Monday 7 October 2013

Ben 10 Omniverse T.G.I.S. Review

***Start_of_Log***
Greetings and bienvenue to my T.G.I.S. Review

It's finally here the Ben 10/The Secret Saturdays crossover episode although it aired a few months ago in Arabic countries it's finally here so you can be disappointed in English.

First  I am a huge Secret Saturdays fan I watched it when I was at a crossroads of sorts before my critique persona emerged and before I started to look at things more maturely so I can't tell you how excited I was when they 1st announced this crossover then I saw their designs.

 But first of all let me explain the story of these cartoons.

Ben 10 is about a kid named Ben that found an alien device called Omnimatrix witch can turn him into 10 aliens originally but the number increased during the 4 versions of the show (Original Series, Alien Force,Ultimate Alien and Omniverse the current one).
BTW i hate the new design for the Omnitrix the Ultimatrix was better design wise and functionality wise, it could evolve the aliens (somehow don't ask me ) into stronger forms. Overall the show was pretty funny and action  packed
Zak Saturday and his parents, Doc and Drew, are a family of world-saving scientists called "The Secret Saturdays". They usually travel the world investigating reports of Cryptids and trying to kept them secret from the world instead of you know showing them .The show mostly revolves Zak and his powers that can control Cryptids, his parents are part of the  Secret Scientists and their expertise is Cryptozoology witch is an actual science.
The Saturdays had an Easter egg regarding the Ben 10 franchise in 1 episode when they check their Crime Data Base we see a familiar face

There are supposed to be more cameos in the show but this is all I could find.

I am sorry but I have to talk about the designs I had some issues with them since I 1st saw them.
So let's start with the family

I kinda like the Zak design mostly because he is supposed to be older but I do have 1 problem he kinda has a more darker skin tone (that not racist at all) what did he spend his time in taming machines and what are those things on his face zits?
Next up is Solomon and I hate his design the original was much better look at his scar that thing is the most cliche thing ever, the original looks like lighting and ques how he got it and yes it involves lighting my jaw drooped when I saw that in the show the redesign carries none of the backstory and what's with that blank eye seriously it's creeping me you it's just an white void creepy.And plus I kinda this character design in some other show i can't remember what show wow he is that cliche.
Drew on the other kinda look bland there nothing special about her witch isn't Drew she wields and sword and she is an ace pilot in order words awesome, they were that cheap that used an old design from their show
The Saturdays's Cryptids also look bad the only one that I like is Zon the rest look bad:
 Fiskerton looks a little fat or too muscular.The original looked a bit more mysterious so when you saw him using his super strength you were surprised (at least I was when I saw it) but when you look at the new one you think so super strength ah ?
BTW is it just me or that face looks like Grinch
The color on Komodo is a bit off and he looks like he has armor on him
Zone kinda looks okay, I have nothing to say about the new look.

Every good team needs good villains so let's start with the worst redesign of the villains: Munya

Where do I start with this first they put the red eye in the wrong place as you can clearly see.

Second of all, look at him the new one looks like a normal villain it lack the awesomeness of the original.

The original is a perfect balance of monster and man  the new ones look like a straight out monster

I don't know, maybe Animo did something to him, but he looks bad

And now for the main villain  V.V. Argost
First of all, he reminds of Alpha from the old MIB cartoon.
Alpha's alien form
 To be honest, honest, he looks pretty intimidating, but there some things that I don't like his right arm why does it have a head and is that head sentient and who thought that this would be a good idea (Animo the lunatic of course)
Second, what's with his face why is it pink and it's supposed to be covered with fur
So those are the new designs for the Saturdays characters mostly bad, but there are some good ones.

All the comparisons images were made by Mytokyokitty on deviantart

***The Plot***

Like I said before, this is a team-up episode between the Secret Saturdays and Ben 10.

