The Predator (Animorphs)

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The Predator

Marco morphing into a gorilla
Author K. A. Applegate
Illustrator David B. Mattingly
Country United States
Language English
Series Animorphs #5
Genre(s) Science fiction novel
Publisher Scholastic
Publication date December 1996
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 152
ISBN 0-590-62981-6
Preceded by The Message
Followed by The Capture

The Predator is the fifth book in the Animorphs series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Marco.

Contents

[edit] Plot Summary

Ax wishes to return to the Andalite homeworld, and to do so he needs a way to communicate with them. Jake and Marco take him to the mall to buy electric equipment so he can build a communicator, but in his human morph Ax goes crazy after he discovers taste, and demorphs in the middle of the mall, chased by security guards (some of whom are Controllers). He runs into a grocery store and Marco, Jake and Ax morph lobsters to escape without being seen (and narrowly avoid being cooked alive by the woman who bought them).

Ax builds his device, but needs one more thing to make it complete: a Zero-space transponder. The only place they know of one is in the communicator in Chapman's basement, as Rachel saw in The Visitor. Cassie suggests they morph to ants to retrieve it, but they are greatly disturbed by the ants' hive mind and almost lose their humanity when the ants' instincts overpower them. Nonetheless, they escape with the transponder, though they are almost killed when ants from a rival colony attack them. Marco is disturbed by the experience and swears never to morph an ant again.

The anniversary of Marco's mother's death is approaching, and Marco has recently been worried about what will happen to his father if he dies himself. He tells Jake that he intends to quit the Animorphs once they help Ax escape Earth.

Ax completes his device, which he intends to use to simulate a Yeerk distress signal, so the mother ship will dispatch a Bug Fighter to investigate, which he can then hijack. Unfortunately the Yeerks have changed their distress frequencies, and sensing a trap, they set one of their own. The Animorphs are captured (in animal morph, concealing their identities) and taken aboard the Yeerk mother ship, which Visser One is apparently visiting.

Marco receives a nasty shock when Visser One confronts them: her host body is his mother, who is apparently alive after all. The Animorphs are put in a cell, and discuss what to do when they are suddenly freed by Visser One's Hork-Bajir, as part of a political ploy to disgrace Visser Three. The Animorphs reach an escape pod and make it back to Earth. Marco now wishes to rescue his mother, and tells Jake he'll be staying in the war. He also asks Jake not to tell any of the others (Jake is the only Animorph who had met her).

The book finishes at Marco's mother's graveyard, which he and his father are visiting. His dad tells Marco that he is ashamed of the way he has been acting since his mother died, and intends to pull himself out of depression and return to work.

[edit] Contributions to the Series' Story Arc

  • It is revealed that Marco's mother is Visser One.
  • This book first reveals the mutual dislike between Visser One and Visser Three.
  • This book also features the first intelligent Hork-Bajir.

[edit] Morphs

[edit] TV Adaptation

The Predator 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 fifth book was covered by the fourteenth and fifteenth episodes, "The Leader" (Parts 1 and 2), along with plot lines from The Stranger. 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.

  • Only Marco and Jake are taken aboard the Yeerk Pool Ship, captured while attempting to infiltrate the EGS tower and destroy the Kandrona, leaving Cassie and Rachel behind to complete the task; in the book, Visser Three captures all of the morphed Animorphs, and presents them to Visser One, who subsequently releases them. The destruction of the Kandrona occurs in The Stranger.
  • Visser Three would not be in human morph while on the Pool Ship; it is clear from the books that the Visser greatly prefers his Andalite host body to "weak" and "puny" human bodies.
  • In the book, Visser One's personal guard leads the Animorphs to an escape pod that returns them to Earth; in the TV episode, Marco and Jake commandeer a Blade Ship in order to escape the Pool Ship, which is not of the "jellyfish" design frequently described in the books.

[edit] Trivia

  • David B. Mattingly hid a tribute to his deceased cat, Orson, in the first-page illustration of this book; on the brick wall behind Marco's gorilla, "Orson" can be seen spray-painted alongside the illustrator's initials and the number "96" (the year the image was made). Below the word "Orson" but above the trashcan is the name of another one of Mattingly's cats, "Mouse". Several of his other works are also hidden in the image.
  • This is the second book to feature a cover morph that was not acquired in the book. Marco acquired his gorilla morph in the first book, The Invasion. However, the French and UK versions of the book show Marco morphing into a lobster, which is acquired in this book. The gorilla morph is used at the beginning and at the end of the story.
  • The front cover quote is, "What you see isn't always what you get...."