Alone Together is one of the best episodes in the series. It really goes to show that if the characters are good enough, they can carry an episode with nothing but each other to use.
It's an episode that personifies one of the best themes that Ben10 stands for. That is that no matter how different you are anybody can get along and understand each other.
Maybe paradox's teleporter was ment for time instead of space. That or he was initially trying to make a teleporter bit realized it could also be used to time travel. Either way it's a weird coincidence when you'd think a teleporter would be some jack Kirby esque machine
I honestly preferer the omnitrix and eyes to glow, purely for aesthetic, but i can understand how it could be impractical, for example trying to be stealthy in dark environments...
Alone Together made Ben 10 made me really care about the character growth of Ben in Alien Force, like, that's a guy I'd trust with this type of responsibility. Plus, he won over a Highbreed (Who I was so happy to see again, but wish he appeared at least in Omniverse, since they straight up vanish). Gwen's idea about ball bearings was something I always thought about, but once Kevin said he needed more material, I still wish he carried it, just in case of an emergency. Years later, this and many other J.K. Simmons roles made me realize he's not only a great screen actor, but great voice actor too.
Reiny did actually show up a few more times in the series you know. Obviously he shows up in the Season 2 finale but he also appears in an Alien Force Season 3 episode called Failsafe, you get to see how he works as a leader and the authority he now holds over the Hybreed grunts who don’t know the war is over. It’s a pretty decent episode as far as Alien Force Season 3 goes, I’d say check it out if you haven’t already.
you're right there were times when they were in trouble and it would really be handy (no pun intended) for Kevin to have a metal hand to knock someone out
I always assumed that Kevin's mutation in Alien Force Season 3 was because he had the ball bearings on him and they all fused to him, giving him wood, metal, etc.
To be fair to Reiny's decision at the end, where Is he supposed to go? He can't go back to the Highbreed, he can't go near anyone else, because they'll see him as just another highbreed monster. He has no place anymore, remember, undertown isn't a thing yet
@@1sdani Id watch a spin of show of the two as roommates. Oh alright but now imagine Kevin and Gwen go to college like they do in omniverse But Riney sticks around and ben doesnt know so he stops by kevins garage and Reiny is just there working on cars. Ben: what are you doing in Kevins garage!?, and are you working on cars? Riney: I have to make a living some how BenBen Tennyson, rent isnt cheap.
@@christophercrafte Riney joining the main cast after Season 2 would have been such a trip. Maybe he'd end up taking Ben's talk about walking a mile in other species' shoes literally and convince Ben to let him spend each day as a hybrid of himself and a different alien, so every episode he'd be half of a different alien from the Omnitrix.
This episode (Alone Together) is, in my humble opinion, one of those isolated moments when Ben was actually very kind and mature. This is easily one of the best non-action episodes of the franchise as a whole. Also, Kuro, you need a rest. Thanks for making so many videos for us and just, keep it fizzy!
"Because all lesser beings other than pure, unadulterated Highbreeds must be expunged from the universe! Including myself." That is one of the most depressing declarations I've ever heard, but it's one of the reasons why I love this episode. Reiny didn't just immediately change his outlook on life, he needs time to except that the Highbreeds supremacists ways are unhealthy and self destructive. Change takes time.
@@PanCake-uu7he 1. they’re an inbred, sterile race thats riddled with disease due. Hardly the trappings of a master species. 2. The highbreed are powerful specimens, clever and adaptable ones too. But this episode shows that they’re just as susceptible to certain weaknesses as any other alien life. They aren’t inherently better than everyone else that’s just arrogance. 3. The dog argument falls flat because we’re not trying to genocide dogs, humans and highbreed are both sentient so the prejudice is unjust, Dogs are better at humans at several things.
@@PanCake-uu7he actually dogs are physically stronger and better, because they're not wasting million years of evolution just to be able to speak different language and have weak stomach
I personally really like the whole Kevin wanting to be a plumber thing and wanting to show his mom. His entire life he's been a crook until now. In his view, no reason his mom would even want to care for him. Develops more of his insecurities towards people like in the big chill episode (blanking on the name). Now he'll finally get that validation for all the good he's been doing throughout alien force so far. It's like being a kid again and wanting to show your mom you got a 100 on a test.
