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akinoameCarl and Sandra Tennyson take a moment to discuss their wonderful son, Ben, and how awesomely they raised him when a Highbreed attack nearly kills them. When energy blasts distract the Highbreed, the Tennysons wisely run for their lives, but they see a kid running toward the giant evil alien rather than away from it. And they’re horror-stricken to recognize the kid as Ben. Before their eyes, Ben runs headfirst into the battle, selecting something on his watch and transforming into an alien. Yep, that kid’s going to have a lot of explaining to do.
Ben helps Gwen and Kevin fight off the Highbreed, apparently in an ultimate form or something, all the while unaware that his parents are watching him get his ass kicked. The Highbreed flies off, and Ben tells the others they’ll investigate after dinner and homework. Gwen points out that Ben’s black eye is going to invite questions, but Ben insists he’s got his parents wrapped around his little finger.
Or so he thinks. The moment he gets home, he’s caught in his lies when his parents bring up the attack, and they couldn’t be more disappointed. Ben explains everything, but he still fails to impress his parents; they’re furious that he’s been lying to them for the past five years. Ben tries to insist that it’s his responsibility because of the Omnitrix being attached to him, but his dad is determined to solve that problem. What follows is a shot straight out of Stargate SG-1 (“Avalon”), with Carl destroying several saws in his failed attempts to remove the Omnitrix from Ben’s wrist, while Ben sits bored (Images for comparison’s sake: Avalon Daniel vs. Grounded Ben) But it’s not like this is going to stop his determined parents. Carl forbids Ben from using the Omnitrix. To make matters worse, Gwen and Kevin have found a log book for the tanker Eustatia Five that records its trips to and from Castoon Island, which Kevin recognizes from the History Channel as a nuke test site (apparently, somebody’s been watching more TV than he claimed in “The Final Battle”). And in the midst of the mystery, they’re under attack. They call Ben for help, and he tries to sneak out of the house as Echo Echo, but his parents catch him in yet another lie and proceed to ground their super-powered alien son. Even providing support via phone gets him in trouble. His parents demand to know who he’s hanging out with that’s making him suddenly so disobedient, but Ben refuses to spill. Of course, Sandra proves she’s more effective at interrogations than Jack Bauer when she gives him The Look. Yes, The Look. The one millions of mothers on millions of planets give their children. The one that says, “Could you be any dumber?” (credit to Ellen Brand). Ben later gets a phone call from Gwen, pissed that he ratted her out because now she’s grounded too. Ben insists that at the very least, Kevin’s on the case, but a little reminder from Gwen makes Ben realize what a big mistake he made, and he’s back to trying to find a way out.
Kevin, meanwhile, sneaks about the tanker and discovers it’s filled with smelly green goo. His attempts to get a sample for Gwen to analyze result in him falling in the tank, and DNAliens are ready to attack. He calls Ben for help, who adds Gwen to the call, but Ben has to hurry his advice because his parents are still mad. Gwen realizes that the goo is radioactive, rendered bat guano, which Kevin is lucky not to know what it is. And while it’s only mildly radioactive, the freighter can carry 50,000 tons—more than enough for the guano to be a threat. Kevin runs into more trouble, but at that point, Ben’s mom hangs up and sends him to his room. Kevin’s managed to get a videochat up and linked to Ben’s computer, giving Ben a chance to instruct him how to hide. But just when Ben sees the Highbreed Commander seize Kevin, his dad pulls the plug. Ben tries to reason with his parents, arguing that he has to disobey them or else betray every principle they ever taught him. Above his parents’ disapproval, he goes Humongousaur and breaks out of the house (quite literally, and you’ve got to wonder if they’ve got Ty Pennington on speed-dial), leaving them with no choice but to accept his decision.
Humongousaur invades the freighter and saves Kevin at the last second, passing along what he’s figured out from Gwen that the DNAliens are trying to render the guano to isolate the radioactive isotope to use as a power source. Kevin and Ben briefly team up against the DNAliens, but when the Highbreed gets Ben’s attention, Ben decides he wants to settle the score. The battle doesn’t go well for Humongousaur, especially since there’s not enough room in the tanker for him to grow. But just as the Highbreed is about to deliver the final blow, the hatch opens and a laser blast sends him flying. It’s the Tennysons, with an alien bazooka, to the rescue. After saving Kevin, Carl and Sandra affirm that they are proud of Ben for trying to save his friend and the world and that they recognize Ben knows what he’s doing. But when the Highbreed tries to attack again and the bazooka is out of ammo, Ben decides to borrow it and bats him into the vat.
