The Capture, published in February 1997 and written by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant, is the sixth book in the Animorphs series. It is the second book narrated by Jake.

Synopsis

Plot

One Saturday morning, Jake waits until his parents and Tom leave before acquiring and morphing into a cockroach in his bedroom. However, when his mother suddenly returns and enters his room, Jake flees into the kitchen, where he gets trapped in a Roach Motel. He demorphs and later meets up with the human Animorphs at Cassie's barn, where he tells them what happened. Marco questions why he had morphed into a cockroach, and Jake reveals that he has been spying on "Tom"; he has discovered that "Tom" has risen up through the ranks of the Yeerk Empire and is currently just under "Chapman", and that "Tom" has been using their home phone to call five doctors at the Berman Clinic. The Animorphs realize that the Yeerk Empire's takeover of a hospital would allow them to infest even more host bodies, as they would be able to infest any patient who visited the hospital for a medical procedure.

Rachel, Cassie, Marco, and Ax acquire cockroaches as well and the five of them infiltrate The Sharing's Headquarters, where they overhear Visser Three, in his new human morph discussing their takeover of the Berman Clinic. Visser Three informs the other Controllers that the State Governor, who needs minor surgery, will be having it performed at the Berman Clinic soon. The Animorphs realize that the Yeerk Empire infesting the governor would give them control over the National Guard and the state police, but Rachel informs them that it is much worse: the governor intends to run for President of the United States, which could potentially mean that a Controller would be in the White House as leader of "the most powerful nation on Earth." The Animorphs are then spotted by human-Controllers, and they manage to escape, with Tobias rescuing Jake and flying him to safety.

In order to infiltrate the Berman Clinic, the morph-capable Animorphs acquire and morph into houseflies, and land on Tobias, who flies them from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic to the hospital. As they jump off and are guided through an open window, the team splits into two. The first team, consisting of Jake, Cassie, and Ax, find a room with a Jacuzzi whirlpool acting as a portable Yeerk pool. Ax demorphs and knocks a human-Controller out, after which Jake and Cassie demorph. Jake sees the Jacuzzi filled with Yeerks and decides to activate the Jacuzzi in order to boil them to death, while Ax and Cassie, the latter using a wolf morph, guard the door. As the Yeerks begin to boil, two doctors enter the room, followed by two guards. One of the guards shoots his gun into the room, and Jake, who is in human form by the Jacuzzi, is shot in the head by one of the bullets' ricochets, knocking him out and causing his head to fall into the Jacuzzi. As Jake comes to, he feels an immense pain in his head and struggles to think. With Jake incapacitated, the Animorphs decide to make their retreat; Marco, in gorilla morph, puts a lab coat over Jake's head and carries him out, while Rachel morphs into an elephant to clear their way. The Animorphs fight their way out of the hospital and escape into the national forest.

In the forest, Jake wonders about the voice he is hearing in his head and realizes with horror that it is a Yeerk. The Yeerk reveals his name to be Temrash 114 and that he was the Yeerk who controlled Tom; Temrash had been slated to infest the governor and therefore exited Tom, who was given to a new Yeerk to serve as a host body. As Temrash has access to all of Jake's memories, Jake is horrified that his friends cannot tell that he has been infested. However, just then, he is surprised by Ax, who had suspected that Jake had been infested. The sudden, surprise appearance of an Andalite causes Temrash to look at Ax in hatred, which Ax notices. Ax then informs the other Animorphs that Jake is being controlled by a Yeerk. "Jake" attempts to convince them that Ax is incorrect, but not wanting to take the chance, the Animorphs decide to hold Jake for three days. "Jake" brings up that his parents would go searching for him if he was missing for three days, prompting Cassie to suggest that Ax acquire Jake and take his place. As Ax touches Jake to acquire him, Temrash yells at him and refers to him as "Andalite filth," confirming the Animorphs' suspicion.

Tobias guides them through the forest to an abandoned shack he knows of, where Jake is tied up. That night, Temrash uses Jake's morphing ability to turn into a tiger and escape the shack. Lost in the forest, Temrash demorphs and remorphs into a peregrine falcon, only to be attacked by Cassie in her new great horned owl morph. Realizing that the Animorphs are in the forest and had anticipated this, Temrash switches to the wolf morph and runs away, only for Marco and Rachel, in wolf morph, to signal to the wild wolf pack that they had encountered previously. Rachel switches to her elephant morph, and feeling defeated, Temrash agrees to return to the shack. The next morning, Temrash tries to use an ant morph to escape, but is nearly killed by a rival ant colony located at the shack. On the next day, Temrash tries to escape again as a falcon, only to be stopped by Tobias, who threatens to gouge out the falcon's eyes if Temrash does not demorph.

Defeated and starving with hunger, Temrash and Jake have a conversation, where Temrash speaks of the Yeerk homeworld and their first hosts, the Gedds. In his dying state, Temrash shows Jake the memories of his life on the homeworld, his experience in his previous hosts, and the memories he has controlling Tom. Temrash shows Jake the memory of how Tom got infested — he had joined The Sharing since a girl that he liked was a full member; however, Tom crashed a leadership meeting when he thought she was seeing another boy, where he saw Visser Three in his Andalite form. As a result, Tom was subdued by the other Controllers, who dragged him into the Underground Yeerk Pool Complex, where he was infested. Temrash then transfers these memories and the emotions associated with them into Jake's mind.

Temrash experiences the Fugue as he dies of Kandrona ray starvation while inside Jake's head. During this ordeal, Jake is able to glimpse into another dimension, where a machine-like creature with a single red eye looks at him. Jake then finds himself back in the shack, with full control over his body as Temrash's dead body on the floor shrivels into nothing. Jake returns home to resume his life, where his family has been worried due to "his" ravenous eating habits and tendency to repeat words. Jake watches the news on television and learns that the Berman Clinic has been shut down due to the damage and destruction that was caused, thereby preventing the governor's infestation, as his surgery would be performed elsewhere. That night, Jake goes to bed expecting to have a nightmare of the single red eye, only to have a recurring dream he has had for a while: one where he is in tiger morph chasing down Tom to kill him before he suddenly ends up becoming the one hunted by the tiger.

The next day, Jake and the Animorphs go Cassie's barn, where Jake decides to use Cassie's father's cell phone to leave Tom a message. Partially morphing into a wolf to disguise his voice, Jake calls Tom and anonymously tells him to keep fighting.

Appearances

Protagonists

• Jake
• Rachel
• Tobias
• Cassie
• Marco
• Ax

Supporting Characters

• Steve
• Jean

Antagonists

• Esplin 9466
• Temrash 114 (Death) (Yeerk First Named)
• Several unnamed Yeerks (Death)
• Tom's Yeerk (First Appearance)
  • Tom (Body)
• Various human-Controllers

Other Characters

• Homer
• Juan (Only Appearance)
• Terry (Only Appearance)
• Crayak (First Appearance)
• Gedds (Memory)
• Hork-Bajir (Memory)

Locations

• California, United States
  • Berenson Residence
  • Cassie's Farm
    • Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic
  • Peter's Residence
  • The Sharing's Headquarters (Only Appearance)
  • Junior High School
  • Mall
  • Boston Market (Roof)
  • Berman Clinic (Only Appearance)
  • Abandoned Construction Site (Mentioned)
  • Cassie's House (Mentioned)
  • Underground Yeerk Pool Complex (Mentioned)
• Indianapolis, United States (Mentioned)
• Andalite homeworld (Mentioned)
• White House (Mentioned)
• Greece (Mentioned)
• Yeerk homeworld (Memory) (Mentioned)
  • Sulp Niar pool (Mentioned)
• Africa (Mentioned)

Organizations

• Animorphs
• Yeerk Empire
  • The Sharing (Mentioned)
• Gourmet Express (Mentioned)
• Santorini's (Mentioned)
• Police Department (Mentioned)
• California National Guard (Mentioned)
• California Highway Patrol (Mentioned)
• National Park Service (Indirectly Mentioned)

Items

• Roach Motel
• Jacuzzi whirlpool
  • Portable Yeerk pool
• Elfangor's fighter (Mentioned)
• Portable Kandrona (Mentioned)
• Kandrona rays (Mentioned)
• Blade ship (Mentioned)

