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akinoameThe team is driving, following a sketchy lead, when they come across an overturned van with several DNAliens inside. A battle breaks out, and Ben separates from the others and goes Spidermonkey to fight, but a second van full of DNAliens ambushes him. Things aren’t going well for Gwen and Kevin until a second Spidermonkey arrives to save them. As in “Good Copy, Bad Copy,” Gwen and Kevin assume the newcomer is Ben acting oddly. Sure enough, Ben’s over in the corner recovering from a head injury and just as surprised as the rest of them.
The newcomer, Simian, is amazed to see that his doppelganger is none other than the famous Ben Tennyson, and he thanks him for his help when the team fills him in on the DNAliens. He runs off, but he’s not out of mind for Ben. While the team looks over a dropper filled with an extremely corrosive liquid (once again damaging Ben’s room; how much are the Tennysons paying in repair bills?), Ben is distracted, wondering if Simian will be okay. Later, he finds Sim attacking a cryogenics lab, stealing parts. Ben is disappointed when he rescues him, but Sim explains that he needed the parts to fix his ship. He explains that he is the Prince of the Aranachimps and he is on a quest to recover a mystical crystal that had been stolen just before his coronation. His people believe it to be an omen, and the only way he can prove his worth to them is to return it. Mystified, Ben agrees to help and tries to talk the team over. He attempts to convince Kevin to go along with it by explaining that Sim is in a similar situation—a kid on his own, trying to live up to his father’s legacy, and all that. Except Ben lets slip just how much he’s identified with Simian by mistakenly admitting, “He’s just like me!” Still, Gwen and Kevin agree to join Ben and Sim to recover the crystal…on the moon.
Neither Gwen nor Kevin trusts Simian much, no matter what Ben says, and the moment they arrive at the facility on the moon, things look suspicious. Gwen is forced to cover their flank outside, taking out guards. Once they arrive inside, Kevin stays behind to take out more guards while Ben and Sim head to recover the crystal, but a trap keeps Ben from calling for help. Thinking quickly to avoid being crushed by the ceiling, Ben shakes out the contents of his pockets through apparent interpretive dance, revealing the dropper. Simian manages to grab it and uses the acid to eat away a hole in the floor for him to escape, and Ben dives through after him at the last second. Sim admits to Ben that he’s impressed he thought of using the DNAlien resin remover to escape, and Ben suddenly realizes things are fishy as he follows him to retrieve the crystal.
A techie/security guard at the base notices their presence and confronts them on their way to the crystal, but Sim throws him off the catwalk. Aghast, Ben flies down as Big Chill to rescue the techie, who seems just as lost as Ben is. But Ben follows Sim into the chamber of the crystal and goes Chromastone to retrieve it when the electrical security system knocks out Sim. He wakes Sim up and tells him he put the crystal in a case for safekeeping, but he’s not willing to hand it over until Sim explains a few things. He insists that Sim isn’t behaving the way a future king should: abandoning people, setting off on his own, and being merciless to anyone who stands in his way. Sim apologizes, but Ben isn’t convinced. He throws the case aside and fends off the attacking Simian. As Ben grapples with him, Simian admits he made up the whole story about being prince and needing the crystal. The moon base is actually an intergalactic communications relay center, powered by the crystal. It was part of the Highbreed’s plan—knock out communications for the Milky Way so no help would arrive in time for the invasion (nothing ever came of this revelation). Sim takes the box and makes a break for it, tearing past the team. The team watches Sim escape in his ship, but the techie, Lou—who had explained everything to Ben after the rescue—agreed to let them use his shuttle (which would later be seen again in “Don’t Fear the Repo”). Ben explains to the others that he’d gotten suspicious when Sim recognized the “DNAlien ear cleaner” despite claiming not to know what a DNAlien was. He then produces from his apparently TARDIS-sized pockets the crystal, which he’d kept out of Sim’s hands. What does Sim have? Well, as he presents the “ear cleaner” to the murderously angry Highbreed, he’s clearly got a lot of trouble.
This episode’s villain, Simian, is an Aranachimp conman posing as an insecure prince trying to prove he’ll make a good leader. The story is tailored perfectly—giving enough for Ben to sympathize and identify with. Ben’s failure to suspect Simian comes from the fact that he’s seeing a lot of himself in that story, and it’s just what Simian wants to happen.
Rather than revealing anything about Simian, it reveals a lot about Ben—or at least, Stan Berkowitz’s interpretation of Ben. I’d have to say that out of the three episodes he’s written for Alien Force (“Be-Knighted,” “Birds of a Feather,” and “Simple”), this is the one that’s closest to Ben’s consistent character arc. Unlike in “Be-Knighted” and “Simple,” Ben’s not overly cocky and immature in his naivety; he’s more of an idealist in a cynical world. “Be-Knighted” shows how Ben tries to help even enemies he can’t stand, and “Simple” shows him trying to end a war on a distant planet for a little girl he’s never met, all because he feels it’s the right thing to do. These episodes are extremely cynical—“Be-Knighted” features Ben being labeled a traitor to the planet by the Forever Knights because he made sure to get the Dragon offworld; “Simple” has Ben completely fail at ending the war, only starting a new one against himself. He has a good heart and a bit of a “saving people thing” to quote Harry Potter, but in these episodes, it always blows up in his face. This is the one time where it was actually weaponized against him. This time, you actually see a villain smart enough to think, “You know, Ben Tennyson likes to think of himself as a hero. Maybe we can use this against him—get him to help us by conning him, and destroy him that way.”
But where “Birds of a Feather” is different from the other two is in Ben’s intelligence. “Be-Knighted” makes a big deal of Ben not using his head, and “Simple” revolves around Ben not thinking and making things worse than before. This time, however, Ben is actually bright enough to put the evidence together—as he has consistently throughout season two—and realize it doesn’t add up. He’s the one who realizes that Simian can’t know what a DNAlien resin remover is if he doesn’t know what a DNAlien is, and he comes up with the plan to con the conman. He might be naïve and insecure about his leadership abilities, but he’s not stupid, and he knows how to fix things.
“Birds of a Feather” was written by Stan Berkowitz. Simian was voiced by Diedrich Bader.
The newcomer, Simian, is amazed to see that his doppelganger is none other than the famous Ben Tennyson, and he thanks him for his help when the team fills him in on the DNAliens. He runs off, but he’s not out of mind for Ben. While the team looks over a dropper filled with an extremely corrosive liquid (once again damaging Ben’s room; how much are the Tennysons paying in repair bills?), Ben is distracted, wondering if Simian will be okay. Later, he finds Sim attacking a cryogenics lab, stealing parts. Ben is disappointed when he rescues him, but Sim explains that he needed the parts to fix his ship. He explains that he is the Prince of the Aranachimps and he is on a quest to recover a mystical crystal that had been stolen just before his coronation. His people believe it to be an omen, and the only way he can prove his worth to them is to return it. Mystified, Ben agrees to help and tries to talk the team over. He attempts to convince Kevin to go along with it by explaining that Sim is in a similar situation—a kid on his own, trying to live up to his father’s legacy, and all that. Except Ben lets slip just how much he’s identified with Simian by mistakenly admitting, “He’s just like me!” Still, Gwen and Kevin agree to join Ben and Sim to recover the crystal…on the moon.
Neither Gwen nor Kevin trusts Simian much, no matter what Ben says, and the moment they arrive at the facility on the moon, things look suspicious. Gwen is forced to cover their flank outside, taking out guards. Once they arrive inside, Kevin stays behind to take out more guards while Ben and Sim head to recover the crystal, but a trap keeps Ben from calling for help. Thinking quickly to avoid being crushed by the ceiling, Ben shakes out the contents of his pockets through apparent interpretive dance, revealing the dropper. Simian manages to grab it and uses the acid to eat away a hole in the floor for him to escape, and Ben dives through after him at the last second. Sim admits to Ben that he’s impressed he thought of using the DNAlien resin remover to escape, and Ben suddenly realizes things are fishy as he follows him to retrieve the crystal.
