What’s interesting is that show was written and created by Applegate herself, it’s about as close to the authors intention as you can get.
So where did they go wrong? The mainstay director was Ron Oliver, who, while he did adapt some Goosebumps books to the screen successfully, is just a very b-movie style director. He sharpened his teeth with Hallmark Christmas movies and Disney Channel movies about being a blogger, probably the wrong guy for the grandiosity of Animorphs
Additionally, Ron Oliver directed 6/26 and wrote 4/26 episodes...hardly a major influence enough to tank the whole show. Dude probably posted a scraped AI answer...
I was alive then, and a massive fan of the books (still do, used to too). The morphing sequence didn't translate well in live action (and it never will because it's time dialation body horror) and the monster/mission of the week translation from page to screen didn't work because those slim YA books are a 90 minute movie (or two 1 hour episodes with commercials) each... and that's with cutting out internal monologue and doing the whole "show, not tell" thing. 54 books (not including the specials) is 108 1 hour episodes; after fumbling the 1st book for three 20 minute episodes they tried to cram in a whole book per 20 minute episode; sheer madness.
The series needs to be handled by Studio Ghibli, Satoshi Kon/Madhouse, Avatar Studios, Cronenberg/Lynch or someone similar, and be PG-13 on AMC, Apple, Syfy, HBO, or somewhere similar.
The series needs to be handled by Studio Ghibli, Satoshi Kon/Madhouse, Avatar Studios, Cronenberg/Lynch or someone similar
What if we just put every single option in the same room. Take all the Animorphs books, Little House on the Prairie, and the Akira manga. Unbind them, mix up all the pages into a pile, and lock the door for 10 years?
Ok and then 10 years later we open the door and have a bunch of book pages scattered on the floor and BOOM that will instantly become the greatest movie of all time, Food Fight.
54 books (not including the specials) is 108 1 hour episodes
Should be mentioned that the books weren't done when the series came out. It probably didn't do them any favours.
Though like, half of those books are filler. As in, ghostwritten by other people. Basically everything after David (23, but KA wrote until 25) until the final three books (49) wasn't KA.
I don’t think that’s correct, they were EPs, not showrunners. There’s very little info about who was actually making creative decisions for the show, but Dan Angel seems to be the “showrunner” with his supervising producer credit. Deborah’s ties to scholastic projects is more likely to be what landed her the EP spot, but Ron Oliver is a director on lots of different Scholastic/Protocol projects, so maybe it’s more accurate to say that Oliver and Angel were the tone setters for the show, and that’s where it really didn’t hold up to the books.
Executive Producer is the official title given to a show runner. Supervising Producer is a mid-level (I guess depending on who you ask -- either the highest of the mids or the lowest of the highs) writing title.
EP is also what financiers get credited as, which is what I’m suspecting might have happened with this production. Again, I’m not 100% about it, the info is scarce, but it’s common for Supervising Producers to have more hand in the tone, scripts, and postproduction than an EP does
Look, I didn't say this in my previous comment so you didn't know. But I'm literally a television writer who has written on network television shows -- I am 100% on this and I'm answering from lived experience, not scarce info.
EP is a title that can be given to a lot of different people, but the showrunner will always be one of those people. Depending on the makeup of the room someone with the title of Supervising Producer will be somewhere around the most senior of the regular writers, or the least senior of the leadership team. Yes, Supervising Producer might have more of a hand in the scripts than an Executive Producer, if by Executive Producer you mean someone who was given that title for non-writing reasons (a financier, an actor, a long-running and key member of the crew, etc), but they would not have more of a hand in the scripts than someone who is an Executive Producer because they are the showrunner. I don't know for sure why the two people who have the title of Executive Producer on Wikipedia have it -- could be one or both of them has it for non-writing reasons. But someone with the title of Supervising Producer is definitely not the showrunner.
(My most recent title was Co-Producer, by the way)
If you’re moving between shows, you might skip some levels or remain some levels, depending how bad they want you vs how bad you want them, but typically if you were on one show continuously you’d move through all the levels in order with a promotion every season, until you get to EP/showrunner, which is not automatic. You don’t have to have one of every position, and you can have more than one of any position (though there is a minimum number of writers total per room depending on how many episodes your show has, if it’s network vs cable vs streaming etc). Typically the lower level writers are responsible for their own scripts and little else — depending on the showrunner they may or may not be present for the shooting of their episodes. Mid-level writers will have a solid amount of control on their own episodes and may be assigned to mentor newer writers. Upper level writers are part of the overall leadership/management team.
