Ben 10: Alien Force-Volume 2 (2008)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Audio Featurette-Making Of-DNA of a scene Trailer-Other Cartoon Network Shows
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	87:56
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Cartoon Network Madman Entertainment	Starring	Yri Lowenthal
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Andy Sturmer

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Title of Show : Ben10 : Alien Force

    Title of Disc : Volume 2

    Year of Production : 2008

    Country of origin : USA

    What's included? :  Episodes 6-9 of the new show (4 of the 13 episodes in Season 1). This seems a little light on for content as the first volume had five episodes.

    Episode Length : About 22 minutes each.

    Details of episodes : 

This new spinoff from the original Ben10 series is being released in volumes rather than whole seasons. The following episodes are included:

1. Max Out
2. Pier Pressure
3. What are Little Girls Made Of?
4. The Gauntlet

    Style of Production : Animation

    Premise of show : Ben10 : Alien Force is a new Cartoon Network production which follows on from the very successful Ben 10 series. It is not so much a spin-off as a sequel due to the original series completing after 4 seasons. There has been a gap of 5 years between the old series and this and Ben is now 15. He has not been fighting aliens for 5 years but suddenly aliens are showing a renewed interest in Earth and Grandpa Max has disappeared. He receives a cryptic message from Max and decides to put the Omnitrix back on. When he does this the Omnitrix changes shape and there are 10 new aliens rather than the original ones available to him. This time Ben teams up with his cousin Gwen again (who is developing her own skills at alien fighting) but also forms and uneasy alliance with his old enemy Kevin Levin. They set out to rescue Max and fight the aliens. It is a bit more serious than the old show and includes little hints of romance and teenage angst.

    Age Group : 5-12

    Related to any other children's shows? : A sequel to the original Ben 10.

    Adult's view : A good show for young boys with a lot of excitement, some suspense, some mild scares and interesting and exciting characters.

    Child's view : My 6 year old son has been very excited about this new series ever since he heard about it. He loves the new aliens especially Swampfire and Humungosaur. Another hit with fans of the original.

    Other Releases of this show available? : All four seasons of the original show have been released along with two feature length movies, one animated and one live action. This is the second release of the now show. ANother one is due soon.

    Overall : A good updating of the concept, my kids have taken to it immediately. Fans of the original series will love it (although some younger viewers may find it a bit scary).

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise.

    The colour was very good with deep blacks.

    There were no noticeable artefacts.

    There are subtitles in English. They are yellow and easy to read.

    There is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The surround speakers were used for quite a bit of atmosphere and music and the subwoofer added bass to music and effects.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu was still but had music and a cool 10 based motif for the cursor.

DNA of a Scene (1:48)

    A quite average making of featurette showing a storyboard to final animation comparison for one scene. No voiceover or explanation other than a quick intro by Ben's voice artist.

Trailers

    Other Cartoon Network shows.

     The Region 1 version is basically the same except for the extra trailers locally. Draw.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    Only one extra which is pretty average.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall