The Stranger (Animorphs)
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| The Stranger | |
 Rachel morphing into a grizzly bear |
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| Author | K. A. Applegate |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | David B. Mattingly |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Animorphs #7 |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
| Publication date | April 1996 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 163 |
| Preceded by | The Capture |
| Followed by | Megamorphs 1: The Andalite's Gift |
The Stranger is the seventh book in the Animorphs series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Rachel.
Contents |
[edit] Plot Summary
The Animorphs try to infiltrate the Yeerk Pool again, but are caught in cockroach morph by a Taxxon. Suddenly time freezes and an all-powerful being who calls himself the Ellimist is revealed. The Ellimist tells them he wants to preserve part of Earth's beauty, along with some humans, because the Yeerks are going to win the war.
The Animorphs refuse his offer. Time unfreezes and they escape from the Yeerk Pool, but only because of a dropshaft Rachel noticed while time was frozen. Rachel suspects the Ellimist didn't want them to accept the offer at all; he simply wanted to show them an escape route.
The Ellimist appears again later and shows them a grim future in which the Yeerks have enslaved Earth. He makes his offer again, and this time the Animorphs relent and accept - but nothing happens.
Rachel realises that once again, the Ellimist was simply trying to show them something. In the vision of the future the Ellimist showed her, the Yeerks had demolished every skyscraper in their city except the EGS Tower. She deduces that the Kandrona must be up there, and gathers the rest of the Animorphs for a raid.
After a vicious battle just before dawn, they manage to take the tower and destroy the Kandrona. The Ellimist appears to them again, and confirms Rachel's suspicion that even he cannot tell the future, and humans might win the war yet.
[edit] Contributions to the Series' Story Arc
- The Ellimist is introduced.
[edit] Morphs
- new morphs: Rachel: Grizzly Bear, Great Horned Owl
[edit] TV Adaptation
The Stranger 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 seventh book in the series was covered by the twelfth episode, "The Stranger", along with the fourteenth and fifteenth episodes, "The Leader" (Part 1 & 2). 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.
- In the book series, the Animorphs rarely acquired morphs if they did not have a specific use for them. In the TV series, Cassie encourages this behavior, acquiring whenever they can.
- Ax is captured by several controllers with rope lassos; it is clearly established in the book series that it is nearly impossible to sneak up on an Andalite from behind. Ax would also be able to quickly cut through the ropes and escape his captors.
- In the TV series, the Animorphs meet the Ellimist when they are captured by Yeerks in the forest, as they search for Ax. In the book series, the Animorphs were infiltrating the Yeerk Pool as cockroaches when they were suddenly swallowed by a Taxxon and about to be digested. Allowing Rachel to notice a human-Controller flying up a drop shaft is the Ellimist's subtle interference, allowing the Animorphs to escape the Yeerk pool once they burst from the Taxxon's stomach. The Ellimist shows the kids the future so that they may deduce the location of the Kandrona, atop the EGS tower; in the TV series, the point of showing them a Yeerk-controlled future is so that Rachel may bring a knife back to their reality, allowing them to escape the Yeerks' net trap. The Animorphs discover the location of the Kandrona by overhearing a telephone conversation between Tom and another controller regarding the new Kandrona's installation.
- The Kandrona in the TV series, unlike that in the books, emits a visible red light ray.
- The only non-Andalite to morph in "The Stranger" is Rachel, into a lion; the attack on the Kandrona that was a key plot point of the book occurs in the "The Leader (Part 1)". Cassie and Rachel are left to destroy the device, while Jake and Marco are aboard the Pool Ship, a plot line from The Predator.
[edit] Trivia
- This is the first book in which the narrator is the only person to acquire a new morph.
- The Ellimist was inspired by the Star Trek character Q, and the novel Flatland.
- The cover quote is, "This time there may be no way out...."
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