TALKBACK - Ben 10 - Episodes 66-75 - [9/7 (Online) 9/10-9/14 (TV)]

CNFan1995

Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Toonami Fan.
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Episodes 66-75
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Monday at 5:30 PM pst/4:30 PM cst!

Vote Zombozo
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) MONDAY 9/10 at 5:30 PM

This week...
When the Rustbucket must tune-up in the same town as Zombozo's latest campaign trail stop, Ben soon discovers the clown is using his speeches to hypnotize then rob the town, and Team Tennyson must stop the baddie from winning the election.
----
Drone On
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) MONDAY 9/10 at 5:45 PM

This week...
Ben and Gwen are in a highly competitive paper airplane war, but when alien-tech drones bombard the Rustbucket, the cousins must work together to ground the aerial attack and find out who's behind it: the alien conqueror, Vilgax!
----
Safari Sa'Bad
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) TUESDAY 9/11 at 5:30 PM

This week...
On their trip to Adrenaworld West, Ben takes a detour on a jungle cruise and finds himself hunted by the evil Tim Buktu. Our hero must outwit the baddie if he wants to make it off the amusement park ride alive!
----
The Nature of Things
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) TUESDAY 9/11 at 5:45 PM

This week...
While sightseeing at the Geyser Gulch National Park, the Tennyson trio uncover Steam Smythe's steam-powered generator and must shut it down before it overloads the power grid or, even worse, causes a massive earthquake that destroys the entire park!
----
The Sound and the Furry
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) WEDNESDAY 9/12 at 5:30 PM

This week...
As Team Tennyson leaves the Frozen Man Festival, Lord Decibel takes center stage to threaten the festival-goers, creating an avalanche if his ransom isn't paid. An over matched Ben must step out of his comfort zone to save the festival from his noisy nemesis!
----
Reststop Roustabout
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) WEDNESDAY 9/12 at 5:45 PM

This week...
With the Rustbucket stopped on the Midwest roadside, Ben locks himself inside with his tablet as Max and Gwen enjoy the great outdoors, until Team Tennyson is pulled into a wild Jack-a-Lope chase.
----
That's the Stuff
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) THURSDAY 9/13 at 5:30 PM

This week...
While touring a space museum, Ben's excitement multiplies when he learns that recently discovered space stuff is being examined inside the museum's lab. Once the stuff comes to life and the shape-shifting goo replicates our hero, Ben must look within if he is to stop the case of mistaken identity.
----
The Feels
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) THURSDAY 9/13 at 5:45 PM

This week...
While Max and Gwen revel in the holiday spirit of Winter Wonderland, Ben couldn't be more unamused and focused on the toys, but once the Weatherheads set their sights on Winter Wonderland as their next target, our hero must become one with his emotion if he is to save the town.
----
Past Aliens Present
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) FRIDAY 9/14 at 5:30 PM

This week...
After Ben stumbles upon a video of Cannonbolt ripping up a computer lab on the internet, Team Tennyson must race to State U to find the imposter; but once Ben discovers it is a steam-punk version of his alien that is terrorizing the campus, Ben must take down the man behind the machine, Steam Smythe!
----
Dreamtime
Premieres
(Online) FRIDAY 9/7
(TV) FRIDAY 9/14 at 5:45 PM

This week...
After a series of reoccurring nightmares affect his sleep, Ben refuses to open up to Max and Gwen about what's bothering him, but once they realize Zombozo himself is behind it, Ben must accept Max and Gwen's help if they are going to put a stop to the terror.​
 
Last edited:

Fone Bone

Matt Zimmer
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
35,267
Location
Framingham, MA
Okay, so this is interesting. I don't usually preface my reviews with a warning to the fans of the show I'm about to review, but some of the following Ben 10 reviews are so negative that perhaps some person might mistake me for a cynical troll who hates everything, and that nothing on TV is good enough for them. I want to assure anybody reading these next reviews, that's not the case at all. There were legitimate things in the following episodes that upset me on a fundamental level. And I am going to itemize the precise reasons I am so unhappy. But I believe that all of the following complaints are legitimate. I am not complaining simply to harsh anyone's buzz, or to gain attention or notoriety on any website I posts these reviews on. These episodes simply greatly offended and upset me. And I am not just bashing to bash. I actually poured my heart and soul into these reviews because I was upset at what I had just seen. So bear that in mind for what comes next.

