Force from the future: “Ben 10,000”
Jan. 4th, 2011 03:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameIt’s Grandpa Max’s sixtieth birthday, and the kids plan to surprise him. Just one problem: Ben forgot to buy the cake. Though Ben’s not exactly worried about it, Gwen has freakishly plotted out every detail of the party. I think that girl has OCD or something sometimes. So, no surprise, they start fighting. When they start a round of rock, paper, scissors for the blame, a magic portal opens and some kind of ninja girl comes through and kidnaps Gwen. Yeah, in the original series, you could set a drinking game to this. Ben goes XLR-8 and takes chase before the portal can close. Oddly enough, neither of the kids notices that the ninja has the Charms of Bezel on her arm, but whatever. The portal leads to a city that looks like the lovechild of New New York from Doctor Who and Gotham in Batman Beyond. As XLR-8 rescues Gwen, some teenager flirts with him (oh, is this squicky in a minute) and a couple more kids call him by his apparent new rap name, “Ben 10-K.” Conveniently, there’s a statue right behind Ben to explain all this: he’s now twenty years in the future, where he grows up to be known as the Hero of Heroes, Ben 10,000. Yeah. That teen from before was trying to hit on a thirty-year-old. The statue gets blown up by some kind of rhinoceros mutant guy, who has some kind of grudge against 10-K. Ben decides to try to show Rhino Guy what he’s made of, only for the Omnitrix to time out, making him go splat against the guy’s chest. The ninja tries to blast Rhino Guy with magic, but she turns out to be a terrible fighter because she gets trapped in a net. But then, faster than a speeding bullet, someone beats the crap out of Rhino Guy. It’s an older XLR-8, who takes one look at the kids…and just gets annoyed. Yeah, Ben grows up to be an asshole. As Gwen and the ninja start yelling at 10-K for his attitude, Gwen realizes all of a sudden that the ninja is her older self. Boy, after that fight, I’ve got to say Gwen got gypped in the future.
10-K heads off while Gwen talks to her older self and Ben just gets annoyed at the whole situation. Turns out that Gwendolyn’s been going by her full name since college (…why? I know it’s not a big deal, but it’s not like “Gwen” screams “little kid,” like say, “Tommy”). She’s mastered a time travel spell, and anyone who’s seen the Alien Force episode “Time Heals” is free to facepalm. Gwen asks if she’s gotten her black belt, but Ben’s fed up with the free future advice and wants to know what the hell’s going on. Gwendolyn insists that 10-K needs Ben’s help—though he’s mastered the Omnitrix, some kind of crisis is coming that he can’t handle alone. As if on cue, her comm warns of a break-in at Fort DNA-X, where DNA samples are kept from across the galaxy. For some reason. Ben tries to take them there in time, but the Omnitrix hasn’t charged yet. Fortunately for him, Grandpa Max still has a great sense of timing in the future and arrives in an even more beat up Rustbucket. He’s proud of Gwendolyn for mastering her time portal and is thrilled to see the kids. Turns out that 10-K’s distant from his family, and they’re pretty bitter about the whole thing. To the point that when they arrive at Fort DNA-X and Ben asks if Max is coming along, he turns him down. Come on, man, really. The kid hasn’t grown up to be an asshole yet; don’t give him a reason to think he shouldn’t ask his family to have his back. But he does ask that Ben and Gwen say goodbye to him before Gwendolyn sends them back, so I guess that helps some.
