Better down where it’s wetter: “Deep”
Oct. 23rd, 2010 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameOn the planet Pisciss, Magister Pike is chasing after Aggregor, but loses him. Meanwhile on Earth, Ben is having trouble with his fans again. He tries to escape as Goop, but they start trying to take his gravity disk as a souvenir, prompting Gwen and Kevin to steal it away from them so Goop will be drawn over to them. And I’m sure that was totally there for the joke; there’s no significance for this scene—we’ll NEEEVER see that come up again. When they’re all in the car and getting away, they get a call from Pike, who wants to know what the deal is and why he’s got to report to them a sighting of Aggregor. It turns out that the team has been very hush-hush on the situation, not wanting to create a panic, but Pike thinks this is bullshit and admittedly with good reason, since he doesn’t know what’s at stake. He isn’t hot about the team intruding on his territory, but the team isn’t about to let Aggregor get another Map fragment.
It turns out that Pisciss is almost entirely composed of water—the atmosphere is liquid, held by centrifugal force to a small, solid core. Kevin insists that the Rustbucket is capable of handling the pressure, but one of the sea creatures arrives to prove him wrong—a kraken. It punctures the ship and kidnaps Gwen, and with the Ultimatrix’s demorphing flaw, Ben can’t use it to save her. Fortunately, Kevin’s modified their suits with thrusters and neuroshock gloves, proving he’s not just Grissom—he’s Batman. Gwen puts her shock gloves to good use getting three, and all three of them manage to fight off the kraken. Unfortunately, it shatters Kevin’s helmet, so Gwen quickly throws him into the side of the Rustbucket, forcing him to quickly absorb the metal to save him from the crushing pressure (for some reason, using his powers destroys his suit), but he’s still drowning. Fortunately, an adorable alien fish comes by and swallows his head. No, really—its body is full of breathable air, and it becomes a makeshift helmet for him. And it loves him so much. Pike arrives, using a sonic weapon that chases off some of the more violent fish, and he takes them deeper through the atmosphere, as the team is sure that Aggregor is heading for the core. A sea quake scares the team, but Pike insists they’re normal, if oddly frequent today, but they do spook the locals—eels and some pretty angry sturgeon-like fish that can shoot projectiles from their needle-like noses. The battle ends up pretty outrageous, as all of them try to fight ingeniously. Ben spots a ray-like alien coming by and rides it through battle, using a sturgeon as a gun. Not to be outdone, Kevin grabs two sturgeons and a ray, then gets the urge to start to play—well, at least shoot the hell out of their attackers. But Ben’s helmet is also smashed, and he’s forced to use the Ultimatrix. Unfortunately, it hates him, making him go Humongousaur. He manages to let out a good yell that scares off the fish, but he’s still drowning. He just manages to turn Ampfibian, who turns out to have no problem breathing the water. They manage to get to the core, and Ben fights his way past the guards, which doesn’t impress Pike in the least.
Pike follows to keep an eye on them, as the centrifugal generator that keeps their planet together is held in the core. The core is dry, which forces Pike to get a water-filled helmet, meant to keep the centrifuge safe from the rest of Pisciss. Of course, this doesn’t stop anyone who can breathe air, as Aggregor’s somewhere there, and Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and his pet guppy go to try to find him. But another quake hits, dropping part of the ceiling on them. Gwen throws up a shield, but misses Pike. She stays to try to free him from the rubble while Ben and Kevin (and the guppy) charge forward to look for Aggregor. He manages to retrieve the centrifuge, revealing that Paradox had hidden the Map fragment in that form ages ago. Ben tries to attack, but Aggregor drops a bridge on him—well, the ceiling on him. Which collapses the bridge he’s standing on. Close enough. Oh my god, he killed Benny—that bastard! Kevin attacks in anger, but Aggregor gets away, showing the remarkable ability to have the ceiling open a hole for him, then close it behind him—Andreas’s powers, maybe? I’m guessing it’s how he got in. Kevin rages after him, but he learns that Ben’s alive…and annoyed: “You completely forgot about me, didn’t you?!” He goes Big Chill and chases after Aggregor, just before Pike and Gwen arrive to see the centrifuge gone, with Kevin the only one standing there. Kevin tries to explain himself, but Pike sounds the alarm and throws him aside. This pisses off the guppy, who attacks and smashes Pike’s helmet. The guards arrive and Kevin gets the blame for that too.
