![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameNow, before I get into the review itself, I’d like to try and explain why this episode has two titles. In the episode itself, and on the download on iTunes, the episode is called “Vreedle, Vreedle” after the Vreedle Brothers, who antagonize the team (mostly Julie, Ship, and Gwen). But apparently, the official title, used by Dwayne McDuffie and the cast (as Vyvan Pham lists it as this too) is “Don’t Fear the Repo,” fitting the theme of the episode and also working as a fun pun on the song “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” Nobody’s sure why there was a name change, but I digress.
And now, on with our program.
A pair of brothers travel across the galaxy on their way to do a repo job. The shorter and smarter brother, Octagon Vreedle, tells his less than bright brother Rhomboid (aka “Boid”) to let him do the talking when they’re pulled aside by a traffic-bot for a minor violation, but Boid is a little boom-happy and blasts the bot to itty-bitty bits. This does not bode well when they arrive on Earth for their job—repossessing Ship. Julie gets Ben involved, and he manages to fend the Vreedle brothers off for a time, but the team knows that they need to get to the bottom of this. Ben and Kevin head into space to discuss things in court while Gwen and Julie stay behind to protect Ship.
The mission doesn’t go so well for either side. The judge recognizes Kevin and has sworn to throw him in the Null Void if he ever saw him again; furthermore, the guy who put out the repo order is Baz-el, the alien pilot who’d created Ship in the first place. Having heard that Ship had played a huge role in ending the war with the Highbreed (“War of the Worlds”), Baz-el decided he wanted him back. However, the judge isn’t impressed with Baz-el either, if only because the Vreedle brothers are the absolute worst candidates to bring anyone back alive. And on Earth, the Vreedles are proving their reputation true. Gwen does all she can to protect Julie and Ship, as neither girl wants Ship to reveal what he’s really capable of, and it looks like the Vreedles are about to win…and then Ship shows he’s got another trick up his sleeve. He molds himself around Julie to create a battlesuit, and when Julie’s hesitant to use the blasters, Ship-suit magnifies her strength tenfold, allowing her to defend a momentarily de-powered Gwen. But despite their strength, the Vreedle brothers manage to neutralize their power. Just when Gwen isn’t sure she’s going to be able to keep them from taking Julie and Ship, the boys and Baz-el arrive. Baz-el calls off the repo, but when he hears that they’re not getting paid, Boid blasts him. Ben and Gwen immediately attack the brothers to distract them while Kevin frees Ship and Julie. Once freed, they stalk over to the Vreedles, who react like any common crook when faced with Batman—they make a hasty retreat. With the Vreedles gone and the danger passed, Baz-el takes the opportunity to regenerate and comes face to face with Julie, but he admits that he won’t take Ship now. Kevin tells Ben to just deal with Ship, and it looks like everything’s going to be okay.
Okay, so maybe the Mr. Smoothy is destroyed again, but everything else is at least good.
The antagonists this episode are the Vreedle brothers, a duo of galactic repossession men hired by the Galvanic Mechomorph Baz-el to retrieve Ship. However, they have a nasty reputation. While Octagon is sane enough, Boid isn’t the brightest crayon in the box and prefers to shoot first, ask questions…uh, shoot, we were supposed to ask questions? Octagon has to repeatedly try to rein in his brother, reminding him that if they blow Ship up, they won’t get paid, and it’s the constant reminder of payment that is the only thing keeping Boid from going boom-happy on everything in sight.
A minor conflict in this episode is Ben’s issues with Ship, carried over from “Pet Project.” As they head to the court, Ben admits his frustration to Kevin, and Julie admits her worry to Gwen about how Ben doesn’t seem to like Ship. Julie feels that Ben is only agreeing to protect Ship because he’s a powerful weapon, not because he’s important to her. Ben, meanwhile, just doesn’t understand why Julie likes Ship so much, and Kevin points out that it probably has something to do with the fact that they found Ship on their first date (“Pier Pressure”). Ben remains clueless.
This episode plays with continuity more than just with the background conflict from “Pet Project.” The ship Ben and Kevin take is the one they borrowed from the tech on the moon in “Birds of a Feather.” Of course, Baz-el from “Pier Pressure” appears and is given a name. The judge is of the same race as Raff from “X = Ben + 2,” and his bailiff is a hybridized Highbreed, as seen from the end of “War of the Worlds.” Even the Vreedle brothers are a play on continuity—listen very closely in “Kevin’s Big Score,” and Argit namedrops Octagon.
In a more overt play on continuity, Ben uses his reputation for being the Omnitrix bearer and saving the galaxy to try and win the judge’s favor, similar to what he’d tried and failed in “Simple.” However, surprisingly, this time it actually works. The judge grants Ben’s team custody and apologizes for wasting Ben’s time. Kevin is still floored that it worked.
An interesting thing to note is that when Baz-el is blasted, he’s able to regenerate. Like creating a symbiote, it is another power in the Galvanic Mechomorph species that Ben never displayed as Upgrade, and it’s interesting to see what these different aliens are capable of when they know their own abilities.
And finally, on a sidenote, this episode had me shipping Gwen/Julie hard. I know I wrote a fic about them, but I didn’t mean it seriously at the time!
This episode, whichever title you want to call it, was written by Charlotte Fullerton.
And now, on with our program.