The Gwens and Stinkfly enter to find 10-K getting his ass kicked by Animo, who’s now a head in a jar stuck on the body of an albino gorilla. Damn, Animo, you really let yourself go. In the fight, Gwendolyn gets herself beaten again, no surprise. Geez, for a Weisman girl, she’s pretty disappointing. Is it too late to trade her in for Elisa Maza? 10-K doesn’t want Ben getting in the way, so he traps Stinkfly’s tail to hold him off while he beats the shit out of Animo. And naturally, Ben takes it well. Gwen asks Gwendolyn if they should help, but she says that 10-K prefers to go it alone. Rapidly shifting from one form to another without going human first, 10-K uses multiple aliens to defeat Animo, including a Megawhatt that will later be dubbed “Buzzshock,” and a new guy that Ben calls “Spitter.” But 10-K isn’t amused by this and insists that he doesn’t name his aliens anymore, even though Ben insists that was half the fun. Proving he has no idea what fun means anymore, 10-K just smashes Animo into a case and ties him up. The Galactic Enforcers arrive late, and he leaves them to clean up, ignoring Ultimos’s request that he save them a few bad guys to beat up. 10-K then grabs the kids and runs, telling Gwendolyn to meet him back at HQ while Animo spots a DNA sample labeled VX-0001.
Though 10-K’s not exactly friendly, he does give the kids a fast debrief on the way home. Turns out that Animo escaped a few years ago, but he’s been quiet until now. And Vilgax isn’t a problem anymore since 10-K “left him in pieces” and remarks that “it wasn’t pretty for anyone.” Yeesh, call me crazy, but I think this battle might have had something to do with 10-K’s attitude. Hell, at this point, even Ben thinks older him needs to lighten up. Back at Fort DNA-X, Animo gasses the Enforcers and opens the sample to see the horrifically mauled remains of Vilgax, which pretty much confirms what 10-K said. So, yeah, officially scared of 10-K now. Animo shoots Vilgax’s corpse with a regeneration ray and cackles like a madman.
10-K’s headquarters is in the shadow of Mt. Rushmore, which may or may not have been rebuilt in the past twenty years (since they destroy it at the end of series 1). Though Ben thinks the place is awesome, it turns out that 10-K doesn’t have much of a chance to enjoy his place at all, since he’s always on patrol. He tells Ben not to touch anything, but Ben gleefully ignores him and Gwen and grabs a hoverboard, remarking to Gwen, “Why should I listen to me? You never do.” He’s got a point there. Unfortunately, like a certain O’Neil back at the U.S. Air Force, 10-K has no sense of humor at all and snatches the hoverboard right out from underneath Ben. The two Bens are really pissed off by each other’s existence, and look pretty close to coming to blows. But before they can, a break-in alert comes up. 10-K goes to handle it and tells Gwendolyn to send the kids home, but Ben’s not taking this crap from himself and decides to help. Good thing too because Gwendolyn realizes that the break-in is at the Null Void projector. Inside, Animo starts messing with the controls, trying to release the various aliens trapped within. 10-K’s ready to stop him when a reborn Vilgax shows. Apparently, he misses the moments when they didn’t get along because he attacks 10-K immediately, leaving Animo free to tamper with the projector. The Gwens and Ben arrive, and when Ben sees his only nemesis alive and kicking, he decides to go help 10-K, telling the Gwens to take Animo. It’s a good choice, since 10-K is getting his ass kicked. You know, I thought everyone’s supposed to be more badass in the future. All I’m seeing is Ben and Gwen getting their asses kicked harder when they’re older. 10-K tells Ben to get out, but Ben insists that if it’s 10-K’s fight then it’s his fight too. Unable to fight timey-wimey logic, 10-K puts a hand on Ben’s Omnitrix and switches him to Cannonbolt instantly, much to Ben’s shock. Even so, Vilgax is giving the Bens more than a run for their money. He explains that he had Animo analyze all of 10-K’s forms and program their moves into Vilgax’s DNA, which is actually quite brilliant. Congrats, Vilgie, it only took you twenty years to figure out how to beat Ben. But he makes one fatal error in trying to hurt the younger Ben. You do not hurt Max Tennyson’s grandchildren. Ever. With a shout of “Get your paws off my grandson!” he shoots Vilgax with a massive laser. The rescued Ben tells him to go help the Gwens, but once Max heads off, Vilgax throws the Bens into the city below.
The Gwens are losing momentum, and Gwen’s about to get pounded by Animo, but Max is there to save the day. He pulls her out of the way with his bionic arm.