So the episode starts with Zak and Doc searching for Chupacabra and then not even 1 minute they meet Ben in his Shocksquatch from who they confuse with Bigfoot and wow the passing is kinda rushed sure it's 1 episode instead of  2 like Heroes United but i think that they could have waited a few minutes before the hero team-up.

Then Ben proceeds to be an ass towards the Saturdays and their specialty:
Sure Ben Chupacabras aren't real you just traveled threw time, to other dimensions,to a parallel world , you have nanites from parallel world inside of you and fought aliens ,wizards ,E.V.O. ,robots,monsters ,mutants and clowns that suck the happiness from you but chupacabras and cryptozoology is too much accept.I am glad that Zak calls bullshit on this.

So they find a stone body of a alien and decide to take it to the airship and the airship also got a redesign no comment (the original was better)
Then on the airship we get a couple of moments 1 stupid and the others good.The stupid moments is when Ben 10 acts weird near Drew what's up with that she's married and has a kid.
The good moment is when the kids are talking are relaxing this makes them feel like real kids and I like moment.
Rook's expression says it all
Drew and Doc have one of their specific argument of magic vs science witch is a pretty awesome node to the series.
Then they do a retcon to the Saturdays (who else is going to get the retcons in this surely not Ben )
That is the wrong Argost mask he isn't supposed to look like this he is supposed to look like this at that point in time or is it that point in time
They get distress signal from Mr. Baumann's store and he get some funny moments from Ben and Rook and he get to see Zak using his powers and of course they look different from the original what do you expect at this point.
 quick he is possessed call an exorcist oh wait those are his powers he kinda looks like Storm
Meanwhile it's revealed that Animo was using the Chupacabras in order to get the life force from alien I don't get it why did it have to be aliens specifically what's wrong with human life foce ? and he uses set energy in order to bring back  Argost.

Then I get an awesome reminder why I love Argost he is funny, ironic and sarcastic btw his revival comes not even 10 min in I wished they waited but then he would have gotten less dialog so it kinda works.
Apparently Argost had a plan B in case of his demise witch make perfect sense he was always devious and manipulative and he was also always 1 step ahead and there's also an reasonable explanation for why this hasn't happened earlier from Animo witch i am willing to accept but he was escaped before what did he forgot about bringing Argost back.

So Argost take his body for a test drive and fights our heroes and you thought this guy was dangerous before now he's even dangerous managing to handle: Kickin Hawk ,Zak,Rook and Fiskerton all at once.
I think that he had to retreat because his body is 100% combat ready and this is new body it takes some time to get used to it
Then Animo comes and saves him and reveals his army of franken-cryptids witch is the most awesome thing he ever created
Meanwhile our heroes find Animo hideout but it's deserted and he get the absolute prof that Ben hasn't grown up when Fisk says something intelligent after Ben saying that they have the same level of Intelligent no you don't Ben Fisk is smarter than you .

Then Argost and his franken-cryptid army attack the airship marking the beginning of the final battle and his arm-head shoots fire .
And have to admit the final battle with Argost and Animo is pretty fun to watch and everybody gets a shining moment.
But it all end with Argost deafeated by Ben in Feedback  and Animo get defeated by the Saturdays (sort of ) and the episode with a team picture awesome
So...they aliens that got turned into stone stayed like and there dead right ? They don't mention them again and they found no cure for their condition so there dead.

**Final Thoughts**

Although the designs for The Saturdays are really bad this is an enjoyable episode good action and good jokes and plus Ben is dumber than Fisk.
Now can I recommend this episode ? well that depends if you are willing to overlook the animation style (which I don't like that much I can believe that I'm saying this Ultimate was better ) and the bad designs yeah it's pretty good if not your are not going to like this.

Final Score:3.5/5  Watchable

Maybe next time they will do an Ben 10 /Generator Rex/The Secret Saturdays crossover movie just imagine this Argost with the Alpha nanite from Generator Rex

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***End_Of_Log***

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