Ben 10 is an American media franchise created by "Man of Action" (a group consisting of Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle) and produced by Cartoon Network Studios.
The franchise is about a boy who acquires a watch-like alien device called the Omnitrix that allows him to turn into alien creatures.
The Ben 10 franchise received widely acclaimed reviews and won two Emmy Awards; it also has grossed over $2 billion in retail sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and has sold 100 million toys worldwide.[
The Omnitrix appears in the first two incarnations of the franchise (Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force) and the Ultimatrix in the third incarnation Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. And in the final episode of Ultimate Alien, Azmuth takes the Ultimatrix from Ben and replaces it with a new Omnitrix - the original and Ultimate version have been only prototypes.
In Ben 10: Omniverse, a knock off of the original Omnitrix, the Nemetrix is introduced. Unlike the Omnitrix and its succeeding models, the Nemetrix uses the DNA of the natural predators of sapian alien races. Thus, only an animal can utilize the Nemetrix as users of higher intelligence are unable to use it themselves.
The organization is composed of both human and alien members, each of whom possesses a special badge, and all badges bear the intergalactic peace symbol, a green hourglass shape. Later in omniverse the plumber's symbol becomes a red dot. The badge has many features:
They are based on a vital energy called "Mana", that is present in all living things and beings throughout the entire universe, known as the life source energy. For Anodites, this is a source of power, and they also have the ability to control it like "magic" (which is confirmed to be derived from Mana). A key difference is that this form of magic (or at least magical rituals) relies much more on the use of spoken incantations, spell books, charms and talismans, and even celestial events, to achieve the magical and mystical effects the caster desires. Anodites manipulate this, and are able to create pink-and-magenta-colored shields and force fields of varying shapes and sizes for protection and circular magenta shapes or globes that can be thrown to disable enemies.
Anodites are quite free-spirited and most don't take life as seriously as most humans to the point that some Anodites disregard the morality of their actions and would rather satisfy their own personal pleasures, but that does not stop them from helping others.
They have a unique ability to absorb matter and energy from nearly anything and use it in various ways. Osmosians can channel energy through their hands to manipulate technology, discharge it as an energy blast or use it to speed up cellular regeneration to increase their strength or recover from injuries at an accelerated rate. Osmosians are able to absorb and synthesize the mass, properties, and chemical makeup of matter to change their body into a living matter sharing these properties. The absorbed matter is as durable as the matter used to make it and can enhance their strength and durability. Osmosians can also extend their matter to anything they are touching.
Osmosians can become mentally unstable if they absorb energy and cannot control it, becoming an addiction like a drug. Storing energy for long periods of time will worsen their instability. This addiction, can be also caused when they feed with life force from other living beings, causing the Osmosian to become insatiable and instinctively seek out any possible source of energy to feed off of.
As they can absorb energy life force, they can also absorb the DNA, receiving 10% of their abilities and powers, and making the Osmosians having sometimes, physical mutations.
The Galvan race is best known for being a highly intelligent race whose great amount of calculative and technical intellect allowed them to create almost anything from spare parts and deduce the function of any device at a glance. The Galvans originally had no empire to speak of, were recognized from their skills and were employed by other species as industrial technicians, spies and saboteurs. But in time, keeping their projects top secret, they amassed their acquired knowledge to build a powerful empire of their own based on the technology they had kept from the rest of the universe. Among the notable Galvans in the series, is Azmuth, who created the Omnitrix among many other technologies; and also Azmuth is considered the most intelligent being in the Universe.
In "Destroy All Aliens," Azmuth's father says that the Galvans created Stonehenge, as a practical joke.
The Rust Bucket, is an old RV resembling a GMC motorhome owned by Max Tennyson. And despite being old, and even have been destroyed a few times, Max has a great affection for it.
Ship is a Galvanic Mechamorph (Upgrade's species) alien that has the ability to transform himself into fully operational technology he's once touched. And he merged with the Forever Knights spaceship, from this event, he became the space transportation for Ben's team during the season 3 of Ben 10: Alien Force. He was replaced by the Rust Bucket III, a Plumbers' jet that Kevin has upgraded with alien tech.
Kevin's car is a Muscle car resembling a Dodge Challenger armed with Plumber technology as well as other various alien tech, including guns and offroad capabilities. It is the team's main transport in Ben 10: Alien Force & Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. As it is damaged and/or destroyed a lot, mainly during fights or chase scenes, and Kevin constantly repairs it.