…Hold on. What? Bionic arm what now? And it can transform into a laser?! Holy shit! Grandpa Max is the single most badass future person here!
So, yeah. While the Gwens and Grandpa effin’ Max go to take down Animo, the Bens recover from the attack. Ben points out to 10-K that even though Vilgax knows all of his aliens, there’s one form he’s forgotten all about—the exact same one that 10-K’s forgotten, human. And Ben hopes that 10-K can remember the power of his human factor in time. Vilgax blasts them aside, and 10-K decides to take Ben’s words to heart and demorphs, grabbing an abandoned hoverboard while Vilgax mocks him. Ignoring Vilgax, 10-K switches Ben to Diamondhead, then flies circles around Vilgax while Diamondhead attacks. ‘Cause as it turns out, Vilgax isn’t very fast in his new form. Disappointing. 10-K leads him through the city and to a river or something. When Vilgax smashes the hoverboard (…you know, I really hope 10-K plans on paying for that), 10-K does a Power Ranger flip off of it and transforms into Spitter, helping Diamondhead throw him in the water. He then switches to a new alien that Ben dubs “Arcticguana,” and freezes the water solid, with Vilgax still in it. Eh, it kind of breaks the moral they were going for, but at least it was awesome. Meanwhile, the Gwens and Max manage to defeat Animo and close the portal, with Gwendolyn admitting to Gwen that she got that black belt she was asking about years ago.
The once and future Tennysons gather together for Max’s eightieth birthday party, but in the middle of the celebration, the Galactic Enforcers call about an attack. Everyone looks at 10-K, expecting him to run off, but he tells Ultimos to handle it because it’s his grandpa’s birthday and he’s not going to miss it. And proving that he remembers what it’s like to be a derpy human, he blows into a party horn. With this, Gwen realizes that the real reason Gwendolyn brought them there was because she needed to smack some sense into 10-K, and hopefully by proxy, Ben too. Gwendolyn points out that while Ben’s a dweeb, Gwen should enjoy him while she can. She opens the portal home, but Ben decides at the last minute that he wants some free future advice too and asks 10-K about the Omnitrix—how to fix it so he doesn’t have to “go Ben.” But 10-K admits that he’s going to want to be himself and thanks him for helping him realize that. He then gives Ben a box, saying that he should have given it to Max twenty years ago. They get back just a second after they left, surprising Max from behind. Ben presses the button on the top of the box, and it transforms into a birthday cake, finally setting the future right.
This is one of two episodes that cause a lot of wank in the fandom, and for one major reason: it’s the future. When we see the future, usually it means one of two things: one, the heroes have to avert a bad future, or two, this is how the future’s going to be, so deal with it. Those are usually very easy to reconcile, though the second will always result in wank (hello, Digimon 02, are we still bitching about the epilogue?). The problem with this episode is that it doesn’t fit firmly into either camp. It’s not a bad future, per se, even though Ben’s attitude makes DCAU Batman seem cheerful in comparison. But things do end up changing, starting with the birthday cake that 10-K ensures Ben gives to Grandpa Max in the past. And I think that’s the whole point of the episode.
The theme really strikes me that nothing is inevitable. Ben ended up so annoyed at his future self that you know he probably would never let himself lose his sense of fun and become that total asshole. And Ben’s the one who realized that it was his human form that was the key to saving the day, since both 10-K and Vilgax had forgotten what Ben Tennyson was capable of. 10-K came to the same conclusion, telling his younger self that he needs to “go Ben” and remember how important that is, and by giving him the cake to bring back to Max in the past. Just by that, the future changes. Sure, circumstances could end up very similar—Ben can still master the Omnitrix, Gwen can still master magic and get her black belt, the future will look like Power Rangers SPD, and Max can become a total badass, but those are all things unrelated to Ben’s attitude problems. I’ll discuss more of the future stuff in “Ken 10,” since I think the two futures we see are in fact one and the same.
