Some of my favorite and underrated scenes were Jake playing basketball and Jake shopping for his mom's birthday. They were great character pieces juxtaposing him as a child and him as a warrior.
This is actually one of my absolute favorite books, and I LOVED your previous breakdowns. I've been anxiously waiting for weeks!!! I've listened once, but I will have to listen a second time to get all the questions you asked, so I can write down the answers. But, wanted to say that I love your channel, I love your breakdowns, and I hope you keep at it. You do a great job!!!!
Thank you very much, I am basically the epitome of a "small youtuber" (maybe not even that yet), so you guys who appreciate these videos are fantastic and motivating for me.
I loved this series as a child and even through multiple rereads there are points you brought up that I hadn't considered! The weight between boiling the Yeerks in the Jacuzzi and the events on the Pool Ship much later in the series really is evident of how much they will grow up and, if anything, moderate their stance against the Yeerks. Also, I think Jake books are I think the most even in quality. There aren't too many abject stinkers in his catalog (except maybe the Atlantis themed one).
I love these videos, I started the series in a haphazard order when I was in fourth grade and I always loved the few books I had read. Now I'm rereading the series properly and I'm really glad I found your channel, I love being able to hear someone share the same thoughts and theories I had and am having. Thank you for these videos.
I also read them kind of piecemeal as a kid. Six or seven years ago I was working a super boring desk job and I discovered that they were all online as pdfs and read them through in order at work and it was so good. Glad you're getting something out of this series of videos 🙂
9:50 Jake boiling all the Yeerks in this book is basically Richard the Lionheart executing the garrison of Acre after they surrendered in 1191 when Saladin was dicking around during the negotiations. His choices were to: 1. Leave behind enough men to guard 3,600 prisoners when he marched south, dangerously depleting his army before the campaign even began. 2. Leave them behind with an inadequate guard, risking the possibility that they retake the city in his absence. 3. Set them free, so that they could immediately rejoin Saladin's army. 4. Kill them. In a military situation, #4 is the least-bad of those options. Saladin was purposefully trying to draw out negotiations, knowing that if Richard didn't march south before a certain date, he would be stuck in Acre all winter due to the region's climate, which was unacceptable militarily for the Crusaders. Jake doesn't have the capacity to take these Yeerks prisoner. Yes, they are helpless, but they are also enemy combatants. Leaving them there just gives the enemy more troops to use against you, which is unacceptable from a military perspective. Boiling them was the only thing he could do. I don't think any of this implies Jake actually thought it through in this way, but the parallel jumped out to me immediately when you began talking about it.
These types of comments are my favorite part of running this channel. Military history is so interesting, especially because the principles at okay can usually be applied regardless of time period or tech or whatever. Thank you for the brief history lesson, I bet there are more parallels between these books and historical military conundrums.
@@marcellom My pleasure! That’s why I love military history too, becusss in our modern society we have such a sense of moral absolutism that doesn’t really get challenged except in military circumstances. Like, Jake is fighting for the freedom of the entire human race. Performing an objectively amoral act in furtherance of that goal isn’t the same thing as Visser 3 performing an amoral act in furtherance of his goal of enslaving the entire species. That’s not to say we shouldn’t be asking moral questions about military decisions such as this, but it seems unfair to me to judge those kinds of choices by the same standard that we’d judge someone for making amoral choices when the stakes are much lower. Plus, it should be pointed out that the “rules of war” pretty much exist for self-serving purposes. The reason we don’t torture enemy POWs is partially because it’s morally wrong, but the much larger reason is that we don’t want our troops to be tortured if they are captured by an enemy. So we all try to abide by certain standards of conduct even in war. But the Animorphs really have no expectation of that. If any of them is captured they’d be instantly enslaved and forced to betray the others. They have no incentive to treat Yeerks as if there are “rules of war” because that would never be reciprocated under any circumstance. That doesn’t change the morality of the choice, but it definitely is a factor that has to be considered when we judge Jake for these choices.
