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Chapter 25quote:<Rachel!> Prince Jake said tersely. <Hit it again!> At least Visser Three's computer likes him. Chapter 26 quote:For a moment no one spoke. So Visser Three, bad boss. Lets just move to the last chapter. Chapter 27 quote:“In the annals of stupid, screwed-up, pointless missions that was the stupidest, most pointless of them all,” Marco said. So lets talk about why the ghostwriter only wrote one book in the series. As I mentioned before, the way the ghostwriting worked was that Applegate would write an outline and then send it to the ghostwriter. The ghostwriter then would write the story based on the outline, then send it to Applegate who would make any edits to it. This was done with a pretty tight timeframe, because Scholastic was expecting a book a month so that it could include them in their monthly school book club sales. So, the disadvantage of having a ghostwriter for Applegate and Grant was that they lost a bunch of creative control over their characters. Now, it's very subtle, so you might not have noticed, but this book takes a stance on animal testing and vegetarianism. This apparently upset Applegate a bunch. Applegate isn't a vegetarian, and got annoyed that the ghostwriter was using her characters as a mouthpiece for it. So, she rewrote the last chapter and said she didn't want Garvey to ghostwrite any more of her books, or so the story goes. Here's Applegate's comments: quote:"I took some grief for [the last chapter] from the fans. A fair number were upset that I ended with all of the Animorphs ordering hamburgers. I am in favor of being as humane as possible in dealing with livestock, but I'm not a vegetarian. I kind of think that I'll start worrying about the treatment of cows more once there are no more political prisoners, no more children dying of curable diseases, and no more fanatics blowing themselves up to murder civilians." The tragedy here is that, her politics aside, Garvey seems, from this book, at least, to be a good writer. Ax's sudden TV addiction was funny, the banter and arguments between the Animorphs were good, and while the pacing was bad, there was a lot I liked about the book. Next book is book 29, The Sickness, and it's a Cassie book, ghostwritten by Melinda Metz.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 03:52 |
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# ? May 25, 2024 07:42 |
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That's odd that Applegate didn't like it since it seemed like every character's reaction to the animal testing was accurate to their personalities. And even if you're not a vegetarian I can't imagine visiting a slaughterhouse gives you a big appetite for meat.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 05:10 |
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It's odd that this was enough to get a ghostwriter bounced because I don't think it's that much of a polemic. It broaches the topics of animal testing and slaughterhouses, but it doesn't really have a whole lot to say beyond "yeah, being a cow in a slaughterhouse would probably suck." Even if it was rewritten, the last chapter does fit in pretty well: yeah, I guess the meat industry kinda sucks, but hamburgers are still delicious. The only really bad part is how contrived the setup is to get them into the slaughterhouse in the first place. Though this is the same Animorphs who brought you the "swim up a space ship tube" plan.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 05:53 |
It feels like there's a slight meta commentary on "crisis of the week" type storyline too, since they outright acknowledge they could have just not gone and had zero impact on anything.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 05:55 |
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I think Ax was a little bit too funny and clueless in this one. He always has misunderstandings about humans, but it went so far in this one that he came off as kind of dumb. Ax is young but he's also a trained soldier which gave him a different perspective on things in his last books that I don't think really came through here.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 06:17 |
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Found Applegate's response really surprising - like Edna said it's not exactly an unhinged rant. Would be really interesting to see what the original final chapter looked like, if it had them all swearing off meat forever or something.Epicurius posted:Next book is book 29, The Sickness, and it's a Cassie book, ghostwritten by Melinda Metz. I recall this one being excellent.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 06:30 |
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The ending really ties the book together, I thought this one was great.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 06:42 |
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Epicurius posted:The tragedy here is that, her politics aside, Garvey seems, from this book, at least, to be a good writer. Ax's sudden TV addiction was funny, the banter and arguments between the Animorphs were good, and while the pacing was bad, there was a lot I liked about the book. Edna Mode posted:That's odd that Applegate didn't like it since it seemed like every character's reaction to the animal testing was accurate to their personalities. And even if you're not a vegetarian I can't imagine visiting a slaughterhouse gives you a big appetite for meat. Rochallor posted:It's odd that this was enough to get a ghostwriter bounced because I don't think it's that much of a polemic. It broaches the topics of animal testing and slaughterhouses, but it doesn't really have a whole lot to say beyond "yeah, being a cow in a slaughterhouse would probably suck." Even if it was rewritten, the last chapter does fit in pretty well: yeah, I guess the meat industry kinda sucks, but hamburgers are still delicious. The thing is, if the rewrote story is true, we don't at all know it was limited to the final chapter. It could have needed some extensive rewrites throughout, say to fix these character issues or remove more content she objected to. Grant and Applegate have said they handled the whole ghostwriting situation badly. They were just winging it the whole time, with no prior experience managing a stable of authors; the 3-week timeline (in the 90s I believe they were still using hard copies sent via the mail, which adds even more delay) meant they barely had any wiggle room to bounce versions back and forth, and if after a short time the author didn't seem to be getting it, they just took over and rewrote it themselves. IIRC the lone Applegate-credited book before the very end of the series was the result of her/their deciding one manuscript was just unsalvageable, pitching it, and starting over from scratch. freebooter posted:Found Applegate's response really surprising - like Edna said it's not exactly an unhinged rant. Would be really interesting to see what the original final chapter looked like, if it had them all swearing off meat forever or something. I bet it's something along these lines.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 06:54 |
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I liked this one, the author had a good knack for comedy.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 12:41 |
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quote:We formed a bizarre parade. Cassie and me, with the scientist up front. A dozen shabby, confused, but free humans. And bringing up the rear, tensed and ready for the Yeerks to pour into the room, the rest of my friends. Am I incorrect or is the transition from this to the next chapter, with no explanation of how the Animorphs escaped being trapped with Visser 3 and an army about to pour in the room, incredibly bizarre?