A pair of brothers travel across the galaxy on their way to do a repo job. The shorter and smarter brother, Octagon Vreedle, tells his less than bright brother Rhomboid (aka “Boid”) to let him do the talking when they’re pulled aside by a traffic-bot for a minor violation, but Boid is a little boom-happy and blasts the bot to itty-bitty bits. This does not bode well when they arrive on Earth for their job—repossessing Ship. Julie gets Ben involved, and he manages to fend the Vreedle brothers off for a time, but the team knows that they need to get to the bottom of this. Ben and Kevin head into space to discuss things in court while Gwen and Julie stay behind to protect Ship.
The mission doesn’t go so well for either side. The judge recognizes Kevin and has sworn to throw him in the Null Void if he ever saw him again; furthermore, the guy who put out the repo order is Baz-el, the alien pilot who’d created Ship in the first place. Having heard that Ship had played a huge role in ending the war with the Highbreed (“War of the Worlds”), Baz-el decided he wanted him back. However, the judge isn’t impressed with Baz-el either, if only because the Vreedle brothers are the absolute worst candidates to bring anyone back alive. And on Earth, the Vreedles are proving their reputation true. Gwen does all she can to protect Julie and Ship, as neither girl wants Ship to reveal what he’s really capable of, and it looks like the Vreedles are about to win…and then Ship shows he’s got another trick up his sleeve. He molds himself around Julie to create a battlesuit, and when Julie’s hesitant to use the blasters, Ship-suit magnifies her strength tenfold, allowing her to defend a momentarily de-powered Gwen. But despite their strength, the Vreedle brothers manage to neutralize their power. Just when Gwen isn’t sure she’s going to be able to keep them from taking Julie and Ship, the boys and Baz-el arrive. Baz-el calls off the repo, but when he hears that they’re not getting paid, Boid blasts him. Ben and Gwen immediately attack the brothers to distract them while Kevin frees Ship and Julie. Once freed, they stalk over to the Vreedles, who react like any common crook when faced with Batman—they make a hasty retreat. With the Vreedles gone and the danger passed, Baz-el takes the opportunity to regenerate and comes face to face with Julie, but he admits that he won’t take Ship now. Kevin tells Ben to just deal with Ship, and it looks like everything’s going to be okay.
Okay, so maybe the Mr. Smoothy is destroyed again, but everything else is at least good.
The antagonists this episode are the Vreedle brothers, a duo of galactic repossession men hired by the Galvanic Mechomorph Baz-el to retrieve Ship. However, they have a nasty reputation. While Octagon is sane enough, Boid isn’t the brightest crayon in the box and prefers to shoot first, ask questions…uh, shoot, we were supposed to ask questions? Octagon has to repeatedly try to rein in his brother, reminding him that if they blow Ship up, they won’t get paid, and it’s the constant reminder of payment that is the only thing keeping Boid from going boom-happy on everything in sight.
A minor conflict in this episode is Ben’s issues with Ship, carried over from “Pet Project.” As they head to the court, Ben admits his frustration to Kevin, and Julie admits her worry to Gwen about how Ben doesn’t seem to like Ship. Julie feels that Ben is only agreeing to protect Ship because he’s a powerful weapon, not because he’s important to her. Ben, meanwhile, just doesn’t understand why Julie likes Ship so much, and Kevin points out that it probably has something to do with the fact that they found Ship on their first date (“Pier Pressure”). Ben remains clueless.
This episode plays with continuity more than just with the background conflict from “Pet Project.” The ship Ben and Kevin take is the one they borrowed from the tech on the moon in “Birds of a Feather.” Of course, Baz-el from “Pier Pressure” appears and is given a name. The judge is of the same race as Raff from “X = Ben + 2,” and his bailiff is a hybridized Highbreed, as seen from the end of “War of the Worlds.” Even the Vreedle brothers are a play on continuity—listen very closely in “Kevin’s Big Score,” and Argit namedrops Octagon.
In a more overt play on continuity, Ben uses his reputation for being the Omnitrix bearer and saving the galaxy to try and win the judge’s favor, similar to what he’d tried and failed in “Simple.” However, surprisingly, this time it actually works. The judge grants Ben’s team custody and apologizes for wasting Ben’s time. Kevin is still floored that it worked.
An interesting thing to note is that when Baz-el is blasted, he’s able to regenerate. Like creating a symbiote, it is another power in the Galvanic Mechomorph species that Ben never displayed as Upgrade, and it’s interesting to see what these different aliens are capable of when they know their own abilities.
And finally, on a sidenote, this episode had me shipping Gwen/Julie hard. I know I wrote a fic about them, but I didn’t mean it seriously at the time!
This episode, whichever title you want to call it, was written by Charlotte Fullerton.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-21 03:51 pm (UTC)cocky?as the wearer of the Omnitrix.Kevin's expressions during the trial were hilarious! He seriously thought both he and Ben were gonna go to the Null Void and couldn't believe that Ben had won their case! Gwen & Julie's
shippingmoment in the spotlight was totally awesome and needed in the current season-it seemed like they focused on Ben more often than not lately, even though he is a major factor no matter what situation he's in.And to toss in said sidenote, it may not have been on a serious note at the time but now it runs through my head nearly 24/7. There are times I find myself lucky to be thinking about anything else-even the conversation Ben and Kevin had regarding the ship he borrowed.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-21 10:55 pm (UTC)Oh yes. Honestly, it reminds me of an exchange by a certain other duo:
"Why are Earth girls so weird?"
"Books have been written."