I loved this book when I got to read it! It made me realize that seeing things from the enemy perspective in a story can show a lot about the culture or beliefs that they have. I also wanted to address some of your questions (please remember that these are just my opinions): 1. Tobias's statement - I don't think that Tobias intentionally got caught in the same way that people don't intentionally harm themselves but also don't stop certain behaviors or habits. A more adult example is Marla from Fight Club. She's completely reckless, openly walking into traffic. When the car of the two hour time limit reached Tobias, he just stayed standing there instead of moving. 2. Morphing at mission location - There are missions where they use bird morph to travel and then morph to another animal. The main reason they use Hawk Airlines so much is because a lot of the missions they are going into would be very risky to morph on location. They are going to a Yeerk infested hospital and they have not surveilled it yet to know who is a controller and who is not. While this explanation may not fit for all of the missions, it does make some sense here. 3. Cassie's coldness towards the boiling - At this point in time, the Yeerks are something that she sees as completely evil. Even in the way she describes them all the way up to book 19, they are "evil". She sometimes stumbles into trying to figure out moralistically the implications of murder. However, at this point it's fair to say that Cassie has completely "dehumanized" the Yeerks to make it easier for her to accept the actions that they have taken so far. They are still saving human hosts at this time and I'm sure she had a moment where she believed that sparing the humans helped balance out the murder. 4. Controller morphing - Due to the nature of Yeerks and how they physically connect to the body of their hosts (and the main revelation of #26) I believe that they are technically a part of the host's body when they morph and as such, the Yeerk's body also morphs. This is just a personal theory. As always, I love your work and appreciate the time and effort that you put in these videos. I look forward to the next one!
I love this book and I actually love the tv episode for this one. The dramatic stuff was well done, and the comedic stuff with Ax impersonating Jake is some of the funniest I’ve ever seen 😂😂😂
I hated the TV show as a kid, it was probably my first experience being disappointed by an adaptation, but I love it now, for all its camp. Shawn Ashmore does a great job in this episode.
I've probably said this on other videos, but its a common misconception that Crayak's appearance is based on Sauron; Sauron in the LOTR does not look like he does in the movies, that was a purely Peter Jacksonian invention. Crayak was described to us prior to the LOTR film trilogy cementing Sauron as a fire eye in our minds. Sauron's eye connection is just an emblem used on banners/shields. I don't think KAA has ever actually commented on her reasons for Crayak's appearance. There are a ton of Tolkien references in Animorphs (Ax's middle name, Elfangor's first name, Gondor Industries, Alloran/Olorin, possibly "The Five"), but I really don't think Crayak was one.
Re: did tobias intentionally trap himself in morph? No he did not. At least, on the morning it occurred, he did not wake up thinking how he contrive a situation that ended eith him being trapped in morph nor did he think that at any point that day. But I think tobias does project intentionality backwards onto that situation a lot-like this, or whenever he rationalizes about the nice, good things about being a hawk & how his human life was not necessarily more comfortable than his life as a hawk/comparable in comfort to the other human animorphs. And Tobias must intend every day between the end of 13 and the end of the series to remain a hawk. Hes also I think infinitely more comfortable in expressing himself as a hawk than as a human, i think mainly because he's less expensive as a hawk than a human Anyways, i wrote a fic about the night tobias was trapped in morph bc I think about this CONSTANTLY lmk if you want me to drop the link Btw love your shirt lmao!!!
Okay, so, I thought he did not plan on doing it but, in book 50 ( unsure if this is a spoiler so advert your eyes, and press read more) Cassie says she's unsure if he actually did do it on accident, which everyone in the following books say as well. I just thought he was locked in there, so I was literally so confused when they said that. But now its got me thinking......