Other Mentions

Characters

• Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul
• Walter
• Michelle (Indirectly)
• Dr. Berman
• Peter
• Eva
• Edriss 562
• Naomi
• Hedrick Chapman
  • Iniss 226 (as Chapman)
• Tobias' Aunt (Indirectly)
• Tobias' Uncle (Indirectly)
• Taxxons
• Ssstram
• Mak
• Alloran-Semitur-Corrass (Indirectly)

References

• Boy Scouts of America
• Girl Scouts of the USA
• Wheaties
• Michelin Man
• Indianapolis 500
• Road Runner
• Roach Motel Company
• Xena: Warrior Princess
• NBA
• ACE
• Musketeers
• Greyhound
• David Letterman
• Spider-Man #3
  • Ultimate Spider-Man #3 (2012 Relaunch Edition Only)
• The Fly (1958)
• The Fly (1986)
• Jeff Goldblum
• Tic Tac
• Final Jeopardy

Major/Highlighted Events

• Jake discovers that "Tom" has become a high-ranking Controller, just below "Chapman", and that "Tom" is in charge of a massive plan by the Yeerk Empire to infest patients at the Berman Clinic, a newly built hospital that the Yeerks control. During a reconnaissance mission, the Animorphs learn that their state governor is having a minor operation performed at the Berman Clinic and that the governor is in the running to become the next President of the United States.
• Visser Three has acquired a human morph.
• The Animorphs infiltrate the hospital, where they spot a Jacuzzi full of Yeerks, and Jake sets the heat and temperature all the way up in order to boil them to death. However, a few Controllers walk into the room and notice Ax in his Andalite form. During the ensuing fight, a ricocheting bullet strikes Jake in the side of his head, and Jake falls face-first into the boiling Jacuzzi.
• Jake is infested by a Yeerk named Temrash 114.
  • Temrash reveals to Jake that he was the Yeerk who had been controlling Tom, and that Tom is now infested by another Yeerk of a lower rank.
• Ax surprises the infested Jake, causing Temrash to momentarily display a facial emotion of revulsion, prompting Ax to declare that Jake has been infested. The Animorphs decide to detain Jake for three days, since a Yeerk cannot survive for longer than three days without Kandrona rays. In order to prevent Jake's family from noticing his absence, Cassie suggests that Ax morph into Jake for three days. However, when Ax touches Jake to acquire him, Temrash outs himself as a Controller.
• Temrash transfers his memories of the Yeerk homeworld, along with some memories of his first three hosts (a Gedd, a Hork-Bajir, and Tom) into Jake's mind. Jake is shown the memory of Tom's infestation — a girl Tom had liked was a full member of The Sharing, but Tom became suspicious that she was seeing another boy. As a result, Tom had crashed the leadership meeting she was attending, only to see Visser Three in his Andalite body; Tom was then restrained by human-Controllers and brought to the Underground Yeerk Pool Complex and was forcibly infested. Temrash also shows Jake that Tom has since surrendered resistance and is instead just waiting to die.
• After three days, Temrash undergoes the Fugue and dies. In the process, Jake catches his first glimpse of a blood-red eye watching him.
• The damage and destruction that Animorphs caused at the Berman Clinic results in the hospital being shut down, thereby forcing the governor to get his surgery elsewhere. As a result, the Yeerk Empire fails to infest him and gain control over the state.

Morphs

• Cassie remarks that she could use her osprey morph to fly from the forest back to her house, although the book never specifies if she indeed used that morph to do so.
• In this book, it is revealed that Cassie and one other Animorph acquired and morphed into a great horned owl. The next book reveals that this second Animorph was Rachel.

