Ben 10: Alien Force-Volume 8 (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Main Menu Audio Poster
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	86:10 (Case: 88)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Dan Riba Butch Lukic John Fang Rick Morales
Studio Distributor	Cartoon Network Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	Kristopher Carter Michael McCuistion Lolita Ritmanis

    Title of Show : Ben10 : Alien Force

    Title of Disc : Volume 8

    Year of Production : 2009

    Country of origin : USA

    What's included? :  Episodes 27 & 28 of the show (Episodes 8-11 in the third and final Season). These episodes were first shown in the US in late 2009.

    Episode Length : About 21 minutes each. (86:10 in total)

    Details of episodes : 

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

1. If All Else Fails
2. In Charm's Way
3. Ghost Town
4. Trade Off

          These episodes feature some old adversaries returning such as Charmcaster and include quite a bit of internal angst between Ben, Gwen & Kevin.

    Style of Production : Animation

    Premise of show : Ben10 : Alien Force is a 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 6 new aliens (including Alien X whose identity is revealed in Volume 4) 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 an 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 : A greatly loved series amongst pre-teen boys, these episodes are no exception. My boys are very interested in the new Ultimate Alien series already.

    Other Releases of this show available? : All four seasons of the original show have been released along with three feature length movies, one animated and two live action. This is the eighth release of Alien Force. There are also some repackaged versions of the original series being released. There is a new series on the way Ben 10 : Ultimate Alien.

    Overall : A good updating of the concept, my kids have taken to it well. 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 not the original aspect ratio. These shows were made for widescreen but have been cropped for these releases.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. The colour was very good with deep blacks.

    There was some minor interlacing artefacts but nothing too distracting.

    There are no subtitles.

    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 included music.

Ultimate Alien Poster

    The case includes a poster of the aliens in the new show Ben 10 : Ultimate Alien.

Trailers

    Other Madman released children's shows.

     The Region 1 version includes 5 episodes of this third season, making it a better deal. Region 1 wins.

    The video quality is very good but not in the OAR. The audio quality is very good. No real extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall