The story of Ben Tennyson, a typical kid who becomes very atypical after he discovers the Omnitrix, a mysterious alien device with the power to transform the wearer into ten different alien species. Is it just me, or do villains pop out everywhere Ben and his family travel to? Arizona? Lightning aliens! Old folks home? More evil aliens! New Orleans? Necromancers! Suburbs? Evil geek! Circus? Evil clowns! Well, clowns are always evil. But in any case, it seems that bad guys either follow Ben around, or show up conveniently when he shows up. And most of the time the bad guys aren't in anyway affiliated with the main alien enemies trying to get the Omnitrix back. It's the same most episodes. Bad guys with unexplained superpowers show up, Ben fights them. WITH HIS 10 YEAR OLD COUSIN AND GRANDFATHER. You'd think a person with 10 varied superpowers could handle this with out putting elderly and young family members in mortal peril. But I guess not. It's the villain-of-the-week formula, people. It's unoriginal and (in this case) jagged in plot structure.<br/><br/>What this show desperately needs is some plot cohesion. The action is pretty good, Ben (as a character) has a lot of potential. The back story involving his grandfather is interesting. The main alien antagonist is a good villain. But all of this is hampered by writing that never stays on one subject. Coming of age story? That could work. Coming of age story one episode… PSYCHO FISHERMEN NEXT EPISODE! Not so much. If this show could give reasons for the various super-powered fiends (and not just HAY LOOK AT DEEZ BAD GUYZ!!!1), then at least I could get into it. But how can you when each episode is completely random and pointless? They've managed to do this with other shows. There's a reason the good guys fight and a reason behind the bad guys. The Teen Titans live in a world of super-powered beings. That's why the bad guys are super-powered. In Ben 10, Ben just seems to go with the flow. Travel on summer vacation? Bad guys on the way? Sure, why not. There's no motivation, no logic, no reason.<br/><br/>This show could be SOO much better if the writers, I don't now, picked up a book? Watched The Godfather? I understand a Saturday morning cartoon can only do so much, but it just seems like the writers are lazy. My little brother and I have watched it from, like, the 1st episode onward. I'm 15, a girl, and in high school, and I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! The humans, while their drawing is a bit flawed, are very good. I was a little skeptic about the "two kids, a old dude, and a magic watch" deal, but my brother wouldn't let me have the clicker and I didn't want to go downstairs to watch SpongeBob (our basement's COLD, man), so i sat on my butt and watched. WOW were my original skepticisms misplaced!<br/><br/>The alien designs are incredible (Wild Mutt, Heatblast, and Upgrade to name a few). The evil aliens are pretty awesome too…Vilgax (or however you spell it can) survive jut about ANYTHING!!! <br/><br/>Some of my fellow commenters on this show have pointed out the unlikelyhood of an evil alien/human/wizard being in every single place they go. Weeell, I noticed that myself, and I have a few theories on that topic: 1)The bad guys/aliens are following them. 2)The bad guys/aliens are following the Omnitrix's signal (maybe it leaves some kind of radiation footprint whenever Ben uses it that makes it trackable, I dunno!). 3)The grandfather fights evil paranormals, so maybe HE'S tracking the bad guys, not the other way around. 4)Weird things happen everyday around the world, maybe it's just chance! I've seen a UFO, buildings are haunted, Nessie's been sighted (if they do an episode at Loch Ness, THAT I'd like to see. Or maybe Lake Champlain.). And 5)THEY HAVE TO HAVE A BAD GUY THERE OR NOTHING WOULD HAPPEN, THE SHOW WOULD GET CANCELLED, AND THEY'D REPLACE IT WITH DORA THE EXPLORER! <br/><br/>Bottom Line: Give this show a chance. The voices suit the characters (Tara Strong, you ROCK). The aliens are cool. The villains are freaky. There are some awesome gadgets. Grandpa, Gwen and Ben make a kick-ass team. Just sit and watch one full episode; you might be surprised.
Jamachary replied
364 weeks ago