As water starts floating off into space, Big Chill continues to chase Aggregor, getting slowed down by the guards. He tries to go ultimate to stop them, but he loses Aggregor. Gwen calls him back to the core, since they need to get Pike to the water and somehow figure out a way to get a new centrifuge. When Ben gets there, he realizes he’s got just the thing that might help—Goop’s gravity disk. And I’m completely shocked that a throwaway gag became important (shadow puppets, anyone?). He places his disk in there, but the centrifuge pulls him in. Gwen shouts for Kevin to try to save him, but he says that Ben’s been atomized, spread all over the ocean. But as water continues to float off into space, suddenly all of the new water turns green, and the liquid atmosphere pulls itself together, restoring it to 96%. Goddamnit,Daniel Ben, stop making your friends think you’re dead, or they’ll stop saying nice things at the funeral! Ben demorphs in the middle of the ocean, and the team apparently teleports to the Rustbucket to save him, with Gwen maintaining the internal atmosphere (animation fail here, since we just see her holding up her hands—no sign of magic or mana). With everyone okay and Goop’s gravity disk holding the planet together, Pike and the others fix the Rustbucket as thanks, and Kevin tries to be tough in saying goodbye to the guppy. Ben and Gwen are shocked at how heartless he tries to be, but he very quickly softens up, saying goodbye on a bittersweet note, and Gwen says that he did a noble thing. Still, it doesn’t quite lift Kevin’s mood, as he thinks about “the one that got away.”
Pike is the newest Plumber we meet, of the same race as Ripjaws from the original. I’ve got to say, the design for Pike is definitely a lot nicer than Ripjaws’s, as he’s got a more streamlined, catfish look to him than an angler fish. Still, he does have the anger light, but he uses it—I don’t remember if Ripjaws ever did. Ben says that Pike is cooler than Ripjaws had been, and it shows—he definitely knows his way around a fight, and he’s brutal in battle. Again, proof that when somebody has better control and doesn’t think of the form as a liability, they kick some serious ass. As a person? He’s really kind of an asshole. He doesn’t like the air-breathers, and he comes off as arrogant around them, though he is humbled by the end when Ben nearly gave up his life to save their planet.
At thirteen episodes, I think it’s safe to say that the theme this season is the trio itself. It’s tough to describe it without resorting to words like “nakama”; “family” isn’t quite right, since it’s just them—“team” is probably the best term to encompass the bonds of love and friendship that hold them together. They are more alone now than they ever have been—they’ve sent their students to the Academy (“Above and Beyond”), and Grandpa Max is essentially hospitalized. Azmuth can’t really help Ben, since Albedo’s the one who built the Ultimatrix, and Paradox is busy all over time and space. The only ones they can depend on are each other, and they have to become closer than ever before.
It becomes pretty evident here, particularly with the battles. This episode does something that I’ve been wanting for a long time—giving them a chance to fight without depending as much on their powers, especially when it comes to Ben. All three of them fight together against the kraken, and it’s a beautiful bit of teamwork. Ben calls the shots, but they’re perfectly harmonized. The trio breaks up a bit in the second part of the battle, but you have Ben and Kevin back-to-back, taking out attackers as equals; Kevin using his powers and Ben using the suit’s powers. And the bit with the sturgeons and the rays was pure ingenuity on Ben’s part, with Kevin immediately going in for the usual playful rivalry they have.
They’re quick to defend one another. When Gwen is taken by the kraken, Kevin and Ben both immediately freak, and Kevin tells Ben to try to do something, but Ben knows he can’t risk using the Ultimatrix, and he’s out of ideas until Kevin reveals that he modified their suits. When Aggregor attacks Ben, Kevin immediately charges in rage, but his metal shield conducts Aggregor’s electricity (a possible hint that Kevin may have to absorb energy one day to save his friends?). And out of instinct, when the ceiling collapses on them, Gwen immediately forms a shield around herself and the boys, but she misses Pike, explaining that she didn’t see him. She didn’t seem to even think to look for him, since he’s not one of the ones she usually protects without a second thought.
