Ben 10 Alien Force, Season
Vol. 3 DVD | Vol. 4 DVD
Created by Man of Action
Featuring the voices of Yuri Lowenthal, Ashley Johnson, Greg Cipes
Rated Y7
Warner Home Video

Ben 10 Alien Force Vol. 3 and 4 continues the journey of teenage hero Ben Tennyson, the bearer of the DNA changer Ominitrix. With his super powered cousin Gwen and Frienemy Kevin Levin, Ben continues on a mission to track down his Grandpa Max and fight off a new breed of alien invaders known only as the Highbreed. Volumes 3 and 4 collects the end of season one of the hit series and first five episodes of season two of the exciting kids cartoon.

Created by comic book alums Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, and Steven T. Seagle (AKA Man of Action Studios), each episode is pretty much a by the books cartoon geared toward young boys. The heroes encounter a problem. Ben uses the Omnitrix to turn into a new alien to combat said problem. Someone gets hurt or captured or both. Gwen and Kevin flirt in a family friendly way. Ben uses another alien to save the day. It is pretty much a rinse repeat process.

This is not to say that the kiddies will not be entertained. Even at the adult stage in my life, I found the cartoons tickled the nostalgic part of my brain. I think it has something to do with the fact that the animation is drawn by hand and goes easy on the computer graphics that is so prevalent in the industry now. Also, the action scenes are pretty well thought out, the story is well thought out, and the dialogue never insults the intelligence of the viewers. It is a cartoon that doesn’t takes it audience for granted.

My only problem with the series itself is the lack of a recap. Because Alien Force is essentially a sequel to the original Ben 10 series, I think it would have been helpful to include maybe a recap clip just to catch up all the new viewers. I also think that a recap is necessary for a series that is being released into the DVD market on a volume by volume basis. The casual DVD buyer or watcher might not have started on the first volume but maybe they started on the third volume. I would like to think that if there was a recap clip of the season so far would be helpful to get them right into the story, thus ensuring a potential future customer for the previous volumes and future volumes to follow.

That is a minor quibble though. It will not stop anyone from enjoying the show. If you enjoy good old fashion action cartoons, you will like Ben 10 Alien Force.