Ben 10: Alien Force thread

[Crankyman]

This is a thread dedicated to Ben 10: Alien Force, just in time for... the second season. -_-;

Well, I have high hopes for this season. While the first season lacked a lot of the action I was craving (especially the finale!), it made up for it with more character dynamics. Ideally, I'd like to see some real progress made in the main storyline, thwarting the DNAliens.

Kevin's Car: the club I created a while ago, dedicated to this sort of thing.

 

[Chosen of Mana]

Well, I have high hopes for this season. While the first season lacked a lot of the action I was craving (especially the finale!), it made up for it with more character dynamics. Ideally, I'd like to see some real progress made in the main storyline, thwarting the DNAliens.

This.

I was dissapointed with the retcon of Gwen's magic to her being part-alien as well, but I doubt they can change that back.

 

[Railith]

It took Ben 10 a season to really get going so I have hope the Alien Force will do the same.

 

[Zeta]

Explaining away the magic was really lame and made no sense, and it felt like they forgot about the main plot, Kevin's character makes no sense . . .

Oh, and yeah, they met the kids they were supposed to be befriending and found out the others they were sent out to find were in the null void. So do they help out? No, they just shove them into there and say "Do it yourself".

Baaad writing and tons of missed opportunities characterize Alien Force.

 

[Crankyman]

Dwayne McDuffie can redeem himself, can't he?

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Dywane McDuffie can redeem himself, can't he?

Dwayne McDuffie's involved in Ben 10?

 

[Crankyman]

He's the writer.

 

[Zeta]

Seems to be slumming.

 

[Railith]

Tonight is the start of season 2! I hope they will lighten up the show to make it more Ben 10.

 

[Zeta]

Well, I think the problem is this: Ben 10 was very lighthearted and also very lose on continuity and didn't have a lot of intra-episode plot which worked OK, because the family was just driving around getting into trouble.

Alien Force is trying to be darker and have a goal, but the episodes don't actually further that goal, and it's only mentioned once in a great while. It has the ILLUSION of having an on-going plot but doesn't actually have one in practice, preferring to only bring it up between multiple monster of the week episodes. And that looseness is hurting it pretty bad.

In general, loose continuity and light tone fit together well, and dark tone and tight continuity work well. It's when you try to fit dark tone with loose continuity that everything goes to heck because it feels like stuff is SUPPOSED to "count", but it doesn't. But that's just my opinion.

 

[Crankyman]

If you were looking for continuity, then Max's death...?

 

[Railith]

I liked Ben and the Highbreed hanging out in the desert. The episode as a whole is a little slower but a little classier. It would be awesome if they bring him back to help the crew during a time of crisis.

 

[Ino-Chan]

I used to like the old series, but after watching a few episodes, I fell out of it. It just seemed to change too much for my taste.

 

[Crankyman]

I like the different pace. But I still think this episode was needlessly boring.

 

[Railith]

So Evil Ben is the monster Kevin.

 

[Crankyman]

CHILI FRIES?

 

[bell02+]

I like this series, but I have no clue about what time it comes on anymore...

But I like how in Ben 10, Ben was very juvenile in a light hearted setting, and now that he's a teen he's kind of subdued and moody in a darker setting. They both use a lot of Anime Character devices that don't necessarily fit (Kevin suddenly becoming good for example in this and Gwen PMSing constantly in the first)... but I like the whole plot and designs all in all.

I also like the way they gave it a whole 80s/early 90s SciFi feel as well. I admit to the plot holes... like Gwen's magic being explained as Alien, when we know of that other girl who also used magic... but yeah, I like Ghost Face, and I like the more serious tone. (Especially considering that there aren't many Serious American Children Shows anymore)

 

[Crankyman]

It's on every Friday at 9:30 P.M. EST except this Halloween.

 

[Crankyman]

SO I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WOULD SAY SOMETHING.

Edit: I guess I will. >_>

I think this episode is supposed to be the episode that establishes the already established relationships even more (I don't like blatantly formulaic episodes that much). So it came off as fanservicey. So it gets a...

Eh out of Awesum. (Rated on a scale of Argh to Awesum)

 

[Railith]

It was an AWESUM out of AWESM!

It was charming and Ben had to deal with the omnitrix being all funky. Also Kevin was solid gold in the episode, but not literally gold.