This is very important on Kevin’s side, harkening back to Paradox’s warning that he must remember who his friends are. When Ben was apparently killed the second time (since the boy is made of Jesus or something), Gwen is angry and shocked, but Kevin’s quietly depressed. He even remarks, “At least he went out saving the world,” knowing it’s the way his friend would want to die. But when Ben pulls his Daniel Jackson thing again and turns out to be okay, Kevin’s especially determined to rescue him. It’s a really good show of their friendship, within the team dynamic—they work well together, but they also care about each other. It’s clear that this is what will help them defeat Aggregor, and Kevin knows that this is also the one thing that may save him should he go astray again.
The Ultimatrix is once again a complete bitch to Ben, this time even going so far as to letting him drown. This actually makes sense; unlike the Omnitrix, the Ultimatrix was built by someone who hates Ben, so if there’s a low-level AI as the Omnitrix sometimes seemed to have, it has no reason to be loyal to him. Also, Albedo’s skills on the thing are in question, given Azmuth’s remarks that the Omnitrix was above his level, so either way, there may be some traps on the damn thing. Also, Ben explains further the flaw discovered in “Map of Infinity”—since the reboot in “Fused,” the Ultimatrix will transform him back to whatever he was wearing the first time he transformed back after the reboot. So it’s a really good thing he put on some pants before that battle. Thanks to Ra’ad and Kevin, Ben’s doomed to wear the same outfit for as long as he’s got the Ultimatrix.
No new aliens are revealed, but we do get to see Ampfibian and Ultimate Big Chill battle in water. Neither alien is bothered by the pressure or lack of air, and their powers aren’t hampered either. Ultimate Big Chill apparently doesn’t need air to generate his ice flames, and unlike Ra’ad, Ampfibian has no problem safely using electricity under water. He absorbs an energy net into himself, then shoots it back at the guards. Either he’s got better control than Ra’ad, or he used a particular skill set that wasn’t going to hurt him.
Finally, I really have to give props to the art department. This episode was already great, hitting everything in terms of writing, but it was made even better just by some good detail from the artists. The different alien fish on Pisciss had amazing designs, colorful and based on Earth fish like eels, rays, and sturgeons. And of course, they made the guppy—a hollow yellow amphibious alien that’s mostly one big eye, filled with air, that can act as a makeshift helmet. And it’s so frickin’ adorable. They also showed some good attention to detail—little things like showing on the Plumber suit that Ben has a small opening to access the Ultimatrix dial (difficult to see in “Map of Infinity”), and making sure that their hair moves around when they’re being thrashed or when Ben is coming out of the water in human form. And the battles were especially well done, choreographed beautifully—to the point that I’d say it’s leaning toward Avatar level battle choreography. Without much in the way of gravity, the characters move with speed and grace—Gwen twirling around as she blasts away eels, and Ben and Kevin spinning as well as they take out the attackers that have them surrounded. It’s a short bit, but it does show off the boys’ teamwork and the Tennysons’ martial arts skills, and you can see that the animators really enjoyed it.
“Deep” was written by Marty Isenberg. Pike was played by Kevin Michael Richardson.
It turns out that Pisciss is almost entirely composed of water—the atmosphere is liquid, held by centrifugal force to a small, solid core. Kevin insists that the Rustbucket is capable of handling the pressure, but one of the sea creatures arrives to prove him wrong—a kraken. It punctures the ship and kidnaps Gwen, and with the Ultimatrix’s demorphing flaw, Ben can’t use it to save her. Fortunately, Kevin’s modified their suits with thrusters and neuroshock gloves, proving he’s not just Grissom—he’s Batman. Gwen puts her shock gloves to good use getting three, and all three of them manage to fight off the kraken. Unfortunately, it shatters Kevin’s helmet, so Gwen quickly throws him into the side of the Rustbucket, forcing him to quickly absorb the metal to save him from the crushing pressure (for some reason, using his powers destroys his suit), but he’s still drowning. Fortunately, an adorable alien fish comes by and swallows his head. No, really—its body is full of breathable air, and it becomes a makeshift helmet for him. And it loves him so much. Pike arrives, using a sonic weapon that chases off some of the more violent fish, and he takes them deeper through the atmosphere, as the team is sure that Aggregor is heading for the core. A sea quake scares the team, but Pike insists they’re normal, if oddly frequent today, but they do spook the locals—eels and some pretty angry sturgeon-like fish that can shoot projectiles from their needle-like noses. The battle ends up pretty outrageous, as all of them try to fight ingeniously. Ben spots a ray-like alien coming by and rides it through battle, using a sturgeon as a gun. Not to be outdone, Kevin grabs two sturgeons and a ray, then gets the urge to start to play—well, at least shoot the hell out of their attackers. But Ben’s helmet is also smashed, and he’s forced to use the Ultimatrix. Unfortunately, it hates him, making him go Humongousaur. He manages to let out a good yell that scares off the fish, but he’s still drowning. He just manages to turn Ampfibian, who turns out to have no problem breathing the water. They manage to get to the core, and Ben fights his way past the guards, which doesn’t impress Pike in the least.
