Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-10942138-20151227161011/@comment-5977013-20151228043517

I've got to agree with Smallview on this one. I'm a bit sad where Ben 10 has gone in the 10 years since it began. The original series was awesome, and I'm not just speaking out of nostalgia. And when Alien Force came on, I was admittedly dissatisfied, but eventually I learned to live with the new canon. Ultimate Alien was a fitting end to that. Dwayne McDuffie did good things for the show. But then Omniverse came on, and that kind of ruined everything for me, even though I still watched it (I mean come on, The Most Dangerous Game Show. Really??). Ben 10 turned from being storyline-based to being money-based, and even though they did repair a few of the mistakes made in UAF when they did OV, ultimately they did it in a gross and last-mintue way. I mean, they aired the last three seasons in the course of a month. They basically just threw in Kai to make the Kenny/Spanner arc make some sense. Omniverse had a weird way of doing things.

Now, I get that the new Ben 10 isn't meant for us old fans. It's time to pass on the torch to the next generation. But what does that mean? I doubt it means reiterating the good storytelling of the original show. Judging by Cartoon Networks' other shows (Clarence... Uncle Grandpa...), apparently the "next generation" is a bunch of people who like mindless comedy over any sort of moral plot line. Think of what happened to ''Teen Titans. They're not even afraid to admit ''that modern cartoon kid's TV is pointless and low-brow comedy. Even though I know we don't know anything yet about the next Ben 10 series, let's just say I have low confidence in Cartoon Network lately.

Anyway, though. Maybe the glory age of Ben 10 is over, but at least we old-time fans still have the memories. If there's any one thing I want everyone to keep in mind, it's our own past adventures and good times with the Ben 10 franchise, no matter our favorite series or opinions on this "new generation." Ten years ago Ben 10 aired for the first time. It's a big chunk of time we've been watching this show, so let's appreciate that.

Happy birthday Ben 10.