They sink the freighter, but the Highbreed escaped. When the Tennysons head home, Ben’s surprised to see his dad put the bazooka in a place of honor on the living room wall, and Carl explains that he’s come to terms with his own father’s lies. When Gwen calls Ben about an attack in the desert, his parents let him go with their full blessing, though they’re still going to worry a little bit about him.
In terms of the characterization of the Tennysons, this episode is actually closer to the movie Race Against Time than anything else. Carl and Sandra are essentially hippies transplanted into the late 2000s-early 2010s. They have a very permissive parenting style, refusing to “stifle” Ben as they raise him, encouraging him to experience life instead of imposing restrictions. They come off as very New Agey, though considerably saner than they’d been in Race Against Time. Sometimes, you have to wonder who’s really from another planet, as some of the things they say go into the laughably bizarre: “Are you hanging out with a ‘bad crowd’?” / “Are they telling you it’s ‘cool’ to sneak out, turn into aliens, lie to your parents?” or “You would have found a way to win even if your father hadn’t shot the giant alien with the space bazooka.” It’s strange, sweet, and utterly hilarious. Nobody in their right mind would ever talk like that, even if they did discover that their son was actually a super-powered alien; the Kents certainly never did, at least. And it’s hysterical watching Ben—who can easily brag about taking down Vilgax—be easily intimidated by his mother, or sulk as Echo Echo as he shuffles off to his room.
Despite the fact that the aliens of the series are more down-to-earth than the Tennysons, they are quite serious on the issue of Ben’s misbehavior and safety. When this episode first came out, it was bashed. I can see why—it’s got a silly premise. How many times can you hear the “Hero gets grounded” story without groaning? And the matter of them freaking out because Ben was dishonest also seems ridiculous. But if you take their reaction as being the result of being worried about Ben’s safety—as referenced specifically throughout—and not just being mad at him lying, then it gains some legitimacy.
Clearly, they’re mad about the lying issue, and this comes in part from Grandpa Max. Max, who was terrible at keeping his secret life an actual secret, kept the truth of his job as a Plumber from his sons and wife, even though they all knew. Carl was really torn up by all the lies, and it takes him until the end of the episode to realize that Max had only lied because he wanted to protect his family. He’s furious when Ben insists that Max told him he had to stick to his responsibility with the Omnitrix. Carl transfers his anger with his father’s lies to Ben once he sees the same pattern of behavior cropping up again (Alien Force is apparently full of transference issues). At the same time, the Tennysons’ insistence on punishing Ben for dishonesty is pretty hypocritical—Carl reveals that the bazooka had been in the attic since he and his brother were kids, thereby confirming he knew all about the aliens from the very start (and had apparently told his wife), but he never told Ben. You start wondering if they ever planned on telling Ben anything if not for his secret being blown first.
What they affirm by the end is that they’re scared for Ben’s safety. He’s fifteen years old and facing down things that could easily kill him night after night. The very first thing they see of his battle is him running into danger, only to be taken out by the Highbreed, and left with a black eye. The fate of the world doesn’t matter; the fate of their son is more important. Ben has to prove himself to them before they can let go of their fear even a little bit.
This episode shows a background character plot for Ben that we see more of in Alien Swarm: his conflicting loyalties between his family and his friends. Just as in the movie, Ben is forbidden from helping a friend by his family, and Ben chooses his friends instead. But where in Alien Swarm, Ben knew that Max was acting unreasonable, in “Grounded,” Ben insists that his parents taught him by example to do whatever he could to help others, and he had to disobey their words if he was going to uphold the spirit of their teachings. This time, Ben is more torn up by the choice he has to make, simply because he understands that his parents have the best intentions, where in the movie, he wasn’t sure on Max’s intentions at all. It’s a very interesting theme for Ben, particularly because as a leader, he has to put his team first, while he’s still expected to obey his family’s wishes because he’s a kid.
The animation is really inconsistent this episode when it comes to Ben. His black eye disappears about halfway through, which I can understand given how much harder it is to draw consistently, but they made such a big deal about it in the beginning of the episode. Also, after a commercial break, his jacket mysteriously vanishes for no reason whatsoever, other than apparently at the end for his mom to insist he take a jacket with him to the desert. Just…yeah, it was not a good day for the animation department.
And despite the excuse plot of this story revolving around guano being used as fuel for the Highbreed’s plan…nothing comes of this. “War of the Worlds” doesn’t bring up the power source for the Jumpgate at all, and we’re led to believe it’s got more to do with the quartz deposits of Los Soledad. So it has a really tenuous link to the main plot of the arc.
