The Fun is Here with BEN 10: The Complete Series

 

Jeri Jacquin

Currently on DVD from Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment is the Emmy Award-winning animated sci-fi series BEN 10: The Complete Series.

Ben Tennyson is a boy who discovers the alien wristwatch with the Omnitrix that allows Ben to transform into aliens because of the DNA inside. When he touches it, it now becomes part of his wrist and it doesn’t take long before he learns how to use it and wants to be a superhero. Taking a cross-country trip with his cousin Gwen and grandad Max, it promises to be a summer of adventure with the added bonus of Heatblast, Wildmutt, Diamondhead and XLR8. Becoming a superhero means looking out for others such as Dr. Amino and his Transmodulator, helping the Krakken with Gwen’s help and dealing with Ripjaws.

Ben’s Aunt Vera is another adventure with the resident eating Limax and aliens Upgrade and Ghostfreak. That’s just the beginning as Season one episodes include And Then There Were 10, Washington B.C., The Krakken, Permanent Retirement, Hunted, Tourist Trap, Kevin 11, The Alliance, Last Laugh, Lucky Girl, A Small Problem, Side Effects, and Secrets.

Family secrets come out when Max tells Ven and Gwen of his past as an agent of “The Plumbers” and their job was to deal with extraterrestrials. That’s also when Maxs’ old partner Phil has been using the Null Void Projector in nefarious ways. Yellowstone is the next adventure where Ben not only discovers Cannonbolt but another creature has come to wreak havoc on the planet. That isn’t as disturbing as their trip to San Francisco where Ben sees the other side of transformation when aliens are becoming him! Now he has to deal with the Special Alien Capture Team and Lt. Steel. More episodes include Truth, The Big Tick, Frames, Gwen 10, Grudge Match, The Galactic Enforcers, Camp Fear, Ultimate Weapon, Tough Luck, They Lurk Below, Ghostfreaked Out, Dr. Animo and the Mutant Ray, and Back with a Vengeance. There is so much more but let’s move on to the next adventure.

BEN 10: Alien Force is five years later where things take a dark turn as Ben is in high school after removing the Omnitrix. Off to see Max, he sees a mysterious alien and realizes that his grandpa is gone but there is a message saying he is looking for aliens and Ben gets the idea what Max wants him to put back on the Ominitrix. Both he and Gwen are confronted once again by “The Plumbers” as Magister Labrid is part of the reason Max is missing. Back in the fight, Ben puts back on the Ominitrix and has access to new aliens but also has to deal with nemesis Kevin Levin. Kevin agrees to help with the Forever Knights and after a battle believe they should finish what has started. Episodes include Ben 10 Returns Part 1, Ben 10 Returns Park 2, Everybody Talks About the Weather, Kevin’s Big Score, All That Glitters, Max Out, Pier Pressure, What Are Little Girls Made Of?, The Gauntlet, Paradox, Be-Knighted, Plumbers’ Helpers, X=Ben+2 and so much more.

BEN 10: Ultimate Alien brings a big change for young Ben when the world finds out about him because of an online video. Adding to the stress is Will Harangue, a news anchor that believes that Ben is a problem. A good thing that Gwen and Kevin are still on his side and discovers that a kid named Jimmy is responsible for the secret coming out. Colonel Rozum tells Ben that they need their help because there is an alien out there stealing parts from a NASA rocket. Of course, this means dealing with aliens like Humungousaur, Jetray, Chromastone, Spidermonkey and Ultimate Spidermonkey. Ben has a girlfriend; Ben has a girlfriend! Julie is in a tennis match but he needs to be with Kevin dealing with the Forever Knights AND he really wants to watch a movie. What is a young man to do? Well, turn himself in Echo Echo and make it possible to go to all three but a girl can only take so much. Other episodes include Fame, Duped, Hit ‘Em Where They Live, Video Games, Escape from Aggregor, Too Hot to Handle, Andreas’ Fault, Fused, Hero Time, Ultimate Aggregor, Map of Infinity, Reflected Glory, Deep, Where the Magic Happens, Perplexahedron, The Forge of Creation, Nor Iron Bars a Cage, The Enemy of My Enemy, Absolute Power Part 1, Absolute Power Park 2 and so much more!

