The "classic universe" note has been getting a little fandom surge with the likes of The Ink Tank's weekly retrospective videos on the original series.
As a result, similar to how there are distinctive threads for Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, I thought reviving this (relatively recent) thread would be similarly appropriate.
As they cruise through Season 2 of The Original Series, The Ink Tank covers the theme of "coincidences" within the show's writing, using the episodes "Tough Luck", "They Lurk Below" and "Ghostfreaked Out".
Meanwhile, early 2000s' media and toy reviewer Billiam continues his retrospective on Ben 10 with Ben 10: Race Against Time. He describes the Alex Winter-directed film as a fun, but weird Spy Kids romp that did a good job translating the OG series after the series finale.
Finally, we return to The Ink Tank as they interview Ryan Kelley, the live-action lead actor for Ben 10: Alien Swarm.
>He kept breaking Omnitrix props.
They really did found the perfect guy to play Ben.
Is it weird that I was ok with how aliens looked in live-action? Yeah, it's nothing compared to what we can do now with a good budget but it was still cool to see Heatblast, Grey Matter Diamondhead, or Wildmutt in real life.
They really did found the perfect guy to play Ben.
No argument there. He also claims to really like Humungousaur as his favorite aliennote , one of Ben's most used aliens during the UAF section, which is equally amusing.
Considering the time and budget period for both live-action movies (2007 and 2009), I thought their takes on "realistic" aliens were adequate too. Grey Matter, despite being clowned on a little in his adaptation, earned the film some nominations and an award win
for his character animation alone.
Wildmutt was a little floaty, but reasonably animalistic. Humungousaur was really well-done in Alien Swarm in terms of design and animation. Ryan agreed that Nanomech was a pretty weak alien though, and I'll probably add Heatblast's weird motion capture with him.
Really, I think that today's advancements in VFX on film and TV could reasonably get an improved take on a live-action Ben 10 film.
Low key, I really loved how Ben 10: Alien Swarm gave a more savage, animalistic edge to Humungousaur's behaviour.
I wonder how Omniverse live-action movie would look like. I bet they would have to move Ben to a different location because Undertown has just too many aliens. And honestly, Rook would probably eat a big chunk of the budget. At least he's covered everywhere but on his face.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I think Rook could be pulled off well with prosthetics, since he comes as more "human" than his cat origins.
Omniverse focused on 11-year old Ben as much as his 16 year old self, so I could see another time-related plot.
Another Friday, another Ben 10 (2005) episode overview with Kuro of the Ink Tank. "Dr. Animo and the Mutant Ray" is noted to be a very influential episode of the franchise, sparking alien fusions in the fandom and official products.
Finishing off Season 2, Kuro covers his favorite episode, "Back with a Vengeance" - the episode teaming up Vilgax and Kevin 11 to nab a Ben with Master Control unlocked.
I feel like the original series really knew how to use slow burn and gradually expose us to space to keep things magical.
Like they introduced the concept of Null Void in the first episode of Season 2 and only showed us inside of it in the last episode. And once we got there, they really worked hard to sell this place.
"What's this (gun) for?" "Anything that's not Ben."
"It looks like goes on forever." "It does."
Os didn't have full fleet alien invasions, alternative dimension counterparts, or reality-bending aliens but they keep concepts simple but strong.
For example, Omnitrix was stuck to Ben's arm and it really felt like it was almost impossible to get off. But it felt like with each series, those watches were easier and easier to take off.
I mean, if there's anything good about Season 3 of Alien Force, it's that it reveals how Ben was able to remove the Omnitrix: via voice command codes.
On this week's Ben 10 retrospective, Kuro begins Season 3 with Ben 10,000 - a classic episode focused on one of Ben's potential futures (and getting a reboot in its newest series).
Kuro questions whether or not Future Ben's abrasive attitude is justified?
Not gonna lie, naming Ben 10 aliens is hard. I feel especially around Omniverse, writers struggled with some. TBH, most alien names are just ok but you just accept them and move on. I think names tend to be best when they're created early on, perhaps even as a starting point for the alien (like come on, Echo Echo?) and worse when you have whole alien ready and then struggle to name them. Just look at Blitzworlfer.
I feel this is a common problem with hero shows for kids, "don't overwork yourself, just take it easy and relax sometimes" is a good lesson for viewers but it makes less sense to tell it to a superhero.
Aside from Ben 10,000 being aloof, I found that there was really no problem with his dutiful attitude towards hero work.
Yeah, that episode was just Moral Myopia for 10-year-old Ben.
It's like one of the comments on Kuro's video said: responsible heroes are called out for being "stuck-up" (Ben 10,000 by 10-year-old Ben, Mature Ben in Season 1 and 2 of Ben 10: Alien Force by most of the fandom), fun and silliness are given more priority over heroic duties (Season 3 of Ben 10: Alien Force, and the entirety of Ben 10: Omniverse), and the franchise suffers by listening to said ignorant fans.
Edited by BrightLight on Apr 4th 2021 at 12:46:18 AM
Every time I see your posts I smile.
