The Predator (Animorphs)

infobox Book |
name = The Predator
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Marco morphing into a gorilla.
author = K. A. Applegate
illustrator = David B. Mattingly
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = "Animorphs" #5
genre = Science Fiction
publisher = Scholastic
pub_date = December 1996
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 152
isbn = 0-590-62981-6
preceded_by = The Message
followed_by = The Capture

"The Predator", published in 1996 and written by K.A. Applegate, is the fifth book in the "Animorphs" series. It is narrated by Marco.

Plot Summary

Ax wishes to return to the Andalite home world, and to do so, he needs a ship. He intends to build a communicator to broadcast a Yeerk distress signal and lure in a Yeerk ship which he can then hijack. Jake and Marco take him to RadioShack at the mall to buy the electrical equipment necessary to build a communicator. While Jake makes the purchase, Ax walks off to the food court and, upon discovering taste in his human morph, runs wild sampling food left over on tables. He is chased by security guards and, frightened, demorphs in the middle of the mall in front of many people, some of them Controllers. He, Jake, and Marco run out of the mall and into a nearby grocery store where they are chased by Controllers. Marco spots the live lobster tank, and they morph into lobsters to hide and later escape without being seen.

Ax builds his device, but needs one more thing to make it complete: a Zero-space (Z-space) transponder. The Animorphs know that Mr. Chapman regularly communicates with Visser Three from his basement, and Cassie suggests that they morph into ants to retrieve the Z-space transponder that he uses. They morph into ants, but are greatly disturbed by the ants' hive mind mentality and almost lose their humanity when the ants' instincts overpower them. Nonetheless, they are able to retrieve the transponder. As they are returning from Chapman's house, they are almost killed when they are attacked by ants from another colony. They are able to demorph in time, but they—especially Marco—are agitated by the experience and Marco swears never to morph an ant again.

Meanwhile, the two year anniversary of Marco's mother's death is approaching, and Marco has recently been worried about what will happen to his father if he dies himself. He tells Jake that he intends to quit the Animorphs once they help Ax leave Earth.

Ax completes his device, and broadcasts the signal, but unfortunately, the Yeerks have changed their distress frequencies, and, sensing a trap, they set one of their own. The Animorphs are captured (in animal morph) and taken aboard the Yeerk mother ship, where Visser One is visiting. Marco receives a nasty shock when Visser One confronts them: her host body is his mother, who is apparently alive after all. The Animorphs are put in a cell, and are discussing their options when they are suddenly freed by one of Visser One's Hork-Bajir; Visser One and Visser Three are rivals, and Visser One wanted to disgrace Visser Three. The Animorphs reach an escape pod and safely return to Earth.

Marco and his father visit his mother's grave on the anniversary of her death. His father tells him that he is ashamed of the way he has been behaving since Eva died, and he intends to pull himself out of depression and return to work. Marco decides to stay in the war in hopes of rescuing his mother. He also asks Jake—the only one who had previously met Marco's mom—not to tell any of the others.

Contributions to the Series' Story Arc

*It is revealed that Marco's mother is Visser One.

Morphs

TV Adaptation

"The Predator" 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 fifth book was covered by the fourteenth and fifteenth episodes, "The Leader" (Parts 1 and 2), along with plot lines from "The Stranger". 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.

*Only Marco and Jake are taken aboard the Yeerk Pool Ship, captured while attempting to infiltrate the EGS tower and destroy the Kandrona, leaving Cassie and Rachel behind to complete the task; in the book, Visser Three captures all of the morphed Animorphs, and presents them to Visser One, who subsequently releases them. The destruction of the Kandrona occurs in "The Stranger".
*Visser Three would not be in human morph while on the Pool Ship; it is clear from the books that the Visser greatly prefers his Andalite host body to "weak" and "puny" human bodies.
*In the book, Visser One's personal guard leads the Animorphs to an escape pod that returns them to Earth; in the TV episode, Marco and Jake commandeer a Blade Ship in order to escape the Pool Ship, which is not of the "jellyfish" design frequently described in the books.

Trivia

* David B. Mattingly hid a tribute to his deceased cat, Orson, in the first-page illustration of this book; on the brick wall behind Marco's gorilla, "Orson" can be seen spray-painted alongside the illustrator's initials and the number "96" (the year the image was made). Below the word "Orson" but above the trashcan is the name of another one of Mattingly's cats, "Mouse". Several of his other works are also hidden in the image.
*This is the second book to feature a cover morph that was not acquired in the book. Marco acquired his gorilla morph in the first book, "The Invasion". However, the French and UK versions of the book show Marco morphing into a lobster, which "is" acquired in this book. The gorilla morph is used at the beginning and at the end of the story.
*The front cover quote is, "What you see isn't always what you get...."