Earth is a level 2 planet, something that is considered very inferior by other aliens, as it was stated once that Earth is at least 500 years away from being level 3.
Dwayne McDuffie describes some levels:
Paradox, now with knowledge of the time line, later explains to Ben the concept of Cross Time. Cross Time is a reference to alternate future timelines, such as the timeline depicted in "Ben 10,000" and "Ken 10" where Kevin was still evil. Another Cross Time future, depicted in "Ben 10,000 Returns", presents Ben still with the Ultimatrix and using it to become an Ultimate human.
A comic book based on the special titled: "Hero Times Two" was released on November 30, 2011, as the sixty-fifth issue of DC Comics' Cartoon Network: Action Pack
The franchise is about a boy who acquires a watch-like alien device called the Omnitrix that allows him to turn into alien creatures.
The Ben 10 franchise received widely acclaimed reviews and won two Emmy Awards; it also has grossed over $2 billion in retail sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and has sold 100 million toys worldwide.[
Original series
Main article: Ben 10 (TV series)
10-year-old Ben Tennyson finds an alien device out in the woods, the
Omnimatrix (Omnitrix for short), which allows him to turn into ten
different alien
species: Heatblast, Wildmutt, Diamondhead, XLR8, Grey Matter, Four
Arms, Stinkfly, Ripjaws, Upgrade, and Ghostfreak. Throughout his summer
vacation, traveling the world in the "Rust Bucket" with his Grandpa Max
and his cousin Gwen Tennyson, Aryaman fights crime and evil aliens with
his new powers, gaining the ability to turn into ten more aliens:
Cannonbolt, Wildvine, Benwolf, Benmummy, Benvicktor, Ditto, Upchuck, Eye
Guy, Way Big, and Eon, who was in Ben 10: Race Against Time.Alien Force
Main article: Ben 10: Alien Force
Five years after the original series, Ben has apparently taken off
the Omnitrix, but, when his Grandpa Max goes missing, he puts it back
on, which reboots it and gives Ben a new set of ten aliens (Swampfire,
Echo Echo, Humungasaur, Jetray, Big Chill, Spidermonkey, Goop,
Brainstorm, Chromastone, and Alien X). Ben's old enemy, Kevin Levin,
somehow escaped the Null Void, but has become (mostly) reformed and
joins Ben's team.Ultimate Alien
Main article: Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
Several weeks after the end of Alien Force, Ben now has the Ultimate
Omnimatrix/Ultimate Omnitrix/Ultimatrix, which allows him to 'evolve'
his aliens into more powerful forms. Even though it was advertised that
Ben now has all of his old forms, this doesn't really happen until Ben 10,000 Returns. After Ben gets home to his family, he also has many new "aliens" that he has to try and fight evil with.Omniverse
Main article: Ben 10: Omniverse
After Ultimate Alien, Ben gets a new Omnitrix along with a new set of
aliens. While Gwen and Kevin go off to college, Ben is ready to become a
solo superhero. But Max pairs him up with Rook, a by-the-book rookie
plumber. Max sends Ben and Rook to investigate a hidden alien city.
Meanwhile, Ben is targeted by an intergalactic bounty hunter named
Khyber. Ben later meets new villains and has a secret about his alien
Feedback. Gwen becomes the "Lucky Girl" again.Elements of the franchise
Omnitrix/Ultimatrix/Nemetrix
Main article: List of Ben 10 aliens
Falling accidentally into the hands of Ben Tennyson, the Omnitrix and its later upgrade the Ultimatrix
are the central element of the Ben 10 story. They are alien devices of
level 20 technology developed by Azmuth that transform the user into any
one of a number of alien beings. Despite many seeing it as a weapon,
the true purpose of the Omnitrix was to allow the diverse beings of the
universe to understand each other by walking in each other's shoes, and
to resurrect intelligent species that may go extinct.The Omnitrix appears in the first two incarnations of the franchise (Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force) and the Ultimatrix in the third incarnation Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. And in the final episode of Ultimate Alien, Azmuth takes the Ultimatrix from Ben and replaces it with a new Omnitrix - the original and Ultimate version have been only prototypes.
In Ben 10: Omniverse, a knock off of the original Omnitrix, the Nemetrix is introduced. Unlike the Omnitrix and its succeeding models, the Nemetrix uses the DNA of the natural predators of sapian alien races. Thus, only an animal can utilize the Nemetrix as users of higher intelligence are unable to use it themselves.
