And Then There Were 10

And Then There Were 10 is the first episode of Ben 10.

Plot
A small spacecraft is being blasted by a much larger ship piloted by Vilgax. The smaller spacecraft ejects a pod towards Earth and causes damage to Vilgax's ship. This inflicts horrible injuries upon Vilgax. The smaller ship is then blasted to pieces.

Meanwhile, on Earth, a 10 year old boy named Ben Tennyson finishes school for the year. Seconds before being dismissed, he gets in trouble for flying a paper airplane into his teacher's head. Afterwards he tries to stop the school bullies, Cash and J.T., from beating up a student named Jamie. Ben gets beaten up and hung by his underwear in a tree with Jamie. His grandfather, Max Tennyson, arrives in his RV, the Rust Bucket, and helps Ben and Jamie get down. As Ben enters the RV, he tells Max how much he has been looking forward to their summer vacation, until he spots his cousin, Gwen, who claims that "someone" persuaded her mother this would be a good experience for her. They are seen bickering while the RV drives off into the distance. When they arrive at the campsite, Ben and Gwen see that Max wants them to go on a flavor ride which includes eating live worms. In secret, they decide to work together on saving food for the entire summer. Later, Ben goes for a walk alone, until he sees a what he thinks is a shooting star.

The "star" is revealed to be the pod jettisoned at the start. It hones in on Ben and he barely manages to escape its destructive path. As he attempts to get a closer look he falls into the crater it created. The pod opens to reveal a watch-like object; called the Omnitrix. It latches itself onto Ben's left wrist, scaring him. After failed attempts to get it off, the faceplate pops up and shows the silhouette of an alien. Thinking this is cool, he pushes the faceplate back down, and transforms into Heatblast. As Heatblast, Ben screams and runs around in a panic, terrified because he believes that he is on fire, but suddenly realizes that he isn't in pain. He decides to test his power out, launching fireballs at the surrounding trees and accidently creates a forest fire.

Gwen and Max notice the smoke from the campsite. They both grab a fire extinguisher and rush to the scene in attempt to put out the fire, only for Gwen to find Heatblast attempting to stomp out the fire, which is only making it worse. Ben, as Heatblast, tries to reason with Gwen, but in fear, she hits him with the fire extinguisher, sprays him with it and warns him to stay down. Heatblast retaliates by lighting her shoe on fire, while getting a cheap laugh in the process. He convinces her who he is after insulting her. Gwen asks what happened and Heatblast tells the whole story in a matter of seconds, finishing just as Max appears. Heatblast is just about to retell the story to Max, but Gwen interrupts and reminds them of the forest fire. Max tells Heatblast to start a new fire and let it burn into the old one in order to put them both out; it works, but most of the forest is destroyed just as the park rangers show up.

Back on Vilgax's ship, Vilgax is fairly torn up, on life support in a large tank with his legs and left arm missing. He sends two drones to retrieve the Omnitrix. Meanwhile, Heatblast explains his story to Max. Gwen asks Max if he thinks Ben will stay a "monster" forever, but then Max says he is an alien with a grim expression on his face. This gets him weird looks from Heatblast and Gwen. Then a beeping sounds and Heatblast turns transforms back into Ben, hidden in a flash of red light. Max says Ben should not mess around with the Omnitrix while he goes to investigate the spot of the crash.

Disobeying Max's orders, Ben decides to try the Omnitrix again. Gwen watches as Ben turns into Wildmutt and quickly discovers his heightened senses. Wildmutt disappears into the woods to have some fun. While perched on a tree limb, he senses two drones nearby. He leaps out of the way moments before a laser obliterates the branch he was previously on. One of the drones sets out after Wildmutt. Ben manages to defeat the first drone, but then the Omnitrix times out and he reverts back to human form. He is knocked to the ground and is targeted with the laser from the second drone.

Gwen appears and hits the second drone with a shovel repeatedly, destroying it. Then, Vilgax learns about the destruction of the drones and sends a larger one to Earth. It lands where Ben found the Omnitrix, destroying the pod. Max comes by later to investigate and states that he has a bad feeling about it. When he returns to the RV Max lectures Ben, but is interrupted when the radio station talks about a nearby attack by some sort from a giant robot. Ben thinks that it must be one of the drones he fought earlier. The three head towards the campsite. When they arrive Ben transforms into Diamondhead and fights the drone while Max and Gwen evacuate the area.

Diamondhead soon learns that he can reflect the energy blasts projected by the drone. Using this knowledge he manages to destroy the robot before anyone is hurt. Vilgax learns of the destruction of the drone and admits that the Omnitrix's user is a worthy adversary.

It is now morning and Max and Gwen are packing. They wonder where Ben is when XLR8 appears on the scene, saying he had to take care of something. Cash and J.T. are then shown hanging from a tree, wondering what had happened to them.

Major Events

 * The Omnitrix is sent to Earth and locks onto Ben's wrist.
 * Vilgax starts hunting down Ben and the gang to take the Omnitrix.
 * Vilgax is injured during a space battle with Xylene and has to have his body restored during his quest for the Omnitrix.
 * Heatblast, Wildmutt, Diamondhead and XLR8 make their debuts.
 * Ben starts his summer trip with Gwen and Grandpa Max.

Omnitrix Alien Debuts

 * Heatblast
 * Wildmutt
 * Diamondhead
 * XLR8

Characters

 * Ben Tennyson (first appearance)
 * Gwen Tennyson (first appearance)
 * Max Tennyson (first appearance)
 * Cash Murray (first appearance)
 * J.T. (first appearance)
 * Ben's Teacher (first appearance)
 * Jamie (first appearance)

Villains

 * Vilgax (first appearance)
 * Vilgax's Drones (first appearance)

Aliens Used

 * Heatblast (first appearance)
 * Wildmutt (first appearance)
 * Diamondhead (first appearance)
 * XLR8 (first appearance; offscreen transformation)

Errors

 * When Ben leaves the classroom, for a few seconds, his collar is white instead of black.
 * When Ben was turning the dial for the next alien to turn into, the Omnitrix's ring is grey instead of black.
 * In many scenes, the button on the Omnitrix moves. In some scenes, the button is on the other side of the Omnitrix and sometimes it appears on both sides.
 * When Ben tries to get the Omnitrix off with a stick, the stick is able to fit underneath the watch, yet when the stick breaks, no part of it seems to have stayed under the watch.

Allusions

 * The title And Then There Were 10 is a reference to the detective fiction novel And Then There Were None, written by Agatha Christie.
 * The space battle at the beginning is a reference to the opening scene of Star Wars Episode IV.
 * Two Ben 10: Omniverse episodes share almost the same title as this episode (And Then There Were 10). Those names are And Then There Were None and And Then There Was Ben.

Trivia

 * The trio's first stop is Yosemite Park, California.
 * Grandpa Max immediately recognizes Heatblast as an alien. He then tries to cover up his knowledge by saying that it's obvious. This was the first of several references to his knowledge about aliens that led to his secret being revealed in Truth.
 * The events of the episode are referenced in the pop-up version of Washington B.C. and are stated that a news report of the episode's events are what inspired Dr. Animo to complete his mutation research.
 * It is eventually revealed in And Then There Was Ben that Professor Paradox and No Watch Ben were manipulating the events during this episode to ensure that Ben got the Omnitrix.