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| The version I owned as a kid didn't have any decal that I remember. Coincidentally, I think it was this series that started my life-long hatred of stickers and other disclaimers on my book covers. |
Number: 05
Narrator: Marco
Marco is my favorite narrator, partially because he's got the most characteristic voice and partially because his storyline is one of the most compelling.
We start with the standard introduction, where Marco jokes about the standard Animorphs problems, before he sees an old man getting mugged in an alleyway on his way home from shopping.
It turns out three punks are mugging an old man, so Marco immediately morphs into a gorilla and assaults them. One pulls a gun on him, but Marco puts him down before any real damage is caused. Unfortunately, his good deed goes unappreciated, as the old man picks the gun up and drives him away.
The next day the kids all go to see Ax and Marco tells the rest of the Animorphs about his attempt at vigilantism, and no one is impressed. Jake tells him to cut it out with the public morphing. They meet up with Ax in the woods behind Cassie's place and come up with a plan: Jake, Marco, and Ax will go to Radio Shack to buy all the stuff Ax needs to build an imitation Yeerk distress beacon, they'll set it off to attract a Bug ship, and they'll steal it so that Ax can go home.
Ax morphs into his human form and they go to the mall. Once there they immediately lose sight of Ax, who has wandered over to Starbucks. We learn that because the Andalites don't have mouths in their native forms they don't have taste buds. There's some comedy of error stuff with Ax as he adjusts to our strange hyoo-mon customs, but eventually they get to Radio Shack and Ax builds up a distress beacon in no time. We learn that there's an anti-reality called Z- or Zero-space, through which FTL light and communication is possible, and that this distress beacon will be transported through Z-space.
As they leave the store Ax vanishes, and they find him devouring leftovers in front of a stunned food court. He eventually causes some trouble and has to run from some mall cops. In order to escape, Ax starts morphing into his Andalite form in the middle of the mall, and Marco hears one of the guards mutter "Andalite" under his breath. Unfortunately for the Controller his puny human body is vulnerable to maiming, and they run out across the parking lot and into a grocery store.
Marco clears the building by yelling"Bomb!" As the crowd slows down the Controller-cops, the three Animorphs acquire and morph lobsters, get into the tank. They hang out a bit, enjoying the two emotions lobsters feel (EAT and KILL, which is pretty metal) until they get picked up, put in a bag of ice, and carried off. The ice puts them into a doze, and when Ax warns them they only have 7 minutes left, they demorph.
Marco realizes, a few seconds in, that he's being held over a pot of boiling water.
They demorph and avoid being boiled by the woman who was just doing her job. The poor woman just screams for a while before the three used-to-be-lobsters convince her it's just a dream. They leave through the back door and presumably get back to their homes okay.
That night Marco has a nightmare about being a lobster, and we meet Marco's dad for the first time. He's a smart guy and used to work with computers but hasn't been put together since his wife died. He's white, whereas Marco's mom was Hispanic, and Marco suspects that he reminds his dad of her. It's all quite sad.
The next day the Animorphs gather in the woods and Ax easily fashions the Yeerk distress beacon, and says that all it needs is a Z-space transponder. If they don't have the transponder, they don't have a working beacon. Tobias suggests that maybe Chapman has one, as he communicates with Visser Three in the blade ship. Rachel says the cat morph is out, and Jake says they will need to try something else.
Cassie suggests ants.
Before the mission, we get some pretty good development from Marco as he reflects on how it's almost two years since his mom died, and that somewhere Ax's parents are wondering where their kid is. It's a good moment where we see that the kids are already changed by their experiences.
The next night we see them morph ants, and it's terrifying.
They go to Chapman's house and hang out in the yard next door until he leaves, then morph into the bugs. Physically the morph is the usual legs bursting from chests, antennas bursting from foreheads, and generally things bursting from other things. Then the instincts come in.
The ant mind is one of the experiences that is referenced for the rest of the series. They're hive insects, and that is what nearly wrecks them. There is a number of pages where Marco is completely ignorant of Tobias's thoughts warning him as he marches towards what the pheromones say is food. Eventually Tobias gets through to them, and everyone starts freaking out.
After everyone gets rid of the heeby-jeebies they march through a basement crack that smells like ENEMY and into Chapman's basement. The guy isn't home, so they rifle through his secret basement hideout and find his computer. Ax opens it up and they get a little disc that the andalite says is the transponder. They morph into ants, pick up the disc (because ants are stronk) and go back through the tunnel.
While in the tunnel the other hive shows up and almost kills each and every one of them. The kids are absolutely swarmed by ants, and we see several of them get limbs pulled off. There's a wonderful description of one trying to saw through Marco's abdomen.
Ultimately, this is only the fifth book, so they get out unharmed but freaked out. The usual nightmares are had, and Marco goes to school the next day like normal, though everyone is a bit freaked out. We learn that Marco's dad is a temp janitor, but used to be a scientist. Unfortunately he hasn't recovered from losing his wife yet.
At school a girl bumps into Rachel and Rachel snaps and slams her against a table. Marco gets in on it and all three of them end up in Chapman's office. Chapman asks Rachel why she started it, and Marco (afraid she'll angrily let slip that she's an animorph) says they started fighting over him. The principle makes them get counseling and lets them go. There's a sweet moment where Rachel thanks Marco for making things funny, which is nice after so much heavy stuff.
