Ben 10: Why?!

[Kolby Jack]

When I was in high school about 7 years ago, I saw this neat little cartoon on Cartoon Network about a boy who could transform into various aliens using a weird alien watch he found. It wasn't a particularly extraordinary show, but it was good, pretty well-written, and generally fun to watch (and had an extremely catchy theme song). They made a TV movie that ended the series on a pretty good note, and I was fairly happy with its run.

Cut to one year later...

Oh, they made a new Ben 10 series? Alien Force? Could be interesting, I wonder how they'll handle it.

Spoiler: *Watches first episode*

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! How could they get so much so wrong in THE VERY FIRST EPISODE?!

Okay, calm down, Jack... maybe it'll be explained later and it'll recover from this bad first step.

Spoiler: *Watches rest of Alien Force season*

And from the look of this new series they're doing... Oh god, it's like they hate fans of the original series! How could they be this incompetent? I know it's a merchandise driven show... but damn! I like a lot of what Cartoon Network has been putting out lately, at least in terms of its action cartoons, but this... thing continues to vex me. Does anyone actually like this series anymore?

CAPTCHA: "Since when"

That was a question I asked quite frequently every time a plot element adapted from the original show was brought into the new series. Kevin is a troubled good guy? Since when? Vilgax is a noble conqueror? SINCE WHEN?! Gwen is a half-alien energy being? SINCE. WHEN?!?!?!?

 

[Spambot 3000]

Yeah, it's alright I suppose.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Yeah I remember thinking Ben 10 was a neat little show. Then Alien Force sort of ruined it for me too. Without even touching the story I'll just say, Bens new aliens were sort of lame since they all pretty much were Four Arms (Super strong), Kevins absorbing abilities were underused and he sort of become the ***** of the show, and Gwen's "magic" was lame. Purple floaty glass is not that exciting to watch. Crazy ass spells are

 

[Broady Brio]

I just remember Grandpa Max being Colonel Campbell. In Alien Force, they taken him away. Incentive to watch is now gone.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I remember the original being fun and that TV movie was actually pretty enjoyable. I watched four episodes of Alien Force and dropped it like a moldy apple.

 

[Sir Pootis]

It was less the new series that put me off, but rather the sudden shift in tone in Season 4 that sealed the coffin. The fact this design carried over to Alien Force didn't help much.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Somebody is apparently still watching them, so Cartoon Network keeps making them.
That and they're seriously lacking for new good shows these days, so they have to milk what they have.

 

[malestrithe]

I like the franchise as a whole. I like that thee universe they hinted at greatly in the first series has be greatly expanded upon in the subsequent series. I like that Ben has grown up and realizes it's not all fun and games. I like how Gwen has become more willing to trust Ben and not act like a know it all. I like how Kevin figured out that being good might be better for him in the long run. I like how Grandpa got out of the way and let the now teenage heroes mess up and fail on their own without his guidance.

All this would be apparent if you bothered to see the series beyond one episode.

 

[Lizardon]

I'm one of the few people who liked Alien Force and Ultimate Alien. I liked having grown up "smart" characters for one thing. The series also had overarching plots and character development across the series, something the original lacked. Other than that they have a lot of the god stuff from the original, like the humour and action.

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! How could they get so much so wrong in THE VERY FIRST EPISODE?!

Could you elaborate? What was wrong in the first episode specifically?

Kevin is a troubled good guy? Since when?

Well actually an episode in Ultimate Alien deals with how Kevin's changed between the series. Short story is someone took him under their wing, becoming a father figure, and helped him control his powers, later sacrificing themselves to save Kevin. This, and the discovery that his father was a Plumber is what lead to Kevin change in attitude. And across AF and UF he continued to grow as a person.

Kevin is probably my favourite character of the series. Shame he's been demoted to minor character in Omniverse.

Vilgax is a noble conqueror? SINCE WHEN?!

Not sure what you a talking about here. Yes he is a conqueror of worlds, that is established in the original, but who says he is noble? Nobody, except the people of his home world apparently, think he is anything but evil.

Gwen is a half-alien energy being? SINCE. WHEN?!?!?!?

Since the writers decided to retcon all powers and magic as the result of aliens. Why is that a problem? I find that it is a better reason for her having powers then "She's magic".

And while we are talking Ben 10, has anyone seen the leaked first episode of the new series? It's a direct sequel again, with the voice actors returning, but I really don't like the new art style.

Spoiler: 16 and 10 year old Ben

Spoiler: Gwen and Kevin

Spoiler: Grandpa Max

What happened to his eyes!

