Ben 10: Ultimate Alien

Much as I like Ben 10 - and I do - Ultimate Alien wasn't really up my alley when I first saw it. I got on board the Ben 10 train around the time when Dwayne McDuffie took over in 2008. I really enjoyed Alien Force (which remains my "nostalgic" favorite), and have since gotten around to watching the original series, after this, I was confident Ben 10 was a series I liked.

This changed dramatically with the beginning of the third, unscheduled and unplanned for, season of Alien Force. I just couldn't stand Ben's arrogant attitude, and some of the episodes seemed rather stupid. I especially hated how they were basically trying to reset the character dynamics to a somewhat intermediate point between Alien Force and the Original series. To me, it felt like a huge step backwards.

Which leads us to the third rendition, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. Like before, Ben's arrogance and cocky attitude annoyed me to no end, though the show got better with time. Ben would occasionally display glimpses of maturity/cleverness, and the Aggregor/Ultimate Kevin arc certainly didn't hurt.

UA got better towards the end of the series, and I ultimately figured it was a "decent" show.

After the abomination known as Ben 10: Omniverse made me want to vomit, I went back and rewatched some older Ben 10, realizing how much stronger they were by comparison, all three of them. Somehow, Ben's character grew on me trough this nostalgia trip, and it allowed me to look at the show (UA) as a whole.

While Ben is admittedly cocky, arrogant and comes off as kind of an idiot, once you actually take a real look at the character you realize this is not the case. As Ben himself quite adequately put it in the season 1 finale, once the situation got serious, so would he. This wasn't a one-time occurrence, it's always there; when there's no real threat, Ben doesn't put himself past gorging himself on his fame or enjoying the attention, but he knows when to switch gears and go about things more seriously.

So, what else is there? Well, there's some great humor, for one: Rath is hysterical, Kevin's got a lot of good lines, as does Gwen. Ben less so, but it's there. A lot of his aliens give the writers good material as well.

The animation has also taken a step up, while in Alien Force almost everything took place at night in a big vacant world where there's usually only three or four people, here there's a nice balance between day and night stuff and at least there's people walking by in the background.

In addition, the show retains the darker, more adult edge to it that it first gained in Alien Force. For example, they repeatedly make it clear when characters are killed, explicitly mentioning it and taking no effort to sugarcoat it for its audience, which shows a level of respect for children's intelligence that you generally don't find in a show of this type. The same goes for some of the more intense fights and several emotionally-laden exchanges.

It's also the most ambitious series Ben 10 has ever done; there are multiple format-breakers, among them some episodes where Ben feels like a guest star in his own series. The creators are trusting that their universe is interesting and complex enough to hold our attention without relying on the cosmetic appeal of the titular character. I was especially impressed with the episode "It's not easy being Gwen".

Ultimate Alien seems to me like it's sort of the "Justice League Unlimited" of the franchise, old villains and aliens return, new characters are introduced en masse, other characters are given focus, and the team seems to be handling threats on a wider scale than before. It's the culmination of the Ben 10 mythos, with almost every loose thread from the previous shows getting wrapped up nicely. The show had finally become what it always wanted to be.

Now, the show has its flaws, which are easily noticeable, but they don't break the show.

First off, Ben can still be annoying at times, there's really not much to do about that, though, and as I said, it's not as bad as I initially thought.

Second, some old aliens are neglected while new aliens are thrown in at their expense, like Fasttrack and Eatle, both of which are completely unnecessary, as Ben already had Upchuck and XLR8 at the ready, the latter of whom I miss dearly from the original series.

Then there's other aliens who have no reason whatsoever to not be used, like Eye Guy, and Ben- Wolf, Mummy and Vicktor, as well as Upgrade. Man do I miss Upgrade.

Thirdly, the show isn't without its low points, every series has its share of bad episodes, and Ultimate Alien is no exception. I especially disliked the episode with Ma Vreedle, just an utterly joyless experience from beginning to end

And finally, why is every "beautiful" girl in this show just a carbon copy of Gwen, it gets pretty tiring after a while.

In the end, however, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien is a great show, fantastic for kids and still good enough for older viewers, like me.

All thanks to Man of Action and the late Dwayne McDuffie, you had a great run.

I like watching this with my kids. They love the show, the toys, the movies, t-shirts, video games, and any Ben 10 stuff they can get their hands on. I am able to watch and be interested in the Alien Force and Ultimate Alien incarnations. There is good storyline. Not overly mature for kids or too juvenile for teens to enjoy. The characters in the show go through different personal issues with each other as well as working together to fight against a common enemy. They are usually morally correct from my point of view. I DVR every episode and it drove me crazy waiting for my boys to want to watch the finale. It was a lot of fun enjoying it together. I am really looking forward to playing Ben 10 Cosmic Destruction for PS3. Highly recommend the show to dads who want to share something with their sons.

While Alien Force was a surprise by adding much more depth to the characters and expanded the world, Ultimate Alien continued in the same vein but didn't add enough to reach its full potential. The angle of having Ben's identity revealed to the public and how it affected his sense of judgement was quickly dropped and not picked up later.

But I enjoyed the new ultimate alien forms provided by the ultimatrix and as I stated earlier the same qualities of its predecessor were still there. Much to enjoy and appreciate by longtime fans.

Excellent my favorite Ben 10 Series of all time Ben now having Ultimatrix to turn into Ultimate forms so awesome season and crossover with generator Rex was awesome Kevin jokes and darker tune of show was SO great Ben 10 ultimate alien is my favorite Ben 10 series and they should continue the show with same animation which was very similar to action show in the past of cartoon network. Ben 10 ultimate alien not only bring back old alien and give them ultimate form but reveal more and more backstories back character past after original show ended in 2008 show should have continued Ultimate alien was a perfect shot alien force need and Ben 10 ultimate alien in Season 1 whole Agra's story-line was good then the Kevin being mutated and finally Diagon and vilgax they did really good there and i miss Ben AF/UA Animation

I was worried about the new season, but have so far seen nothing wrong with it. Not overly obsessed with romance, good mix of action and humor, a bit of drama here and there: the ultimate alien works. Sure, some may argue 'the physics in this show are illogical' blah blah blah. It's a cartoon, made to entice children into watching it. While the children do enjoy the fight scenes that occur often in the show, and no doubt the humor, as well, I believe the show also puts in 'moralistic' type lessons in, as well, to teach the children in the show the difference from right and wrong. Though, thankfully, it's more about the fighting then the learning.

Overall, I am still enjoying the show and would encourage anyone, who wants to simply enjoy a good show, to watch it as well.