Morph Club: An Animorphs Podcast!

Megan and Carey read about Big Jake getting Big-ed in Animorphs 41! With special guest Dante Shephard! (survivingtheworld.net/ and @danteshepherd on twitter) We have hit one of the most nonsensical books so please join us try to make sense of things as Jake has the worst dream/alternate reality adventure/multidimensional vision quest? in the chaotic worlds that is New Yeerk City. Our conversation with Dante starts at about 30 minutes in, if you want to skip our recap! Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) and outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

We read Megamorphs #4 with special guest star Gale Galligan (http://galesaur.com/; https://twitter.com/robochai)! This is a good one, folks. I mean: obviously every episode of Morph Club is a good episode, and guest star eps especially so, but in this case, also, the book was very good. You should read it. Join us for a frank discussion of time paradoxes great and small, honest delight in seeing the core of these kids preserved even without the whole morphing thing, and the sweetness of remembering how much we really do love these books. We start things off with a cliff notes plot summary, but skip ahead to about 20 minutes in if you'd like to hear our discussion with Gale. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) and outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Plop & Elbow are back and ready to face a new Alternamorph challenge! Will they finally get to pizza planet?? Will they survive dinosaurs and howlers? What twists and turns await them and us the listener? Listen to us choose our way out of this adventure

Thanks for your patience!! Morph Club episode 52 is HERE and so are our thoughts on the ~rad animorphs covers exhibit~ with our friend Gale... as well as... our thoughts on... another batch of TV episodes. Proportionally, we watched like 90 minutes of the animorphs TV show and only spent like half an hour at the David Mattingly Animorphs Covers exhibit, but... you KNOW which one looms larger in our hearts. It's the covers. Go see em: http://www.sva.edu/events/events-exhibitions/electric-encounters The first five minutes are us talking about it with special guest star Gale Galligan! We also did in fact watch episodes 20-22 of the animorphs TV show, which was... parts 2 and 3 of a three parter, plus, one episode of Erek the Chee. We made it to Season 2!! Wow!! This sure was a couple of episodes that we definitely experienced. There were a couple highlights that we clung to desperately, like Ax's TV obsession, and Ax's human actor being temporarily painted blue, so look forward to those! Intro music is a

You see the cover of Animorphs book 40 and you think, oh no, being a bee will be so terrible. Have we learned nothing from morphing ants and termites???? But in reality there's about 3 pages of bee antics and then 120 of tragic andalites. Do you want to get: baffled by how spatial realities of a new character, intensely frustrated by children's lit circa 1999's handling of gay characters, nostalgic for Unsolved Mysteries and kinda mad at andalites in general for being flawed and cruel to each other? Pull on your D.A.R.E. shirt and join Megan and Carey as they read Animorphs book 40! Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) and outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Megan and Carey read Animorphs # 39: The Hidden! Hey. Heyyyy. Hey. You know how animorphs is like, heavy on the body horror, as a series, in general? Friends, we're here to say: this has some of the worst of it yet. It's very effectively chilling and creepy! So if you're ready to get spooked, buckle up. But like, spooked existentially in addition to by graphic descriptions of horrible creatures that the ellimist could not bear to look upon. BUT: ALSO: ax learns a very important Human Skill, and everything was worth it all along! Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

We got to the girl andalite book!!! Is there anything more relatable than one of her first """missions""" on earth just consisting of slamming a bunch of jelly beans and flipping out at the mall? You gotta taste those mouth pleasures while you can before the inevitable reveal of your nefarious plan. We understand. We talk this all out with the excellent Claire Hummel (@shoomlah, www.shoomlah.com/) at about 40 mins in, if you would like to skip ahead to that! Also tiny tiny warning: we curse a lil bit during that convo in case you are listening with kids! We got too excited about those morph kid memories. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) and outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Megan and Carey read Animorphs #37, The Weakness! Listen. This book, was, maybe, not, the FINEST quality. It was maybe a bit of a rehash. And not like, a tasty sweet potato and fried egg hash. Like, a hash of heavy-handed cobbled-together bits that retread some familiar ground for Rachel, Empire King, who honestly deserves better. BUT: WE UNDERSTAND, these things happen on deadline! AND ALSO ax is a treat, there are some good emotional beats where the kids talk through taking responsibility for your mistakes, and visser 3 has a FAST RIVAL!!! who is maybe sonic the hedgehog?? jury's still out. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

