Ben 10 (2005 TV series)

Ben 10
File:Ben10showlogo.JPG Ben 10 logo
Created by	Duncan Rouleau Joe Casey Joe Kelly Steven T. Seagle
Voices of	Tara Strong Dee Bradley Baker Fred Tatasciore Jim Ward Meagan Smith Paul Eiding Richard McGonagle Richard Steven Horvitz Steven Jay Blum
Theme music composer	Andy Sturmer
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	46 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Sam Register Mark Burton
Running time	22 minutes approx.
Original release
Network	Cartoon Network
Release	December 27, 2005 – present

Ben 10 is an American animated television series created by "Man of Action" (a group consisting of Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle), and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The pilot episode aired on 2005-12-27, as part of a sneak peek of Cartoon Network's new Saturday morning lineup. The second episode was shown as a special on Cartoon Network's Fridays on 2006-01-13, on which the first and second episodes were shown back-to-back. The theme song for the show is written by Andy Sturmer and sung by Moxy.

Plot

Main article: List of Ben 10 episodes

The show revolves around Ben Tennyson, his cousin Gwen, and his grandfather Max. During the start of their summer camping trip, Ben is nearly hit by an alien pod that fell from space and crashed next to him. When he examines it, he finds a mysterious, watch-like device, called the Omnitrix, stored inside. The device attaches to his wrist and gives him the ability to transform into a variety of alien lifeforms, each with their own unique powers, quite similar to DC's "Dial H for Hero" comic. Although Ben realizes that he has a responsibility to help others with these new abilities at his disposal, he is not above a little superpowered mischief now and then.

In the first season, the plot mainly focuses on the villain Vilgax, an evil alien warlord who wants to use the Omnitrix to conquer the galaxy. Having been injured at the start of the season, he sends various drones to get the Omnitrix until he is healed. After he was fully healed, he attempts to retrieve it himself, only to be stopped by Ben, Gwen and Max. Furthermore, it is hinted throughout the season that Max knows more about aliens than he lets on, culminating in the revelation that he and Vilgax had fought previously.

The second season has a considerably looser plot, mostly following a "villain of the week" format. The few plot-centric episodes focus on Kevin, a super-powered teen with the power to absorb different types of energies, who meets Ben in the first season. Having inadvertently allowed Kevin to absorb the Omnitrix's ability during their first meeting, Kevin serves as an antithesis to Ben. A sociopath, Kevin eventually morphs into a hideous mish-mash of Ben's original ten forms and blames Ben for it. Vilgax also returns in the finale, having teamed up with Kevin in the hopes of succeeding where he failed originally. Again, he fails, and both he and Kevin are trapped in an alternate dimension, the Null Void. Another important event during this season is the destruction of Ghostfreak, one of Ben's original ten forms. Having escaped from the Omnitrix, he planned to possess Ben and use the power of the Omnitrix to begin his own legacy of conquest. However, he was defeated and destroyed by Ben.

The third season has a similar yet darker plot layout. Its few plot-centric episodes focus around aliens styled on traditional horror monsters that Ben acquires as new forms through their contact with the Omnitrix. Purple-colored lightning, caused by a teleportation device created by the Frankenstein-esque alien Doctor Vicktor, heralds their appearance. Vicktor, in turn, is loyal to Ghostfreak, who is resurrected later in the third season. He plotted to shroud the earth in darkness with the use of a corrodium beam projected from a space station and expanded across the earth using a transmitter in New Mexico, thus allowing him to be at full power and rule over the planet. His attempt, however, is thwarted by Ben; he dies once more from direct exposure to the sun, but not before his DNA is absorbed by the Omnitrix.

Characters

Main articles: List of characters in Ben 10 and List of villains in Ben 10

Ben 10 has a wide array of characters and villains, both alien and human, most of whom serve a villain of the week function.

Omnitrix

See also: List of Omnitrix aliens

File:Omnitrix image.jpg

The Omnitrix.

