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Ben 10 Omniverse: A New Beginning

Score: 85%
Rating: TV-Y7
Publisher: Warner Brothers Home
                  Entertainment

Region: 1
Media: DVD/2
Running Time: 220 Mins.
Genre: Animated/Family/TV Series
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH

Features:

  • Alien Reveal:
    • Feedback
    • Bloxx
    • Shocksquatch
  • Alien Database:
    • Crabdozer
    • Buglizard
    • Slamworm

Ben 10 Omniverse: A New Beginning is the newest series following Ben and his alien-morphing abilities.

Most of the series is set only a few months after the conclusion of the Ultimate Alien series with the occasional segment showing a much younger Ben in some of his exploits. The reason for the back-and-forth nature of this particular series is because it seems like some events that young Ben put in motion several years back are starting to come back and bite him.

The series opens up with Gwen skipping a few grades and going off to college, while Kevin decides to move away and stay close to Gwen. This leaves Ben alone, well sort of. Since the Earth not only knows about Ben's role as a superhero, but also the fact that there are aliens about, there is a local Plumbers output run by Max. This not only gives Ben a good bit more support and backup than he has ever had, but he is also assigned a partner in the by-the-books alien Rook.

For the most part, Omniverse feels like a continuation of the previous series. Ben has a new Omnitrix with some new aliens and a new enemy. Ben has gained quite a lot of fame, and not just on Earth, but apparently in space as well. Not only does Rook know of quite a few of Ben's exploits, but Ben's new enemy has decided to treat our hero as a prey to hunt for sport. At first, Ben thinks the constant assault of dog-like aliens is one foe or another trying to trip him up, but what he doesn't realize is that they are all the same creature being sent after Ben with what appears to be a type of Omnitrix. While Ben gets the first inkling that he is being hunted in these episodes, it is far more obvious to the viewer.

The series also occasionally jumps to an 11-year-old Ben when it involves reminding viewers of some of Ben's older enemies. The more the show brings up these older fights, the more the viewer can piece together how the two seemingly independent storylines are connected.

The first big revelation comes in "Trouble Helix," an episode that almost completely focuses on the younger Ben. Here Ben, Gwen and Max travel to Galvan Prime to ask Azmuth to help with a malfunction Ben is having with his Omnitrix. At the same time, the planet is attached by a corrupted Mechamorph and its up to the team to travel to Galvan B and keep Malware from causing permanent damage to the rest of his race. This event in particular looks to have major repercussions in Omniverse since Malware seems to be one of the series' big baddies.

Another episode has Ben having to deal with an intergalactic con artist selling a miracle elixir that is apparently extracted from an endangered animal. He is informed of the animal's capture when an alien animal rights activist tells Ben of the small creature's plight, and a series of events get kicked off that lead to Ben having to chase down the now massive wild alien animal as it rampages through the city.

In "So Long, and Thanks for All the Smoothies?" Rook and Ben head to a ghost space ship where the meet up with Argit, the Vreedle Brothers and the Incursions who all seem to think the ship is from an ancient civilization. Hidden aboard the ship is a device that can actually destroy the entire universe. So, of course, its up to Ben to not only keep the device out of the various bad guys' hands, but also keep it from going off. Lets just say that not everything will go as planned and Ben will have to pull out all the stops and use Alien X before this episode is over.

What I thought was odd about this particular release is that its collection of episodes is a bit mixed up. There are 10 episodes in A New Beginning, and the first 8 all fall in line just like the order they were aired, but for some reason, instead of finishing up the first story arc with the two-parter "Of Predators and Prey," the volume contains the 12th and 13th episodes from the season. Granted, one of them is good since it has Kevin and Gwen returning, but it still seems like an odd decision. Hopefully, the three missing episodes will appear in the next volume.

A New Beginning comes with two sets of special features. One shows off three of Ben's newest aliens; Feedback, Bloxx and Shocksquatch. The other gives a basic description of the three forms the alien dog transforms into. While not a lot, its a little something extra to compliment the episodes on the DVD.

Ben 10: Omniverse seems to be off to a good start. It both feels like the same old Ben 10, but characters like Rook and the alien underworld the show introduces keep things interesting. Fans of Ben's exploits should keep an eye on the newest series.



-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

Related Links:



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