 This article belongs to the Classic Continuity
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| This article is about the episode. You might have been looking for Professor Paradox. |
Paradox is the twelfth episode of Ben 10: Alien Force.
Plot
50 Years Ago
It is the 1950's. A man and his assistant are trying a time experiment using a large round portal containing Quartz crystals, as officials of the US Army watch. Unfortunately the experiment fails, causing the man to be sucked up into the portal, while an unseen creature, whose shadow is only visible, is heard growling.
Present
Ben, Gwen and Kevin visit Los Soledad after hearing of a disturbance. The place is wrecked and they see materials partially sucked up in an old machine and fossilized animal skeletons. There are also trails seemingly burned into the ground and through walls. Suddenly, a creature arrives and Ben turns into Chromastone to fight it.
The Trans-Dimensional Monster
The creature gets away and Chromastone transforms back into Ben. The team enter a lab (which is where the time experiment took place) and find the remains of the portal. Then, a mysterious man appears and Ben turns into Swampfire. The man offers Swampfire a gumball. He then disappears and reappears outside. The trio follow him, but before they can question him, the creature reappears and Kevin tries to fight it, but strangely, punching it changes him into an old man. The unknown man flees to draw the creature away.
Kevin begins acting like an old man and Ben tries driving Kevin's car to try and find help. The creature appears again and chases them, ageing Kevin's car to a rusted broken state. They eventually escape the creature and meet the strange man again, who changes Kevin back to his proper age. However, he says regressing a car is beyond his ability. Ben asks the man who he is, and the man explains back in the 50's, he was involved in an experiment involving time-travel.
The man was sucked into the portal and was trapped in the space-time continuum for 100,000 years or more, having not to age, sleep or eat, just exist. He became insane but got bored and decided to learn. He now has a total understand of the space-time continuum, enabling him to travel anywhere and when he wants. Gwen decides to name the man Paradox as he forgot his real name.
Paradox's current concern is the creature they've encountered. The creature came into their plane of reality when his experiment went awry. Gwen points out that this creature couldn't have been around for fifty years, as they would've known about it. Paradox explains that his experiment flung this creature to the present. Ben and the team ask why the creature needs to be stopped if it's only attacking an abandoned military base.
Paradox and the team on the Moon
Paradox then brings them to the Moon (for some reason, with a breathable atmosphere) and shows the team the best possible future if the creature wasn't stopped, Earth turned dark and brown. They then spot a future Paradox who had failed to prevent this catastrophe. The future Paradox urges his counterpart not to repeat his mistakes and sends them back to the present.
Gwen suggests that they simply go back and prevent the time experiment from happening. Paradox says they can't do that because it would also prevent him from becoming a time traveler who has helped the universe hundreds of times. He almost mentions one adventure that he and Ben had in saving the universe. They then spot the creature, so Ben transforms into Jetray and shoots the creature, but the creature was immune to the beams. Paradox throws some gumballs to the creature and momentarily slows it down due to the fact that gumballs can last a long time.
Paradox then grapples with the creature. Though he exists outside of time, he says he can still feel the eons passing. Ben suddenly thinks of something and tells Paradox to take them back to the time of the accident. While Paradox holds off the creature, Ben, Gwen and Kevin head for the lab, where the experiment is about to be carried out. Ben tells Gwen and Kevin that that the creature wasn't acting like an ordinary creature, but someone looking for help. This makes it clear that the creature is actually Paradox's old assistant Hugo, and that he was transformed into an inter-dimensional being as he was also sucked into the time portal as well as Paradox, traveling forward 50 years.
Hugo and Paradox about to leave
As the team are about to leave, Kevin curses Paradox for not changing his car back. But once they reach the exit, they see Kevin's car, brand-new (from 30 years ago according to Kevin), and with a note left by Paradox saying: 'Kevin, try to keep in mind that if this car comes into contact with anything else from 1976, it will explode like anti-matter. Enjoy! -Paradox.' Kevin, Ben and Gwen then drive back home, with Kevin querying if the note was a joke.
Noteworthy Events
Major Events
- Ben's team meet Professor Paradox for the first time.
- Time in Los Soledad is altered so that Hugo is saved from becoming the Trans-Dimensional Monster and lives a better life.
- Kevin's Car is completely aged and rusted, but is later de-aged by Paradox and is factory new again.
Character Debuts
Minor Events
- It is revealed that Kevin used to drag race with some unnamed people at Los Soledad, leaving behind a message "KEVIN RULES!".
Characters
- Ben Tennyson
- Gwen Tennyson
- Kevin Levin
- Professor Paradox (first appearance)
- Hugo (first appearance)
- General Groff (first appearance)
Villains
- Trans-Dimensional Monster (first appearance)
Aliens Used
Quotes
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Naming and Translations
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| French | Voyage au bout du temps | Travel to the end of time |
| Hungarian | Paradoxon | Paradox |
| Portuguese (Br) | Paradoxo | Paradox |
| Spanish (HA) | Paradoja | Paradox |
| Spanish (Spain) | La Paradoja De Paradox | The Paradox Of Paradox |
Allusions
- Professor Paradox's line "I walk in eternity" is a direct reference to the Fourth Doctor from Doctor Who, who is often quoted for saying the same thing.
- Additionally, Paradox offering Swampfire a gumball is also a reference to the Fourth Doctor. Although most Doctors thereafter have done similar things, the Fourth Doctor often offered people jelly babies from a small paper bag.
Cast
Trivia
- Kevin's car exploding in case it came with contact with anything from the year 1976 was merely a joke from Paradox.[DM 1]
- Paradox hinted that he had worked with the future Ben before, and he stated that Ben had decided to transform into Swampfire then too.
- Paradox mentioned that he and Ben once teamed up to save the entire universe.
- When Ben, Gwen, and Kevin, and Paradox are in the classroom, there is a music playing in the background that can be heard in a few levels of Ben 10: Alien Force.
- As of this episode, Jetray's voice is deeper.
References
Crew Statements
Dwayne McDuffie
| Ben 10: Alien Force Episodes |
|---|
| Season 1 |
| Ben 10 Returns: Part 1 • Ben 10 Returns: Part 2 • Everybody Talks About the Weather • Kevin's Big Score • All That Glitters • Pier Pressure • Max Out • Be-Knighted • What Are Little Girls Made Of? • The Gauntlet • Plumbers' Helpers • Paradox • X = Ben + 2 |
| Season 2 |
| Darkstar Rising • Alone Together • Good Copy, Bad Copy • Save the Last Dance • Undercover • Pet Project • Grounded • Voided • Inside Man • Birds of a Feather • Unearthed • War of the Worlds: Part 1 • War of the Worlds: Part 2 |
| Season 3 |
| Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 1 • Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 2 • Inferno • Fool's Gold • Simple • Vreedle, Vreedle • Singlehanded • If All Else Fails • In Charm's Way • Ghost Town • Trade-Off • Busy Box • Con of Rath • Primus • Time Heals • The Secret of Chromastone • Above and Beyond • Vendetta • The Final Battle: Part 1 • The Final Battle: Part 2 |
| Movies |
| Ben 10: Alien Swarm |
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