Just to confuse the issue, there was a single episode in this batch I outright loved and gave five stars. And it's the fact that I am willing to be fair enough to do for a show I at this point clearly hate, means I think every single one of the following complaints is valid.

Here we go.

Ben 10 "Vote Zombozo"

Ineffective and toothless. The show is obviously trying to do a Trump parody but they are so gutless and afraid of offending people, they aren't raising the proper parallels or allegories.

Example: The free hats are supposed to be a slam on Trump. Except the insidious thing about the red hats is that they aren't free swag given away at rallies. Trump's supporters have to buy advertisements for him to wear on themselves. Which is crazy. But they do it. Which is why the episode doesn't work. It doesn't land as an allegory because real life is more absurd. You cannot actually do a proper spoof with Zombozo as Trump when Trump is clearly worse in every respect.

To be fair there isn't actually a single thing Zombozo could ever be allowed to do on a TV-Y7 show worse than what Trump has done, which is why the episode is a failure.

That's too bad. I liked the Henchmen, and that Ben was actually excited he talked the villains out of their crimes, because that's a valuable hero skillset. And it is, and its cool Ben recognizes that. But the show cannot even let the little stinker have THAT, and he winds up humiliating himself at the end because he thinks he's better at speeches than he actually is.

I also like that the one supposedly cool guy in the town is a Fonzie like greaser. That is how lame this town is.

There are admittedly nice things in the episode. But this is one of those episodes that shows over and over again why we aren't actually allowed to have nice things. **.

Ben 10 "Drone On"

The Vilgax reveal was a let-down because he was barely in the episode and barely did anything once we saw him.

I liked the joke about Lake Erie not being as creepy as it sounds though. **1/2.

Ben 10 "Safari Sa'Bad"

Timbuktu thinks he's a bigger deal than he is.

I disliked the moral that Timbuktu became a villain because he was alone and didn't have Team Tennyson. Because frankly, that's b.s.. That is NOT all it takes for a person to do the horriblle things he did in the episode. There are plenty of people who are lonely who aren't sociopaths looking to hurt people. And frankly, saying that is an insult to Ben. Now I think on a very real level Ben IS a sociopath. But the notion that he'd turn bad without Gwen and Grandpa is actually insulting to him and a way to state he isn't actually a hero.

I didn't mind most of the episode but the lesson at the end really bothered me. **.

Ben 10 "The Nature Of Things"

Do you know what would be great? If Aristocrow stuck around. He won't, but it would be funny if he did.

That said, Steam Smythe is a lousy villain. In any other franchise he'd be a D-list one-and-done baddie, instead of the recurring villain the show thinks he should be. He's lame and he sucks.

Speaking of which, the show can no longer afford Will Friedle as Heatblast? That's kind of sad.

I loved the motion animation on Gwen's hands pressing all of those buttons at once. Very cartoony.

Not terrible, but it's Steam Smythe. That also automatically means it's not great. **1/2.

Ben 10 "The Sound And The Furry"

Who is Bunny Ears anyways?

The humor was clumsy and weakly written compared to most weeks, but the superheroics and action scenes were above average, so it all worked out. ***1/2.

Ben 10 "Reststop Roustabout"

I absolutely loved it.

I love that when Ben complains that Gwen and Grandpa are too old for make-believe Max says he's only 65. That was like a SUPERB joke.

I also love Ben referring to the Jackalope as "Cabin Fever."

I liked the moral the Jackalope was trying to teach about imagination, even if it probably doesn't hold up to scrutiny. But it SOUNDS wise and right, which is about the best you can hope for in a cartoon like this.

I especially like the Jackalope's reality is never really settled. The stinkeye moment at the end was funny, but that is not actual proof Ben isn't crazy. And by the end of the episode with the Rust-Bucket being totally fine, Ben is starting to wonder that himself.

Great episode. *****.

Ben 10 "That's The Stuff"

I like Four-Arms calling the alien "Handsome".

I don't get why Ben is so excited by the astronaut stuff. He deals with aliens every day.

"Euyagh! Okay, that's not creepy," is a good Grandpa Max line.