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 18:16 |
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It was a really good door
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 19:06 |
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Say Epicurius, are there any information how the original chapters went.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 21:28 |
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ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:Am I incorrect or is the transition from this to the next chapter, with no explanation of how the Animorphs escaped being trapped with Visser 3 and an army about to pour in the room, incredibly bizarre? It felt a lot like a TV show, where once everyone knows the main characters can morph to something small and fly away safely, you don't need to see it because you've seen it for the last 15 episodes. Not sure how the newly unfrozen humans made it out though! Also, I feel kind of bad for the ghostwriter. If you told me you wanted me to write a story from the POV of a herbivore quadriped alien with a strongly environmentalist friend who can morph to animals about breaking into a chimp testing center and a slaughterhouse to stop a plan to remove free will from sentient being while aliens who are noted for their greed and disregard for the environment and are allied with rapaciously hungry centipede-things mastermind it all, I'd assume you wanted at least a hint of an agenda in there too, to be honest.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 22:24 |
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e X posted:Say Epicurius, are there any information how the original chapters went. I looked, but wasn't able to find anything, so if anyone else can, I'd appreciate it.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 22:37 |
Epicurius posted:I looked, but wasn't able to find anything, so if anyone else can, I'd appreciate it. Have you linked Applegate to this thread? I honestly think you should.
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# ? Sep 8, 2021 22:48 |
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Ravenfood posted:Also, I feel kind of bad for the ghostwriter. If you told me you wanted me to write a story from the POV of a herbivore quadriped alien with a strongly environmentalist friend who can morph to animals about breaking into a chimp testing center and a slaughterhouse to stop a plan to remove free will from sentient being while aliens who are noted for their greed and disregard for the environment and are allied with rapaciously hungry centipede-things mastermind it all, I'd assume you wanted at least a hint of an agenda in there too, to be honest. ...good point.
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 00:16 |
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:Have you linked Applegate to this thread? I honestly think you should. I'm not sure about that, or what you'd expect to happen. Honestly, Grant has kind of become the main Animorphs-related face of the duo in recent years, giving interviews and going on podcasts about the series. I think that's mostly because his books in the last couple decades have mainly been YA and adult, so he has an older audience, many of whom remember Animorphs fondly. Meanwhile Applegate has seen a ton of success writing children's books in recent years, so her audience is again primarily children and pre-teens, and her public persona and social media presence and public appearances are primarily oriented towards that and those newer series. When they're not doing joint promo for Grine's comics, of course.
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 00:30 |
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I don't really know what Applegate or Grant would think of the thread, or even how to approach them about it.
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 00:37 |
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Stand in front of a mirror at midnight and say "thermals, thermals, THERMALS"
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 03:20 |
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Tree Bucket posted:Stand in front of a mirror at midnight and say "thermals, thermals, THERMALS" Great, I just summoned Visser Three, and he's spent the past hour ranting at me about how terrible Andalite bandits are, called me a fool five times, threatened my life twice, and demanded I create an energy field over the city that will convert the sun's rays to Kandrona rays. This was the worst advice ever, Tree Bucket!
