Ben 10: Alien Force/Early Development

Alien Force

General	Episodes	Early Dev	Continuity	Errors

Early Development applies to every decision, characters and aliens that were made concerning a sequel series named Ben 10: Hero Generation^{[ES 1]} before Ben 10: Alien Force started.

History[]

Following the success of the Original Series, a sequel was put into development by Cartoon Network, who asked Glen Murakami to helm the project. After daily discussions with writer Dwayne McDuffie, Glen asked him to be part of the project. The network had a lot of creative ideas and Glen and Dwayne went through them. They mixed and matched between what the network thought up and what they wanted to do.^{[DM 1]} One mandate from the network, however, was that most of the aliens had to be humanoid and have a strong superhero build.^{[GM 1]}

Man of Action was not very involved with the production of the series as they had already moved on to work on Generator Rex. They have said the reason Ben was aged up was because the studio wanted Ben 10 to be rebranded and reinvented to help keep the growing audience around for a longer period of time, and also because market research suggested that children like kids older than themselves.^{[AC 1]}

By June 3, 2007, the first draft of a series bible for Ben 10: Hero Generation was completed.^{[HG Bible 1]} This series bible outlines the basic plot of the first season of Alien Force, with several minor changes, such as the DNAliens and the Highbreed effectively swapping names. The series bible, while lacking any artwork, does outline the focal characters - Ben, his transformations, Gwen, Kevin, the Highbreed, and the Forever Knights.

Sometime in 2007,^{[EC 1]} Eric Canete was approached to create designs for the series. During this process, he created several panels to familiarize himself with the tone he believed the series would have.^{[EC 2]} His designs were more monster based and creepy looking, with only a few of the transformations having visible Omnitrix symbols. Ultimately, the designs was rejected due to Cartoon Network thinking that they were not appropriate for children.^{[citation needed]}

At some point in early development, the logo pulled more elements from the Original Series' logo, with Kirby dots in the zero rather than an Omnitrix symbol.

By April 22, 2008, Season 1 of Alien Force was in post-production, as scripting and voice acting had both been completed.^{[GM 2]} Though they had considerably less involvement with this installment in the franchise,^{[JK 1]} Man of Action still looked everything over.^{[DM 2]}

Marketing[]

Prior to the series' release, it was advertised via Ben 10 Week, which ran on the network from April 13 to 18. The Original Series episodes aired during this week had special pop-up trivia, some of which aligned with ideas seen in Alien Force. The week culminated in the airings of Ben 10 Returns: Part 1 and Ben 10 Returns: Part 2.

Though the show was greenlit for one 26-episode season, and produced as such, it was split in half when advertised, with X = Ben + 2 functioning as a season finale.^{[DM 3]}^{[TJC 1]}

Conceptualizations[]

The character design team for Alien Force went through largely the same process for its alien characters. The characters first had numerous concepts drawn up by Eric Canete. Glen Murakami and Glenn Wong would then refine the designs, so they fit the show’s aesthetic. Glen Murakami gave the final approval, and the designs were handed off to Chris Hooten to add colors.^{[GW 1]}

15-year-old Ben Tennyson[]

It was Cartoon Network's idea to age the characters up into their teens.^{[DM 1]} From there, the design was done by Glen Murakami, who then handed the design off to Glenn Wong to finalize. Glenn changed his hair, and changed out his red jacket for a green one.^{[GW 2]}

15-year-old Gwen Tennyson[]

Gwen's design was almost entirely done by Glen Murakami.^{[GW 3]}

In the Hero Generation Series Bible, it is specified that Gwen's nascent powers caused many of the Omnitrix's malfunctions in the Original Series.^{[HG Bible 2]} However, this concept was unexplored come Alien Force proper.

16-year-old Kevin Levin[]

Kevin's design, like Ben and Gwen's, was done by Glen Murakami. Glenn Wong's contributions to the design were that of slimming him down and tweaking his face.^{[GW 4]}

Magister Labrid[]

The art director for the third and fourth seasons of the Original Series, Thomas Perkins, was brought on to work on Alien Force as a freelance concept artist in early development. One of his designs included Magister Labrid, who was initially far lankier than his final design.

Highbreed[]

The Highbreed were conceptualized by Dwayne McDuffie and inspired by bananas.^{[DM 4]} In the Hero Generation Series Bible, they were referred to as the "DNAliens". Furthermore, their Hyperspace Jump Gate was referred to as a "Matter Transmission Receiving Station".^{[HG Bible 3]}

DNAliens[]

In the Hero Generation Series Bible, the DNAliens were referred to as the "Hybrids". Xenocites go unmentioned, as the [DNAliens] are instead half-human and half-[Highbreed].^{[HG Bible 4]}

Swampfire[]

Swampfire was conceived as a mixture of Wildvine and Heatblast.^{[GM 2]} Like Magister Labrid, he had concept art done by Thomas Perkins, which depicted as far more vibrant than his final design. He otherwise went through a similar design process to the other transformations. Glenn Wong recalls Glen Murakami finalizing Swampfire's design.^{[GW 5]}

The Hero Generation Series Bible makes mention of Swampfire's methane gas burning a hole in his chest.^{[HG Bible 5]} Though it is present in some early designs, this trait was ultimately removed.

Echo Echo[]

In the Hero Generation Series Bible, Echo Echo is instead named simply "Echo".^{[HG Bible 6]}

Spidermonkey[]

Big Chill[]

The Hero Generation Series Bible makes no mention of the finalized Big Chill's moth-like traits.^{[HG Bible 6]}

Alien X[]

Alien X's bio in the Hero Generation Series Bible describes Ben's first use of the form as being used to destroy a mountain range.^{[HG Bible 7]} Though this ended up not being the case,^[1] this tidbit nevertheless was mentioned in Alien X's Bandai card.^{[merch 1]}

Brainstorm[]

In the Hero Generation Series Bible, Brainstorm's appearance was already largely decided upon, though he was erroneously referred to as a cetacean rather than a crustacean.^{[HG Bible 6]}

Chromastone[]

Chromastone's concepts, like the other aliens, went through Eric Canete and Glenn Wong. However, Chap Yaep created his final design. During his design process, Glenn Wong and Chap Yaep were given the DK eyewitness book on crystals to look at for inspiration.^{[GW 6]}

The Hero Generation Series Bible referred to Chromastone as "Shard".^{[HG Bible 7]}

Jetray[]

In the Hero Generation Series Bible, Jetray is referred to as "Bluestreak", making him the last transformation to have his name finalized.^{[HG Bible 6]}

Goop[]

Goop's original concepts appear far more amorphous than his final design.

Humungousaur[]

Humungousaur came about from the crew's desire to have a "big strong guy". His dinosaur inspired-design was chosen, as the crew both thought of them when it came to big creatures, and they knew kids like dinosaurs.^{[GM 2]}

The Hero Generation Series Bible erroneously referred to him as "Humongousaur".^{[HG Bible 6]}

Other[]

Master Brief[]

A master brief for the two-part pilot was included in a style guide for the series, detailing the release of the two episodes, as well as the main characters and debuting aliens.