Ben 10 Forums

In memory of Dwayne McDuffie.


You are not connected. Please login or register

Why you do or don't like Ben 10 Alien Force

4 posters

Go down  Message [Page 1 of 1]

mace23


Plumber
Plumber

This is a touchy subject so I've decided to add this in the media board

It's non linear

It challenged me, it challenges it's viewers with a great use of three act structure

There are lots of thematic parallels

Plot Driven

It has a directing style that reminds me of some of the finest prime time shows on tv (Cheers, MONK)  

It doesn't spell out every single thing about an alien species and except us to move on, there'll always be something we don't know about them
(Like the finale of Power rangers SPD where they reveal other alien species that we'll never explore but there there)

Characters that are actually human, both likable and unlikable, human

It didn't annoy us with origin stories, it likes to keep the mystery, (Good example Absolute Power completes Kevin's story by introducing his dad, it's a strong nuance)

Every episode uses the Big Sleep technique

Sebastian13

Sebastian13
Omnitrix Wielder
Omnitrix Wielder

What is the Big Sleep technique?

mace23


Plumber
Plumber

Sebastian13 wrote:What is the Big Sleep technique?

Movies like Inception, Memento, The Cheers episode Bar Wars VI, Young Justice

Most people reference this book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sleep

It's vague to describe it, but non linear, multiple stories that intertwine

Night Of The Living Nightmare is the best blueprint for what the structure for every episode of the show was

mace23


Plumber
Plumber

Other things I love

references to HP Lovecraft, Scooby Doo, The X Files, 70s monster movies, Swamp Thing, 70s Hanna Barbera, 70s teen movies like "the Outsiders, Gerry Conway's Spider-man, Doctor Who and probably a whole lot of things I didn't catch

http://dwaynemcduffie.com.lamphost.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=314&p=1639&hilit=Glen+murakami#p1639

Unpredictable,

Ex The forever knights story line at first hinted to be about alien dragons and technology but the changed into a story about human xenophobia , which again changed to a story about a monster and yet I didn't feel cheated, if anything it gives the Forever Knights a richer mythology and who knows there's enough plot thread open.

Guest Characters

Several characters either appear once or very rarely and that's a good thing, it gives them a distinguished part of the series, It's like Law and Order

Tsuchimikado Motoharu

Tsuchimikado Motoharu
Magister
Magister

It all looks the same.

ie boring.

But that's been said a lot of times, so it's irrelevant.

I did like a lot of the alien ideas and the switch to more ridiculous punny names.

datdude

datdude
Plumber
Plumber

The little insights we got into the characters that made for good development.

Young Ben letting slip he plays at being clueless to cover being afraid.

Kevin afraid he'd lose Gwen because he was an ugly mutant.

The entire Charmcaster arch that showed her back story.


We don't get these things in Omniverse. We get echos of them some times (ben 23 Arrested Development) but these seem to be the exception and not the rule. Like they had a list of story ideas and someone went over them and funnied them up and missed a few.

mace23


Plumber
Plumber

The funny thing is OV makes it a point that mythical creatures like Zombozo and Subliminal , the Omnitrix don't need explaining and takes away the mystery of them and there fairy tale roots. Yet OV is told and executed in such a tell tale way that none of the mystique ends up existing anyways.

For example Rook's planet and roots are explained in one episode, the fact the creators have no interest in the story meetings of doing more about Rook proves, there just hashing planet after planet, alien after alien in order to supposedly flesh them out but it only enforces that there just monsters and roleplaying toys. It's uninspired to not let kids imagine anything about the aliens,

AF/UA tried to go the other spectrum of the original series. Make it more scifi focused using things like Primus, Blood Lineage to flesh out the world, as well as using handles and staples of classic scifi Green Lantern Ring=Omnitrix. For example OS Zombozo is more about the image of haunting ring leader, a supernatural clown, ghostfreaks equivalent  but that's basically his gimmick, a good gimmick from something like a horror movie but a one off villain at best. Zombozo in UA isn't as mysterious as he was in the original series but it's replaced by genuine threatening demeanor, and a different portrayal of a mad clown. There's nothing scary or about OV Zombozo, he has the creepy smile, but he ends up being a joke villain, theres even LESS mystery to him now because he's JUST a gimmick villain with no haunting image or fearful imagery, he also looks like something from the old beetlejuice cartoon.

Primus is another example, it is a way explain the omnitrix which seems tell all but then the way it's executed, it gives Eunice and the Ultimates a planet to live on and it can give an explanation about pure dna separate form the omnitrix, it feeds a tapestry and can be played off in future episodes. AF/UA decides to turn the board over, explaining something like the omnitrix renders the concept dry on the surface but it gains several things in it's place a creates a bigger mystery, think LOST
Dwayne once said that you should feed the fans who want answers to the omnitrix but don't overfeed them.  

Matt Wayne answered a recent question

Matt Wayne wrote:
Nachomech wrote:Mr Matt, what is the species of Raff and Domstol, from Alien Force? Thanks!

Undetermined. I came very close to naming them recently, but it felt digressive.
That's what OV feels like as a total, digressive and telling things we don't need to know. It's like when you make a James Bond movie and you explain things like his gadgets that were left intentional in the dark. It adds nothing to the mythos other then be a popcorn movie. The next Ben 10 team will have a hard time making a story in a universe where everything has been told.

Tsuchimikado Motoharu

Tsuchimikado Motoharu
Magister
Magister

Okay so don't do exposition in OV, because you make it sound bad, but exposition is good in UAF, because you can rationalize it away.

Okay, I'm taking notes here. It's bad except when it aligns with your preconceived bias, okay, got it.

Sponsored content



Back to top  Message [Page 1 of 1]

Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum