Thought-Speak - A Book Nostalgia Podcast

This speak: Our story begins on an alternate, time-tinkered Earth with an entirely different set of Animorphs. Jake is an authoritarian leader. Cassie is a slave owner. Marco is excited by Pong. Ax is the same. And Tobias is in love with the last Animorph, Melissa. This new, more interesting set of characters are swiftly replaced by the standard Animorphs we all know and love, thanks to a convenient truce between Crayak and Ellimist. Now the Animorphs (and Aximili!) are thrust through time on their latest mission to stop one of the second-string villains from messing around with the Earth's continuity. During their trip, the Animorphs (and Mr. Isthill!) will encounter ancient knights, swashbuckling seafaring ship battles, and absolutely all the worst of human-on-human murder that history has to offer! Will our heroes conquer the evil Yeerk empire and restore balance to the Force? Find out, when we review Animorphs MEGAMORPHS book #3, Elfangor's Secret.Continue readingAnimorphs: Megamorphs: Elfangor’s Secret

This speak: Ax comes down with a deadly and contagious case of SPACE AIDS! And just in time for the next dangerous mission to the Yeerk Pool! When Cassie is confronted by a controller claiming to be with the Yeerk Peace Movement, she learns that her old buddy Aftran (from The Departure) isn't doing so well after the last time we saw her... as in, she's about to be interrogated by Visser 3 and reveal all the Animorphs deepest darkest secrets to him! So now Cassie and the rest of the Animorphs (and not Ax!) have to figure out a way to rescue Aftran, all while quelling the flames of Ax's raging SPACE AIDS... Which has started to spread to the rest of the team! Giving Cassie some much-needed time to work on her alien brain surgery skills. What a head case! *Insert sound of crickets* ... All that and more when we review Animorphs book #29, The Sickness.Continue readingAnimorphs: The Sickness

This speak: The plot is hologram-delivered to the team once again from their paranoid android friend, Erek the Chee. This time the Yeerks are up to something beefy, and it's the Animorphs (and Ax!) job to investigate a few locales and get to the bottom of the Yeerk's sneaky new plan. All the team knows is that it involves chimps and cows, a laboratory and a slaughterhouse. But first, Ax must somehow manage to pull himself away from his newly acquired television set! In an adventure that feels in part like it was sponsored by PETA, will the Animorphs (and Ax?) be able to crack the Yeerk code and save all the animals? Is the beef industry trying to control us all with juicy burgers? Will Taxxon's ever have access to equal voting rights and a fair dental plan? Find out! All that and more when we review Animorphs book #28, The Experiment.Continue readingAnimorphs: The Experiment

This speak: After some quick subplot melodrama, Rachel and Cassie end up at the mall (surprise surprise) where they quite conveniently encounter a malfunctioning Erek. Oh no! After helping to bail out the Chee, the Animorphs (and Ax!) are off on another wildly inconvenient mission. This time, it's another ocean adventure, as the team takes forever to acquire the perfect morph to reach the bottom of the ocean. That's where the big doggy spaceship is. What lies below, inside the Chee's hidden spacecraft? Nothing. Nothing at all. How will the Animorphs (and Ax!) get outta this jim-jam?! *Shrug* All that and more when we review Animorphs book, #27, The Exposed.Continue readingAnimorphs: The Exposed

This speak: We've got a lot of catching up to do! Mitchell, Coleman, and Nate discuss everything from Animorphs to Power Rangers to Game of Thrones! We also bring Nate up to speed on what's been happening in the series thus far, we have a mini-discussion about Animorphs #1 The Invasion, we'll talk Howlers and Pemalites, Ellimists and Crayaks, Iskoorts and alien worlds. The Animorphs are on another mission to save an obnoxious alien race on a faraway planet and defeat the Ellimist's arch nemesis, Crayak. There are many "firsts" for the series in this book, and we'll discuss them all! All that and more when we review Animorphs book, #26, The Attack.Continue readingAnimorphs: The Attack

This Speak, the guys discuss the ghostwriting process now that we're entering that territory, revisiting the "listener emails" section of the show and reading some, an argument about Visser 3's feeding grounds, Coleman's bizarre feelings on this book, Ax impersonates Visser 3 again, we discuss how the team handles arctic conditions, everyone almost freezes to death, another quickly wrapped-up plot, and comparisons to The Forgotten. All that and more, when we review the first ghostwritten Animorphs book, #25, The Extreme.Continue readingAnimorphs: The Extreme

This Speak, it's the amazing shrinking Animorphs! Mitchell and Coleman discuss; the future of the Thought-Speak podcast, all the spoilers contained within the cover images, everything wrong with the Helmacrons, plenty of action filler scenes, Coleman's outspoken opinions on the fandom, the story of the stupid r/Animorphs karma-stealing sweatshirt, Coleman points out a print error that went uncaught by the authors and publishers, the similarities between this book and Michael Grant's BZRK, the stupid idea to include the Yeerks in this whole shrinking plot, the return of Chapman and a meeting of the Sharing, and the usefulness of the anteater morph! All that and more, when we review Animorphs book #24, The Suspicion.Continue readingAnimorphs: The Suspicion

On this unfeasibly special episode of Thought-Speak, Mitchell and Coleman somehow managed to snag an interview with the man, the myth, the legend and one-half of the K.A. Applegate duo that gave us Animorphs, Michael Grant! We were lucky to have an hour of his time where we spoke with him (quite candidly at times) about all of his works, including: Front Lines, Gone, BZRK, Messenger of Fear, Eve & Adam, and of course our beloved Animorphs. This is not an episode to be missed, folks! Continue readingAnimorphs: The Michael Grant Interview

This speak: the subtle differences between the hard & soft covers, Coleman's beef with the Hork-Bajir design, how with equal parts science and Ellimist anything is possible, how the Yeerks are like ISIS, how the Hork-Bajir homeworld doesn't have a proper name, but even if it did it would probably be something stupid, Aldrea's unlikely morphing ability, Tribe Trees and Father Deep, a Rick & Morty reference, several Star Wars references, Aldrea's poor brother Barafin and his bunk habits, why you should not be like the Arn, why the Arn are unbelievable dicks, an unlikely army of mind-controlled monsters, the Andalites continue to disappoint and suck at war, yet another interracial relationship in sci-fi, and the new Hork-Bajir seer means shits about to go down! All that and more in our review of Animorphs:The Hork-Bajir Chronicles.Continue readingAnimorphs: The Hork-Bajir Chronicles

This speak: More cover critiques, Tobias gets hawk-blocked, weird unexplained flash-visions plaguing Tobias, the classic soap opera cliche of long-lost relatives showing up, the case of Tobias's missing clothes, a lovely visit to the Lost Valley of Hork-Bajir for a side mission, the introduction of Toby, a long and drawn-out spying mission, the evolution of conservatism, the coincidences start to get to Coleman, another pre-mission homework cram session, Visser Aria's awesome acting, Rachel and Tobias finally have that relationship conversation we've all been waiting for, and the review that's sure to upset some fans! All that and more in our review of Animorphs #23, The Pretender.Continue readingAnimorphs: The Pretender