The main focus of the series is the Omnitrix, a watch-like alien device found by Ben in the first episode. Using it, Ben can transform into a number of different aliens, which he uses to battle the various villains in the series. As explained in the show, the Omnitrix works by binding alien DNA to Ben's, transforming him into the alien of his choice for a short period and then reverting him back to normal.

To prevent the obvious problem of someone simply stealing the Omnitrix from Ben, the Omnitrix is depicted as quite difficult to remove. Furthermore, when anyone tries, it emits an omni-directional energy burst to discourage them. When people have actually tried to remove the device, it seems to take them a very long time or complicated machinery to accomplish the task.

As a running gag, as well as an occasional plot point, the Omnitrix tends to work in ways contrary to Ben's wishes. It will transform him into the wrong alien, shut down at inopportune moments, or simply not activate at all. Various episodes show that at least part of this behavior is Ben's unfamiliarity with the device, and several episodes showcase people whose knowledge of the device allows them to operate it with much greater ease than Ben. When used to its full potential, the Omnitrix is shown to operate indefinitely and at will, rather than through Ben's ordinary manual selection.

The Omnitrix's origins are explored in Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix. Its creator, Azmuth, explains that he built it to provide the various species of the universe a better understanding of each other. To that end, the Omnitrix absorbs and integrates the DNA of aliens for use by the one wearing it. Because of the combat potential in some of the aliens, particularly those Ben commonly transforms into, it came to be seen as a weapon by Vilgax. Afraid that it would be used for the wrong purposes, Azmuth installed a self-destruct feature into the Omnitrix, which served as the central plot point in Secret of the Omnitrix.

DVD releases

Title	Release date	Episodes
"Season 1"	February 6, 2007	13
This first set contains the entire first season. Bonus features include commentary on the episode "Secrets", a creator drawing lesson, creator interviews, and a collectible poster.
"Season 2"	October 9, 2007	13
This set contains the second season. Bonus features include commentary on the episode "Ghostfreaked Out", a creator drawing lesson, and another poster.
"Season 3"	December 24, 2007	13
This set contains the Third season. Bonus features include commentary on the episode "Benwolf", a creator drawing lesson, and another poster also included.
"Season 4"	March 6, 2008	13
This set contains the Forth season. Bonus features include commentary on the episode "Goodbye and Good Riddance", a creator drawing lesson, and another poster also included.

Movies

Two Ben 10 movies are planned to be released at different times during 2007. The first is a regular animated feature called Secret of the Omnitrix, in which the Omnitrix is accidentally set to self-destruct and Ben must track down its creator to stop it. A trailer of the movie was released with the movie Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen, and it aired August 10, 2007. Michael Ouweleen described the film's villain, which was actually Vilgax, as "like Darth Vader without the sense of humor." A different version of Secret of the Omnitrix, which introduced a different alien to the one in the original, aired on September 1, 2007.

The second is a live-action film titled Ben 10: Race Against Time. There are no specific details given about the plot. It is scheduled to premiere on Cartoon Network on November 21, 2007. The film will be directed by Alex Winter. Winter stated at the 2007 upfront presentation that he wants "this thing to look like X-Men," an epic adventure that will be "more cinematic than cartoony" and appeal to all ages. Production on the film is expected to finish in October. CGI effects and characters have been confirmed, though Winter promises the film will feature "no Jar Jar."

Sequel

Cartoon Network has announced that a sequel series of the show with the working title of Ben 10: Hero Generation will premiere before spring 2008. Cartoon Network trademarked the title Ben 10: Alien Force a month later under the same conditions as the working title. The new series will focus on a 15-year-old Ben and Gwen, who serve as mentors to a younger generation of heroes with powers similar to Ben's Omnitrix-based ones. Though aimed at the same demographic, the series will reportedly address more mature issues than its predecessor.

Protector of Earth

Main article: Ben 10: Protector of Earth

This is the first Ben 10 video game, scheduled for release in 2007.