A techie/security guard at the base notices their presence and confronts them on their way to the crystal, but Sim throws him off the catwalk. Aghast, Ben flies down as Big Chill to rescue the techie, who seems just as lost as Ben is. But Ben follows Sim into the chamber of the crystal and goes Chromastone to retrieve it when the electrical security system knocks out Sim. He wakes Sim up and tells him he put the crystal in a case for safekeeping, but he’s not willing to hand it over until Sim explains a few things. He insists that Sim isn’t behaving the way a future king should: abandoning people, setting off on his own, and being merciless to anyone who stands in his way. Sim apologizes, but Ben isn’t convinced. He throws the case aside and fends off the attacking Simian. As Ben grapples with him, Simian admits he made up the whole story about being prince and needing the crystal. The moon base is actually an intergalactic communications relay center, powered by the crystal. It was part of the Highbreed’s plan—knock out communications for the Milky Way so no help would arrive in time for the invasion (nothing ever came of this revelation). Sim takes the box and makes a break for it, tearing past the team. The team watches Sim escape in his ship, but the techie, Lou—who had explained everything to Ben after the rescue—agreed to let them use his shuttle (which would later be seen again in “Don’t Fear the Repo”). Ben explains to the others that he’d gotten suspicious when Sim recognized the “DNAlien ear cleaner” despite claiming not to know what a DNAlien was. He then produces from his apparently TARDIS-sized pockets the crystal, which he’d kept out of Sim’s hands. What does Sim have? Well, as he presents the “ear cleaner” to the murderously angry Highbreed, he’s clearly got a lot of trouble.
This episode’s villain, Simian, is an Aranachimp conman posing as an insecure prince trying to prove he’ll make a good leader. The story is tailored perfectly—giving enough for Ben to sympathize and identify with. Ben’s failure to suspect Simian comes from the fact that he’s seeing a lot of himself in that story, and it’s just what Simian wants to happen.
Rather than revealing anything about Simian, it reveals a lot about Ben—or at least, Stan Berkowitz’s interpretation of Ben. I’d have to say that out of the three episodes he’s written for Alien Force (“Be-Knighted,” “Birds of a Feather,” and “Simple”), this is the one that’s closest to Ben’s consistent character arc. Unlike in “Be-Knighted” and “Simple,” Ben’s not overly cocky and immature in his naivety; he’s more of an idealist in a cynical world. “Be-Knighted” shows how Ben tries to help even enemies he can’t stand, and “Simple” shows him trying to end a war on a distant planet for a little girl he’s never met, all because he feels it’s the right thing to do. These episodes are extremely cynical—“Be-Knighted” features Ben being labeled a traitor to the planet by the Forever Knights because he made sure to get the Dragon offworld; “Simple” has Ben completely fail at ending the war, only starting a new one against himself. He has a good heart and a bit of a “saving people thing” to quote Harry Potter, but in these episodes, it always blows up in his face. This is the one time where it was actually weaponized against him. This time, you actually see a villain smart enough to think, “You know, Ben Tennyson likes to think of himself as a hero. Maybe we can use this against him—get him to help us by conning him, and destroy him that way.”
But where “Birds of a Feather” is different from the other two is in Ben’s intelligence. “Be-Knighted” makes a big deal of Ben not using his head, and “Simple” revolves around Ben not thinking and making things worse than before. This time, however, Ben is actually bright enough to put the evidence together—as he has consistently throughout season two—and realize it doesn’t add up. He’s the one who realizes that Simian can’t know what a DNAlien resin remover is if he doesn’t know what a DNAlien is, and he comes up with the plan to con the conman. He might be naïve and insecure about his leadership abilities, but he’s not stupid, and he knows how to fix things.
“Birds of a Feather” was written by Stan Berkowitz. Simian was voiced by Diedrich Bader.