 This article belongs to the Classic Continuity
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And Then There Were 10 is the first episode of Ben 10.
Plot
In outer space, two ships are battling. Slugging it out with laser blasts, the larger ship; 'the Chimeran Hammer', seems to be on track to become the victor - with its commander Vilgax declaring that he has come too far to be denied, with not one being being able to stop him from achieving his goal.
Meanwhile, on Earth, in a city that would come to be called Bellwood, a 10-year-old boy named Ben Tennyson is sitting in school, mischievously folding and throwing a paper airplane, interrupting his teacher's lesson. Waiting, he urges time to pass faster while his teacher makes mention to the class of summer school - an idea Ben finds humor in. The bell finally rings, allowing the class to go free, but as he's leaving the teacher scolds Ben about his paper airplane-antic. Outside, school bullies Cash Murray and J.T. are trying to steal money from a kid named Jamie. Ben tries to stand up for Jamie, but the two of them end up hanging from a tree by their underwear, far from how Ben wanted his heroics to end up. Ben’s grandfather, Max Tennyson, arrives in his RV, the Rust Bucket, to take Ben on their anticipated summer road trip. On board, Ben's excitement drops as he spots his cousin, Gwen Tennyson, who claims that "someone" persuaded her mother this would be a good experience for her. It becomes clear, the only mutual interest they have is not wanting to spend time together. They are seen bickering while the RV drives off into the distance. When they arrive at the campsite of their first destination, Ben and Gwen learn that Max has a plan to take them on a flavor ride which includes eating 'live meal worms' - the two learning another common interest, the need to avoid their grandpa's cooking at all costs.
The Omnitrix's first appearance
Back in space, the space battle continues, where Vilgax orders his Drones to board his opponents' ship, which is able to project a blast at the Chimeran Hammer, engulfing Vilgax in a fiery explosion! In retaliation, the Hammer destroys the smaller ship with a blast, but not before it's able to jettison a pod that falls to Earth.
Getting away from his cousin, 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 twists its trajectory and hones in on Ben and he barely manages to escape its destructive path. Edging closer to the crash site to get in a look (at what seems to him to be a satellite), he falls into the crater created from the impact. The pod opens itself to reveal to Ben a watch-like object with green circuitry: the Omnitrix. Surprising him, it latches itself onto Ben's (left) wrist. After flailing with it, and multiple failed attempts to get it off, the faceplate emblem pops up and shows one silhouette of what we later know is of ten aliens. Thinking this is cool, Ben slowly pushes the faceplate back down and as time slows around him, has his body transformed into the magmatic body of Heatblast - all blanketed in a flash of green light. In this alien form, Ben screams and runs around in a panic, terrified to see himself on fire, but suddenly calms as he realizes that he isn't in pain. He decides to test his power out, launching fireballs at the surrounding trees, ending in him accidentally creating a forest fire.
Gwen and Max notice the smoke from the campsite. Thinking Ben may be in danger (and that he may be the cause), they both grab an extinguisher and rush to the scene in attempt to put an end to the fire, only for Gwen to stumble on Heatblast attempting to stomp out the fire, which is only making it worse. Heatblast tries to reason with her, only getting himself hit with the back end of the fire extinguisher; with Gwen spraying him with it and warning him to stay down. Setting her sneaker on fire, and getting a cheap laugh in the process after calling her a name, Gwen's convinced this is really Ben. She asks what happened, and Heatblast spews the whole story in a matter of seconds, finishing just as Max appears. He is just about to retell the story again, but Gwen interrupts and reminds them of the situation at hand. Max has an idea to get his grandson 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 the Hammer, Vilgax's body is fairly torn up, with both his legs and left arm missing, relying on life support in a large tank. Learning of the Omnitrix's situation, he sends a drone of his to retrieve it. Meanwhile, Heatblast recounts his story to Max. Gwen asks Max if he thinks that Ben will stay this "monster" forever, with Max instead grimly correcting her to 'alien'. Interrupting them, the Omnitrix times out and Heatblast reverts back into Ben, hidden in a flash of red light. Max leaves, telling him not to fool around with the Omnitrix while he goes to investigate the spot of the crash for answers. As he leaves, we see Vilgax's drone destroy the empty pod, and separate itself, sending two smaller drones off of its shoulders to search and destroy.
Disobeying his Grandpa's orders (who's now come across the drones' destruction), Ben decides to try the Omnitrix again, and Gwen watches on as he transforms into Wildmutt. In this alien form, Widmutt quickly discovers his heightened senses and disappears into the woods to have some fun - contrary to Gwen's warning. 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, who manages to defeat the drone by crashing it, but then -with the Omnitrix timing out again- he reverts back into the un-powered Ben, and gets knocked to the ground and targeted with the laser from the second drone. Gwen appears and hits the second drone with a shovel repeatedly, destroying it and saving Ben.
With the trio returning to the RV, Max lectures Ben for misusing the Omnitrix but makes the decision to help his grandson learn to use it. At that moment, a call comes through on the radio searching for help from the robot drone, now attacking several parked RVs nearby. Realizing the drone is after him and the watch, and that he could use these new powers to become save them, Ben makes the decision to become a hero.