Characters
Main article: List of Ben 10 characters
The franchise has a variety of kinds of characters: humans, aliens, and also there are magical characters mixed with the alien subject.The Plumbers
The Plumbers are an intergalactic policing/counter-terrorist/black-ops organization, which deals with extraterrestrial, paranormal, and other situations by using many high-tech alien gadgets and weapons.The organization is composed of both human and alien members, each of whom possesses a special badge, and all badges bear the intergalactic peace symbol, a green hourglass shape. Later in omniverse the plumber's symbol becomes a red dot. The badge has many features:
- Is a communication device.
- Creates a holographic map that can pin-point the location of another Plumber's badge.
- Is a universal translator.
- Enables access to "Extranet", which is an intergalactic version of the Internet.
Forever Knights
The Forever Knights are a secret British society/paramilitary group first formed during the Middle Ages that are dedicating to collect and study alien technology, usually in illegal ways. Any aliens they capture along the way are dissected and studied, and any humans caught with them are immediately deemed worthless and disposed of. It is revealed in "Ben 10: Ultimate Alien" that the reason for their actions is to combat Diagon, an entity from another dimension that nearly conquered Earth in the Middle Ages were it not for the Forever Knights' immortal Founder George; when George left them, the Forever Knights began to splinter under various self-titled Forever Kings who transformed their knights' duty into a genocidal policy toward anything alien. The Forever Knights also arm themselves with a large variety of medieval weapons enhanced by alien technology, with Lightsaber-like swords, lances, "laser lances", laser guns and electro shock rods being their most common ones.Anodites
Anodites are a humanoid race of energy beings from the planet "Anodyne".They are based on a vital energy called "Mana", that is present in all living things and beings throughout the entire universe, known as the life source energy. For Anodites, this is a source of power, and they also have the ability to control it like "magic" (which is confirmed to be derived from Mana). A key difference is that this form of magic (or at least magical rituals) relies much more on the use of spoken incantations, spell books, charms and talismans, and even celestial events, to achieve the magical and mystical effects the caster desires. Anodites manipulate this, and are able to create pink-and-magenta-colored shields and force fields of varying shapes and sizes for protection and circular magenta shapes or globes that can be thrown to disable enemies.
Anodites are quite free-spirited and most don't take life as seriously as most humans to the point that some Anodites disregard the morality of their actions and would rather satisfy their own personal pleasures, but that does not stop them from helping others.
Osmosians
Osmosians (a play on osmosis) are human-like aliens from the planet "Osmos V".They have a unique ability to absorb matter and energy from nearly anything and use it in various ways. Osmosians can channel energy through their hands to manipulate technology, discharge it as an energy blast or use it to speed up cellular regeneration to increase their strength or recover from injuries at an accelerated rate. Osmosians are able to absorb and synthesize the mass, properties, and chemical makeup of matter to change their body into a living matter sharing these properties. The absorbed matter is as durable as the matter used to make it and can enhance their strength and durability. Osmosians can also extend their matter to anything they are touching.
Osmosians can become mentally unstable if they absorb energy and cannot control it, becoming an addiction like a drug. Storing energy for long periods of time will worsen their instability. This addiction, can be also caused when they feed with life force from other living beings, causing the Osmosian to become insatiable and instinctively seek out any possible source of energy to feed off of.
As they can absorb energy life force, they can also absorb the DNA, receiving 10% of their abilities and powers, and making the Osmosians having sometimes, physical mutations.
Galvans
Galvans (a play on galvanization) are a small bipedal frog-like beings, originally from Galvan Prime; currently they live in Galvan Mark II.The Galvan race is best known for being a highly intelligent race whose great amount of calculative and technical intellect allowed them to create almost anything from spare parts and deduce the function of any device at a glance. The Galvans originally had no empire to speak of, were recognized from their skills and were employed by other species as industrial technicians, spies and saboteurs. But in time, keeping their projects top secret, they amassed their acquired knowledge to build a powerful empire of their own based on the technology they had kept from the rest of the universe. Among the notable Galvans in the series, is Azmuth, who created the Omnitrix among many other technologies; and also Azmuth is considered the most intelligent being in the Universe.
In "Destroy All Aliens," Azmuth's father says that the Galvans created Stonehenge, as a practical joke.
Transports
Each series has featured with some kind of main transportation. The wheeled motor vehicles, even appearing like normal cars, they are equipped with several Plumbers' technology, like a turbo engine, laser guns and also an autopilot. And they are often destroyed during the series.The Rust Bucket, is an old RV resembling a GMC motorhome owned by Max Tennyson. And despite being old, and even have been destroyed a few times, Max has a great affection for it.