Speaking of which, the guy at the end with the cup and straw struck me as seriously creepy. Are they positioning him to return as a villain? Because his demeanor is far too sinister for them NOT to be planning that. Far more sinister than the actual situation called for.

A good one. ***1/2.

Ben 10 "The Feels"

I had previously though Ron Howard's Grinch adaptation was the single worst interpretation of that concept I had ever seen. It literally did everything wrong. I thought it could not get things more wrong.

But as a Grinch parody? This is ten times as bad. Which is a statement.

It's like they are trying to do a statement about the true meaning of Christmas without understanding how and why the Grinch made the specific pop culture impact he did.

So here Ben is obsessed with toys, and thinks the Holiday spirit stuff is nonsense. That was never the Grinch. And it's the precise fact that the show thinks it can do a parody of that specific concept with a sociopath like Ben Tennyson which is why this particular series is something that while I can enjoy on some weeks, is definitely a failure of a TV show.

The Grinch was not obsessed with getting presents. In fact, he hated presents. And if they are trying to tie the Grinch into the robots rather than Ben, that's a fail too. The Grinch isn't evil. In fact, the very reason he is the antihero he is, and spoke to as many people as he did, is that he's half right. He hates the commercialism of Christmas, and finds the entire thing loud and tacky. The Grinch is ostensibly the villain of the book and cartoon. But why I find irresistible about him is that he's also half the hero at the same time.

How are the robots wanting to destroy the town for kicks and giggles half-right? How is Ben, a legitimate sociopath, I must remind you, grousing about love and holiday spirit half-right? I don't feel the same thing for his supposed "change of heart" as I did the Grinch, because for a large part of me, my heart changed exactly when the Grinch's did. That was the genius of the special. Does the series actually expect kids in the audience to relate to a hero who thinks the Holidays are only good for getting presents, and that people taking deeper meaning from it are lame? Because that's NOT the Grinch's problem. It's the opposite. And he doesn't randomly change his mind due to peer pressure as Ben does here. He legitimately sees and recognizes he was wrong about the Whos, and risks his life to repair the damage he almost did. And for any show to get the bones of that particular story that wrong in that specific way is just unforgivable in my mind. It's even worse than Ron Howard merchandising the frell out of the Grinch movie without being self-aware to realize that the Grinch is about being happy NOT getting stuff. The only reason Ben "learns a lesson" is because he's supposed to. Not because he agreed with the actual lesson. I think this will probably go down in my mind as one of the very worst episodes of the entire series. The Grinch is a sacred cow to me. And if you can't even understand WHY is it so special, you shouldn't be doing homages to it.

Also for the record, the fact that the show refuses to say the word Christmas means it is gutless again. And that's pretty much a problem with just this show. I don't know too many other modern day cartoons which are afraid of the word Christmas. And I resent that it is.

There was a positive aspect of the episode, and since I think this is the worst episode so far, it would be wrong to not mention it. As Grinch stand-ins, the robots suck. As characters? They're funny! I love the robot saying he couldn't decide if the giant teddy bear was supposed to be adorable or terrifying, so they better destroy it just to make sure, or the robot saying he was pretending to be a Holiday tree, he was just kidding, and he got his friends good. I like those robots whenever they show up. It pains me it was in an episode like this that I so personally detested.

Yeah, if this isn't the worst episode of the entire series, it's definitely the one I hate the most. It's also bad enough to tell me that even if I occasionally like some episodes of the show, it's ultimately without merit, and a total dud of a reboot. Absolutely terrible episode, that makes me think a LOT less of the show. 0.

Ben 10 "Past Aliens Present"

That was... horrible. And what disturbs me is I don't think the show realizes how horrible that was. It was painful to watch.

I could have guessed that Ben is the type of sociopath who deliberately messes up bathrooms in a scatological manner for other people to clean up. But that isn't a character flaw that needed to be made canon. It's not funny. It's actually degrading to people in the service industry if you think about it. And the show actually thinks that Ben doing the callback to that moment upon the destruction of the town is funny, rather than psychopathic. How is it I am supposed to think Ben is a hero? And when the guy starts crying because the car he spent his life creating was destroyed, I think the series actually wants me to find that funny too. What is wrong with the writers?