I've read the whole series twice I just forget a lot of small details, so no worries about spoilers (for me at least). I had forgotten that piece though. I wonder if it was always KA's intention to leave that ambiguous. It wouldn't be too surprising since Tobias obviously had a pretty grim life as a human, and the morph he got stuck in is kind of antithetical to that life.
@@marcellomokay so I was rereading the series and if you look in book 49 around the beginning you can see that it was completely accidental but I’m not sure if he was planning on doing it later
The Yeerks were definitely just bugs to the Animorphs at this point. It's Temrash and Aftran that force them to see their sentience. If you think about it, it's a reversal of the rest of their character development. They innocently kill a whole vat of Yeerks early on. As the series goes they get more desensitized to war, but the perspective they gain on the Yeerks ironically makes Jake's decision to flush them more haunting than it would have been originally.
That is super interesting, and you are correct. It sounds kind of oxymoronic, but they do *innocently* mass murder a bunch of Yeerks. I wonder if that was intentional on KA's part. A wonderful little piece of irony in any case.
Personally, i see this book as the first of jakes book given the invasion was sort of an everyone book. I believe jakes on going theme to his books is that of fear. Small spoilers Fear he will have to kill tom Book 11...Fear he will have to issue someone an order that may get them killed Book 16... hiding fear for the sake of the team Book 21... fear of allowing himself to be happy, and possibly turn away from the mission Book 26... fear of losing cassie but i dont remember the attack Book 31 fear of what will happen to his team 36 fear of losing his fath3r and having to kill tom Anyways... the capture is referring to Jake imo. He has been captured by the war. And his fear
Great take, I'm going to refer to this when I get to later Jake videos if that is alright with you. Jake is probably the character that I understand the least, but you've got me thinking now.
@@marcellom yeah. For sure, dude. Just remember me when you become rich and famous after the animorph movie drops and the algarthym finally does you justice. Send me a ps6 (this is a joke you owe me nothing lol)
@@marcellomi just thought of this so hope not too weird i am reaching out. So... book 21, jakes fear is being happy. Book 26 is related short of mirrored theme. Before i said about losing Cassie... which is true. BUT those weird aliens Jake morphs into believe their slaying to be playing as they are all children. I think, i havent re read it, but its sort of in line with Jake starting to become a good leader in book 21 and beginning to like the war. Not fighting but winning against all odds. Book 26 could be his fear of becoming happy about the war and beyond that, seeing through the eyes of these aliens, happy with taking lives. Later book 36 the mutation is him fearing no listening to those who are close to him who keep him happy, Cassie. And 41 what happens when he DOESNT listen to cassie.
It bothered me that the yeerk didnt kill rachel. Itd take a tiger half a second to kill a living 12 year old girl let alone a sleeping one. Why not dispatch her? And why would Ax not have pointed this out as a ppssibility
The book gives a reason why: the Yeerk tells Jake he won't kill the sleeping Rachel because her body, being able to morph, would be highly valuable to the Yeerks. The more morph-capable hosts he offers to the Empire, the higher he gets promoted.
I always assumed that if the Yeerk was bonded with the hosts brain so tightly, it would morph with the host, much like how tight clothing does.
It has to, not everything they could morph has a head big enough for one to fit in, some might not even have a head.
Some of my favorite and underrated scenes were Jake playing basketball and Jake shopping for his mom's birthday. They were great character pieces juxtaposing him as a child and him as a warrior.
This is probably one of my fave Jake books, thanks for making Animorphs content, please keep it going!!
This is actually one of my absolute favorite books, and I LOVED your previous breakdowns. I've been anxiously waiting for weeks!!!
I've listened once, but I will have to listen a second time to get all the questions you asked, so I can write down the answers. But, wanted to say that I love your channel, I love your breakdowns, and I hope you keep at it. You do a great job!!!!
Thank you very much, I am basically the epitome of a "small youtuber" (maybe not even that yet), so you guys who appreciate these videos are fantastic and motivating for me.
Loving this series!!! Can’t wait for the next review.