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 03:26 |
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Now we know that we shouldn't trust Tree Bucket for advice about the supernatural, it's time to move on to the next book. Animorphs: Book 29-The Sickness Ghostwritten by Melinda Metz. Melinda Metz is an accomplished young adult author. In addition to this, she also wrote licensed fiction for the Buffy universe and the Everwood universe (2 books in the first, 4 in the second), some stand alone fiction, and the series Fingerprints, which is about a psychic girl who can hear her person's thoughts if she touches their fingerprints. If you've heard of her, though, it's probably for her ten book series Roswell High, about a bunch of alien teenagers disguised as human who are going to school in Roswell, New Mexico. It's been made into two tv series....Roswell, from 1999-2002, and Roswell, New Mexico, from 2019-the present. This is one of two books she's written for Animorphs. Chapter 1 quote:]My name is Cassie. This chapter has the standard "I can't tell you who I am or where I live" opening, Rachel demanding that Jake be a good boyfriend, and Marco proving he knows the series better than any of us. I also like Cassie's self aware understanding, "Because I know that when - if - this whole thing is over, it may be too late for me to be either nice or normal ever again." Also, note Jake's last comment there. Same language of "nice and normal" Chapter 2 quote:The dance. You don't know. Maybe Ax is really into the music. And, this does sort of explore Cassie's feelings towards Jake. Also, some random thoughts.....first, Ax is probably one of the 6 people on Earth who really is concerned that somebody else wants his body. Also, if there were a teacher's strike, what does the vice-principal do in that situation. Would Chapman go on strike, or would he be part of the school board's negotiation team. And how would he explain any of this to Visser Three, given that Visser Three's concept of a strike is what he does to decapitate an underling with his tail? By the way, sorry if you got an incomplete post before. I was trying to switch windows with the keyboard and accidentally hit the post button. Epicurius fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Sep 9, 2021 |
# ? Sep 9, 2021 03:28 |
A lot of these middle-of-the-series books blend together, but I do remember that I'm down with this book.
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 03:47 |
Fuschia tude posted:I'm not sure about that, or what you'd expect to happen. I just want them to chime in with their thoughts and tidbits
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 03:52 |
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This is the first book that I don't think I have a memory of so I guess this is about where I started dropping off the series.
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 03:53 |
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I like this chapter
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 05:12 |
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the tree hugger line stuck with me all this time but I didn't remember the context.
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 05:49 |
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Piell posted:This is the first book that I don't think I have a memory of so I guess this is about where I started dropping off the series. Yeah, knowing what I know about this book, I'm positive I didn't read it. I think Visser might be the only one upcoming I have read at this point, and that was probably because I was given it for Christmas that year or something.
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 10:14 |
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"Even when he laughs he doesn’t really smile." Some genius at Scholastic looked at lines like that and thought, "what? Kids aren't gonna wanna identify with that troubled mystery kid who harbours a tortured inner world! Give him less books!!" Epicurius posted:Now we know that we shouldn't trust Tree Bucket for advice about the supernatural, it's time to move on to the next book. Yeah, that's fair enough.
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 11:59 |
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This book is one of my favorites, and definitely top tier among the ghostwritten ones. Finding out the author was a successful sci-fi YA writer in her own right is unsurprising.
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# ? Sep 9, 2021 18:07 |
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Chapter 3quote:Jake and I shoved our way through the mass of bopping, spinning, shaking bodies. By the time we got to the group, Marco had his flannel shirt off. He started to fold the shirt into a bandana just as - Boing! Axcould not keep it together until they got outside. So, yea, this is pretty bad. Chapter 4 quote:I rushed over to Mr. Tidwell and helped him up. So Ax is mysteriously sick, and apparently Aftran has gotten followers who are opposed to the war....which is what Aftran had said in the previous book....that there's a segment of the Yeerk population that just wants the war to end. Also, we probably never will, but I want to hear more about Visser Three's reinduction seminar. Having had my share of mandatory office training myself, it's kind of reassuring in my way to know it's not just a human phenomenon.
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 04:09 |
Christ, no wonder he's so angry all the time.
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 04:16 |
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If yeerks weren't jeerks I'd be cool with a yeerk buddy tbh. It's a pal you can take with you!
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 04:58 |
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quote:Ax giggled. “Demorph. Dee, dee. That is a very pleasant mouth sound. Dee!” Yeah must be delirious, that's totally out of character for Ax.
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 04:58 |
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Well, now I'm sad I didn't read this one. It seems pretty good. Maybe I would have stuck with the series longer. Then again, maybe this was the high water mark...
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 05:00 |
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Induction seminars. How dreadful. It is easy to imagine some mid-level Yeerk coming across the phrase "human resources" and drawing conclusions that are
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 05:49 |
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Ohhh this one's really good.
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 10:05 |
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I remembered the "Ax gets sicks" plot, up to its conclusion, but totally blanked on the Afran plot.
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 10:36 |
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I really dig the vibe here which, moreso than any book since #1, emphasises the superhero aspect i.e. we are shapeshifting interstellar warriors but also just normal kids trying to live our normal lives at the same time. And how they rush into action in human form to hustle their sick alien friend out of there amid the boringly familiar scene of an awkward teen school dance, hoping that the assistant principal/assistant earth conqueror doesn't notice. Easily the best normal/weird juxtaposition since Ax and Visser Three squared off on the roof of a SoCal McDonald's, or Jake and David crashed through the skylight of the shopping mall at night.
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 14:20 |
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This book was awesome, and very tense.
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# ? Sep 10, 2021 16:54 |
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# ? May 25, 2024 07:42 |
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Sorry to do this, but chapters will have to wait until tomorrow.
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# ? Sep 11, 2021 04:48 |