Trivia

• The front cover quote is "Now he is one of them...."
• The inside front cover quote is, "Superfly?"
• This marks the first instance of an Animorph being infested by a Yeerk and becoming a host body to a Controller.
• This marks the first time of an Animorph morphing into another Animorph, in this instance Ax acquiring and morphing into Jake. Although Ax did not consider himself a member of the Animorphs at this time, his official induction into the team later retroactively makes this the fifth time than an Animorph has acquired a human, the fifth time one of them has acquired a fellow Animorph, as well as the second time Jake has been acquired, once again by Ax.
• This book marks the first of many times in the series where Rachel is referred to as "Xena, Warrior Princess."
• The machine-monster with the big red eye that Jake saw is later revealed to be Crayak, the opponent of Ellimist.
• Rachel mentions that their governor is running for President of the United States. In The Beginning, it is revealed that the state the Animorphs live in is California. At the time of this book's publishing, Pete Wilson was the real-life governor of California. Wilson also ran for President around this time, having sought the Republican nomination in the 1996 United States presidential election, although he dropped out of the race before the primaries began.
• Visser Three morphs into a human for the first time. It is unclear if this was a particular human or if he performed a Frolis Maneuver to create a unique human.
• When Tobias is flying at night, he remarks that he wishes he trapped himself in an owl morph since his hawk vision sucks at night. This is the first indication in the series that perhaps Tobias may have trapped himself in morph intentionally.
• Tobias mentions that owls are known for hunting and killing falcons earlier on in the book. Later on, when Jake becomes infested and the Temrash 114, the Yeerk inside his head, tries to escape using the falcon morph, Cassie uses a great horned owl morph to subdue the falcon morph.
• This book is the first time where Ax's very last name is spelled as "Isthill"; it was spelled as "Isthil" in the previous two books, which included his introduction. However, the rest of the series uses the "Isthill" spelling, and the reprints for the series rectifies the spelling in the previous two books, making "Isthill" the canonical spelling.
• Temrash 114 mentions Gedd, Mak, and Ssstram as alien races conquered by the Yeerk Empire. Although Gedd were seen in the series, the Mak and Ssstram are never seen nor mentioned again.
• Jake mentions how he once saw Cassie demorph from bird to human while retaining giant bird wings, which he witnessed in The Visitor.
• Temrash hints that the Andalites have some dark secret behind their history with the Yeerks; this secret is explained in The Alien.
• When Jake is poisoned as a cockroach, he demorphs and finds himself fine, and believes that this was because the amount of poison that was in his system as a cockroach is too miniscule to harm him as a human. Jake would find out in future books that poison is actually expelled from the system while morphing/demorphing, thereby curing the morpher.
• Cassie berates Jake for morphing alone with no Animorph present, even though she did the same thing two books prior, when she morphed a squirrel in order to lure and observe a fox who was feasting on her patients. However, it is possible this is why she was against it, having experienced the danger firsthand.
• Visser Three reveals that they expect to infest 200 hospital patients per month, which amounts to 2,400 patients a year.
• ANIBASE: "Katherine Applegate must not have had too much fun imagining the morphs in this book! She tells us that she used to totally creep herself out when doing bug morphs. "I mean, sure, I might morph a tiger or a gorilla or a hawk," she says, "but a fly? A flea? A spider? No way!""
• ANIBASE: "One of K.A.'s favorite reads is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, a book that not only influenced her writing (namely, her teen series Everworld) but also some words and images to Animorphs; "yrch", the elvish word for orc, became Yeerk, the flamed red Eye of Sauron became the mysterious Big Red Eye in #6: The Capture, and the name of a town became Ax's middle name!"

