BEN 10 ULTIMATE ALIEN is the third Ben 10 series now, but I don't know why they bothered changing the title because its the same old show as the last three seasons. Mediocre but vaguely entertaining. I guess they just want to sell toys with new titles on them (and the "ultimate" toys as well of course).
Well, I'm not sure the
Alien Force title really applied that well to the previous series anyway. The original concept, I gathered, was that Ben would be leading a team of half-alien kids, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside in the development process; though such characters were featured, it was in a limited role, and it wasn't until the second-season finale (intended to be the series finale) that they really assembled as a full team. And the third season that was added as an afterthought had even less reason to use the name.
And yeah, there's definitely toy promotion involved in the new title. It was supposed to be called
Ben 10 Evolutions. I guess the toy company thought something with "Ultimate" in it would be more marketable. But then, it's nothing new for toy sales to drive cartoon storylines.
But there are some changes in the storyline. Ben's gone public now, so that will change things, and this Aggregor is clearly the new big bad.
I could've done without the "threat or menace" bit -- too blatantly a
Spider-Man ripoff. The sensationalist news host even looked like J. Jonah Jameson without the moustache.
I see Ben's now using the car that was introduced in the
Alien Swarm live-action movie. A bit surprising, since that movie, unlike its predecessor, doesn't quite fit in the continuity of the show. But then, I bet it comes back to toys again. They're probably planning to make toys of that car, so they include it in both screen incarnations for promotion.
GENERATOR REX was much better. A much more interesting world with a more interesting character and better action and animation. I'm looking forward to seeing more. I like how it feels like an anime series but with an American sensibility (like Avatar Last Airbender). That opening battle with the skyscraper sized monster was visually gorgeous!
I wasn't looking forward to this from the promos, but I gave it a chance because it was between
Ben 10 and
Clone Wars, and I was actually pretty impressed. Interesting worldbuilding, interesting situation for the main characters, fairly smart writing. The animation and design work are good, and Kevin Manthei's musical score is excellent (at least when it's more orchestral-ish).
I could do without the talking chimp sidekick (who I thought was played by
Eddie Barth, but is actually John DiMaggio doing an uncanny Eddie Barth impression). Seems like a totally pointless character who's just there for crude humor. And how does that silly fez stay on during the action scenes?
Voice work: Daryl Sabara is fairly good as Rex, but sounds a bit too much like Yuri Lowenthal (Ben Tennyson); I would've liked a voice that sounded more distinct. I'm disappointed by Wally Kurth as Agent Six, mainly because the character looks like he should be played by Steve Blum. Dr. Holiday (Doc Holiday??) is Grey DeLisle, and she's always good. Troy Baker did a pretty good job as the villain Van Kleiss.