“Grounded” was written by Jim Krieg. Don McManus and Beth Littleford reprised their roles from Race Against Time as Carl and Sandra. Kevin Michael Richardson played the Highbreed Commander.
Ben helps Gwen and Kevin fight off the Highbreed, apparently in an ultimate form or something, all the while unaware that his parents are watching him get his ass kicked. The Highbreed flies off, and Ben tells the others they’ll investigate after dinner and homework. Gwen points out that Ben’s black eye is going to invite questions, but Ben insists he’s got his parents wrapped around his little finger.
Or so he thinks. The moment he gets home, he’s caught in his lies when his parents bring up the attack, and they couldn’t be more disappointed. Ben explains everything, but he still fails to impress his parents; they’re furious that he’s been lying to them for the past five years. Ben tries to insist that it’s his responsibility because of the Omnitrix being attached to him, but his dad is determined to solve that problem. What follows is a shot straight out of Stargate SG-1 (“Avalon”), with Carl destroying several saws in his failed attempts to remove the Omnitrix from Ben’s wrist, while Ben sits bored (Images for comparison’s sake: Avalon Daniel vs. Grounded Ben) But it’s not like this is going to stop his determined parents. Carl forbids Ben from using the Omnitrix. To make matters worse, Gwen and Kevin have found a log book for the tanker Eustatia Five that records its trips to and from Castoon Island, which Kevin recognizes from the History Channel as a nuke test site (apparently, somebody’s been watching more TV than he claimed in “The Final Battle”). And in the midst of the mystery, they’re under attack. They call Ben for help, and he tries to sneak out of the house as Echo Echo, but his parents catch him in yet another lie and proceed to ground their super-powered alien son. Even providing support via phone gets him in trouble. His parents demand to know who he’s hanging out with that’s making him suddenly so disobedient, but Ben refuses to spill. Of course, Sandra proves she’s more effective at interrogations than Jack Bauer when she gives him The Look. Yes, The Look. The one millions of mothers on millions of planets give their children. The one that says, “Could you be any dumber?” (credit to Ellen Brand). Ben later gets a phone call from Gwen, pissed that he ratted her out because now she’s grounded too. Ben insists that at the very least, Kevin’s on the case, but a little reminder from Gwen makes Ben realize what a big mistake he made, and he’s back to trying to find a way out.
Kevin, meanwhile, sneaks about the tanker and discovers it’s filled with smelly green goo. His attempts to get a sample for Gwen to analyze result in him falling in the tank, and DNAliens are ready to attack. He calls Ben for help, who adds Gwen to the call, but Ben has to hurry his advice because his parents are still mad. Gwen realizes that the goo is radioactive, rendered bat guano, which Kevin is lucky not to know what it is. And while it’s only mildly radioactive, the freighter can carry 50,000 tons—more than enough for the guano to be a threat. Kevin runs into more trouble, but at that point, Ben’s mom hangs up and sends him to his room. Kevin’s managed to get a videochat up and linked to Ben’s computer, giving Ben a chance to instruct him how to hide. But just when Ben sees the Highbreed Commander seize Kevin, his dad pulls the plug. Ben tries to reason with his parents, arguing that he has to disobey them or else betray every principle they ever taught him. Above his parents’ disapproval, he goes Humongousaur and breaks out of the house (quite literally, and you’ve got to wonder if they’ve got Ty Pennington on speed-dial), leaving them with no choice but to accept his decision.
Humongousaur invades the freighter and saves Kevin at the last second, passing along what he’s figured out from Gwen that the DNAliens are trying to render the guano to isolate the radioactive isotope to use as a power source. Kevin and Ben briefly team up against the DNAliens, but when the Highbreed gets Ben’s attention, Ben decides he wants to settle the score. The battle doesn’t go well for Humongousaur, especially since there’s not enough room in the tanker for him to grow. But just as the Highbreed is about to deliver the final blow, the hatch opens and a laser blast sends him flying. It’s the Tennysons, with an alien bazooka, to the rescue. After saving Kevin, Carl and Sandra affirm that they are proud of Ben for trying to save his friend and the world and that they recognize Ben knows what he’s doing. But when the Highbreed tries to attack again and the bazooka is out of ammo, Ben decides to borrow it and bats him into the vat.
They sink the freighter, but the Highbreed escaped. When the Tennysons head home, Ben’s surprised to see his dad put the bazooka in a place of honor on the living room wall, and Carl explains that he’s come to terms with his own father’s lies. When Gwen calls Ben about an attack in the desert, his parents let him go with their full blessing, though they’re still going to worry a little bit about him.