Pike follows to keep an eye on them, as the centrifugal generator that keeps their planet together is held in the core. The core is dry, which forces Pike to get a water-filled helmet, meant to keep the centrifuge safe from the rest of Pisciss. Of course, this doesn’t stop anyone who can breathe air, as Aggregor’s somewhere there, and Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and his pet guppy go to try to find him. But another quake hits, dropping part of the ceiling on them. Gwen throws up a shield, but misses Pike. She stays to try to free him from the rubble while Ben and Kevin (and the guppy) charge forward to look for Aggregor. He manages to retrieve the centrifuge, revealing that Paradox had hidden the Map fragment in that form ages ago. Ben tries to attack, but Aggregor drops a bridge on him—well, the ceiling on him. Which collapses the bridge he’s standing on. Close enough. Oh my god, he killed Benny—that bastard! Kevin attacks in anger, but Aggregor gets away, showing the remarkable ability to have the ceiling open a hole for him, then close it behind him—Andreas’s powers, maybe? I’m guessing it’s how he got in. Kevin rages after him, but he learns that Ben’s alive…and annoyed: “You completely forgot about me, didn’t you?!” He goes Big Chill and chases after Aggregor, just before Pike and Gwen arrive to see the centrifuge gone, with Kevin the only one standing there. Kevin tries to explain himself, but Pike sounds the alarm and throws him aside. This pisses off the guppy, who attacks and smashes Pike’s helmet. The guards arrive and Kevin gets the blame for that too.
As water starts floating off into space, Big Chill continues to chase Aggregor, getting slowed down by the guards. He tries to go ultimate to stop them, but he loses Aggregor. Gwen calls him back to the core, since they need to get Pike to the water and somehow figure out a way to get a new centrifuge. When Ben gets there, he realizes he’s got just the thing that might help—Goop’s gravity disk. And I’m completely shocked that a throwaway gag became important (shadow puppets, anyone?). He places his disk in there, but the centrifuge pulls him in. Gwen shouts for Kevin to try to save him, but he says that Ben’s been atomized, spread all over the ocean. But as water continues to float off into space, suddenly all of the new water turns green, and the liquid atmosphere pulls itself together, restoring it to 96%. Goddamnit,
Pike is the newest Plumber we meet, of the same race as Ripjaws from the original. I’ve got to say, the design for Pike is definitely a lot nicer than Ripjaws’s, as he’s got a more streamlined, catfish look to him than an angler fish. Still, he does have the anger light, but he uses it—I don’t remember if Ripjaws ever did. Ben says that Pike is cooler than Ripjaws had been, and it shows—he definitely knows his way around a fight, and he’s brutal in battle. Again, proof that when somebody has better control and doesn’t think of the form as a liability, they kick some serious ass. As a person? He’s really kind of an asshole. He doesn’t like the air-breathers, and he comes off as arrogant around them, though he is humbled by the end when Ben nearly gave up his life to save their planet.
At thirteen episodes, I think it’s safe to say that the theme this season is the trio itself. It’s tough to describe it without resorting to words like “nakama”; “family” isn’t quite right, since it’s just them—“team” is probably the best term to encompass the bonds of love and friendship that hold them together. They are more alone now than they ever have been—they’ve sent their students to the Academy (“Above and Beyond”), and Grandpa Max is essentially hospitalized. Azmuth can’t really help Ben, since Albedo’s the one who built the Ultimatrix, and Paradox is busy all over time and space. The only ones they can depend on are each other, and they have to become closer than ever before.