Goofs/Inconsistencies

• Rachel mentions that the governor would be running for President "next year." This book was released in January 1997, meaning that the next Presidential elections would have been in November 2000. Due to the main timeline of the series being firmly locked in as being set from 1997-2000, with this book being set in 1997, Rachel cannot be referring to the 2000 election; alternatively, due to the Animorphs receiving their powers in 1997, it also cannot be set in 1995 where Rachel's reference would instead be referring to the November 1996 election. Therefore, Rachel's comment does not make sense in terms of the timeline. This error is retained in the reprint and the graphic novel.
• Rachel tells Jake to go pay before meeting her at the food court, but Jake just leaves the store shortly after without any indication he paid. This is fixed in the reprint.
• Temrash 114 states he was promoted from 252 to 114. However, later in the series it is stated that the order of a Yeerk's birth in their generation is what determines the number assigned, and that a Yeerk always keep their name, meaning it cannot change through promotion.
• Temrash claims he could be promoted to an Under-Visser. The correct term is Sub-Visser; this is fixed in the reprint.
• After the Animorphs bring Jake/Temrash to the shack, Rachel is given first guard duty while Cassie and Marco leave to teach Ax how to be Jake. During this time, Cassie acquires a great horned owl morph. That night, Rachel falls asleep on guard duty, allowing Temrash to escape. However, it is revealed to be a ruse, and another owl soon joins Cassie. The next two books confirm that this second owl was Rachel, and that she and Cassie had both acquired the owl in order to guard Jake. However, if Rachel was at the shack the entire time, she would not have had time to leave and acquire a great horned owl.
• On the first night, Temrash escapes in tiger morph as Cassie silently follows him in her owl morph. When Temrash demorphs and begins morphing into a falcon, Cassie rips into the falcon's shoulder and wing in order to prevent Temrash from taking flight. Temrash then demorphs and remorphs into a wolf, keeping his eyes on Cassie, who is on a tree branch watching them. Upon becoming a wolf, Temrash immediately wins, although he is quickly cut off by a wild wolf pack on one side and Marco and Rachel on the other side. Marco then tells Temrash that Cassie is currently hidden on Temrash's wolf fur as a flea. Given that Cassie was still in owl morph watching Temrash as he morphed into a wolf and ran away, even if Cassie then demorphed and remorphed into a flea, she would not have been able to catch up to Temrash and end up on his wolf body by the time his escape path was cut off.
• On Tuesday night, Jake's father states that "Jake's" eating habits were different for the last two days, due to Ax being in Jake morph. However, Ax was morphed as Jake for three nights (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) not two nights.
• Jake asks where is he on p61; he knows where he is: on a Boston Market roof he mentioned on p59. However, this is most likely a case of Jake recounting details he had learned later on.
• Jake mentions that there is a flea sucking to "Tobias skin"; it should be written as "Tobias' skin" or as "Tobias's skin". This is rectified in the 2012 relaunched reprint.
• On p99, there are two thought-speak quotes missing, when Temrash says not to struggle. However, in the preview for #6, this quotes are in their proper place. This is rectified in the 2012 relaunch.
• Ax's full name spelled without the hyphens; this is fixed in the reprint.
• Ax says "I will acquire your DNA now Prince Jake", with the comma between "now" and "Prince" missing. This is fixed in the reprint.
• Ax forgets the 'Prince' title for Jake on p113.