It’s mentioned that in the Ben 10 Prime timeline, Max is turning sixty. I’ve got to say, he’s pretty damn young to be a grandfather. This means that he was fifty when Ben and Gwen were born. Doesn’t sound like too big a deal, right? Well, Alien Force reveals that Gwen has an older brother, who’s anywhere from three to seven years older than her. This means that Max was somewhere in his forties when Ken was born, so he must have had kids pretty young. This really only makes me more curious about Max’s past, since he would have had to have accomplished a lot in a fairly short amount of time to become as respected and fucking badass as he is. Yes, the whole point of this episode is really to prove that Max is the most awesome character in the franchise. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Also, take a look at the crowd. I have to say that I enjoyed seeing all sorts of different alien designs in the city—something I also liked in Green Lantern: First Flight and the little I’ve seen of Power Rangers SPD. However, I’ve got to say that sometimes, they got lazy. Check this out, specifically the girl in the middle. There’s no point to her just yet, but I’ll come back to her in “Ken 10.”
“Ben 10,000” was written by Greg Weisman. Tara Strong played Gwendolyn and Fred Tatasciore played Ben 10,000.
10-K heads off while Gwen talks to her older self and Ben just gets annoyed at the whole situation. Turns out that Gwendolyn’s been going by her full name since college (…why? I know it’s not a big deal, but it’s not like “Gwen” screams “little kid,” like say, “Tommy”). She’s mastered a time travel spell, and anyone who’s seen the Alien Force episode “Time Heals” is free to facepalm. Gwen asks if she’s gotten her black belt, but Ben’s fed up with the free future advice and wants to know what the hell’s going on. Gwendolyn insists that 10-K needs Ben’s help—though he’s mastered the Omnitrix, some kind of crisis is coming that he can’t handle alone. As if on cue, her comm warns of a break-in at Fort DNA-X, where DNA samples are kept from across the galaxy. For some reason. Ben tries to take them there in time, but the Omnitrix hasn’t charged yet. Fortunately for him, Grandpa Max still has a great sense of timing in the future and arrives in an even more beat up Rustbucket. He’s proud of Gwendolyn for mastering her time portal and is thrilled to see the kids. Turns out that 10-K’s distant from his family, and they’re pretty bitter about the whole thing. To the point that when they arrive at Fort DNA-X and Ben asks if Max is coming along, he turns him down. Come on, man, really. The kid hasn’t grown up to be an asshole yet; don’t give him a reason to think he shouldn’t ask his family to have his back. But he does ask that Ben and Gwen say goodbye to him before Gwendolyn sends them back, so I guess that helps some.
The Gwens and Stinkfly enter to find 10-K getting his ass kicked by Animo, who’s now a head in a jar stuck on the body of an albino gorilla. Damn, Animo, you really let yourself go. In the fight, Gwendolyn gets herself beaten again, no surprise. Geez, for a Weisman girl, she’s pretty disappointing. Is it too late to trade her in for Elisa Maza? 10-K doesn’t want Ben getting in the way, so he traps Stinkfly’s tail to hold him off while he beats the shit out of Animo. And naturally, Ben takes it well. Gwen asks Gwendolyn if they should help, but she says that 10-K prefers to go it alone. Rapidly shifting from one form to another without going human first, 10-K uses multiple aliens to defeat Animo, including a Megawhatt that will later be dubbed “Buzzshock,” and a new guy that Ben calls “Spitter.” But 10-K isn’t amused by this and insists that he doesn’t name his aliens anymore, even though Ben insists that was half the fun. Proving he has no idea what fun means anymore, 10-K just smashes Animo into a case and ties him up. The Galactic Enforcers arrive late, and he leaves them to clean up, ignoring Ultimos’s request that he save them a few bad guys to beat up. 10-K then grabs the kids and runs, telling Gwendolyn to meet him back at HQ while Animo spots a DNA sample labeled VX-0001.