In terms of the characterization of the Tennysons, this episode is actually closer to the movie Race Against Time than anything else. Carl and Sandra are essentially hippies transplanted into the late 2000s-early 2010s. They have a very permissive parenting style, refusing to “stifle” Ben as they raise him, encouraging him to experience life instead of imposing restrictions. They come off as very New Agey, though considerably saner than they’d been in Race Against Time. Sometimes, you have to wonder who’s really from another planet, as some of the things they say go into the laughably bizarre: “Are you hanging out with a ‘bad crowd’?” / “Are they telling you it’s ‘cool’ to sneak out, turn into aliens, lie to your parents?” or “You would have found a way to win even if your father hadn’t shot the giant alien with the space bazooka.” It’s strange, sweet, and utterly hilarious. Nobody in their right mind would ever talk like that, even if they did discover that their son was actually a super-powered alien; the Kents certainly never did, at least. And it’s hysterical watching Ben—who can easily brag about taking down Vilgax—be easily intimidated by his mother, or sulk as Echo Echo as he shuffles off to his room.
Despite the fact that the aliens of the series are more down-to-earth than the Tennysons, they are quite serious on the issue of Ben’s misbehavior and safety. When this episode first came out, it was bashed. I can see why—it’s got a silly premise. How many times can you hear the “Hero gets grounded” story without groaning? And the matter of them freaking out because Ben was dishonest also seems ridiculous. But if you take their reaction as being the result of being worried about Ben’s safety—as referenced specifically throughout—and not just being mad at him lying, then it gains some legitimacy.
Clearly, they’re mad about the lying issue, and this comes in part from Grandpa Max. Max, who was terrible at keeping his secret life an actual secret, kept the truth of his job as a Plumber from his sons and wife, even though they all knew. Carl was really torn up by all the lies, and it takes him until the end of the episode to realize that Max had only lied because he wanted to protect his family. He’s furious when Ben insists that Max told him he had to stick to his responsibility with the Omnitrix. Carl transfers his anger with his father’s lies to Ben once he sees the same pattern of behavior cropping up again (Alien Force is apparently full of transference issues). At the same time, the Tennysons’ insistence on punishing Ben for dishonesty is pretty hypocritical—Carl reveals that the bazooka had been in the attic since he and his brother were kids, thereby confirming he knew all about the aliens from the very start (and had apparently told his wife), but he never told Ben. You start wondering if they ever planned on telling Ben anything if not for his secret being blown first.
What they affirm by the end is that they’re scared for Ben’s safety. He’s fifteen years old and facing down things that could easily kill him night after night. The very first thing they see of his battle is him running into danger, only to be taken out by the Highbreed, and left with a black eye. The fate of the world doesn’t matter; the fate of their son is more important. Ben has to prove himself to them before they can let go of their fear even a little bit.
This episode shows a background character plot for Ben that we see more of in Alien Swarm: his conflicting loyalties between his family and his friends. Just as in the movie, Ben is forbidden from helping a friend by his family, and Ben chooses his friends instead. But where in Alien Swarm, Ben knew that Max was acting unreasonable, in “Grounded,” Ben insists that his parents taught him by example to do whatever he could to help others, and he had to disobey their words if he was going to uphold the spirit of their teachings. This time, Ben is more torn up by the choice he has to make, simply because he understands that his parents have the best intentions, where in the movie, he wasn’t sure on Max’s intentions at all. It’s a very interesting theme for Ben, particularly because as a leader, he has to put his team first, while he’s still expected to obey his family’s wishes because he’s a kid.
The animation is really inconsistent this episode when it comes to Ben. His black eye disappears about halfway through, which I can understand given how much harder it is to draw consistently, but they made such a big deal about it in the beginning of the episode. Also, after a commercial break, his jacket mysteriously vanishes for no reason whatsoever, other than apparently at the end for his mom to insist he take a jacket with him to the desert. Just…yeah, it was not a good day for the animation department.
And despite the excuse plot of this story revolving around guano being used as fuel for the Highbreed’s plan…nothing comes of this. “War of the Worlds” doesn’t bring up the power source for the Jumpgate at all, and we’re led to believe it’s got more to do with the quartz deposits of Los Soledad. So it has a really tenuous link to the main plot of the arc.
“Grounded” was written by Jim Krieg. Don McManus and Beth Littleford reprised their roles from Race Against Time as Carl and Sandra. Kevin Michael Richardson played the Highbreed Commander.