 

[Aerosteam]

I'm most annoyed by how they're still calling the show 'Ben 10'

Before, the '10' meant he can turn into 10 different aliens. I don't know how much he can turn into now (since I don't watch it) but with all these 'ultimate' aliens being introduced I think they've exceeded 10.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I really enjoyed the original Ben 10, it was interesting, exciting, and had lots of cool alien designs. Alien Force, on the other hand, was crap. Ultimate Alien was a bit better, but still not as good as the original. And don't get me started on the next one...

 

[Retsam19]

I'm most annoyed by how they're still calling the show 'Ben 10'

Before, the '10' meant he can turn into 10 different aliens. I don't know how much he can turn into now (since I don't watch it) but with all these 'ultimate' aliens being introduced I think they've exceeded 10.

To be fair, that's been true since the original show. It was pretty early in the show that they introduced more aliens; I think he had 15-20 aliens by the end of the first show.



Still, I was none too impressed with the changes made with the new series. My impression was that they just wanted to "streamline" the series into a more straight action show by cleaning up a lot of the details; except that those "details" were what gave the original show its character.
Ben being at heart a totally irresponsible kid with good intentions? Let's make him grow up and become more responsible so that we can deal with some "serious" threats.
Gwen using a spellbook of quirky spells? Too complicated, let's just give her green lantern powers colored purple.
Kevin being a character who is consistently on the wrong side, but still has sympathetic motives? Too dark, let's just skip past all that slow character growth and jump to him being on their team (we'll just give a flashback episode to explain the change eventually)
Oh, and lets make them all teens rather than children; cause teens are "cool", and then we can have romantic tension between Gwen and Kevin. That'll be "awesome".

I guess, I wouldn't have minded where AF ended up if it had worked its way there more gradually, rather than taking the time-skip approach to character development. Character development is one of my favorite parts of these shows, and it's one thing the original did well.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Ask any fan of the original TMNT, HE-MAN or Thundercats what they think of the new incarnations and they will say they suck more often then not. (Note: The Originals are abysmal by standards today... that is an objective fact, piss poor budget, so many shortcuts, shoehorned morality lessons etc).

It's nostalgia vision folks. The New Ben 10s are DIFFERENT and are only worse because you don't like how it has changed. Considering it's still one of the biggest shows on Cartoon Network means that it isn't worse.

It sucks, but that how the cookie crumbles. Even though Alien Force is a continuation of the original series, the target demographic (the targeted age groups didn't change) is the same. I use to like Ben 10, tried watching Alien Force and thought "Me no likey". I also watched some re-runs of the original series and also thought "Yeah, I don't know why I liked this". Turns out most cartoons from the west just don't age with the audience.

Very few exceptions. I wish this would change but it's what we have to put up with.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't know, I never really watched it. However in the few episodes I have seen I found Ben to be rather obnoxious and that's in both shows.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

And while we are talking Ben 10, has anyone seen the leaked first episode of the new series? It's a direct sequel again, with the voice actors returning, but I really don't like the new art style.

Spoiler: 16 and 10 year old Ben

Spoiler: Gwen and Kevin

Spoiler: Grandpa Max

What happened to his eyes!

Oh god, kill it with fire.

OT: The original was good.

Alien Force was OK.

I never saw the next one.

And now that I've seen the art style, I can say that I will NOT be watching the 4th season.


Is it safe to say CN is milking the cash cow?

 

[Veldel]

Ask any fan of the original TMNT, HE-MAN or Thundercats what they think of the new incarnations and they will say they suck more often then not. (Note: The Originals are abysmal by standards today... that is an objective fact, piss poor budget, so many shortcuts, shoehorned morality lessons etc).

It's nostalgia vision folks. The New Ben 10s are DIFFERENT and are only worse because you don't like how it has changed. Considering it's still one of the biggest shows on Cartoon Network means that it isn't worse.

It sucks, but that how the cookie crumbles. Even though Alien Force is a continuation of the original series, the target demographic (the targeted age groups didn't change) is the same. I use to like Ben 10, tried watching Alien Force and thought "Me no likey". I also watched some re-runs of the original series and also thought "Yeah, I don't know why I liked this". Turns out most cartoons from the west just don't age with the audience.

Very few exceptions. I wish this would change but it's what we have to put up with.

Going to need to disagree Iv found plenty of older shows I liked still and yes as in watched recently. Hell not to long ago I watched every single power rangers some of them are really kick ass while others I hated and am currently waiting for them to finish Super Samurai and move onto Megaforce. I'm liking older and newer there.

Cutting it short what you said isn't a fact but is merely your own opinion also I never liked He-man but I still love TMNT and Thundercats and enjoy new series same for my friend. Hell I love Transformers G1 and I love Transformers Prime, I also Love animated but disliked the Unicorn Trilogy.

Haven't seen the new TMNT so I can not comment on that now if you excuse me I must go watch Dexters Lab xD

 

[Moderated]

According to a main series episode taking place in the future, alien force isn't canon.