Ship is a Galvanic Mechamorph (Upgrade's species) alien that has the ability to transform himself into fully operational technology he's once touched. And he merged with the Forever Knights spaceship, from this event, he became the space transportation for Ben's team during the season 3 of Ben 10: Alien Force. He was replaced by the Rust Bucket III, a Plumbers' jet that Kevin has upgraded with alien tech.
Kevin's car is a Muscle car resembling a Dodge Challenger armed with Plumber technology as well as other various alien tech, including guns and offroad capabilities. It is the team's main transport in Ben 10: Alien Force & Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. As it is damaged and/or destroyed a lot, mainly during fights or chase scenes, and Kevin constantly repairs it.
Allusions
The series often makes references and parodies to the popular culture, by the episode titles, lines, characters, events, and other ways:Running gags
- Many characters prefer violent solutions rather than verbal ones, especially Kevin, who prefers to hit people before talking, but is stopped by Gwen, who is much more sensitive than him. Also, Ben prefers using a big, powerful alien in many situations, but ends up turning into another alien, especially Grey Matter, a small and less powerful genetic Galvan, and Nanomech, a humanoid insect.
- During the original series, Ben has a lack of hygiene, and this is briefly seen in the other series. It is sometimes mentioned that he rarely washes himself or never changes clothes, claiming the shirt that is commonly worn throughout the first series is the only shirt he used during the entire summer.
- Mr. Smoothy is a restaurant that serves mostly smoothies at which Ben and his friends are regular customers. The titular mascot is a cup with face and legs that holds a smaller cup. It serves the strangest assortment of flavors in its smoothies, made to order. Among the strange flavors which Ben drinks are: "chocolate and carrot", "nectarine", "mango and blueberry with extra echinacea" and "all-meat flavored smoothies such as lamb and sardine". In Bellwood there are 23 Mr. Smoothy restaurants, and in some episodes some of them are destroyed because of Ben.
- Sumo Slammers is a large franchise spawning up to video games, trading card games, TV shows, movies, mp3 players, etc., which appears often in the Ben 10 series. The storyline of the franchise is similar to anime stories, although the details were not shown, but it tells about a warrior called Ishiyama and his archenemy called Kenko with the ability to shapeshift. Kenko has somehow joined to Ishiyama. Ben has been a huge fan since he was young, and is always trying to do something linked with it, such as knowing the news about them and pretending that he is fighting like them.
- Kevin's car is a muscle car armed with Plumber technology as well as other various alien tech, including guns and off-road capabilities. As it is often damaged and/or destroyed (such as during fights or chase scenes), Kevin is constantly repairing it. The Rust Bucket III has also become a part of this running gag. In the episode "Video Game" Kevin seems to think Ben's destruction of Will's car is not a good way of getting back at Harangue for his rage focused at Ben. Due to Kevin's obsession with own his car, it is likely a joke referencing that.
- Since "War of the Worlds", due to Ben's worldwide fame, he shows some typical celebrity behavior, where he is chased by fans and shows off, hoping that someone will notice and adore him. He constantly claims to have "saved the whole entire universe!".
Recurring elements
Technologies
The advanced technologies shown are both alien and from Earth. In the series, they are divided in levels of complication, danger or sophistication. The levels known thus far are 1-20, although some technology is confirmed to be higher than Level 20. Any tech above the allowed level, used on this planet, is considered illegal.Earth is a level 2 planet, something that is considered very inferior by other aliens, as it was stated once that Earth is at least 500 years away from being level 3.
Dwayne McDuffie describes some levels:
- Level 1 includes use and construction of simple tools.
- Level 2 includes remedial energy Manipulation, the use of Fire and/or the use of simple machines.
- Level 3 includes intermediate tool use and industrial organization combined with intermediate energy manipulation. Often information management technologies develop at Level 3. This is also the level at which many species accidentally kill themselves.
- Level 5 includes remedial manipulation of the fundamental force.