Boy, Alien Force Kevin might be my favorite character in the series. I sure hope nothing contrived happens later to retcon everything about him lol. Can you imagine?
@@corphish129 in my headcannon, servantis was basically a don quijote-like character who was so into his own dellusions, he used his own recently acquired alien powers to make others believe it too and the backstory of alien force is still the true one
Darkstar’s energy beams are pretty much drawn with the same visual effect as Raven’s powers in the earlier Teen Titans animated series, which I think is interesting.
Cynically, it could be because he doesn't want the breakdowns to become as big of a priority as they're becoming, and isn't thrilled that he had to get back to the breakdowns so soon.
The intentions behind the Omnitrix’s creation are a big part of why I’m happy the phased out the Ultimatrix into something only a villain like Albedo uses. Since the Evolution function works via a war simulation, it’s a contradiction of the Omnitrix’s purpose as a symbol of peace. It also plays a lot into what Azmuth says at the end of Alien Force season 3. He made the Omnitrix to be a symbol of intergalactic peace, but it never occurred to him to use it like Ben did. Azmuth made a symbol, the galaxy saw a weapon, but Ben used it to become a hero. Ben became an protector and defender of intergalactic peace, actively promoting the ideals Azmuth had when he made the Omnitrix. Azmuth built a symbol of peace in the Omnitrix, but he created a greater one in Ben.
Makes me wonder what kind of ultimatrix Azmuth would make, or even an Alternate version of Albedo. Like it'd be cool if in one of the evil Ben universes Albedo made an ultimatrix based on some type of peace evolution instead of war
@@pickedceasar1216 Saw an AU on deviant art where azmuth and albedo had originally worked and the war evolution function thing together. The catch was while Albedo still wanted to see its combative purposes, Azmuth expected the evolutions to all be sickly and degrarated from the horrors of the war simulated on them. All to be a demonstration of why species shouldn’t go to war. When it turned out that the ultimate function would only either turn species badass like how albedo predicted, or just didn’t work cause the species didn’t survive the simulation, Azmuth was horrified and scrapped the project.
@@pickedceasar1216 I doubt it would be viable. Evolution occurs as a result of environmental pressure. A peaceful scenario suggests very little environmental pressure, to there wouldn’t be a lot of evolutionary growth.
38:20-39:53: Ben kicking Darkstar's ass in four different ways, this is definitely one of my favorite scenes in the whole franchise. It's no Master Control, but being able to change into different aliens before timing out is still awesome!
I sand by the fact that all omnitrix gimmicks are worse than master control itself. quick swapping gives infinite choice to any situation. fusions are just a cheap version of quick swaps, and ultimate ben was limited skurd was alright, reboot is a little interesting but otherwise still lesser than master control.
Ever since watching the Gen. Rex cross-over, the Omnitrix emblem glowing in shadowed or dark areas had been a nice appeal to me, so yes, I'm cool with it.
I think Alone Together might actually be my favourite episode of the entire franchise. The way Reiny's character is used not only to increase sympathy for the Highbreed but at the same time show how villainous their indoctrination is. It reminds me a lot of Avatar TLA how Ozai's character should be bland, but is made incredible through how he relates to Zuko and Azula in the character web. I also love how it's not just Reiny but Ben changing and growing, and like you said: the realism here enhances the episode a lot. It makes it hurt more. Also also, Swampfire healing Reiny was amazing and that alone makes him one of the best transformations. Congratulations on learning how to pronounce "stamina" by the way
Also also Ben 10 and Legend of Korra have episodes dedicated to flesh out the character growth of the MC. Alone Together and Korra Alone(which both had alone funnily enough). Of course, also Zuko Alone.
Funny you mention that! Although Avatar the last air bender is certainly the better show, I actually prefer the Highbreed ever so slightly more as a villainous faction then the fire nation. Libel I know, but I think it was a good reveal to show the highbreed leader ship were Just a bunch of wrinkly old bastards and all the warrior highbreed were actually out fighting. Felt like it hammered in the situation that there was no big boss to defeat to make everything better like aang had with the fire lord (or pheonix king?). Rather, ben an entire twisted ideology to obliterate.