As they set off to arrive at the scene, and with a nod of approval from Max, Ben transforms into Diamondhead. in this alien form, Diamondhead tells Max and Gwen to get the campers to safety, while he fights the robot. The drone scans him, and -emblem of the Omnitrix on Diamondhead's chest- attacks. Diamondhead survives the robot's blast unharmed and attacks back, but it dodges and pins him to the ground. The same ranger from the forest fire is escorted by Max and Gwen as he sees the battle, which is now nearing closer to them. Diamondhead gets thrown by the Drone, almost hitting the ranger, and -seeing a tree collapsing towards Gwen- slices it lengthwise, with it passing over her harmlessly. Interrupting Ben's heroic feat (which now puts him 'even' with Gwen), the robot grabs him and tries to remove his arm; however Ben's able to return the favour and destroy its hand. Goading the robot to fires a laser at his chest, Diamondhead redirects it, destroying the robot with its own blast.
Gwen and Max cheer for Be... 'Diamondhead', as he makes a quick escape. In space, Vilgax is told that his robots have failed him- who swears to destroy whoever kept the Omnitrix away from him.
Ben decides to use his new powers to cause some mischief while Max and Gwen are asleep, and transforms into XLR8. In this alien form, XLR8 races to Bellwood and back, getting his payback for the same spectacle Cash and J.T. did against him and Jamie. When he arrives back at the campsite the next morning, Max and Gwen are packing up to continue the trio's road trip, helping pack up before reverting back into Ben, he says that he needed to take care of a few things at home. Meanwhile, the two bullies are hanging by their underwear from a tree, unsure of how they came to be there.
Noteworthy Events
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.
- Ben starts his summer trip with Gwen and Grandpa Max.
Omnitrix Alien Debuts
- Heatblast
- Wildmutt
- Diamondhead
- XLR8
Character Debuts
- Ben Tennyson
- Gwen Tennyson
- Max Tennyson
- Cash Murray
- J.T.
- Ben's Teacher
- Jamie
- Vilgax
- Drones
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)
- Drones (first appearance)
Aliens Used
- Heatblast (first appearance)
- Wildmutt (first appearance)
- Diamondhead (first appearance)
- XLR8 (first appearance; off-screen transformation)
Quotes
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Naming and Translations
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian | I Togava Imashe 10 | And Then There Were 10 |
| Dutch | En Toen Waren Er 10 | And Then There Were 10 |
| French | Le Secret de l'Omnitrix | The Secret of the Omnitrix |
| German | Und dann waren’s 10 | And Then There Were 10 |
| Greek | Και τότε Υπήρχαν 10 | And Then There Were 10 |
| Hungarian | És tízen lettek | And They Became 10 |
| Norwegian | Ti småromvesen | Ten Small Aliens |
| Portuguese (Br) | E Então Eram 10 | And Then There Were 10 |
| Romanian | Și apoi au fost 10 | And Then There Were 10 |
| Spanish (HA) | Y Fueron 10 | And They Were 10 |
| Spanish (Spain) | Fueron 10 | They Were 10 |
| Turkish | Ve sonra Yine 10 Tane Oldular | And Then They Were 10 Again |
Cast
| Voice Actor | Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Tara Strong | Ben Tennyson |
| Meagan Smith | Gwen Tennyson |
| Paul Eiding | Max Tennyson Camper |
| Dee Bradley Baker | Wildmutt Cash Murray Drone |
| Steve Blum | Heatblast Vilgax |
| Jim Ward | Diamondhead XLR8 Ranger |
| Adam Wylie | J.T. |
| Jennifer Hale | Teacher Jamie |
Allusions
- The title 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.
Trivia
- The trio's first stop is Yosemite Park, California.
- This episode's events are what inspired Dr. Animo to complete his mutation research.[1]
- According to pop-up trivia from the enhanced version of the episode:
- Ben's full name is Benjamin Kirby Tennyson.[2] This later turned out to be true in Duped, as Gwen calls him as such.
- The pod was honing in on Max's DNA signature, but it got the wrong Tennyson.[3] This later turned out to be true in The Final Battle: Part 2.
- The Omnitrix was responding to Tennyson DNA. That's why it "jumped" at Ben.[4]
- Since Max is no longer a Plumber, he knew nothing about the Omnitrix until now, so he was not completely faking.[5]
- 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.
- This is the only episode of the series and franchise that aired in 2005.
- This episode actually aired in late 2005 on Cartoon Network's "Sneak Peek Week", airing alongside other Cartoon Network shows that would later premiere in 2006 on the network, such as Robotboy and My Gym Partner's a Monkey.
References
- ↑ Pop-up trivia from the enhanced version of Washington B.C.
- ↑ File:Introducing Ben.png
- ↑ File:Wrong Tennyson Found.png
- ↑ File:Omnitrix Jump at Ben.png
- ↑ File:Max Not Faking.png