Though 10-K’s not exactly friendly, he does give the kids a fast debrief on the way home. Turns out that Animo escaped a few years ago, but he’s been quiet until now. And Vilgax isn’t a problem anymore since 10-K “left him in pieces” and remarks that “it wasn’t pretty for anyone.” Yeesh, call me crazy, but I think this battle might have had something to do with 10-K’s attitude. Hell, at this point, even Ben thinks older him needs to lighten up. Back at Fort DNA-X, Animo gasses the Enforcers and opens the sample to see the horrifically mauled remains of Vilgax, which pretty much confirms what 10-K said. So, yeah, officially scared of 10-K now. Animo shoots Vilgax’s corpse with a regeneration ray and cackles like a madman.
10-K’s headquarters is in the shadow of Mt. Rushmore, which may or may not have been rebuilt in the past twenty years (since they destroy it at the end of series 1). Though Ben thinks the place is awesome, it turns out that 10-K doesn’t have much of a chance to enjoy his place at all, since he’s always on patrol. He tells Ben not to touch anything, but Ben gleefully ignores him and Gwen and grabs a hoverboard, remarking to Gwen, “Why should I listen to me? You never do.” He’s got a point there. Unfortunately, like a certain O’Neil back at the U.S. Air Force, 10-K has no sense of humor at all and snatches the hoverboard right out from underneath Ben. The two Bens are really pissed off by each other’s existence, and look pretty close to coming to blows. But before they can, a break-in alert comes up. 10-K goes to handle it and tells Gwendolyn to send the kids home, but Ben’s not taking this crap from himself and decides to help. Good thing too because Gwendolyn realizes that the break-in is at the Null Void projector. Inside, Animo starts messing with the controls, trying to release the various aliens trapped within. 10-K’s ready to stop him when a reborn Vilgax shows. Apparently, he misses the moments when they didn’t get along because he attacks 10-K immediately, leaving Animo free to tamper with the projector. The Gwens and Ben arrive, and when Ben sees his only nemesis alive and kicking, he decides to go help 10-K, telling the Gwens to take Animo. It’s a good choice, since 10-K is getting his ass kicked. You know, I thought everyone’s supposed to be more badass in the future. All I’m seeing is Ben and Gwen getting their asses kicked harder when they’re older. 10-K tells Ben to get out, but Ben insists that if it’s 10-K’s fight then it’s his fight too. Unable to fight timey-wimey logic, 10-K puts a hand on Ben’s Omnitrix and switches him to Cannonbolt instantly, much to Ben’s shock. Even so, Vilgax is giving the Bens more than a run for their money. He explains that he had Animo analyze all of 10-K’s forms and program their moves into Vilgax’s DNA, which is actually quite brilliant. Congrats, Vilgie, it only took you twenty years to figure out how to beat Ben. But he makes one fatal error in trying to hurt the younger Ben. You do not hurt Max Tennyson’s grandchildren. Ever. With a shout of “Get your paws off my grandson!” he shoots Vilgax with a massive laser. The rescued Ben tells him to go help the Gwens, but once Max heads off, Vilgax throws the Bens into the city below.
The Gwens are losing momentum, and Gwen’s about to get pounded by Animo, but Max is there to save the day. He pulls her out of the way with his bionic arm.
…Hold on. What? Bionic arm what now? And it can transform into a laser?! Holy shit! Grandpa Max is the single most badass future person here!
So, yeah. While the Gwens and Grandpa effin’ Max go to take down Animo, the Bens recover from the attack. Ben points out to 10-K that even though Vilgax knows all of his aliens, there’s one form he’s forgotten all about—the exact same one that 10-K’s forgotten, human. And Ben hopes that 10-K can remember the power of his human factor in time. Vilgax blasts them aside, and 10-K decides to take Ben’s words to heart and demorphs, grabbing an abandoned hoverboard while Vilgax mocks him. Ignoring Vilgax, 10-K switches Ben to Diamondhead, then flies circles around Vilgax while Diamondhead attacks. ‘Cause as it turns out, Vilgax isn’t very fast in his new form. Disappointing. 10-K leads him through the city and to a river or something. When Vilgax smashes the hoverboard (…you know, I really hope 10-K plans on paying for that), 10-K does a Power Ranger flip off of it and transforms into Spitter, helping Diamondhead throw him in the water. He then switches to a new alien that Ben dubs “Arcticguana,” and freezes the water solid, with Vilgax still in it. Eh, it kind of breaks the moral they were going for, but at least it was awesome. Meanwhile, the Gwens and Max manage to defeat Animo and close the portal, with Gwendolyn admitting to Gwen that she got that black belt she was asking about years ago.
