Animorphs. First impressions

Recently, to break the pattern of watching Farscape and WINX, I started watching the first season of the tv series Animorphs on Netflix. I read the books when I was younger and I though it would be fun to see how well it adapted to the screen.

Unfortunately Netflix is missing the second eisode so I have to mentally adapt to the missing episode and that did not help matters. However, despite this, I have to say that I've enjoyed what I've seen so far. The storyline is fairly solid and the kids are likeable enough so far.

There are some rather obvious drawbacks. The technology the kids use in their everyday life is pretty dated and this has created a feeling of displacement with the idea that this is supposed to be happening right now. Also, the special effects are also dated. Compared to later sci-fi shows, the CGI is pretty weak.

However these are minor gripes rather than serious problems, more a product of the time it was made more than anything else and if I am honest with myself, the same could be said about the shows we love in ten-twenty years time. And having watched (and taken) to the made by Blue Peter effects of the original Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the plastic effects of the original Star Trek, I know that special effects aren't really an issue with me.

I'm not quite sure I buy the idea of Cassie being able to fool the Yerks in the third episode with the fake yerk but at the same time I guess that they've gotten sloppy. After all, they haven't had any real enemies since they arrived.

However one of the scenes they did really well was the death of the Prince. Instead of showing it in all its gory detail (partially because I suspect that being childrens television, they wanted something that was viewable) it's shown by its shadows and it makes a great effect, really proving that less really is more. It's something demonstrated again when they transform into the spinks (I hope I have the name right.) We don't see it happen, we just see them come out.

Anyway, I hope that the series continues to deliver in the future. Certainly what I've seen so far indicates that it's worth continuing.