It becomes pretty evident here, particularly with the battles. This episode does something that I’ve been wanting for a long time—giving them a chance to fight without depending as much on their powers, especially when it comes to Ben. All three of them fight together against the kraken, and it’s a beautiful bit of teamwork. Ben calls the shots, but they’re perfectly harmonized. The trio breaks up a bit in the second part of the battle, but you have Ben and Kevin back-to-back, taking out attackers as equals; Kevin using his powers and Ben using the suit’s powers. And the bit with the sturgeons and the rays was pure ingenuity on Ben’s part, with Kevin immediately going in for the usual playful rivalry they have.
They’re quick to defend one another. When Gwen is taken by the kraken, Kevin and Ben both immediately freak, and Kevin tells Ben to try to do something, but Ben knows he can’t risk using the Ultimatrix, and he’s out of ideas until Kevin reveals that he modified their suits. When Aggregor attacks Ben, Kevin immediately charges in rage, but his metal shield conducts Aggregor’s electricity (a possible hint that Kevin may have to absorb energy one day to save his friends?). And out of instinct, when the ceiling collapses on them, Gwen immediately forms a shield around herself and the boys, but she misses Pike, explaining that she didn’t see him. She didn’t seem to even think to look for him, since he’s not one of the ones she usually protects without a second thought.
This is very important on Kevin’s side, harkening back to Paradox’s warning that he must remember who his friends are. When Ben was apparently killed the second time (since the boy is made of Jesus or something), Gwen is angry and shocked, but Kevin’s quietly depressed. He even remarks, “At least he went out saving the world,” knowing it’s the way his friend would want to die. But when Ben pulls his Daniel Jackson thing again and turns out to be okay, Kevin’s especially determined to rescue him. It’s a really good show of their friendship, within the team dynamic—they work well together, but they also care about each other. It’s clear that this is what will help them defeat Aggregor, and Kevin knows that this is also the one thing that may save him should he go astray again.
The Ultimatrix is once again a complete bitch to Ben, this time even going so far as to letting him drown. This actually makes sense; unlike the Omnitrix, the Ultimatrix was built by someone who hates Ben, so if there’s a low-level AI as the Omnitrix sometimes seemed to have, it has no reason to be loyal to him. Also, Albedo’s skills on the thing are in question, given Azmuth’s remarks that the Omnitrix was above his level, so either way, there may be some traps on the damn thing. Also, Ben explains further the flaw discovered in “Map of Infinity”—since the reboot in “Fused,” the Ultimatrix will transform him back to whatever he was wearing the first time he transformed back after the reboot. So it’s a really good thing he put on some pants before that battle. Thanks to Ra’ad and Kevin, Ben’s doomed to wear the same outfit for as long as he’s got the Ultimatrix.
No new aliens are revealed, but we do get to see Ampfibian and Ultimate Big Chill battle in water. Neither alien is bothered by the pressure or lack of air, and their powers aren’t hampered either. Ultimate Big Chill apparently doesn’t need air to generate his ice flames, and unlike Ra’ad, Ampfibian has no problem safely using electricity under water. He absorbs an energy net into himself, then shoots it back at the guards. Either he’s got better control than Ra’ad, or he used a particular skill set that wasn’t going to hurt him.
Finally, I really have to give props to the art department. This episode was already great, hitting everything in terms of writing, but it was made even better just by some good detail from the artists. The different alien fish on Pisciss had amazing designs, colorful and based on Earth fish like eels, rays, and sturgeons. And of course, they made the guppy—a hollow yellow amphibious alien that’s mostly one big eye, filled with air, that can act as a makeshift helmet. And it’s so frickin’ adorable. They also showed some good attention to detail—little things like showing on the Plumber suit that Ben has a small opening to access the Ultimatrix dial (difficult to see in “Map of Infinity”), and making sure that their hair moves around when they’re being thrashed or when Ben is coming out of the water in human form. And the battles were especially well done, choreographed beautifully—to the point that I’d say it’s leaning toward Avatar level battle choreography. Without much in the way of gravity, the characters move with speed and grace—Gwen twirling around as she blasts away eels, and Ben and Kevin spinning as well as they take out the attackers that have them surrounded. It’s a short bit, but it does show off the boys’ teamwork and the Tennysons’ martial arts skills, and you can see that the animators really enjoyed it.
“Deep” was written by Marty Isenberg. Pike was played by Kevin Michael Richardson.