I never looked forward to the TV show. Really. When I found out the news I was at my friend's house (I didn't have a computer yet -_-). We logged onto Scholastic's Animorph site and kind of fearfully clicked on the link with pictures of the cast.

Um, ew.

Way back then in our youth (aka oh, two years ago), our obsession with Animorphs was pretty much at a high. When we saw the pictures of the cast at first all we could do was stare in shock as the pictures slowly (very very slowly) loaded. Then I think we burst out laughing.

So yeah, I can't exactly say I started watching the TV show in a very unbiased way. And it's large amount of suckage did not help to change my opinion. The writing was terrible. The acting was terrible. Special effects can rarely balance out terrible writing and acting, and crappy special effects only add to the badness.

But like a bad dream, Animorph TV has faded away, into the nothiness it should never have left, and my anger has faded away with it. ::reads over that last sentence:: Wow...That's just so DEEP. I think before I get any more philosophical, I better get on to my opinions of the cast... After I let you all know that I really believe the writing was the worst part of the show.

Any amazing talent (or any talent at all.. ;-) ) the actors below have displayed since or before Ani-TV haven't been considered. My opinions on them as actors are purely based on their performance on the show - whether or not I thought they were 'superfantabluous' in anything since then won't effect what I've thought of them on the show..at least not on this page. ^_^

Also note that I didn't see some of the last couple episodes of Ani-TV...which I hear were the best. Ah well. *grin* Makes bashing them all the more fun. ;-)

You may see me discussing certain actors hautness... That has nothing to do with my opinion on them as actors...As boyfriends, yes, but not as actors. ;-)

I must admit, that picture of Shawn was one of the things that contributed most to my bursting out laughing at the sight of it. That awful wannabe look he always gave the camera, always practically pleading the audience to think "Gee, he's the responsible one.".. And then his wannabe look turning into a smirk he tried to hide. I don't know, there's something about his portrayal of Jake that makes me want to crack up.

Some people think he's cute...um...no. Actually, he has his moments of cutedom, but usually his pug look is too strong for me. His acting was not bad, if you get past the whole Sky-starts-laughing-when-he-talks thing. I thought his performance in The Controller or whatever (that two parter based on #6) was bery good... He was certainly better at playing the villain, made him almost bearable. Mainly because as the villain, he didn't talk in that constant monotone. *shudder*

Brooke Nevin: Rachel

The most qualms I had about the character of Rachel on Ani-TV was the awful writing that was done for her. I mean really... Just because Rachel likes to shop doesn't mean she's a valley girl and it doesn't mean she's stupid. Ani-TV made it seem like her character was purely girl-power. If that was all that was in book Rachel's character, she'd be as 2-d as she was in the TV show.

Brooke's portrayal of her didn't help. She played very well into the kinda-ditzy blonde act (even if she wasn't exactly blonde ;-) ), and the overexaggerated girl power thing... I mean sheezus. There's some recklessness in there TOO yanno, not only feminism. Basically, Rachel was pretty unrealistic.

Again with the laughing trend, Brooke seemed like she was ready to burst out laughing at every line as well...

Christopher Ralph: Tobias

Christopher Ralph. Mm. Underrated much. Took on role as Tobias on Ani-TV. Will probably remain underrated after that horrible show.

Watch irony goes and makes him a huge star just because I said that. Honestly, I hope it does. Go ahead, irony. I think he may deserve some stardom.

Leather jacket. Not Tobias.
Slinky suspicious looking walk. Not Tobias.
Taller and more well built than ANYone else on the show, with perfectly managed hair that brushes juuust the right way against his forehead, as if it's been trained by many-a-hairdresser to do so?
Not Tobias.