In BEN 10: Omniverse Gwen has gone off to college and Kevin moves to be close to her so now Ben is fighting alone. Max knows he needs someone to help so Rook Blonko is a Plumber that teams up. Their first mission together is to deal with Bubble Helmet, Fistina and Liam but someone is watching Ben! Discovering a place called the Undertown, they continue to deal with the alien city but the watcher Khyber has his own ideas. He is also studying Ben and his younger dealings with aliens and waiting for his opportunity to grab Ben. When issues arise between Ben and Blonko, it might just be the time. All of this has to do with Dr. Psychobos who wants DNA to complete his own Nemetrix. Adventures include The More Things Change Part 1, the More Things Change Part 2, A Jolt from the Past, Trouble Helix, Have I Got a Deal For You, It Was Them, So Long and Thanks for All the Smoothies, Hot Stretch, Of Predators and Prey Part 1, Of Predators and Prey Part 2 with five more arcs to the story.

The story and adventure of Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Grandpa Max is out of this world!

Warner Bros. Discover Home Entertainment (WBDHE) distributes the award-winning movies, television, animation, and digital content produced by WBDHE to homes and screens of millions through physical Bluray, Disc and DVD sales and major streaming, VOD, digital and mobile channels. WBDHE is one of the world’s largest distributors of entertainment programming. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.wbd.com.

The DVD box set includes all 227 episodes created ocer the years from Ben 10, Ben 10 Alien Force, Ben 10 Ultimate Alien and Ben 10 Omniverse, and two movies including Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix and Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens.

BEN 10 came from the Cartoon Network Studios and created by the Man of Action group. They consist of Duncan Rouleau. Joe Casey, Joe Kelly and Steven T. Seagle who are comic book creators. After years of work, BEN 10 was picked up by the network and is a classic in so many homes – including my own! The adventures were some of the most popular in my home and has made its way to my grandkids who have decided that now they need to binge all 227 episodes. Secretly I was hoping they would want to so that I could join in the fun once again for nostalgic and great watching reasons.

What makes this series so special is not only the fantastic graphics but the creativity of the storyline, the aliens, the connection between family and friends and the lessons all of this brings. Each episode is so fantastical that, in the day, waiting for each one brought child-like frustration but NOW, it is time to binge.

Grab lots of popcorn, pull in the kids and kids at heart to go on an epic journey of growing up, being universal superhero (with the family), meet new aliens and know nothing is stopping us all from a 227 episode and movie gathering with BEN 10: The Complete Series.

In the end – Ben is out of this world!

 

 

 

 

 

THUNDERCATS ROAR on Cartoon Network

Producers Victor Courtright and Marly Halpern-Graser

Chris Jai Alex - Panthro

Erica Lindbeck - Cheetara/Wilykit

Patrick Seitz - Tygra/Mumm-Ra

Max Mittelman - Lion-O/Wilykat

How did you get involved with THUNDERCATS ROAR and a fan?

Victor: I was absolutely a huge fan and I watched the original Thundercats as a kid. I studied it for action and technique and it’s been part of my animation career and life. So, in 2016 I heard that Warner Bros. was interested in bringing the series back and all the ideas came rushing out. I started talking to people at Warner Bros. and they liked the style and a few months later I finished the pitch episodes which became "Lost Sword".

Marly: I got into Thundercats a little later because I was doing the Thundercats 2011 show and I grabbed the old DVD's and started watching them and thought it was so cool. A bunch of years later I was in a Warner's office and Sam Register came in with a big stack of Victor's Thundercats art and I distinctly remember wanting to work on that. I jealous and wanted to work on the show, a few months later they introduced me to Victor, and they said would you like to be the head writer or this Thundercats show? I said - absolutely!

Chris: I grew up around Ninja Turtles and Comic books and my Mom was a huge comic book collector so obviously I loved Thundercats and I had the toys. I had everything. I couldn't do the voices because my voice was so high. I had mish-mashed toys, so I had the lair with GI Joe. I had an imagination to create a story of my own.