Null Void
The Null Void is an alternate dimension created by the Galvan as a penal colony. It is filled with floating rocks, with flying creatures as guards. It is shown to be worse than a normal prison, often scarring many people that went there, including Kevin, which can be argued to be the cause for his transition to a protagonist. It's also a place for people to start over in life. They are protected by the guardians - creatures that protect powerless people in the Null Void from the more violent inmates. At present, the guardians have only appeared in the "Null Void". They first appeared in "Into the Null Void" on Ben 10 Alien Force.ID Mask
ID Masks are masks that can change someone's appearance holographically. They were often used by DNAliens to take forms of human beings, and are also used by Plumbers' Kids who are obviously part alien to hide their appearance and be able to roam freely on Earth.Techadon Robots
Techadons are powerful war machines that were mass-produced by a Weapons Technology group known as the "Weapon masters of Techadon". They are armed with powerful lasers and nanite based regenerative technologies, able to recreate itself in entirety from a single hand. The custom made ones that are commissioned for a hit are stronger and when one is destroyed, the other ones adapt from the defeated ones.Time Travel
The Entropy Pump is a machine made of quartz crystals developed by Professor Paradox during the 1950s, as a time-traveling experiment. It was experimented in a lab when an assistant Hugo drew back and hit the controls, causing the machine to become a vacuum, pulling Paradox inside of it and hurling him into the event horizon of a virtual wormhole. The result powers Paradox's time traveling project by generating enough energy to weaken the time-space continuum.Paradox, now with knowledge of the time line, later explains to Ben the concept of Cross Time. Cross Time is a reference to alternate future timelines, such as the timeline depicted in "Ben 10,000" and "Ken 10" where Kevin was still evil. Another Cross Time future, depicted in "Ben 10,000 Returns", presents Ben still with the Ultimatrix and using it to become an Ultimate human.
Ascalon
Ascalon is a sword-like weapon also created by Azmuth, with the power to tap into the forces of the universe itself. The sword is so powerful that it can destroy an entire planet, and can also cause madness to anyone who possesses it. Only the one who is dignified can have such power, that's why Azmuth gave Ascalon to an immortal human who is battling an extra-dimensional creature, knowing that only "he" needs such power to fight.Films
Secret of the Omnitrix
Main article: Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix
The first is a regular animated feature called Secret of the Omnitrix. A trailer of the film was released with the film Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen,
and it aired August 10, 2007. The main plot was about during a fight
with Dr Animo, Ben's omnitrix accidentally sets off its self-destruct
mode and Ben has to find the omnitrix's creator to shut it down and stop
the evil Vilgax.Race Against Time
Main article: Ben 10: Race Against Time
The second is a live-action film titled Ben 10: Race Against Time[2]
which aired November 21, 2007. It revolves around Ben, Gwen and Grandpa
Max returning to their hometown of Bellwood and attempting to adjust to
being 'normal' again. Unfortunately, their lives are once again
disrupted by a mysterious alien known as Eon, who has an unexpected
connection to the Omnitrix. It premiered on Cartoon Network on November 21, 2007. The film was directed by Alex Winter.[3]
The film was nominated for two Visual Effects Society Awards:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special -
Dina Benadon, Evan Jacobs,
Brent Young, Chris Christman; and Outstanding Animated Character in a
Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial - Brent Young, Michael
Smith.[4]Alien Swarm
Main article: Ben 10: Alien Swarm
The third is a live-action film titled Ben 10: Alien Swarm
which aired November 25, 2009. It is about Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Grandpa
Max. In the movie the group stumbles upon a hive of alien nanobots using
humans as host bodies in order to take over the world. The Nanochips,
or "alien swarm", are controlled by a single consciousness and Ben and
his friends must work together to stop them.Destroy All Aliens
Main article: Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens
A CGI animated movie was announced in mid-2011,[5] titled Ben 10: Destroy all Aliens and was released on March 11, 2012 (Asia / Philippines)[6] and on March 23, 2012 (US).[7] This film had previously been under the working title Ben 10: Alien Dimensions.[8]
The film was based on the original series, and featured the original
voice cast. The CGI was animated by Tiny Island Productions, in
Singapore.Feature film adaptation
On June 14, 2011, Producer Joel Silver announced that he along with Warner Bros. and Dark Castle Entertainment would bring Ben 10 to the big screen.[9] Albert Torres is attached to the project as screenwriter.[10] Ryan Engle will work on Torres script of the film.[11]Ben 10 / Generator Rex crossover
Main article: Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United
During Cartoon Network's panel at 2011's San Diego Comic-Con, Ben 10 and Generator Rex creators "Man of Action" announced a crossover special between the Ben 10 and Generator Rex series titled Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United. The forty-minute special aired on November 25, 2011 as a Generator Rex episode.[12][13]A comic book based on the special titled: "Hero Times Two" was released on November 30, 2011, as the sixty-fifth issue of DC Comics' Cartoon Network: Action Pack
A "