AniTV
Upcoming Episodes

Of course there is no input from me on these shows because I have not seen them yet. I do have plot-bits from an extremely reliable source (namely MORPHZ) on what will happen in the next season, though, with appropriate spoiler space.

Note: All summary-type information on this page comes from MORPHZ. They, in turn, obtained their TV info from fans who have already seen the shows or from TV websites. In other words, while strange speculations may be made here, the actual plot part (which is in italics) is 100% reliable.   


Face Off, Part I
The Animorphs are excited about the district basketball finals but for more urgent reasons than who's going to win -- the Sharing is putting on the half-time show and a large event like this is ideal for trapping new hosts. Little do they know that the controllers are planning to unleash their newest breed of Yeerks -- ones that don't need Kandrona to live! Tom and Chapman lose the disk and Tobias recovers it only to unlock its secret.

Face Off, Part II
The Yeerks' plan is revealed when Principal Chapman stops the game and announces that there is a tornado warning in town and everyone must retreat to the basement shelter for safety. The Animorphs know that there is nothing safe about this shelter -- it's the Yeerk pool -- and the plan must be to infest everyone at the game. But Tobias has unlocked the secret of the disk and with new morphing powers, the Animorphs enter the Yeerk pool and the battle begins. How will it end? Find out next season!

Season Two:

Spoilers! These are major spoilers for the second season. Well, half the people on the web know it by now, but I am still obliged to give a warning:
:
:
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
!
!
:
:

Okay, now that we have that over with, here are little tidbits on the shows of the new season along with my . . . ::coughing:: excuse me, *our* own predictions for the show.

Tobias turns back to human . . .

Wait -- don't tell me. He'll still be able to morph as a human. Which totally cuts off the whole identity-as-a-hawk and how-can-I-love-Rachel thing.

<Does that mean we won't be able to see that cute Swainsons' anymore?>

Rachel morphs into a Yeerk with DNA from the disk and controls Tobias . . .

Hmm. Rachel as a Yeerk. Maybe this will mean that the show will finally portray Yeerks as, sympathetic characters! Then again, it could just have them as just other animal-types. You know, you can morph animals, but apparently not other humans (remember the cop in Ep #4, "On the Run"?), and Andalites seem totally off-limits.

<And a Rachel-Tobias Controller? As in TV Rachel with complete control of Tobias's mind and body? Heh heh. I smell fanfics . . .>

Okay, according to the summary of Face-Off III, Rachel absolutely cannot stand being a Yeerk and has to morph out.

<Figures.>

Marco is tripped in the Yeerk pool . . .

Does this mean Boris falls in the Pool and becomes infested? Or, excuse me, "Yeerked?"
::shudder::
<So we get to see *Boris* doing the evil grin thing? Cool!>

Jake morphs into his brother . . .

Ah. So he plays Tom, Ax plays Jake, whilst Tom is tied up in the now-famous shed and that nasty 'ole Yeerk gets ---

<Hey!>

Anyway, it could mean freedom for Tom. Which wouldn't be too good for the show, because one of the most intriguing and suspenseful sub-stories of Animorphs is the Jake/Tom thing. And while the above prediction isn't very plausible, just take it in context with the rest of the rumor/spoilers for the premiere of Season Two.

Plus there is supposed to be an episode called "My Name is Erek." Now I've gotten the plot summary, and we can see that it is an adaptation from #10 but, as always, many things are changed. I'm betting money that they won't include the subplots about the Pemalites escaping to Earth from the Howlers and having their genetic essence placed in Earth animals, or Erek both craving and repulsed by the ability to commit violence. They even changed the purpose and function of the Pemalite crystal: in this version, it's simply a hologram generator, (made to "Hide the Yeerk pools from prying human eyes") and the reason Erek can't go after it is that it would destroy his hologram. But why would a supercomputer capable of such technological marvels be used as a crude hologram on/off switch?

And how are the AniTV people going to (or did) pull this off without selling their yachts? 