We read Animorphs #36, The Mutation! Things are not great for Jake. Or for those random orcas that follow the gang on the mission of the week. Also going bad: Life as an underwater mutant. And as a hork-bajir. At least things are looking up for Visser 3, who added a new horrible morph to his morph wardrobe? So that's??? something??? Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Language warning: we know some of you listen with younger folks, so heads up, there's some cussin' in this one! Megan and Carey watched episodes 16-19 of the Animorphs TV show! Welcome to our fourth Special TV Special with Special Guest Alison Wilgus(http://alisonwilgus.com/; https://twitter.com/aliwilgus)! Our chat starts about 20 minutes in, if you want to skip ahead. Listen. We know. We never actually watched episodes 12-15. But hear us out: we forgot. And in further defense of us: it's pretty forgettable. We had a good time chatting about it with special guest star Alison, though, so stick around to hear us all talk about: weird basketball hoop placement, the worst club ever, the worst conspiracy ever, the Ellimist?????, Gargoyles, forgotten TV shows of our youths, and what a shining beacon of hope Ax is. Especially when he's onscreen with food. Bonus listening: call upon the sea ponies- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4TedkQP_hM Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/musi

Megan and Carey both read Visser for the first time(!) Do you want a story that combines beach volleyball, courtroom drama, psychological trauma, war, forming a cult and 80's Hollywood? Welcome to Visser! We dive in to the book that has a holographic Visser 3 on the cover, but has a homicidal Visser 1 as its star. please note: we give a brief content warning early in the episode, since this book deals with some heavy topics (like the gulf war, suicide, addiction) so proceed with care! Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Megan and Carey read book 35: The Proposal! Join us on this journey of celebrity guest stars both actual and fictional, Marco's Serious Troubles, Marco's Like, Multiple Farces, Cassie & Jake's complementary parenting styles, Ax's background stardom, and some very good ship material. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Megan and Carey puzzle out what the prophecy in book 34 The Prophecy is?? Join us in our metaphorical audio clubhouse where we talk about: Chee imposter requests, holding your friends in your mouth, mystical space magic, Aldrea not appreciating Cassie, alien planet morph marathons, What's an Arn look like?, Aldrea FINALLY appreciating Cassie and Toby the Hork-Bajir being a perfect angel child. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Megan and Carey read Book 33: The One Where Tobias Is (no joke) Literally Tortured. There's some very sweet and good stuff in this book, but the middle third of it is Very Rough, so: heads up. THAT SAID, join us for: a beautiful school dance; a good bird date; Ax's continued love affair with cotton candy; Visser 3 cameos; a very good controller break room; and a really interesting one-off villain who maybe starred in the video for Blank Space. Maybe. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Cary & Megan finally got to the Animorphs #32: the starfish book! We have a great time while Nice Rachel (and Mean Rachel) has a Bad Time. Grab your evil twin and join us as we discuss: a detour about vintage animorphs newsletters, a very subtle homage to that one star trek episode with evil kirk, bears driving cars, and Rachel crushing on every boy. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Hey all! just a quick message to let you all know the next ep will actually be next week! Carey's been having some computer issues, so she needed a little time to resolve them. We'll be back on 5/30!

Megan and Carey read book 31: the Conspiracy! Join us for the saddest but also weirdest cabin weekend trip, a gorilla punching cars, tips from us for making The Sharing more cool, more World War II references that you would expect, and confirmaton that Jake's dad's favorite child is: his car. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

We read book 30: The Reunion and mostly we want to know: why must everything be so bad for Marco. Would it be so terrible for these kids to have a nice time. Just once? Just once. Can't he just skip school to watch a movie in peace. Does Visser 1 HAVE to resurface again. Not that we don't enjoy her and Visser 3 sniping at each other but. Look, can't this interstellar war just be settled with a dance-off. Anyway we do love the tragedy a little bit, so enjoy us talking about poor, poor Marco taking a dark character turn and also morphing a goat. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)

Megan and Carey talk about the largely deeply unsettling Megamorphs #3 with special guest Kristin Kemper(sylvaniacomic.com ; kristinkemper.tumblr.com; twitter.com/kecky415)! Our chat with Kristin starts about 30 minutes in, if you’d like to skip ahead. Join us for: a legitimately troubling alternate universe; more deep character sadness; have we mentioned that this is a rough one, folks; ; character death; did you know that war is the worst; are you really sure you’ve gotten that message; can’t hurt to drive it home a little more; also there’s a fleeting bright moment of a kiss; but for real; most of this book is spent in increasingly dystopian worlds; maybe go find yourself a nice upbeat chaser. Intro & interstitial music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativec

Megan and Carey chose their own adventure in Alternamorphs: The First Journey! And what an adventure they chose. There are many questions you may find yourself asking. For example: how many times will we die? Do we get any good morphs? How does this tie in to animorphs canon. Did we get too invested in our incredible teen OCs? Did we maybe think too deeply about our fictional construction, the andalite holodeck™ that allows us to live our deepest dream of becoming animorphs? Will Plop and Elbow ever pass their andalite tests and get to taste the delicious food stuff known as "pizza" on Earth????? The answers are in this delirious fever dream of an episode. Intro music is a clip from "All of Us"(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…04_-_all_of_us) and outro music is a clip from "We Are The Resistors" (freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Ski…_the_resistors) both are by Eric Skiff(freemusicarchive.org/music/Eric_Skiff/), available under CC BY 3.0. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/#)