Erica: I am sure I did watch Thundercats, I mean who is not aware of that. I remember when I got the audition, I wasn't booking a ton of animation at that time. I went into the booth and said okay, and I basically did myself and thought I'd throw spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks. Being part of the reboot is a dream come true though.

Max: I did know about the series because I had an older brother. Networks would rerun the shows and I was aware of the series. I was aware of it when I got the audition and stoked that I could try out for Lion-O.

Patrick: I watched it all but I don't have a real strong memory of the specifics. I feel like my memories are the intro and Mumm-Ra being scary and cool. I thought how cool it was that I got to utter the words of Mumm-Ra and the incantation.

Thundercat is a producer and music person, how did you choose your name?

Thundercat: When you are a kid you have a lot of energy and I was always into illustration and music. Nobody ever believes when I tell them I played a bass since five years old. My mom has pictures of me ding that. Thundercats was in syndication when I was five and watching reruns and my Mom would have to pull me back from the television. From He-Man to Thundercats she would have to pull me away from the screen because I got closer and closer. As soon as the cats got on the screen I said 'wow, cat people' and I had an infinity for cats. I was a cat person. It started there and my Mom wouldn't buy me the toys because she thought I would worship them. It became a bit of an infatuation so that's the child version. It stays with you, but it changes then it was Dragon Ball and such going into different things. When it came back around for me when I was in jazz band with friends around the city, my friend wore a shirt and it triggered it again for me. I started with DVD's and Comic Con's and anyplace there would be toys and the first tattoo I got was Thundercats. For the longest time I was like showing it off and when I would be working with people like Erica Badu I always had a Thundercat shirt on and it was because it made me feel comfortable in my skin, my identity. It became a name given to me because if anyone wanted to find me it would be look for the guy in a Thundercat shirt. My friends started referring to me as Thundercat. I was like I am Thundercat so when this moment happened it was overwhelming to me. It felt like wow, this is all I've ever wanted to do.

You take on a specific identity.

Thundercat: I play Grune the Destroyer who is an exiled Thundercat, he put the thunder behind Thundercat and had to dip out. (play his song video)

Victor: It was awesome, we knew about Thundercat before connecting on the actual show. I thought it would be really cool to work with Thundercat on Thundercats and I didn't follow up on it. Then he reached out to us and I thought 'oh my gawd, is this real? Is this real?' but it’s so frikken awesome. He's the most passionate Thundercat person on the planet. He is as completely obsessed as I am and its magical that we can come together and celebrate this insanely wonderful show together.

Why bring it back?

Victor: I don't think there is really anything like Thundercats, there isn't a perfect a blend of sci fi action comedy with spaceships and mummy's. Chris was talking about this a little bit, there are all these different toys and here is a show that wants to play with every single show in the toybox. It’s perfect.

Chris: When you have comedy and action come together you have something really special. It's like Thor Ragnorok. That's why I love what Victor and Marly have done with it.

Thundercat: You literally do not skimp on the fights and the fight lasts with action. It's so imperative that those things are connected.

Marly: There are hundreds of episodes of 80's Thundercats are great, they hold up with the animation and the storylines. We can't make Thundercats any better than they did in the 80's, that's show is awesome because it’s cool. There was no reason to do a new Thundercats show, we can't replace it. We would fail if we tried. That's why doing it in Victor's style means they don't compete but complement each other.

In the booth, are you thinking about the comedy as well as the action?

Erika: Well, I think my character is the straight man to Lion-o's not straight man. I think the comedy is written in the script. I think if he tried to make it wacky it wouldn't work. Especially since the world is so zany so we need to keep it as earnest as we can.

Max: The toggling is fun and something I've wanted to do for a while now. Ever since I saw the interviews will Billy West and he says we don't cut we just go between the characters back and forth. It's super fun. I balance that for Lion-O when I first got the breakdown for him, I was borrowing from the original character. My character started very serious and heroic but then you start to add this goof ball aspect, it's in the writing and I get how they want me to play this guy.

Victor: It was a great cast, but you are all solid gold.