Paradox

This article belongs to the Classic Continuity.

This article is about the episode. You might have been looking for Professor Paradox.

Paradox is the tenth episode of Ben 10: Alien Force.

Plot

50 Years Ago

A man and his assistant are trying to experiment time-travel by using quartz crystals, but the experiment fails, causing the man to be sucked up into the portal, while the shadow of an unseen creature is seen and 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 transforms into Chromastone to fight it.

The creature gets away and Chromastone transforms back into Ben. Then they sees a mysterious man and Ben transforms into Swampfire. The man disappears and then reappears offering Swampfire a gumball. The creature reappears and Kevin tries to fight it, but strangely, punching it changes him into an old man.

Kevin begins acting like an old man and Ben tries driving Kevin's Car to escape the creature. The creature soon chases them and ages Kevin's car to a rusted broken car. They eventually escape the creature and meet the 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 any where 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 creatures 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 team ask why the creature needs to be stopped if it's only attacking an abandoned military base.

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. 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 gumballs can last a long time.

Ben, Gwen and Kevin see that the creature wasn't acting like an ordinary creature, but a man looking for help. They try to fight the creature and decide to stop it from being created by traveling back to the accident. Paradox then grapples with the creature. Though he exists outside of time, he says he can still feel the eons passing. It was revealed that the creature was Paradox's old assistant Hugo and he was transformed into an inter dimensional creature traveling forward 50 years.

Ben transforms into Humungousaur and saves Hugo (who turns out to be the unseen creature from the beginning of the episode), and keeping him from getting sucked into the portal. The Hugo that was with them transforms back to normal and they go back to the present, where they meet an older Hugo. Paradox offers Hugo a chance to time travel and they leave Ben and his friends to explore time.

As Ben and friends were about to leave, Kevin cursed Paradox for not changing his car back. But once they go to the exit, they see Kevin's car, brand-new, 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.' Ben, Kevin and Gwen then drive back home, with Kevin querying if that note was a joke.

Noteworthy Events

Major Events

Character Debuts

• Professor Paradox
• Hugo
• General Groff
• Trans-Dimensional Monster

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

• Chromastone
• Swampfire
• Jetray
• Humungousaur

Quotes

Kevin: You didn't need to come. Gwen and I could've handled this alone. It's nothing really. Ben: It doesn't sound like nothing. Weird noises, unearthly lights, rumors of weird creatures out here. Kevin: Yeah, the dudes I heard it from aren't totally reliable~ Gwen: Isn't that like a big bad boy thing to do? Come out here to the ghost town to drag race. Kevin: How should I know? I just know them from autoshop. (Gwen and Ben spot graffiti that reads: "Kevin Rules!")

Ben: Grandpa Max said Los Soledad used to be a big military base back in the 50's; some kind of research facility. Kevin: Yeah, must've been some serious research. Check out these walls. Fifty years later and there's still no way in. (looks at large holes) No way! These weren't here. Gwen: (referring to holes) Did anyone notice some of them are vaguely person-shaped? Ben: Weird... Maybe something, I don't know, burned through the walls. Kevin: Like what? Ben: The same thing that burned these weird trails everywhere. Gwen: (referring to the Trans-Dimensional Monster) Look! That thing has been in here too. Ben: Only one trail. It either came in here and vanished... Gwen: ...Or it was born here!

Kevin: Hey it's that dork from the photo; the Paradox guy. Gwen: You haven't changed at all - in fifty years! Paradox: Oh, considerably more than that.

Gwen: Are you okay? Old Kevin: My back is killing me, my legs ache, and what's up with these shoes? Is it too much to ask for a little support? Gwen: He's like a real irritable, short-tempered, crotchety old man. Old Kevin: Why are you whispering?! Ben: In other words, aside from the male-pattern baldness, he's pretty much the same as always.

Old Kevin: You should have gone out with me when I was young and handsome. Gwen: You were too immature. Old Kevin: What about now? Gwen: Too old.

Old Kevin: You are never driving my car again! (Kevin's car falls apart) Ben: True.

Paradox: There is something different about you. Is it your hair? Old Kevin: Yeah, I'm partin' it down the middle now and I also got real old! Paradox: Don't talk to me about "old." I walk in eternity. Old Kevin: Well, you better start running in eternity, smart guy!

Ben: (referring to the Trans-Dimensional Monster) You just keep that thing occupied! Paradox: K-Keep it occupied? I'm a time-traveling hero; I don't keep things occupied!

Gwen: Kevin! I can't believe it (hugs Kevin), you're as good as new! Kevin: Well, my back still hurts a little, if I could just lean on you. (Gwen smiles and pushes him away)

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.

Trivia

• Kevin's car exploding in case it came with contact with anything from the year 1976 was merely a joke from Paradox.^[1][2]
• 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

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 • Max Out • Pier Pressure • What Are Little Girls Made Of? • The Gauntlet • Paradox • Be-Knighted • Plumbers' Helpers • 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