My son is a Ben 10 fanatic. He loves the original, has warmed to Ben 10: Alien Force and even had a Ben 10-themed birthday party this year. Between his birthday and Christmas, his aunties got him the season one and two DVD sets so life is good during screen time at the McDuffee residence.
When we were asked to review the new DVD release, Ben 10: Alien Force, Vol. 6, I said, “Sure. Why not?” Knowing how well-received dear old Ben is in my house. As I started to research it, though, I was confused as to what was really included in the set. All I could find was that it had the last four episodes of season two and an alien database.
Okay … but wasn’t Ben 10 season two already released in its entirety? Why yes, yes it was — because we own it. But here’s the thing — the four episodes that are on this new release: “Birds of a Feather,” “Unearthed,” and “War of the Worlds” parts one and two aren’t actually listed — anywhere! — as part of Ben 10 season two.
I’ve sorted through my ignorant mom’s confusion and realized that, in fact, Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force are two separate shows. I always thought that Ben 10 comprised the first two seasons and Ben 10: Alien Force just took over at season three. Well, no. They each have their own separate season twos and now that I’ve realized that I’m reviewing Ben 10: Alien Force‘s season two episodes, it all makes much more sense. Oh, and these episodes weren’t previously released so it makes much more sense to me now.
Had I just asked my son, I’m sure he would have been able to reveal these details to me … so almost 300 words later I can begin my review.
While it’s cool to have episodes on DVD, convenient for bringing to Grandma’s house and watching when the On-Demand choices are limited, there’s not a whole lot that’s special about this DVD set. They really hype up the alien database that’s the only special feature included, but at this point Ben has about a trillion aliens on his Omnitrix and the database only includes five aliens, which really disappointed the five-year-old.
He does, however, love the episodes and had plenty of things to say about them. My favorites:
“Birds of a Feather” – “Wow, he must be able to do the dishes really good, since he’s so fast with those four arms.” – regarding Spider-Monkey
“War of the Worlds, Part Two” – “I love the end when Ben hits his Omnitrix and says, ‘Here we go again!'” I agree, Owen — it’s a great way to end a season, and a DVD collection!
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Mar 30, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
LOL, well get ready for next month, because Ben 10: Ultimate Alien starts on the 23rd. I like to think that they’re all the same series, they just get a new subtitle every few seasons. Ben 10 is 4 seasons long, and Ben 10: Alien Force had 3 seasons.
The original series was striking for its clever heroes, sharp writing, interesting character/alien designs and imaginative fight sequences. I was very disappointed when they fired the old staff to launch the sequel, which turned out to be just another cookie-cutter anime-style action show, replete with teenage angst and stupidity, as well as lots of standing around and talking during the fights to save on animation. I prefer to think of the two shows as completely unrelated.
*POST AUTHOR*
I agree, and I’ve been uncomfortable with some of the themes of Alien Force for my 5-y-o. I think the new one will probably be even more inappropriate for the little guys, so I’m glad we have Ben 10 on DVD! :-)