Ax finishes his distress beacon and the kids decide on the upcoming Saturday for the event. On the walk home Marco tells Jake that after they get Ax back to his folks, he's done. He says he can't put his dad through his death, especially when it would be so similar to how his mom disappeared.
On Saturday they go to the quarry and start with their plan. Ax starts the beacon and everyone morphs into their battle forms. There's some playful banter between them before the yeerks arrive, but arrive they do. A single bug fighter swoops over the quarry and lands. A single hork-bajir exits, and they jump him successfully.
When they try to take out the taxxon pilot, they're shot at by dracon beams from the lip of the quarry! They're surrounded, and then the blade ship arrives. It turns out Ax messed up the frequency and Visser Three intercepted it? Anyways, he found out and shows up to gloat for a while then capture them. They're led into the blade ship and discuss how they aren't dead yet, but might as well be. They should be so lucky.
Visser Three takes them to the pool ship in earth's orbit with his cadre of soldiers. We see the center of the yeerk's operations, with uniformed controllers of multiple species working on the ship. When the ship docks and we see the docking bay, there are two groups of controllers: red-and-black uniformed controllers, and gold-and-black uniformed controllers. They don't seem to like each other, and we learn why soon: the red guys are Visser Three's troops, and the gold ones are Visser One's troops.
They wait, and then Visser Three and Visser One approach the ship. Marco is weirded out because he recognizes Visser One as his mother.
Huh.
Jake also recognizes her and tells Marco to not be weird. Vissers Three and One argue a bit, and it's obvious that they do not care for each other, and eventually the Animorphs are led away to a holding cell. It's a plain black metal box with no cracks. They discuss morphing ants again, but before they start a door forms and Visser One, having dispatched Visser Three's guards, tells them how to get off the ship.
They take the chance and run down the hallway, trampling anyone in their way. They go down a gravity lift, fight some more, and pile into the escape pod, demorphing. As they fall to earth, Marco tells Jake none of the others can know that Visser One is his mom, and that someday they're going to free all the Yeerk slaves.
The next day, two years after Marco's mom "died," he's at the grave with his dad. They talk a little, and Marco's dad says he asked his old boss for his job back, saying you couldn't dwell on the past. They banter a bit, and the novel ends with Marco thinking that, some day, he'd get the alien brain slug out of his mom's head.
It's phrased a little better, but the sentiment remains.
Some Thoughts
- Morphing lobsters seems like a strange idea to avoid the controller cops, but I can't say I would have thought of something better. I am surprised that, assuming they searched the store, didn't assume the andalite morphed a lobster.
- Ax should seriously be played by Danny Pudi in whichever adaptation is next. I think he'd do great in either physical or vocal capacity. I can already hear him, "Cinnamon bunzz-ZUH."
- This one had some rough morphs in it. The lobster morph, and mind, is pretty basic and brutal, and the ant incident is referenced for the rest of the series. Applegate had some good ideas for the morphs.
- We hear Ax use some Andalite terminology, which includes computer, keyboard, application, etc. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be translation convention or Applegate just not bothering to come up with an Andalite computer system.
- The healing not only lets the kids go through some shit, but experience stuff that gives them nightmares. The obvious narrative use is that it lets them suffer all the effects of traumatic experience after traumatic experience without having any of the physical scars. It's a neat little convention.
- We're starting to see Visser Three's incompetence here. If I had captured the "Andalite bandits," I would have just infested them with the six nearest Yeerks and sort it all out later. Seriously, dude, get your shit together.
Character Sheets
- Marco: The one who maintains the humor, no matter how dark the outcome...not out of any sense of humor, but because the only other option is to cry. His mother, once though dead, is actually the fourteenth most powerful Yeerk out there, and is the one in charge of the earth invasion. Acquires lobster and ant morphs. Kills one hork-bajir, probably.
- Jake: The leader, and the one everyone confides in. The weight seems to be settling, but heavy. Has a thing for Cassie, which everyone pretends isn't there. Get just as freaked out as the other animorphs, but they often tend to not notice. Acquires lobster and ant morphs.
- Rachel: The battle-fiend. Her threads start to fray in this one, as she snaps one day in school. Leans towards reckless, but is ultimately reliable. Sometimes lets people through her armor, but it's rare. Acquires ant morph. Kills one taxxon
- Tobias: The bird. Doesn't do much this book, but that's probably because a lot of it was indoors stuff. Is normally the lookout because of his birdness. Goes for the eyes because it tends to work out whenever he does. Kind of makes you feel bad when you consider all these poor hosts he blinds.
- Ax: The new andalite brother. Calls Jake prince, likes to eat, likes to babble. Hasn't quite adjusted to all that humanity has to offer. Very proud, and often hot-headed, simply because he's a teenager from his own culture. Favors maiming. Acquires lobster, ant, and northern harrier morphs.
- Cassie: The tree-hugger animal fiend. Keeps the team grounded, and thinks of the ethical ramifications when they're present. The closest thing the group has to a "mom." Acquires an ant morph.
- Visser Three: Leader of the Earth invasion. Really dropped the ball this time, as he had the bandits within his grasp and did nothing. Ego is so large the weight is giving him megalomania. One has to wonder how his recent string of embarrassment has affected him. Poor guy.