2012 Relaunch Differences

• When Jake talks about Marco having coined the name "Animorph," the 1997 edition uses quotation marks around the word while the reprint uses italics.
• "Michelin Man" is spelled as "Michelin man" in the 1997 edition; this is fixed in the reprint.
• The original writes Jake's speed comparison in numbers, while the reprint writes it out in letters.
  • "180 miles an hour" is changed to "one hundred eighty miles an hour."
  • "200 times per second" and "200 miles per hour" is written as "two hundred times per second" and "two hundred miles per hour."
  • However, Jake's speed remark on his falcon morph hitting "175 miles" is still written out numerically as "175" in the reprint.
• Road Runner is spelled as "Roadrunner" in the original; this is fixed in the reprint.
• In the original, when Jake tells himself to get a grip while in cockroach morph, his inner thoughts are written as: "Get a grip, Jake! I told myself. You're a cockroach, too!" The reprint italicizes Jake's inner thoughts, therefore removing the italics on "You're" and shifts his "I told myself" from the middle to the end; this results in the reprint having: "Get a grip, Jake! You're a cockroach, too! I told myself."
• When Cassie admonishes Jake, her usage of "ever" is italicized in the original, whereas it is not in the reprint.
• "Kung Fu" is changed to "kung fu" in the reprint.
• Xena, Warrior Princess is italicized in the original but not in the reprint; the italics were removed due to the reference being to the character and not the show.
• The spelling of "Ace bandage" is changed to the correct all-caps "ACE bandage."
• In the 1997 edition, Jake says that he checked the automatic redial to trace Tom's calls. In the 2012 reprint, Jake states that he was "checking the calls" instead. This is due to modern phones having a Caller ID feature displaying what number was called last, as well as the registered name, whereas in 1997, one would have to redial the last number that called them in order to find out who it was.
• In the 1997 edition, Rachel states that she set her VCR to tape two of her favorite shows, but that she forgot to tape the movie of the week, with Cassie reassuring her that she is taping it. In the 2012 reprint, Rachel says that she set the TV to record her two favorite shows but forgot to record the movie of the week, and Cassie reassures her that she is recording it.
• The original uses "human-Controllers" while the reprint uses "Human-Controllers."
• "Air Force" is spelled as "air force" in the reprint.
• Tobias refers to himself as "Red-tailed Airline" in the original and "Red-tailed Airlines" in the reprint.
• The original edition states that Tobias brought Jake to the roof of a Boston Market restaurant. In the reprint, it is changed to a generic "roof of a fast-food restaurant."
• When Jake is playing basketball, the onomatopoeia of "Thonk" is written in italics in the reprint, whereas it is not in the original.
• In the 1997 edition, Jake reveals that he got his mother a near-mint condition copy of Spiderman #3 as a birthday gift. Not only does the 2012 reprint correctly rectify the spelling of Spider-Man's name, adding the hyphen, but it is also changed to Ultimate Spider-Man #3. The classic Amazing Spider-Man #3 comic came out in July 1963, although Jake could be referring to the Classics version, a reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #3 that was published as part of the Classics line in 1993. Ultimate Spider-Man #3 came out in 2000, once again indicating that the Relaunch editions were to be set in a more modern time period.
• In the original 1997 edition, Jake refers to the 1958 version of The Fly as "the old one" and the 1986 version as "the new one with Jeff Goldblum." In the 2012 reprint, this is changed so that Jake refers to the 1958 version as "the really old one" and the 1986 version as "the one with Jeff Goldblum."
• In the original, Jake leaves the store without paying and mentions that he and Cassie went to go "hook up with Rachel." For the reprint, it adds that Jake now paid while "hook up with Rachel" is changed to "meet up with Rachel" due to the meaning of the term "hook up" having changed from the 1990s to the 2010s.
• Jake mentions that there is a flea sucking to "Tobias skin" in the original edition; it should be written as "Tobias' skin" or as "Tobias's skin". The latter is used in the reprint.
• When Rachel says "spiderweb," it is not italicized in the original, whereas in the reprint it is.
• "Superdome" is written as "superdome" in the original and "Superdome" in the reprint.
• In the original edition, there are two thought-speak quotes missing, when Temrash says not to struggle. However, in the preview for #6, this quotes are in their proper place. This is rectified in the reprint.
• The original edition has Ax's full name spelled without the hyphens; this is fixed in the reprint.
• The spelling of the Sulp Niar pool is changed to "Sulp Niaar" in the reprint; additionally, the original edition spells Temrash's full name as "Temrash two-five-two" and "Temrash one-one-four". The spelling receives a slight alteration in the reprint in the form of "Temrash Two-Five-Two" and "Temrash One-One-Four".
• In the original, Ax says "I will acquire your DNA now Prince Jake", with the comma between "now" and "Prince" missing. This is fixed in the reprint.
• Rachel's comment in the original edition is spelled as "final Jeopardy"; the reprint merely states it as "Final Jeopardy."
• In the original 1997 edition, Jake states that Temrash could easily access his memories, comparing it to sticking a cassette into a VCR. Additionally, he later compares the memories he receives from Temrash as "transferring a document onto a floppy disk." In the 2012 reprint, Jake's initial comparison is changed to "as easily as watching a video" while his secondary remark is changed to "transferring a document onto a flash drive." The mention of the VCR and the floppy disk were removed by Scholastic as an effort to update outdated technological references in order to avoid making the series dated for modern readers.
• Temrash says he would be promoted to an Under-Visser. The correct term is Sub-Visser; this is fixed in the reprint.
• "Park Rangers" is spelled as "park rangers" in the original and "Park Rangers" in the reprint.
• Jake reminds Temrash of the morphing time limit by saying "tick tock"; the reprint slightly modifies the spelling to "ticktock".
• In the original, when Temrash tells Jake to ask Ax about a story, it is written as "Ask your pet Andalite Ax sometime" whereas in the reprint it is written as "Ask your pet Andalite, Ax, sometime."
• Jake's "No!" when he sees Crayak is not italicized in the original whereas it is in the reprint.
• The original uses "cellular phone" while the reprint uses "cell phone."

TV Adaptation

Main article: The Capture (Part 1), The Capture (Part 2)

A two-part episode, which was a loose adaptation of the story, aired in 1998 as part of the Animorphs TV series.

Gallery

"Someone took a picture of me? Not cool. Do you see what I'm wearing? I'm Spandex-boy. Totally not cool." The image gallery for The Capture may be viewed here

References