AniTV:
"My Name is Jake"

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Basic Plot:

A spaceship plummets to Earth in a construction site, and five unsuspecting teens - Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, and Tobias - discover a dying alien, an "Andalite" prince named Elfangor, who communicates with them in <thought-speak>. Elfangor warns them that Earth has been invaded by the evil "Yeerks," green, slug-like creatures, which enslave their victims one by one by crawling into their ears and taking control of their minds. To empower and protect the young Earthlings, Elfangor gives them a unique Andalite gift - the ability to morph into any animal they touch. Now, the five "Animorphs" must use their newly acquired power to battle the Yeerks and save the galaxy. They must trust no one, and nothing will ever be the same again....

Based On: Animorphs #1: The Invasion

Book-TV Differences (aka nitpicks):

• The Animorphs were at an arcade and then as they were leaving followed Homer, who for no particular reason took a notion to run to the construction site where Tobias was already standing (whereas in the books they chose to walk home through there because it was shorter, Homer was *not* with them because they don't allow dogs in the arcade in the Ani-book world, and Tobias was hanging with Jake). My best guess was that the Ellimist was doing some major interference --- more than usual I mean.
• Elfangor's ship crashes down and he's obviously very beaten. His tail is not shown until the scene where V3 eats Elfangor, and then you don't see much of a blade. And he doesn't fight back. :( Not to mention he materializes the Escafil device out of nowhere instead of them going into Elfangor's ship so they can see that he has a family, too.
• "This guy's not from my 'hood," ??!!!
• There is a little Yeerk infestation scene but the Yeerk looks more like one of the ancient creatures called trilobites. As one person said "They probably read the word 'parasite' and colored in a picture of a bug.'"
• The disk, the disk, the disk. I'm not complaining that they're wandering from the original plot by doing this, but really, if the kids are like "Okay, an alien, no big deal, let's just get the morphing technology and get out of here," then shouldn't they be more concerned about a disk that the aforementioned alien tells Tobias to guard "with his heart and soul" if I remember correctly. They end up leaving it there.
• Does being Yeerk-infested give Andalites red eyes? Or was Alloran always just freaky that way?
• The Animorphs make *way* too many close calls IMHO. I mean, the Hork-Bajir actually see their faces. In the books they would have just gone to their sub-vissers and said "There were five humans and a dog, probably an Andalite in morph, and they looked like . . ." but in the show they appear to be just intelligent animals, even when they're Controllers.
• Morphing clothes is not a problem. This isn't too bad, considering what is learned about Z-space in #18. 
• In the books there is virtually no way to tell a human is a Controller unless you overhear then speaking in Galard or spot them wielding a Dracon beam. However, in the show Controller-ness can be determined by a number of signs, one of which would be just acting generally weird and using big words, especially if you're the assistant -- excuse me, the principal. There are lots more telltale signs, ::cough:: like picking one's ears ::cough:: but I won't go into those now.
  
  

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My Name is Jake- Part 2

Basic Plot:
Scared and curious, the Animorphs experiment with Elfangor's gift. On Cassie's family farm, Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, and Tobias practice their new morphing powers, experiencing, for the first time, what it feels like to be a horse, a cat, and a rat. The Animorphs, now confident about their new ability, return to the crash site to retrieve a lost disk given to them by Elfangor, who warned the kids to guard it with their lives. To their horror, when the Animorphs arrive at the construction site they find the place filled with "human-Controllers!"

Based on: Animorphs #1: The Invasion

Book-TV Differences:

• Cassie is better dressed than Rachel, while she should be wearing manure-covered overalls.
• Instead of trying the morphing out at home (first Tobias!, then Jake, Cassie & Rachel, and Marco last of all because he feels like he'll be giving up all normalcy) they all go over to Cassie's barn. Apparently they have no problem with her parents walking in there and seeing Cassie and her friends shape-shifting.
• Tobias gets scared of the morphing people and runs away. But realistically, after meeting a dying alien prince who gives you special powers before being killed and EATEN by another morpher who is the general of an evil command that's taking over Earth and being chased by Hork-Bajir, morphing shouldn't be *that* scary. Marco wonders if he's a Controller, but they don't seem that worried considering all of Earth is lost if he is.
• Okay, so they are slightly concerned about the disk. Now they're going back to get it. But if the disk had been in the books there would have been no way on earth or anywhere else that it could have just sat there with all those Controller people running around.
• On the note of the previous comment, Chapman makes a big deal about a Hork-Bajir print in the mud. 1) It could be easily passed as a puddle, and 2) It seemed that he was so excited about the print he failed to notice the whirling piece of Andalite technology not three feet away.
• Cassie passes herself off as an Andalite by morphing a horse and sends the Controllers on the run. It's true that seeing four legs and hooves might have fooled some hyped-up Controllers, but as they were definitely not unarmed, there is no way one Andalite who was in natural form and therefore would take a few minutes to even morph something, would cause them to run away.
• Rachel's fawning over Tobias already. She's supposed to fall in love with his personality -- after he becomes a nothlit. And she doesn't show it that much. Oh well.
  

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