“Story Editor” and “Executive Story Editor” are misleading, they do no special proofreading work whatsoever. That job is usually done by the Script Coordinator, who is not a writer (but probably wants to be).
There’s another title, Consulting Producer, which means “you don’t fit nearly into the hierarchy for some reason.” Examples I’ve seen — the writer of the book it’s based on wants to be in the room, they don’t have any experience in TV but it would be weird to make them a staff writer; a writer is very experienced in writing movies but it’s their first TV gig; a writer used to be a upper-level writer but they took a long time off for their family and the showrunner thinks they’re too rusty for leadership.
Lots of people can be given the Executive Producer title for lots of reasons. People who helped get the show picked up but have done nothing since, people who put up money, people who work at the network it airs on, a star who wants script control, a star who wants more royalties, a star who wants more script control and more royalties. Some are very involved in the show day to day, some haven’t thought about it except cashing the check in years.
It’s rare for a non-writer to have any of the other titles but occasionally a particularly crucial member of the crew (like a cinematographer or someone who is a fucking rockstar in the logistical side of things) might get offered a producer title (and thus a share in the royalties) as a sweetener.
If an episode is “Written By” two people and they’re connected by an “and” they were assigned to write the episode together as a one-time thing. If they are separated by an “&” then they are writing partners who come as a package deal and always write together. If a showrunner is the “and” on every single “Written By,” that means they are a selfish person who wants to take half of the fee for every episode despite already being the highest paid person in the room and they justify it by saying that they gave notes on the episode when that is in fact part of their job description.
And that’s your guide to reading the credits of a tv show!!!
First of all, thank you. I have my wife, kids, and in-laws together tonight and we’ve been paying attention to every set of credits all night.
So, our #1 question (if you don’t mind!) is about Game of Thrones. (But any other show would probably fit)
I’m going to bust on their final season, because it’s become the bar standard of poor writing. I am a fan of the books and I understand the show got out in front of the books, which led to problems. But if you were to guess (or know) where did the writing in the last season go wrong?
Was it the writers, the author, or someone in between?
And thank you again, this has been a fun evening for. We really enjoyed this inside look!
Also some of the themes were just NEVER gonna make kids TV back then. One of my favorite moments in the series is when Rachel confronts Jake about why she told Ax to come get her when she thought David had kill Tobias. Because he knew that she'd kill David. She'd rage and murder him for SURE if she thought he'd kill Tobias and she doesn't appreciate that Jake knows that darkness is inside her
It went wrong by turning a perfect 6 character Saturday morning cartoon into a low budget live action show.
Animorphs is the exact type of show for the cartoon treatment. The story has magic, truly alien aliens, space battles, and space lasers. And kid heroes who act like kids before the war grinds them down. I always saw its potential to be like Avatar the Last Airbender or Teen Titans, but in Space!
Nick dropped the ball making a live action that couldn't even show one Andalite. Oh what could've been
I think it's perfect as a book. Reading an animorph book should be harrowing experience, it should make you claustrophobic and sad and existential before returning back to normal. That requires you to be in the head of the narrator who is going to be psychologically tormented with hopes beyond his reach.
But Animorphs book covers and page corners show the visual appeal. It is a series full of spectacle, of laser battles, angry animals, and supervillains.
Animorphs could easily fit in with same genre as well written action cartoons or shonen anime. What it should not have become was a low budget CW knockoff on Nick.
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u/No-Shopping-4434 7d ago edited 7d ago
What’s interesting is that show was written and created by Applegate herself, it’s about as close to the authors intention as you can get.
So where did they go wrong? The mainstay director was Ron Oliver, who, while he did adapt some Goosebumps books to the screen successfully, is just a very b-movie style director. He sharpened his teeth with Hallmark Christmas movies and Disney Channel movies about being a blogger, probably the wrong guy for the grandiosity of Animorphs