I loved this series as a child and even through multiple rereads there are points you brought up that I hadn't considered! The weight between boiling the Yeerks in the Jacuzzi and the events on the Pool Ship much later in the series really is evident of how much they will grow up and, if anything, moderate their stance against the Yeerks.
Also, I think Jake books are I think the most even in quality. There aren't too many abject stinkers in his catalog (except maybe the Atlantis themed one).
I love these videos, I started the series in a haphazard order when I was in fourth grade and I always loved the few books I had read. Now I'm rereading the series properly and I'm really glad I found your channel, I love being able to hear someone share the same thoughts and theories I had and am having. Thank you for these videos.
I also read them kind of piecemeal as a kid. Six or seven years ago I was working a super boring desk job and I discovered that they were all online as pdfs and read them through in order at work and it was so good. Glad you're getting something out of this series of videos 🙂
9:50 Jake boiling all the Yeerks in this book is basically Richard the Lionheart executing the garrison of Acre after they surrendered in 1191 when Saladin was dicking around during the negotiations. His choices were to:
1. Leave behind enough men to guard 3,600 prisoners when he marched south, dangerously depleting his army before the campaign even began.
2. Leave them behind with an inadequate guard, risking the possibility that they retake the city in his absence.
3. Set them free, so that they could immediately rejoin Saladin's army.
4. Kill them.
In a military situation, #4 is the least-bad of those options. Saladin was purposefully trying to draw out negotiations, knowing that if Richard didn't march south before a certain date, he would be stuck in Acre all winter due to the region's climate, which was unacceptable militarily for the Crusaders.
Jake doesn't have the capacity to take these Yeerks prisoner. Yes, they are helpless, but they are also enemy combatants. Leaving them there just gives the enemy more troops to use against you, which is unacceptable from a military perspective. Boiling them was the only thing he could do.
I don't think any of this implies Jake actually thought it through in this way, but the parallel jumped out to me immediately when you began talking about it.
These types of comments are my favorite part of running this channel. Military history is so interesting, especially because the principles at okay can usually be applied regardless of time period or tech or whatever. Thank you for the brief history lesson, I bet there are more parallels between these books and historical military conundrums.
@@marcellom My pleasure! That’s why I love military history too, becusss in our modern society we have such a sense of moral absolutism that doesn’t really get challenged except in military circumstances. Like, Jake is fighting for the freedom of the entire human race. Performing an objectively amoral act in furtherance of that goal isn’t the same thing as Visser 3 performing an amoral act in furtherance of his goal of enslaving the entire species.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t be asking moral questions about military decisions such as this, but it seems unfair to me to judge those kinds of choices by the same standard that we’d judge someone for making amoral choices when the stakes are much lower.
Plus, it should be pointed out that the “rules of war” pretty much exist for self-serving purposes. The reason we don’t torture enemy POWs is partially because it’s morally wrong, but the much larger reason is that we don’t want our troops to be tortured if they are captured by an enemy. So we all try to abide by certain standards of conduct even in war.
But the Animorphs really have no expectation of that. If any of them is captured they’d be instantly enslaved and forced to betray the others. They have no incentive to treat Yeerks as if there are “rules of war” because that would never be reciprocated under any circumstance.
That doesn’t change the morality of the choice, but it definitely is a factor that has to be considered when we judge Jake for these choices.
HELL YEAH LET'S GO.
The plot twist at the end of this one had me so shook as a kid 0:26
Thank god for Ax and Marco 😅
I loved this book when I got to read it! It made me realize that seeing things from the enemy perspective in a story can show a lot about the culture or beliefs that they have. I also wanted to address some of your questions (please remember that these are just my opinions):
1. Tobias's statement - I don't think that Tobias intentionally got caught in the same way that people don't intentionally harm themselves but also don't stop certain behaviors or habits. A more adult example is Marla from Fight Club. She's completely reckless, openly walking into traffic. When the car of the two hour time limit reached Tobias, he just stayed standing there instead of moving.