But Christopher Ralph was haut, which automatically makes up for half of that stuff ( ;-) j/k) and he could act. However, he didn't seem to be the best at acting Tobias. Partly the writers'. Tobias isn't some sneaky renegade, out to disobey authority in his new yuppie leather jacket from the Gap. Sky Sorceress: Anyone ever see the WB show Angel? Christopher brought out a sort of Angel-esque vibe, what with all those shots of him walking down some abandoned street alone, looking all solitary. Many shows try for an Angel-esque vibe, but most shows can't pull it off. It just looks overdramatic. Christopher Ralph was this close to pulling off the solitary-and-alone-so-give-me-a-hug thang, but somewhere along the line it got lost... Sky Sorceress: Maybe the awful music that accompanied these scenes? Maybe so. I dunno.

But anyway, the rebel without a cause thing didn't really work out well for the Ani-tv character of Tobias, though it worked okay for Christopher.

And honestly- the ONE hot character on the show who, although he looks waaaaaaaay (way way waaay) past 13-15, can act and who is hot (did I say that already?) is the one chosen as our bird-boy. Not only did we barely get to *see* Christopher (only hear that screwed up echo) but his character was barely on the show. I mean, he was on screen less than Tom in the bulk of the season. Saying that "Rachel can't be yeerked!" just isn't going to cut it.

Nadia Nascimento: Cassie

Mmk...

That's really all there is to say about Nadia.

;) Just kidding. I guess. I have no big problems with Nadia, since she was barely on. Her little moments of acting were okay, but very untrue to the books. I don't really understand what Rhi is talking about, with her looking pregnant.. Although she kind of looked bored most of the time during the show. Wonder why she would be, what with the excitement of having two three-word sentences per show and tagging along hopelessly besides Brooke Nevin. She did get that one show...where she stole Rachel's book and had that little morph problem (#12). Didn't work.

I really hate the portrayal of Cassie on the show. They made her seem weak and weak-minded..weak-minded would kind of be in the category of weak I guess...but um, Cassie isn't weak. And they had her get all giggly during that scene with Jake when he was a controller, which was totally out of character. They just didn't hit on Cassie's character at all.

Boris Cabrera or Cabrea or Cabree-something-or-other

A lot of people didn't like Boris Cabrea, but I kind of did...Maybe it's just me being contrary to the majority. ^_^ But really, he was kind of charismatic, and he had the Marco-feel.

The writing killed Marco the most, I think, and Boris didn't really take advantage of his moments to 'shine', I don't think. But mostly it was the writing I guess, although I don't know how much Boris had to do with adding the homie-speak and randomly speaking in Spanish. I love how they have him act like that, and then you see his father, who honestly looks like some old guy with no zing in him at all, talking very....well, not like Boris.

And the jokes. Egads. The jokes were a billion times worse than Marco's bad jokes in the books. And the worst part was they had everyone laugh. Only a couple of people actually laugh in the books at Marco's *good* jokes. I know this seems like a silly peeve...

But seeing a group of teens (or guys in their early twenties) straining to make noises and facial expressions that look like laughter after some lame crack about being a rat or whatever, just annoys the heylos out of me. Attempt realism, or at least pretend to attempt it and have them not laugh so heartily. He's not bad looking either, although I will never understand the deal with that orange jacket.

paulo constanzo: Ax.. Or 'Axel', as they thought he was named in an article about Ani-TV I read in a TV guide.

Okay... Were those voice cracks on purpose? Was that supposed to be Ax playing with sounds? I could make about a dozen jokes about puberty at this moment, but I shall restrain myself. Mainly because they have all been made. His acting was...strange. Ax's character was developed about zip on the show. It was like Ax=The alien who plays with sounds. Uh huh...what about that whole thing about being homesick? Basically Ax served as a cameo most of the time. I don't know if the show can really be blamed for this, because they only had one season and Ax came in about mid-season, I guess. Usually I think Ax has a sort of endearing quality which partially makes up for when he's annoying and arrogant in the books. This quality wasn't in the show. Which meant that Ax was just annoying and unneccessary to the story and plot. Paulo was not hot...nope..That's all I have to say about him.