The once and future Tennysons gather together for Max’s eightieth birthday party, but in the middle of the celebration, the Galactic Enforcers call about an attack. Everyone looks at 10-K, expecting him to run off, but he tells Ultimos to handle it because it’s his grandpa’s birthday and he’s not going to miss it. And proving that he remembers what it’s like to be a derpy human, he blows into a party horn. With this, Gwen realizes that the real reason Gwendolyn brought them there was because she needed to smack some sense into 10-K, and hopefully by proxy, Ben too. Gwendolyn points out that while Ben’s a dweeb, Gwen should enjoy him while she can. She opens the portal home, but Ben decides at the last minute that he wants some free future advice too and asks 10-K about the Omnitrix—how to fix it so he doesn’t have to “go Ben.” But 10-K admits that he’s going to want to be himself and thanks him for helping him realize that. He then gives Ben a box, saying that he should have given it to Max twenty years ago. They get back just a second after they left, surprising Max from behind. Ben presses the button on the top of the box, and it transforms into a birthday cake, finally setting the future right.
This is one of two episodes that cause a lot of wank in the fandom, and for one major reason: it’s the future. When we see the future, usually it means one of two things: one, the heroes have to avert a bad future, or two, this is how the future’s going to be, so deal with it. Those are usually very easy to reconcile, though the second will always result in wank (hello, Digimon 02, are we still bitching about the epilogue?). The problem with this episode is that it doesn’t fit firmly into either camp. It’s not a bad future, per se, even though Ben’s attitude makes DCAU Batman seem cheerful in comparison. But things do end up changing, starting with the birthday cake that 10-K ensures Ben gives to Grandpa Max in the past. And I think that’s the whole point of the episode.
The theme really strikes me that nothing is inevitable. Ben ended up so annoyed at his future self that you know he probably would never let himself lose his sense of fun and become that total asshole. And Ben’s the one who realized that it was his human form that was the key to saving the day, since both 10-K and Vilgax had forgotten what Ben Tennyson was capable of. 10-K came to the same conclusion, telling his younger self that he needs to “go Ben” and remember how important that is, and by giving him the cake to bring back to Max in the past. Just by that, the future changes. Sure, circumstances could end up very similar—Ben can still master the Omnitrix, Gwen can still master magic and get her black belt, the future will look like Power Rangers SPD, and Max can become a total badass, but those are all things unrelated to Ben’s attitude problems. I’ll discuss more of the future stuff in “Ken 10,” since I think the two futures we see are in fact one and the same.
It’s mentioned that in the Ben 10 Prime timeline, Max is turning sixty. I’ve got to say, he’s pretty damn young to be a grandfather. This means that he was fifty when Ben and Gwen were born. Doesn’t sound like too big a deal, right? Well, Alien Force reveals that Gwen has an older brother, who’s anywhere from three to seven years older than her. This means that Max was somewhere in his forties when Ken was born, so he must have had kids pretty young. This really only makes me more curious about Max’s past, since he would have had to have accomplished a lot in a fairly short amount of time to become as respected and fucking badass as he is. Yes, the whole point of this episode is really to prove that Max is the most awesome character in the franchise. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Also, take a look at the crowd. I have to say that I enjoyed seeing all sorts of different alien designs in the city—something I also liked in Green Lantern: First Flight and the little I’ve seen of Power Rangers SPD. However, I’ve got to say that sometimes, they got lazy. Check this out, specifically the girl in the middle. There’s no point to her just yet, but I’ll come back to her in “Ken 10.”
“Ben 10,000” was written by Greg Weisman. Tara Strong played Gwendolyn and Fred Tatasciore played Ben 10,000.