2. Morphing at mission location - There are missions where they use bird morph to travel and then morph to another animal. The main reason they use Hawk Airlines so much is because a lot of the missions they are going into would be very risky to morph on location. They are going to a Yeerk infested hospital and they have not surveilled it yet to know who is a controller and who is not. While this explanation may not fit for all of the missions, it does make some sense here.
3. Cassie's coldness towards the boiling - At this point in time, the Yeerks are something that she sees as completely evil. Even in the way she describes them all the way up to book 19, they are "evil". She sometimes stumbles into trying to figure out moralistically the implications of murder. However, at this point it's fair to say that Cassie has completely "dehumanized" the Yeerks to make it easier for her to accept the actions that they have taken so far. They are still saving human hosts at this time and I'm sure she had a moment where she believed that sparing the humans helped balance out the murder.
4. Controller morphing - Due to the nature of Yeerks and how they physically connect to the body of their hosts (and the main revelation of #26) I believe that they are technically a part of the host's body when they morph and as such, the Yeerk's body also morphs. This is just a personal theory.
As always, I love your work and appreciate the time and effort that you put in these videos. I look forward to the next one!
Please keep doing reviews of the Animorphs, i love these videos
Thank you! I intend to do the whole series, no matter how long it takes 😅
The Yeerk goes to Z-Space with the rest of the mass when a Controller morphs into anything. So they're not wrapped around the brain of the morph.
I love this book and I actually love the tv episode for this one. The dramatic stuff was well done, and the comedic stuff with Ax impersonating Jake is some of the funniest I’ve ever seen 😂😂😂
I hated the TV show as a kid, it was probably my first experience being disappointed by an adaptation, but I love it now, for all its camp. Shawn Ashmore does a great job in this episode.
The more i re read animorphs the more the Sharing reminds me of the same tactics online groups use. Sort of creepy
Man Im currently rereading these books and didnt realize Krayak was introduced so soon, and the Ellimist comes in the next one.
Havent watched yet as busy but keep er up!
I've probably said this on other videos, but its a common misconception that Crayak's appearance is based on Sauron; Sauron in the LOTR does not look like he does in the movies, that was a purely Peter Jacksonian invention. Crayak was described to us prior to the LOTR film trilogy cementing Sauron as a fire eye in our minds. Sauron's eye connection is just an emblem used on banners/shields. I don't think KAA has ever actually commented on her reasons for Crayak's appearance. There are a ton of Tolkien references in Animorphs (Ax's middle name, Elfangor's first name, Gondor Industries, Alloran/Olorin, possibly "The Five"), but I really don't think Crayak was one.
When I listened to the audiobook of this book, I realized that being a Controller is very much like DPDR and it's kinda funny and neat
Re: did tobias intentionally trap himself in morph? No he did not. At least, on the morning it occurred, he did not wake up thinking how he contrive a situation that ended eith him being trapped in morph nor did he think that at any point that day. But I think tobias does project intentionality backwards onto that situation a lot-like this, or whenever he rationalizes about the nice, good things about being a hawk & how his human life was not necessarily more comfortable than his life as a hawk/comparable in comfort to the other human animorphs. And Tobias must intend every day between the end of 13 and the end of the series to remain a hawk. Hes also I think infinitely more comfortable in expressing himself as a hawk than as a human, i think mainly because he's less expensive as a hawk than a human
Anyways, i wrote a fic about the night tobias was trapped in morph bc I think about this CONSTANTLY lmk if you want me to drop the link
Btw love your shirt lmao!!!
Okay, so, I thought he did not plan on doing it but, in book 50 ( unsure if this is a spoiler so advert your eyes, and press read more) Cassie says she's unsure if he actually did do it on accident, which everyone in the following books say as well.
I just thought he was locked in there, so I was literally so confused when they said that. But now its got me thinking......
