This is one of the first shows i watched on cartoon network, and i was always dying to catch it on cable, sadly that didnt happen too often. So as soon as i got the chance i purchased the first season dvd so i could binge watch it, and i would watch it a lot. But i never completed the show until many years later when i purchased all 4 seasons, and now i am ready to give a full review of this show.
The Plot: the shows starts by showing a mysterious aliens ship being chased by the alien tyrant Vilgax, before being destroyed the ship is only able to jettison a capsule down to the nearest planet, Earth. A man named grandpa Max is taking his grandkids Ben and gwen camping, as they are on a summer long vacation roadtrip. Ben being a trouble maker, ventures into the woods on his own and comes across a crash site that has the alien capsule, opening it, ben discovers the Omnitrix, a watch like weapon that contains the dna samples of an infinite number of aliens, that ben is able to transform into just by hitting the watch on its head. Unfortunately for ben, the watch will only allow him to turn into 10 aliens, also the watch stays grafted to his wrist and has a tendency to recharge when bens needs it the most, and it transforms him into the wrong kind of alien at the wrong time. Continuing their vacation, ben goes hero wherever he sees evil. On the journey, gwen discovers she has a talent for magic, and grandpa max is revealed to be a retired space cop called a plumber. Wherever they go, they are forced to fight off evil aliens of all shapes and sizes, corrupt humans, supervillains, and eventually vilgax himself. Only by working as a team do they have any chance of staying alive, which doesn't happen often because of their bickering. There are a lot of filler episodes, and most are the ones that i wanted to skip. Eventually towards the end of season 1, episode arcs of 3 episodes were used, these are the best episodes, because situations were given more time to have real tension and consequences for ben.
The Characters: Ben feels and sounds like a real kid, which unfortunately means he can be bratty, annoying, and unlikable at times. But whenever a threat rises, he always does the moral thing even at the cost of his selfish desires. Sadly whenever ben seems more mature and has gained character development, he usually devolves back into the annoying kid type. This is why i am grateful for alien force showing that all the moral lessons he learned from his friends and family did not go to waist. Gwen is bens cousin, she is very irritable, which is why her and ben get into arguments all the time, despite being the mature one she is not above being bratty herself, thankfully she usually has common sense on her side. Grandpa Max is the glue that keeps the trio together, he has to be the most sincere and gentle man in the show, which is why its sad to see his grandkids treat him bad at times. While usually being calm, max is no pushover and always puts ben and Gwen in there place if needs be. With his past as a heroic plumber, its easy to see why he was originally meant to be the wielder of the omnitrix. Vilgax is the most prominent villain in the show, regrettably hes not the most dimensional, and is your standard take over the galaxy type, which is fine for this kind of show, but he is indeed a threat and whenever he shows up, you know ben is in trouble. There are so many other cool characters, aliens and villains that show up in this series that just add to the fun.
Conclusion: While i still enjoy the show, i feel that the quality is not consistent, there are many episodes that are more annoying than i remember, perhaps they are just too juvenile for me anymore, but then again there are still Incredible episode arcs that grab my attention like the finale with the negative 10 and even the movie the secret of the omnitrix. The characters might not be the greatest, but they are still likeable, the 10 aliens are all wonderful personalities, and they make the action sequences so amazing. The art style of the show looks like a comic book most of the time, with a lot of still shots being used throughout the fights imitating a comic book. The soundtrack of the show is quite juvenile and i don't really like hearing the zingers. I still own the complete series, but i probably wont watch it again in its entirety until my kids want to watch it. Alien force on the other hand is still my favorite flavor of ben 10. This show is still a lot of fun, and it still inspires a lot of people into believing that they too, can become heroes.
The Plot: the shows starts by showing a mysterious aliens ship being chased by the alien tyrant Vilgax, before being destroyed the ship is only able to jettison a capsule down to the nearest planet, Earth. A man named grandpa Max is taking his grandkids Ben and gwen camping, as they are on a summer long vacation roadtrip. Ben being a trouble maker, ventures into the woods on his own and comes across a crash site that has the alien capsule, opening it, ben discovers the Omnitrix, a watch like weapon that contains the dna samples of an infinite number of aliens, that ben is able to transform into just by hitting the watch on its head. Unfortunately for ben, the watch will only allow him to turn into 10 aliens, also the watch stays grafted to his wrist and has a tendency to recharge when bens needs it the most, and it transforms him into the wrong kind of alien at the wrong time. Continuing their vacation, ben goes hero wherever he sees evil. On the journey, gwen discovers she has a talent for magic, and grandpa max is revealed to be a retired space cop called a plumber. Wherever they go, they are forced to fight off evil aliens of all shapes and sizes, corrupt humans, supervillains, and eventually vilgax himself. Only by working as a team do they have any chance of staying alive, which doesn't happen often because of their bickering. There are a lot of filler episodes, and most are the ones that i wanted to skip. Eventually towards the end of season 1, episode arcs of 3 episodes were used, these are the best episodes, because situations were given more time to have real tension and consequences for ben.
The Characters: Ben feels and sounds like a real kid, which unfortunately means he can be bratty, annoying, and unlikable at times. But whenever a threat rises, he always does the moral thing even at the cost of his selfish desires. Sadly whenever ben seems more mature and has gained character development, he usually devolves back into the annoying kid type. This is why i am grateful for alien force showing that all the moral lessons he learned from his friends and family did not go to waist. Gwen is bens cousin, she is very irritable, which is why her and ben get into arguments all the time, despite being the mature one she is not above being bratty herself, thankfully she usually has common sense on her side. Grandpa Max is the glue that keeps the trio together, he has to be the most sincere and gentle man in the show, which is why its sad to see his grandkids treat him bad at times. While usually being calm, max is no pushover and always puts ben and Gwen in there place if needs be. With his past as a heroic plumber, its easy to see why he was originally meant to be the wielder of the omnitrix. Vilgax is the most prominent villain in the show, regrettably hes not the most dimensional, and is your standard take over the galaxy type, which is fine for this kind of show, but he is indeed a threat and whenever he shows up, you know ben is in trouble. There are so many other cool characters, aliens and villains that show up in this series that just add to the fun.
Conclusion: While i still enjoy the show, i feel that the quality is not consistent, there are many episodes that are more annoying than i remember, perhaps they are just too juvenile for me anymore, but then again there are still Incredible episode arcs that grab my attention like the finale with the negative 10 and even the movie the secret of the omnitrix. The characters might not be the greatest, but they are still likeable, the 10 aliens are all wonderful personalities, and they make the action sequences so amazing. The art style of the show looks like a comic book most of the time, with a lot of still shots being used throughout the fights imitating a comic book. The soundtrack of the show is quite juvenile and i don't really like hearing the zingers. I still own the complete series, but i probably wont watch it again in its entirety until my kids want to watch it. Alien force on the other hand is still my favorite flavor of ben 10. This show is still a lot of fun, and it still inspires a lot of people into believing that they too, can become heroes.