Ben 10 (2016, season 5)

Ben 10
Now it's hero time. Cartoon Network, you've finally learned.
Genre: Action Comedy Adventure Science-fantasy Superhero Slapstick Running Time: 44 minutes (four 11 minute episodes for each special) Country: United States Release Date: April 9 – 11, 2021 Network(s): Cartoon Network Boomerang (2017-2020) Created by: Man of Action Entertainment Distributed by: Warner Bros. Television Distribution Starring: Tara Strong Montserrat Hernandez David Kaye Greg Cipes Travis Willingham Max Mittelman Daryl Sabara John DiMaggio Todd Haberkorn Josh Keaton David Hornsby Roger Craig Smith David Sobolov Dee Bradley Baker Episodes: 12 Previous show: Ben 10: Omniverse (2012-2014)

Ben 10 is an American animated superhero television series and a reboot of the Cartoon Network original series of the same name. The series had its world premiere in Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific on October 1, 2016, premiered in the United States on April 10, 2017. This page will focus on the 5th season, which is when this reboot actually became good.

Why This Season Is Going Hero Indeed

1. The main pointer is much like the the last two seasons of Henry Danger this Season is a huge improvement over the first four seasons.
2. There are many epic and intense battle scenes, especially the final battle between Alien X and Team Tennyson.
3. The animation is brilliant and is a step-up from the previous four seasons.
4. Great voice acting, as they even got Yuri Lowenthal to reprise his roles as Alien Force Ben, Ultimate Alien Ben and Omniverse Ben, and even Daryl Sabara to reprise his role as Rex Salazar from Generator Rex, and especially Tara Strong (who voiced Ben Tennyson's reboot counterpart) to reprise her role as classic Ben Tennyson from the 2005 series of the same name.
5. This season is much more faithful to the original source material than the previous seasons, as it has more action and less comedy.
6. Despite the character designs being the same, this season’s themes are taken much more seriously thanks to better storytelling and more time to flesh them out properly.
7. While it's more serious now, it also has a few funny moments here and there within them to not make the season too serious, and these jokes are done better than the previous seasons.
8. The characters are much more likable in this season, especially Gwen and Ben's reboot counterparts.
   • Gwen's reboot counterpart went from a complete goody two-shoes and Mary Sue to a sweet, fun-loving girl who cared for her cousin despite the occasional squabble, and also shows her flaws more often and that she’s not perfect, much like her original series counterpart.
   • Ben’s reboot counterpart went from an annoying, over-the-top protagonist to a brave, kind and likable hero, as he acted a lot more serious than usual and shares many heart-to-heart conversations with Grandpa Max and Gwen, much like his original series counterpart.
9. Just like Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and DuckTales it no longer tries to be hip, and this season now feels like an actual reboot that's done right, unlike some other shows such as this.
10. The soundtrack is still good and is used much more in this season than in the previous seasons.
11. The sound effects have improved, and are much more enjoyable to listen to now.
12. Thanks to the improvements of this season, it now feels more like Ben 10.
13. Some of the alien transition sequences are still very detailed and really capture Ben's transformations into an alien; in fact, the transformations in this show are better than the ones in the original four shows.
    • Likewise, there are still some decent human designs such as Ben and Gwen's.
14. The season having 3 feature-length episodes, while having some drawbacks (see in Bad Qualities), is pretty awesome, as they all have extended times, so the stories are better and properly executed, as well as the characters.
15. "Ben 10,010" is a good way to start the season, as it's a pretty epic future episode of the reboot.
16. "Ben Gen 10" is a great crossover episode with Generator Rex, as Rex Salazar finally returns and makes a reappearance after his show ended 8 years ago.
    • Speaking of Generator Rex, it even had a crossover with Ultimate Alien called Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United back in 2011.
17. Several aliens from the first four shows finally return in the series finale, "Alien X-tinction".
    • Gwen 10 brings back Ripjaws, and even finds a way around the alien's biggest weakness (being unable to fight on land).
    • Alien Force Ben brings back Chromastone and Big Chill.
    • Ultimate Alien Ben brings back AmpFibian.
    • Omniverse Ben brings back Bloxx.
    • Alien X is brought back by Benjamin Tennyson, who is the reboot's version of Eon from Ben 10: Race Against Time.
18. The series finale, "Alien X-tinction", was a great way to end the reboot, as well as the Ben 10 franchise on a high note.
    • On top of that, we finally learn that Grandpa Max's reboot counterpart was a Plumber.
    • Benjamin Tennyson's origin is very dark and reminiscent of the more mature storylines Alien Force and Ultimate Alien had.

Bad Qualities

1. Unfortunately, the season didn't last long as it only was 3 episodes long (though they are longer than the 12-minute-long episodes we were given in the first 4 seasons), but still could've been longer than what it was.
2. While Ben and Gwen Tennyson's designs are still passable, some of the other human character designs are still really poor, especially Grandpa Max's, who still looks worse than his Omniverse counterpart.
   • Grandpa Max is still a lovable character despite this.
   • And, while not bad, the characters still tend to have some odd-looking expressions, similar to the 2016 Powerpuff Girls reboot.
3. The theme song is still lackluster and generic, but is still better than the first four seasons.
4. Like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The show's length in this season has been increased by 11 minutes to 44 minutes to make it 3 times longer than the length in the first 4 seasons and to put in more commercials for the sake of money.
   • Also, this season was extremely rushed because it only aired for 3 days straight, lasting for 12 episodes (the 3 specials have 4 episodes each).
5. In this season, Kevin has been removed from the reboot for no clear reason, though it could be possibly due to the infamous gross-out scene.
6. In "Ben 10,010", while still a good episode, Grandpa Max is dead in that episode... but there are no funeral scenes, nor any scenes where they show how Grandpa Max died.
   • In that same episode, Ben 10,000's iconic beard is ditched for a bland, boring clean-shaven look.
   • On top of that, Rex Salazar, while still likable here, is no longer a teenager like he was in his own show. He's been aged from being 15 or 16-years-old down to 10-years-old. He never grew up in Bellwood, not even went to school with Ben because Ben Tennyson's show came out 5 years before Rex Salazar's show did.
   • Alien X's abilities in the reboot were downplayed compared to his classic continuity counterpart, although it is understandable because using that version would be too powerful for the show.
7. A few animation errors here and there (e.g., during the "Alien-X-tinction" special, Ben sometimes appears with his watch on, despite not being supposed to have it on in the first place).

Reception

The 5th season's reception of the reboot was much more positive from both critics and fans of the first four shows, agreeing this season was a major improvement over the first 4 seasons. Combining this season's episodes' ratings together, Season 5 scored a 7.6/10 on IMDb.

Trivia

• This is the longest-running Ben 10 series, having produced 178 episodes and airing for four years.

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