The Message (Animorphs)

infobox Book |
name = The Message
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cassie morphing into a dolphin.
author = K. A. Applegate
illustrator =
cover_artist = David B. Mattingly
country = United States
language = English
series = "Animorphs" #4
genre = Science Fiction
publisher = Scholastic
pub_date = October 1996
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print(Paperback)
pages = 151
isbn = 0-590-62980-8
preceded_by = The Encounter
followed_by = The Predator

"The Message", published in 1996 and written by K.A. Applegate, is the fourth book in the "Animorphs" series. It is narrated by Cassie.

Plot Summary

Cassie and Tobias are having strange dreams about a presence in the ocean. Jake sees a news item on television about debris with what looks like Andalite lettering on it that has washed up on the beach, and when he shows it to the others, Cassie and Tobias have such strong visions that they momentarily pass out. The Animorphs decide to investigate, and acquire dolphin morphs to do so.

While out in the ocean, they find a humpback whale under attack by a group of sharks. The Animorphs fight the sharks and drive them off, and Marco is nearly killed in the process. Marco is able to morph back to his human form, and the whale, grateful, saves him from drowning. The whale speaks to Cassie through song, telling her about a strange place of grass and trees under the ocean. Cassie has a feeling that this place is of Andalite origin, and the Animorphs wonder if Cassie's and Tobias's visions are a sort of distress call from an Andalite trapped in the ocean. They decide that the distress call is connected to the morphing ability, and Cassie and Tobias feel it the strongest because Cassie is the most in control of her morphing ability and Tobias is trapped in a morph. They also figure out that Visser Three could be receiving the message and that the Yeerks are probably looking for the lost Andalite as well.

The Andalite's location is too far from the shore for the Animorphs to reach under the two hour morphing limit, so they (excepting Tobias) morph into seagulls and stow away on a container ship that is heading in the right direction. They abandon ship and morph to dolphin when they are in range and discover the Dome of an Andalite Dome ship deep beneath the ocean's surface. They enter through an airlock and meet Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. Marco quickly gives him the nickname Ax, and the Animorphs tell him that he is the only survivor of the Andalite-Yeerk battle in Earth orbit and that they met and received the morphing power from Prince Elfangor. Ax reveals that Elfangor was, in fact, his older brother.

The meeting is brief however, as the Yeerks discover the sunken Dome ship and begin to drop depth charges. Ax had previously acquired a tiger shark, and he and the Animorphs escape. They are pursued by Visser Three in Mardrut morph; as they tire, Visser Three gains on them. The Animorphs decide to make a last stand, but are saved when Visser Three is attacked and chased off by a pod of humpback whales. The whales give the tired Animorphs a ride back to the shore.

Ax pledges to fight with the Animorphs and adopts Jake as his prince. He acquires Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco and mixes the DNA from each to create his own human morph. The Animorphs decide to hide him in the woods near Cassie's farm.

Contributions to the Series' Story Arc

*Ax is introduced.

Morphs

TV Adaptation

"The Message" 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 fourth book in the series was covered in the episode "The Message". 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.

*The television episode has elements of the 23d book, "The Pretender", namely the relationship between predator and prey, represented by Tobias and a rabbit he tries to hunt but is unable to, due to visions that throw him off his attack.
*Visser Three morphs directly from human into a monster in order to terrorize a human-Controller, something impossible to do in the book series. The Visser's human morph was not one he frequented; in this episode he is seen more often in his human morph than in his Andalite form.
*In the TV episode, the Animorphs find Ax in an abandoned factory area, rather than in the crashed dome ship on the seabottom, as in the books.
*Ax says that Elfangor did not want him to come to Earth, that he should stay home. This suggests that he came in search of his brother, rather than having been assigned to his Dome Ship and having gone down with him.

Trivia

*The pod of dolphins the Animorphs acquire at The Gardens were named after the characters in the American sitcom Friends.
*The front cover quote is, "Sometimes you have to change a little more than your mind..."
*In "The Message" it is shown that Taxxons are capable of swimming.