''Animorphs'' (also known under the promotional title ''AniTV'') is a television adaptation made by Protocol Entertainment based on the Scholastic book series of the same name by

K. A. Applegate Katherine Alice Applegate (born October 9, 1956), known professionally as K. A. Applegate, is an American young adult and children's fiction writer, best known as the author of the ''Animorphs'', '' Remnants'', and '' Everworld'' book series. S ...

. It was made for YTV and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

for Season 1 and

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

for Season 2 in Canada and

for the United States. The series was broadcast from September 4, 1998, to October 1, 1999, in the United States and Canada.

Cast

Main

Shawn Ashmore Shawn Robert Ashmore (born October 7, 1979) is a Canadian actor whose career spans film, television, and interactive media. A former child actor, he first drew notice as Jake Berenson on Nickelodeon's ''Animorphs'' (1998–1999), Tyler Connell ...

as Jake *

Brooke Nevin Brooke Candice Nevin (born December 22, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She portrayed Rachel on the science fiction series ''Animorphs'' (1998–1999) Julianne "Jules" Simms (2011–2012) on '' Breakout Kings'', and Sonja Lester (2010–2013) on ''C ...

as Rachel * Boris Cabrera as Marco * Nadia Nascimento as Cassie * Christopher Ralph as Tobias

Recurring

Paulo Costanzo Paulo Costanzo (born September 21, 1978) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for playing Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill (Ax) in the TV series ''Animorphs'', the roles of Rubin Carver in the comedy film ''Road Trip'', Alexander Cabot in '' Josie an ...

as Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill/Ax/"Max" * Eugene Lipinski as Visser Three/"Victor Trent" *

Dov Tiefenbach Dov Yosef Tiefenbach (born December 8, 1981) is a Canadian actor and musician. Life and career Tiefenbach was born on December 8, 1981, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is of Jewish background. He began his acting career at the age of 12, startin ...

as Erek King * Allegra Fulton as Eva / Visser One * Joshua Peace as Tom, Jake's older brother * Terra Vanessa Kowalyk as Melissa Chapman * Richard Sali as Principal Chapman * Diego Matamoros as Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul * Peter Messaline as the Ellimist * Frank Pelligrino as Jeremy, Marco's father (Peter in the books) * Cassandra Van Wyck as Sara, Rachel's younger sister * Jonathan Whittaker as Greg, Jake's father (Steve in the books) * Karen Waddell as Nikki, Jake's mother (Jean in the books) *

Melanie Nicholls-King Melanie Nicholls-King is a Canadian actress, perhaps best known for playing Cheryl in the drama series ''The Wire'', and for her portrayal of Officer Noelle Williams in the drama series ''Rookie Blue''. Personal life Nicholls-King is from Toron ...

as Aisha, Cassie's mother (Michelle in the books)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1998–1999)

Season 2 (1999)

Production

The series is set in most of Toronto, Canada. Deborah A. Forte and Bill Siegler are the executive producers of the series. The animals used in this series were supplied by the Bowmanville Zoo, and Homer, the Golden Retriever who is Jake's dog was trained by Bryan Renfro. Due to budget issues, the morphs of the characters from the books were changed and the others were omitted, with Jake having the

white tiger The white tiger (ashy tiger) is a leucistic morph of the tiger, typically the Bengal tiger. It is occasionally reported in the Indian wilderness. It has the typical black stripes of a tiger, but its coat is otherwise white or near-white, and ...

morph, Tobias' morph being a

Harris's hawk Harris's hawk (''Parabuteo unicinctus''), formerly also known as bay-winged hawk or dusky hawk, and known in Latin America as the peuco, is a medium-large bird of prey that breeds from the southwestern United States south to Chile, central Argent ...

rather than a

red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members of ...

, and Rachel having the

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

morph rather than an

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

and

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

. Also, instead of Cassie, Marco has the

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

morph, rather than a

gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...

Home releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home entertainment distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures libra ...

(when they were known as Columbia TriStar Home Video) had released twelve episodes in four VHS volumes known as ''The Invasion Series'', collecting episodes from the series. The first 12 episodes are only released on VHS and not re-released on DVD. * Part 1: ''The Invasion Begins'' ("My Name is Jake" parts 1 and 2, and "Underground") *Part 2: ''Nowhere to Run'' ("Between Friends", "The Message" and "The Reaction") * Part 3: ''The Enemy Among Us'' ("The Stranger", "The Leader" parts 1 and 2) * Part 4: ''The Legacy Survives'' ("The Capture" parts 1 and 2, and "Not My Problem") Seven volumes spanning the first 20 episodes (only the first of which was identical to its U.S. counterpart) were released in Australia. The episodes were placed in chronological order. Each volume had three episodes apart from Volume 7, which had two ("Face Off", parts 1 and 2). All 26 episodes are currently available on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Vudu Fandango at Home (formerly known as Vudu) is an American digital video store and streaming service owned by Fandango Media, a joint-venture between NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. The company offers transactional video on demand re ...

and

Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

spread across three volumes. Also, all 26 episodes were previously available on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, and are currently available on

Tubi Tubi (stylized as tubi) is an American over-the-top ad-supported streaming television service owned by Fox Corporation since 2020. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In 2023, Tubi, Credible L ...

External links

* * {{Former Nickelodeon original series 1990s Nickelodeon original programming 1990s American science fiction television series 1990s American teen drama television series 1990s Canadian science fiction television series 1990s Canadian teen drama television series 1998 American television series debuts 1998 Canadian television series debuts 1999 American television series endings 1999 Canadian television series endings Television about alien invasions American children's action television series American children's adventure television series American children's fantasy television series American children's science fiction television series American television shows based on children's books Canadian children's action television series Canadian children's adventure television series Canadian children's fantasy television series Canadian children's science fiction television series Canadian television shows based on children's books American English-language television shows YTV (Canadian TV channel) original programming Television shows based on American novels Television shows filmed in Toronto Works based on Animorphs American television series about teenagers Canadian television series about teenagers Television series about extraterrestrial life Television series about shapeshifting