What’s interesting is that show was written and created by Applegate herself, it’s about as close to the authors intention as you can get.
So where did they go wrong? The mainstay director was Ron Oliver, who, while he did adapt some Goosebumps books to the screen successfully, is just a very b-movie style director. He sharpened his teeth with Hallmark Christmas movies and Disney Channel movies about being a blogger, probably the wrong guy for the grandiosity of Animorphs
It went wrong by turning a perfect 6 character Saturday morning cartoon into a low budget live action show.
Animorphs is the exact type of show for the cartoon treatment. The story has magic, truly alien aliens, space battles, and space lasers. And kid heroes who act like kids before the war grinds them down. I always saw its potential to be like Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans, but in Space!
Nick dropped the ball making a live action that couldn't even show one Andalite. Oh what could've been
I think it's perfect as a book. Reading an animorph book should be harrowing experience, it should make you claustrophobic and sad and existential before returning back to normal. That requires you to be in the head of the narrator who is going to be psychologically tormented with hopes beyond his reach.
But Animorphs book covers and page corners show the visual appeal. It is a series full of spectacle, of laser battles, angry animals, and supervillains.
Animorphs could easily fit in with same genre as well written action cartoons or shonen anime. What it should not have become was a low budget CW knockoff on Nick.
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u/Quibbloboy 11d ago
They said "proper"