I've read the whole series twice I just forget a lot of small details, so no worries about spoilers (for me at least). I had forgotten that piece though. I wonder if it was always KA's intention to leave that ambiguous. It wouldn't be too surprising since Tobias obviously had a pretty grim life as a human, and the morph he got stuck in is kind of antithetical to that life.
@@marcellomokay so I was rereading the series and if you look in book 49 around the beginning you can see that it was completely accidental but I’m not sure if he was planning on doing it later
The Yeerks were definitely just bugs to the Animorphs at this point. It's Temrash and Aftran that force them to see their sentience.
If you think about it, it's a reversal of the rest of their character development. They innocently kill a whole vat of Yeerks early on. As the series goes they get more desensitized to war, but the perspective they gain on the Yeerks ironically makes Jake's decision to flush them more haunting than it would have been originally.
That is super interesting, and you are correct. It sounds kind of oxymoronic, but they do *innocently* mass murder a bunch of Yeerks. I wonder if that was intentional on KA's part. A wonderful little piece of irony in any case.
Hope you'll have a good day
Oh my gosh, KA, the Planet of the Apes reference….
I won your contest for a copy of book 4: The Message back in May, but it hasn't arrived yet. Is there any way I can get in contact? thanks!
Just emailed you back, sorry this is purely a product of my post office ineptitude 😅
Hey, I recently got an idea for a RUclips video talking about the Top 10 Scholastic Villains, was wondering if you would like to do a collaboration?
@jdmarsh91 absolutely, if you wanna dm me on instagram you can find me at @m4rce1lo, if you don’t use insta lmk your forum of choice
Personally, i see this book as the first of jakes book given the invasion was sort of an everyone book. I believe jakes on going theme to his books is that of fear.
Small spoilers
Fear he will have to kill tom
Book 11...Fear he will have to issue someone an order that may get them killed
Book 16... hiding fear for the sake of the team
Book 21... fear of allowing himself to be happy, and possibly turn away from the mission
Book 26... fear of losing cassie but i dont remember the attack
Book 31 fear of what will happen to his team
36 fear of losing his fath3r and having to kill tom
Anyways... the capture is referring to Jake imo. He has been captured by the war. And his fear
Great take, I'm going to refer to this when I get to later Jake videos if that is alright with you. Jake is probably the character that I understand the least, but you've got me thinking now.
@@marcellom yeah. For sure, dude. Just remember me when you become rich and famous after the animorph movie drops and the algarthym finally does you justice. Send me a ps6 (this is a joke you owe me nothing lol)
@@marcellomi just thought of this so hope not too weird i am reaching out. So... book 21, jakes fear is being happy. Book 26 is related short of mirrored theme. Before i said about losing Cassie... which is true. BUT those weird aliens Jake morphs into believe their slaying to be playing as they are all children. I think, i havent re read it, but its sort of in line with Jake starting to become a good leader in book 21 and beginning to like the war. Not fighting but winning against all odds. Book 26 could be his fear of becoming happy about the war and beyond that, seeing through the eyes of these aliens, happy with taking lives.
Later book 36 the mutation is him fearing no listening to those who are close to him who keep him happy, Cassie. And 41 what happens when he DOESNT listen to cassie.
It bothered me that the yeerk didnt kill rachel. Itd take a tiger half a second to kill a living 12 year old girl let alone a sleeping one. Why not dispatch her? And why would Ax not have pointed this out as a ppssibility
The book gives a reason why: the Yeerk tells Jake he won't kill the sleeping Rachel because her body, being able to morph, would be highly valuable to the Yeerks. The more morph-capable hosts he offers to the Empire, the higher he gets promoted.
@@loganbigmo sure but the animorphs put a lot of trust in the yeerk thinking that
@@braydenb1581 yeah that's fair
@@loganbigmo but i guess... they likely did have someone near by. Itd be silly not to