Warner Home Video has released a new two disc set, Ben 10 Omniverse Vol 2 Heroes Rise. The set features episodes from the latest chapter in the Ben 10 series, Omniverse. Included in the lineup are the two parter episodes, “Of Predators and Prey” and “Showdown”. Also included are the single episodes “Outbreak”, “Malefactor” and “Bros in Space”, just to name a few.
Ben 10 initially debuted on Cartoon Network back in 2005. The original series ran until 2008. And much like they’ve handled Batman, Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network has updated the Ben 10 franchise every few years; taking Ben Tennyson from a 10 year old to a teenager. Omniverse officially debuted on Cartoon Network in September 22, 2012 with the second part of “The More Things Change”. Part 1 of that episode initially aired in the beginning of August as a teaser for the new ongoing series.
Omniverse features new characters and new monsters for Ben. The episodes also alternate between Ben as an 11 year old and the hero as a 16 year old. At the beginning of the new season, Ben gets a partner of sorts in an alien named, Rook Blonko. Rook, a sort of careful, straight laced personality, offsets Ben’s “shoot from the hip” attitude. Your classic Oscar/Felix or Riggs/Murtaugh teamup. Rook is featured in most of the episodes in Omniverse, and all the episodes on the disc.
Which might explain the choice of episodes Warner Home Video decided to include in the package. The first two episodes, “Of Predators and Prey, Part 1 and 2”. (which were part of the first story arc of the new season) lead off the first disc. The next episode “Outbreak” is also included. But, the following episodes that aired, “Many Happy Returns” and “Gone Fishin’” are not. Also not included are the last three episodes of the second story arc (“Ben Again”, “Store 23” and “Special Delivery). Warner’s did include the first two episodes of the third story arc, “Showdown, Part 1 and 2”, though. The only reason I can come up with for the peculiar inclusions/exclusions is Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network trying to keep up with the theme of the disc “Heroes Rise” and Rook Blonko’s inclusion in all those episodes.
So, if you’re getting these discs hoping to sit down with your big barrel of popcorn and watch the episodes in order, you might want to keep all that in mind. Also, the episode listing begins with episode 9. So, again, if you want to watch this show from the beginning, you’re gonna need to pick up Volume 1.
My sons, Jethro and Jakob, couldn’t agree on which episodes they liked the best. Jethro was pretty partial to “Of Predators and Prey, Part 1 and 2” because “you got the full story behind the Nemetrix (a copy of Ben’s Omnitrix)”. Jakob liked “Blukic & Driba go to Mr. Smoothy’s” the best because “Blukic & Driba were pretty stupid”. So, there’s that…
The discs are everything that you’ve come to expect from Ben 10. Aliens, actions and nonsense. There are a total of 10 episodes, both discs containing 5 episodes each. There’s also two bonus features included. An “alien reveal” and “alien database”. My boys were more interested in the episodes than in the bonus material, though. Which, is kinda true of most of us, isn’t it?!??
Images courtesy of:
Rook: wired.com
Murtaugh: toomanyposts.wordpress.com
Rook and Ben: robot6.comicbookresources.com
Big hands: animatedtv.about.com
Blukic and Driba : trakt.tv
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