The Message (Animorphs)
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| The Message | |
 Cassie morphing into a dolphin |
|
| Author | K. A. Applegate |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | David B. Mattingly |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Animorphs #4 |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
| Publication date | 1 October 1996 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 160 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0590629808 |
| Preceded by | The Encounter |
| Followed by | The Predator |
The Message is the fourth book in the Animorphs series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Cassie.
Contents |
[edit] Synposis
Cassie and Tobias start having strange dreams about a presence in the ocean, and Jake sees a news item on TV about debris that washed up on the beach. The Animorphs decide to go check it out, and acquire bottlenose dolphin morphs to do so.
While investigating the seabed, they save a whale from sharks, and Marco is nearly killed. The whale "speaks" to Cassie through song, telling her about a strange place of grass and trees under the ocean.
This place seems deep out in the ocean, so the Animorphs (with the exception of Tobias) morph to seagull and stow away on a container ship to get out there. They morph to dolphin again and discover the Dome to an Andalite Dome Ship under the ocean. Entering it, they are captured by Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, who reveals himself as Elfangor's brother.
The Yeerks show up and drop depth charges at the sunken Dome Ship, so the Animorphs and Ax leave (Ax morphs a tiger shark). They are pursued by Visser Three in Mardrut morph, but he is chased off by a pod of whales. The whales give the Animorphs a lift back to shore.
Ax is recruited into the Animorphs, and lives in the woods near Cassie's farm.
[edit] Morphs
| Morpher | Morphs acquired | Morphs used |
|---|---|---|
| Jake | Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull | Trout, Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull |
| Rachel | Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull | Trout, Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull |
| Tobias | Cannot acquire new DNA | Cannot morph |
| Cassie | Squirrel ('Magilla'), Bottlenose Dolphin ("Monica"), Seagull | Squirrel ('Magilla'), Trout, Bottlenose Dolphin ("Monica"), Seagull |
| Marco | Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull | Trout, Bottlenose Dolphin, Seagull |
| Ax | Human (combination of human Animorphs' DNA) | Tiger Shark, Human (mixture of the four human Animorphs' DNA) |
| Visser Three | Unknown | Madrut |
[edit] TV Adaptation
The Message was adapted as part of the Animorphs TV series, which aired on Nickelodeon and YTV between the fall of 1998 and the spring of 2000. The fourth book in the series was covered in the episode "The Message". The TV episodes did not follow the books faithfully, altering many aspects of the characters' roles within the Animorphs, the events in the war against the Yeerks, and added plot lines that were not present in the books.
- The television episode has elements of the 23d book, The Pretender, namely the relationship between predator and prey, represented by Tobias and a rabbit he tries to hunt but is unable to, due to visions that throw him off his attack.
- Visser Three morphs directly from human into a monster in order to terrorize a human-Controller, something impossible to do in the book series. The Visser's human morph was not one he frequented; in this episode he is seen more often in his human morph than in his Andalite form.
- In the TV episode, the Animorphs find Ax in an abandoned factory area, rather than in the crashed dome ship on the seabottom, as in the books.
- Ax says that Elfangor did not want him to come to Earth, that he should stay home. This suggests that he came in search of his brother, rather than having been assigned to his Dome Ship and having gone down with him.
[edit] Trivia
- The pod of dolphins the Animorphs acquire at The Gardens were named after the characters in the American sitcom Friends.
- The front cover quote is, "Sometimes you have to change a little more than your mind..."
- In The Message is shown that Taxxons can dive and swim. There is the assumption that they came from a desert planet, though.
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