc given to the Animorphs by Elfangor, was invented for the television series and was never a part of the book series.
Many of the animals that the main characters could morph were changed for the book series. For example: Jake's main morph in the books is a Siberian Tiger, but in the TV show, he morphs a White Bengal Tiger. In the books, Rachel's signature morphs are a African elephant and a Grizzly Bear, but in the TV series, she only morphed a bear once, and never morphed an elephant; her signature morph in the show was a lion. Marco, in the book series, often morphed a male Silverback Gorilla, but in the TV series, his battle morph was a Wolf. Cassie, who in the books used a Wolf as her battle morph, only morphed a horse in the TV series. Tobias, whose first morph was his pet cat, then the Red-Tailed Hawk, and many other animals where he got his powers to morph again by the Ellimists', only as a hawk.
Also, the aliens in the television series were rarely shown. The Andalites and Hork-Bajir, who play such a large role in the books, were replaced with mostly humans in the television series. Visser Three and Ax, both of whom have Andalite bodies, mainly appeared in their human morphs. In the books, Ax and Visser Three appear in human morph only a handful of times, and for only short periods of time. The Taxxons, another alien race that was very prominent in the book series, was nonexistent in the television series.
I felt that since the television show aired on Nickelodeon, a lot of themes, battles, problems, and issues raised in the books were either downplayed or completely eliminated so that the show could be considered G-Rated instead of PG or PG-13. Nickelodeon's other shows at the time, which included the kid-friendly shows Kenan & Kel, The Journey of Allen Strange, All That, Figure It Out, and Cousin Skeeter, were all very non-controversial. Many of the themes common in the Animorphs books, including morality, slavery, and death, simply did not fit in with those of other Nickelodeon shows.
I was an Animrophs fan when it first aired, and read all the books written by KA Applegate. I felt, if the show somehow aired on abcFamily, or WB, it would have done better, and could have been a hit like Smallville, I had no problem with the cast, except Boris Cabrera who plays Marco on the show, Jake played by Shawn Ashmore was decent, Shawn is later famous for X-Men, who plays Iceman, Christopher Ralph was an excellent choice for Tobias, a thoughtful loner. Nadia Nascimento, and Brooke Nevin were good choices for Cassie, and Rachel. The special effects, the morphing scenes where just spectacular to watch, it was quite impressive for that time.
Animorphs was somewhat a fun show to watch, it had some moments, and some great episodes, but compared to the books, yes, the books are obviously better.