Discord: Waido X 255#1372 If you cant contact me on TV Tropes do it here.
Thanks. 
Anyone found it weird that Greg Weisman didn't asked why Ben 10K didn't remember meeting his past self? I didn't think he intended him to be unofficial future back then.
Edited by Sunchet on Apr 18th 2021 at 8:16:47 PM
I think the episode used the logic that Avengers: Endgame would use when it comes to time travel.
You can time travel backwards (or in this case, forwards) to affect the time stream, but that doesn't affect your time stream. It just creates a new parallel universe via a divergence point.
Ben 10,000 doesn't remember his past self experiencing that because he never did that time travel quest as a kid. Future Gwen going back to collect their younger selves triggered a divergence point, which Ben 10,000 helped along by giving his younger self from said parallel universe a cake to give to Grandpa Max — which ensures that 10-year-old Ben's future is different from Ben 10,000's.
By doing so, Ben 10,000 ensures that his future remains separate from Present Ben's, and that Present Ben grows up happy with his family, never having gone aloof. Thus, Present Ben's future is the storyline of Ben 10: Alien Force and onwards, while Ben 10,000's future remains as a future in a separate parallel universe.
(Unless you're like or you are Derrick J. Wyatt and you think the Original Series is a Sacred Cow that can do no wrong...)
Edited by BrightLight on Apr 5th 2021 at 12:43:35 AM
IIRC Greg Weisman said he didn't really want to talk about Ben 10,000 for whatever reason when asked about it. I get the feeling it was a job he took for the bills or his own projects.
Granted, I read that years ago, so I might be misremembering the context.
We're back to our regularly scheduled breakdowns of Season 3, featuring the episodes "Midnight Madness", "A Change of Face", and "Merry Christmas".
Essentially, he takes note of how this series adapts tried and true episodic plots, like Hypno Fool, "Freaky Friday" Flip, and the Christmas Episode respectively, as a consequence of its growing episode count.
Edited by XMenMutant22 on Apr 16th 2021 at 2:40:55 PM
Firstly, I would like to report that Brazilian voice actress Ana Lúcia Menezes sadly passed away. She's notably for playing Gwen since the very beginning of the Classic series, and concluding the 2016 series. May she rest in peace.
On this week's Ben 10 Breakdown, Kuro discusses the growing seed of the Ghostfreak arc...though not without some merchandising potential along the way.
Covering "Ben Wolf", "Game Over", and "Super Alien Hero Buddy Adventures," Kuro finds some amusement out of the Omnitrix touch-and-collect feature, Sumo Slammer video game, and Netary Studios.
It's insane we actually had a toyline of fat Ben 10 characters in sumo loincloths. Imagine if we kept getting Sumo Slammers toys like that.
I remember never liking that episode because it's the most "let's kick Ben a lot" episode after Gwen 10. Like that moment he accidentally kills Ishiyama as Cannonbolt - since when Ben is that careless? Or that Ishiyama gives him zero respect even after he defeats his ancient enemy and brings him back to life.
Those are good videos but I can't help but feel like Kuro focuses on animation than on the episode aspects. He keeps pausing to point to every tiny background animation when I would expect him to, for example, give his thoughts on every individual alien or something.
I'm also gonna call out "The Unnaturals", "Sublimino", and to a lesser extent, "Secret of the Omnitrix".
While you can get why I feel like Ben gets crapped on a lot in the former two episodes I mentioned if you just watch them, I'll clarify why I also put forth "Secret of the Omnitrix".
The scene where Tetrax asks Ben if he does his heroics for the thrill or because it's the right thing to do.
Like, seriously?
It's already been established multiple times before that point that Ben does his heroics because he knows it's the right thing to do.
"Secret of the Omnitrix" painting Ben out to be someone who does heroics for the thrill up to that point is just a blatantly wrong Informed Flaw.
Unnaturals had unfair moments like many episodes but the whole episode wasn't about it.
Sublimino episode was definitely a Humiliation Conga but at least it was just physical comedy while Gwen 10 and Game Over basically called him a big loser and told him his family members are way better heroes than he is.
Yeah, I recall that scene from Secret...I always read it as an implication that over time Ben forgot his original reason for being a hero.
And overall Game Over had kinda dopy writing. Like Ishiyama assuming that Ben is Kenko trying to trick him... because he asked him if he's a shapeshifter and Ben said "yes".
On this week's Ben 10 Breakdown, Kuro's pretty confident that the OG did a great job framing XLR8 in a way that he's an immediate fan favorite alien. The continuing Ghostfreak arc, covering "Under Wraps", "The Unnaturals", and "Monster Weather" seems to conveniently support that.
Edited by XMenMutant22 on Apr 30th 2021 at 1:29:43 PM
Finally, the Ghostfreak arc comes to its conclusion with episodes, "The Return" and "Be Afraid of The Dark".
There's threads for the reboot and the sequels but not the original Ben 10.
The American Cartoon Network has been airing reruns of the original Ben 10 lately. It's a pretty good cartoon.