<I know! They're going to run down to Spencer's Gifts and pick up a handy Kitchen Droid! It slices, it dices, it cooks Julie Ann's fries! (or anyone's fries for that matter). And if they're all out of those they can get an animatronic skeleton and modify it so it looks vaguely canine. Something that makes the battle droids from Star Wars Ep.1 look positively frightening.>

The next episode is not a trilogy of "The Legacy" as I had previously supposed, but an ep called "The Front." (Gee, can't they make up their mind as to whether they want to do the "The . . ." title pattern or not?) We know now that Tom has *not* been freed in the previous episodes because here he is, a genuine Controller . . . and he's getting into a relationship with Melissa!

<Eek. Isn't he a bit old for her? I had estimated an at the very least five year's difference between those two on the show . . .>

And Tom's trying to make Melissa one of ::melodramatic ominous music:: THEM!!

<Ack! Run!! Whoa, wait a minute, I think they're talking about me . . . Power to the Yeerks!>

Ax has taken a job at an electronic store . . .

He'll probably be fiddling with the equipment and advancing human technology a couple millennia or so . . . that, or freaking out the customers even more than normal electronic store clerks.

. . where he discovers a Yeerk plot to place Yeerks in cell phones so they can infest the hapless person who puts them to their ear! Ax and Erek have to stop the cell phones from being sold, and Rachel has to help Melissa, who owns one of the cell phones herself, before it's too late . . .

It's somewhat late in the evening, or else I might be irritated by this summary. The bare summary alone is a shining (or maybe some adjective with less pleasant connotations) example of how AniTV makes a farce of the series I know and love, making it look like some mindless kids-against-aliens story. I can just see it: Gasp! The Yeerks are going to infest people via telephone! We must stop them! Paulo as Ax goes through goofy antics to keep people from buying the phones (though, since he works at the store and the Animorphs have little or no morals and ethics, why not just destroy the 'phones and/or all the nasty little slugs along with them?) and get fired.

<I'm not even going to comment that it would be impossible (even disregarding the fact that it's so ridiculous it's not even funny anymore) in every sense of the word for a Yeerk to live in a cell phone and crawl into someone's ear from it, due to the fact that many comments have been made about infestation via thermos. And that gets Julie's friend Giuli started on Steve Martin quotes . . .>

Okay, to avoid a rant, let's go onto the next episodes. It seems I was not totally deceived in thinking there was a three-parter called "The Legacy:" here it is, except it's called "Changes." ::resists urge to break into Tupac Shakur rap often played on radio one time too often::

<Since Julie is being overcome by a wild urge to copy the aforementioned rap lyrics off a server somewhere and draw all their correlations to Animorphs, I'll take over for the moment. It seems that these freakish humans who are posing as the Animorphs are getting ready for their prom. There are some elements from book #14 in here, where the kids discover an alien artifact that turns out to be a, what's the term, "Andalite portable waste disposal unit?" toilet, whatever. However, I'm guessing there are no horse-Controllers here. (Ah, poor Jillay 926. He was a brave warrior . . .) Ahem.>

<There is also an element involving cosmetic testing on animals. Since the AniTV producers want the leaders of tomorrow, at least the ones who avoid brainwashing, to be environmentally conscious. They decided to infiltrate the place, evidently coming to the conclusion that being politically correct is more important than saving Earth. Jake is kidnapped by the testing people . . . but he's also kidnapped by animal-rights activists protesting the company. This could either be to glorify the activists, or to show that people can also do foolish, misguided things in the name of causes they believe in. Such as the folly of the TV Animorphs making fools of themselves by attempting to save their world. It's obvious that they're going to loose . . . although we have to take in account that the TV Yeerks are equally or more stupid than the Anis, creatures born of plot holes and convenience (I mourn for these mutant descendants of my race).

Oh yeah, there's a kid with a video camera who apparently records the Animorphs in "action," too. And I don't mean Brooke Nevin and Christopher Ralph in an off-take . . .>

Okay, here I am again. Anyway, there is only a short summary for part 2 of "Changes," which involves the Animorphs stealing video footage of Marco de-morphing.
(They shouldn't worry that much . . . all they have to do is make sure it makes its way to the National Enquirer before anyone else, then not even the Yeerks would believe the footage was real).


The third ep is even more ambiguous, and all we know for now is that it features the winner of the Animorphs TV contest (Nicholas from Oregon) in a bit part. Yay for him! Maybe he'll be able to turn the show around. :)

All for now!

Back to AniTV
Back to the Vortex