By Drew Dietsch
| Published
There is a new Harry Potter TV series that is starting production and anyone excited about that is a troglodyte that should not be trusted. There is no justifiable reason to like Harry Potter anymore, but Warner Bros. is determined to milk that cash cow regardless of the fact that the franchise is bankrupt in multiple ways.
Instead, now feels like the right time to put money into reviving a different young adult series: Animorphs.
War Is Hell, Kids
For those not in the know, Animorphs is the story of an alien invasion of Earth by parasitic beings called Yeerks. A dying alien gives shape-shifting powers to a group of kids so that they can fight the invasion and save their planet from subjugation.
It’s nothing special when it comes to the basics of the premise, but it’s in the characters and intensity of the story that Animorphs finds its power. Across a series that spans over sixty books, author K.A. Applegate (and her ghostwriters) weaves a tale of wartime harshness that gave many young readers their first tastes of brutal storytelling.
And it’s that wartime brutality that feels far more vital for today’s young audiences than the prep school fantasy wankery of another Harry Potter endeavor. While there are certainly harsh and dark elements in the Harry Potter story, they don’t actually reflect the core mission of that series which is escapism into an elite secret society of people who are better than the rest of us.
Give Kids Difficult Heroes
Animorphs ain’t that. Though the protagonists of that series do have powers they have to keep secret, their revelation into the truths of the world don’t afford them some upgrade in their lives. Quite the opposite as Animorphs is a story about child soldiers forced to fight a war or face domination.
As such, there are choices the characters have to make that actually challenge their moral centers and they don’t always succeed. Harry Potter rarely if ever steps into this level of complexity with its characters, and it sure seems like kids/teens today could use a story that gets them to see more complicated perspectives than the ones in the Potterverse.
Make Something Right This Time
A big reason the new Harry Potter series can apparate into the middle of the sun is because it’s something that’s already been done successfully. I’m sure book fans will be chomping at the bit to make boring, derivative, and uninspired YouTube videos about how this new series does something from the books that the movies didn’t, but if that’s the only way you appraise art, you should also apparate into the middle of the sun.
Meanwhile, Animorphs did get turned into a series for two seasons but it couldn’t give the subject material its proper due. In a post-Stranger Things world, there is a much more welcoming audience for Animorphs in all its horrific glory.
Those Harry Potter movies made their mark on pop culture in a substantive way. It’s highly unlikely that the new HBO series will even come close to that kind of cultural footprint. So why not make something like Animorphs that has a better chance at being a definitive adaptation like those Harry Potter movies?
I grew up during the Harry Potter cultural takeover. I read all the books, saw all the movies, and have been to the Universal theme park multiple times. I’ve given more than my fair share of money to J.K. Rowling and her wizard franchise of entertainment, and I enjoyed my time with the series back when I was younger.
But it’s time to toss that baby out with the bathwater and let something else have a chance at the spotlight. Make it Animorphs.