I have two other major complaints, and it sounds at this point like I'm piling on, but these particular nits need to be picked.

First off, Steam Smythe was the wrong villain for duplicate alien robots. When Ben dismissively says a steam powered XLR8 cannot be as fast as the real thing, that is a literal truth. Smythe's old-timey gimmick means that not only would he be incapable of creating robots advanced enough to correctly mimic XLR8 and Cannonbolt, he wouldn't even want to. Which goes back to the notion that Steam Smythe is an absolutely terrible villain that would have been retired after a single appearance on a decent show.

The second major complaint is why Gwen thought that was Cannonbolt on the tape to begin with. Aside from the fact that he's clearly a robot, and has a Steam Smythe logo where the Omintrix logo should be, he's entirely the wrong color. Which is another reason Steam Smythe was the worst possible villain they could have chosen for this concept.

But the truth is the show has MUCH larger problems than a lousy villain and a terrible execution. Ben is at the heart of the series, an outright terrible person, which is a horrible thing to try and get kids in the audience to sympathize with and relate to. I don't get why this show hasn't driven truly concerned parents about what their kids are exposed to on TV to legitimate conniptions. This sounds like the precise rare type of show that me and the Parents Television Council would actually agree upon in setting a bad example to impressionable kids. Why am I the only adult complaining about this specific aspect to the show? And the fact that I am and they aren't shows me once and for all that the PTC is full of crap and always was. 0.
 

Fone Bone

Matt Zimmer
Joined
Jan 19, 2004
Messages
35,267
Location
Framingham, MA
I know I shouldn't double-post but I wanted to let you know that The Dreamtime hasn't been released online or OnDemand yet. The link you gave directs us to The Feels.
 

CNFan1995

Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Toonami Fan.
Joined
Apr 12, 2016
Messages
2,282
I know I shouldn't double-post but I wanted to let you know that The Dreamtime hasn't been released online or OnDemand yet. The link you gave directs us to The Feels.
There I fixed the link.
 

LinusFan303

Squeak
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
Messages
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Location
Colorado
Watched live each day so he's my thoughts for monday-wednesday's episodes
Vote Zombozo was an alright episode. I did like how Ben convinced the Henchmen to stop without having to fight them. Also it's message of watch out when people use flash over substance was a good one. Good episode 7.5/10.

Drone on was interesting to not see who the villain was most of the episode. Not much else I can say about the episode did give me some laughs though. 7/10

Safari Sa' Bad the episode had creepy feeling to it and Ben being controlled by Voodo fit in with the creepiness. Was glad that even under control Ben did help Gwen. The thing I didn't like was them saying the reason why Timbuktu did all this was because he's a loner and went crazy without showing us if that's true or not. The implication that Ben could end up the same if he strays from the team also seems a bit off. Otherwise it was good 8/10.

Nature of Things More Symth doing another party like it's 1899 plan, Also don't mess with nature it doesn't like that. Eh but kind of weak as an episode so 6/10.

The Sound and The Furry Winter in Summer. Not much to say about it , the use of sound as a weapon interesting and bunny ears saved the day. 6.5/10.

Reststop Rounstabout Never forget your young side there Grandpa Max. Grandpa and Gwen's interactions were fun. Jack Rabbit wants people to use their Imagination also funny that Ben wants reality when he has alien tech. Was Ben imagining it or not we may never know. oh 8/10
 

Lonestarr

Stop eating my sesame cake!
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"Reststop Roustabout".

Oh, look. A character is being menaced by another character, but no one believes him because...story? I thought, for sure, that this plot line died an unmourned death in the 90s, then someone got their hands on the Book of the Dead and unleashed it anew on an unsuspecting world.

I like the show, but something like this really torpedoes my 'the Ben 10 reboot is seriously good, you guys!' defense.
 

LinusFan303

Squeak
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
Messages
4,608
Location
Colorado
I got to watch "The Feels" it's umm Christmas like with a Grinch who stole Christmas like beginning. The robots are kind of funny , like they play that monotone voice thing great. Standard holiday special plot of a character wanting stuff and having to learn the true meaning though. Though the robots becoming helpful was nice didn't last long but was nice. It was alright 7/10.
 

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