The Invasion (Animorphs)

infobox Book |
name = The Invasion
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Jake morphing into a green anole.
author = K. A. Applegate
illustrator =
cover_artist = Peter Bollinger
country = United States
language = English
series = "Animorphs" #1
genre = Science Fiction
publisher = Scholastic
pub_date = June 1996
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 184
isbn = 0-590-62977-8
preceded_by =
followed_by = The Visitor

"The Invasion", published in 1996 and written by K. A. Applegate, is the first book in the "Animorphs" series. It is narrated by Jake.

Plot summary

Young teenagers Jake and Marco leave the mall one evening. On the way out, they meet Rachel and Cassie, who are together, and Tobias—all kids from their school—and decide to walk home together. They are taking a shortcut through an abandoned construction site when an alien spacecraft lands nearby. The badly injured alien pilot, an Andalite named Prince Elfangor, emerges from the ship and explains to the kids that the Earth is being invaded by a race of aliens called the Yeerks, a slug-like parasitic species who infest humans through their ear canals and take complete control of the human's mind and body, turning them into what is called a Controller. Elfangor tells them that more Andalites will not come to Earth for a year or more, and by then, Earth will already be completely taken over. To combat the Yeerks, he gives the humans morphing ability: the power to become any creature they touch by absorbing the creature's DNA. Elfangor warns them to never stay beyond two hours in a morph, or they will be trapped in that form forever. The Yeerks, led by Visser Three, arrive to kill Elfangor and eliminate all traces of him and his ship. The humans hide and watch, but are discovered and chased by the Yeerks. The group escapes shaken, but more or less unhurt.

The next morning, Tobias visits Jake and informs him that the previous night was not just a dream; he had already morphed his pet cat, dude. The five of kids meet at Cassie's farm, where a police officer arrives and informs them that a group of teenagers were sighted setting off fireworks in the abandoned construction site the previous night. He asks if they know anything about it, and the five of them realize that the police officer is a Controller. Later that day, Jake's older brother Tom expresses a similar interest in the teenagers at the construction site and presses Jake for information. Marco realizes—much to Jake's anger—that Tom is also a Controller. Tom invites Jake and Marco to a meeting of a local community club called The Sharing, which the teens quickly determine is a front for the Yeerks to acquire new hosts. They also discover that their assistant principal Mr. Chapman is the leader of The Sharing and a human-Controller.

The next day, Jake morphs into a green anole lizard to spy on Chapman, and discovers that there is an entrance to the Yeerk Pool—a large, underground control center where the Yeerks can feed and recuperate—in their school. The teenagers, newly christened as Animorphs (from Animal Morphers) by Marco, head to The Gardens, a large zoo and amusement park, to acquire some new, battle-capable morphs. That evening, they decide to infiltrate the Yeerk Pool in order to rescue Tom, but find that Cassie has been kidnapped by the policeman-Controller. With no time to plan a strategy, the four remaining Animorphs head into the Yeerk Pool. They manage to rescue Cassie, but find themselves outnumbered and outgunned by Visser Three and his Yeerks. Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Cassie barely escape. Tobias is able to escape later, but has to stay in morph too long and gets stuck in morph as a red-tailed hawk. The Animorphs fail to rescue Tom, and Jake promises to keep fighting the Yeerks until the Andalites arrive.

Contributions to the Series' Story Arc

*The main human characters are introduced.
*Andalites are introduced.
*Elfangor is introduced.
*Yeerks are introduced.
*Visser Three is introduced.
*The Animorphs' battle begins.

Inconsistencies

*Jake uses thought speak while in human form early on in the book, but in all subsequent books, none of the Animorphs are able to do so.

Morphs

TV adaptation

"The Invasion" 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 first book in the series was covered by the first three episodes, "My Name is Jake" (Parts 1 & 2)", and "Underground". 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 TV adaptation, Homer, Jake's golden retriever, was with the kids at the video arcade, and ran away from them while they were playing video games. The Animorphs chased the dog into the construction site, finding him standing next to Tobias. There, they saw the lights from Prince Elfangor's landing fighter. In the book series, the (dogless) Animorphs-to-be were taking an ill-advised shortcut through the construction site on their way home; Tobias met up with them along the way and tagged along.

*Elfangor brings the Escafil device with him as he steps out of his stricken fighter, rather than having Jake retrieve it as happens in the book.

*Jake's first morphing is the correct animal, his golden retriever, "Homer". However, it occurs not in front of Tobias in Jake's room, but while he is hiding from the Controllers at the construction site, after witnessing the destruction of Elfangor's ship. Jake morphs Homer to escape unscathed.

*The Animorphs meet at Cassie's barn the day after their alien encounter, where they try out their morphing abilities. Tobias' first acquired morph is, incorrectly, the red-tailed hawk morph he would become trapped in (his first morphing was his pet cat, "Dude"). Rachel acquires and morphs the cat that she does not acquire until the second book in the series, her friend Melissa's pet "Fluffer McKitty". Marco morphs a brown rat, "Bitsy," an animal he never acquired in the books.

*In the TV series, both Marco and Jake morph into skinks, a type of lizard; in the book, only Jake morphs into a lizard, a green anole.

Trivia

*The cover of "The Invasion" is the only one to feature six intermediate morphing 'stages'. The other books feature covers with only three stages.
*The front cover quote is, "Some people never change. Some do..."
*The inside front cover quote is, "Jake is changing..."