I’m surprised Kuro didn’t bring up the fact Ghill said “after Vilgax was destroyed Plumber activity on earth ended”. This means Vilgax was legally considered dead not just Ben making assumptions. Yet nobody noticed him conquering 10 worlds? I thought Starfleet was bad updating their records
16:35 That is a joke they would do in Omniverse. It's nice to see the things that carry over, even when Ben gets reworked later. It does help that Omniverse gave Ben some of his intelligence back, if only so he could be annoyed at other characters doing something stupid.
Fun fact : Reinrassig is german and is actually an adjective that roughly translates to "pure of race". You can imagine that this has some pretty dark connotations.
7:32 He’s definitely wrong there. The Omnitrix only “times out” after transforming multiple times in quick successions. There’s no actual time limit in Alien Force (not until season 3 anyway)
Im sorry, but im going to disagree with Together Alone having a 3 on entertaining. Having to see another side of the Highbreed and also having Ben listening while disagreeing is entertaining as a whole for the episode. Seeing how both clash for their beliefs is interesting to see without them fighting or dueling.
But we don’t literally see it we just hear it from Reiny and has to picture it but it doesn’t make the episode itself entertaining because it’s mostly just seeing Ben and Reiny walking in a straight line towards a teleporter pod, talking and surviving from wormlike creatures
Alone together might be one of my favourite AF episodes. I feel like it's one of the few episodes that actually focuses on the Highbreed themselves and the fact they do it by bringing them down to Ben's level is just genius really and lets you actually get into their mind and helps convey who they are, their goals and reason to why they're even invading Earth in the first place (aside from generic "we want to destroy everything").
It's weird that Darkstar Rising feels more like a Season 1 finale than the actual episode. I remember it aired before Alone Together so in my head it will always be the Season 2 premiere. Both are some my favorite episodes in the whole franchise though.
Alone Together is honestly one of the best episodes in the franchise, because it’s essentially a character focus on Ben as a person and seeing one of the Hybrid have a legit redemption arc.
Tbh kevin could use ball bearings just for making better punches. sure it doesnt cover him completely but it can be used to punch things harder as it just covers his fist.
34:36 it probably depends on the metal. Car bodies are usually aluminium, and I don't think his car is suped up with alien tech yet, so the concrete is probably stronger than the car, but the stainless steel from before is stronger than the concrete.
Sad that the schedule changed, but hey. I enjoy these breakdowns just as much as I love Ultimates. I wouldn't mind if you uploaded the Ultimates on another day other than on Fridays.
Fun Fact: This is still listed as part of Season 1 on HBO Max. Not sure why. Something similar happen with Justice League Unlimited, which shares some of the creative team.
Alone together is a very theraputic episode for me. Admittedly,I used to have......not the greatest world view and I know what it's like to have that challenged only to then make you question everything you know before finally realising why you were wrong to hold those views and deciding to make a change for the better
I think I like it better when the Omnitrix is dull, it makes it appear more innocuous and not as easily identifiable as the wielder of the omnitrix or some kind of plumber, which would explain why no one commented on it for so long in the original series (but yeah I do think plumber badges should glow).
Alone Together is one of the few episodes I've not seen and now I'm really regretting it. I honestly think it's one of the best episodes out there. It's just got so much heart and character in it. It really shows a lot of growth in Ben. As for Darkstar Rising, I really like Michael. He's a great character that always does well whenever he shows up.
I forgot how good alone together was, such a neat little episode of two unlikely characters talking to one another. I enjoy episodes that don't always need action to make it good, sometimes talking to one another can be just interesting in itself. It's just a really good episode overall.
In regards to 'Alone Together', you really can't beat mixing a bottle episode with 'The Defiant Ones'. It's not too common when people take an old story, weave into their own, and don't come off as some cheap ripoff. The writer's just used this idea so organically
The Ben transforming over and over again thing brings up another issue in this episode because he’d know Ben was his true form because he kept turning back into him over and over again before going back to Echo Echo & then finally turning the watch off.
I’ve actually learned a lot watching these breakdowns before I would just watch cgi and not realise it was cgi if it was blended in with the scene now I just call it as soon as I see it
i loved the way you can articulate the importance of the Alone together Episode, the paralels you draw to our real world struggles hits hard. walking a mile in someone elses shoes must really be a struggle to imagine for some people.
Just watched Alone Together yesterday. You know it doesn't matter if we can watch it anytime on sites, nothing beats the feeling of watching Ben 10 on TV, waking up early. Just like old school days are back ❤️
Man he kinda sounds tired in this. I don't blame him he's got so many projects he's working on, and yet he's still makes these breakdowns and they still end up being good. This is a man of many talents and he deserves all the praise. Awesome man. #Ben10forMultiVersus
The Space Politics with the Hybreed is probably incredibly fascinating. It's possible the universe as a whole didn't quite know the Hybreed as a civilization were doing anything sinister until they blew up Galvan. Maybe up til then, they wrote it off as terrorist cells.
I’m sure they’re were several highbreed amongst the galaxy that had/wanted nothing to do with the galactic war. Especially given how one ended up on a galactic council.
Also this episode of them working together is an example of the psychology of conflict/opposing view resolution as put forth by Sherif's Realistic Conflict theory supported by the Robber's Cave study. Basically if two groups of people have different views and consider themselves to be different because they are placed in two different groups (be that football teams, race or any arbitrary classification) the best way to resolve their differences and reduce tensions between the two groups is to have them work together to achieve goals that they could not achieve alone - this lessens animosity and increases understanding and relatability. Only catch is putting people with different views (eg two political parties) into life or death game situations to resolve their differences is ethically frowned upon. Oh well.
Hey kuro if the highbreed are dieing from low genetic diversity and inbreeding then could the odd coloring on there arms be a form of necrosis or something? Just a thought
Possibly! Although I rather like those color markings so i’d hope they were a natural skin pattern. It would be fun to imagine what a fully healthy highbreed looks like.
Tbh the omnitrix should glint slightly as a means to show the light that a device would give off but the eyes shouldn't be able to glow unless the specific alien species being used has eyes that glow
This is a little ahead of the game but just out of curiosity, once we get to the finally of alien force, will there be a kuro's version of the finale similar to the Negative Ten finally? This is not insinuating the finally of Alien Force was bad, just curiosity sake
Alone Together is a massive Nostalgia Trip for me. It was one of those plots which made little me realize that beneath a villain's exterior, a good person can be found.
The omnitrix changes Ben and the bacteria in side him which is why diamond head was sick despite being crystal, we need bacteria to live and I doubt Azmuth would create a Trojan horse to trick species into suicide
Ben 10s Alone together and Doctor Who's Dalek episode have a lot of parallels. The space nazis who believe they are a master race become "contaminated" by 'inferior' DNA and are shown a different perspective. but in the end their beliefs lead them to consider themselves as impure and they remove themselves from the chessboard.
Alone Together is one of the best examples of "heroes and villains forced to team up" because it matters long term for the character of the villain but the change on the villain's side is slow.
I literally watched this episode last night with my girlfriend (her first binge of the series!) and I pointed out how much I loved Reiny's speech about "pure, unadulterated Highbreeds" because it ALMOST, in a twisted way, sounds noble and heroic. Like, to him, he's DOING the right thing. That's so good.
Darkstar always made me think of Dr Doom- a villain wearing a metal mask and cloak, who blames a hero for messing up his face, even though it was largely his own fault.
I always figured that when ben transformed, the Omnitrix just rearranges his DNA to match the alien. Sounds surprising to think a bit of Bens human DNA is part of it as well.
"alone together" honestly cements this to me...the first 2 seasons of alien force will always be the best of ben 10 in general, at least in my opinion. the mystery, intrigue, world building, and slowly building stakes, genuine character growth and development, it honestly has it all to me. classic will always hold a special place in my heart, and the alien X special from the reboot has made me see the reboot in a better light, but alien force seasons 1 and 2 will always reign supreme to me. it's what i grew up on even if i eagerly watched each and every episode of classic through omniverse, patiently waiting each saturday for each new episode to come out and hopefully pay off on a previous cliffhanger
It’s also weird that the plumbers stopped protecting earth despite an Earthling on the planet earth created the plumbers 300 some years ago. It weird the plumbers only have a single plumber protecting 300 planets and one of those planets is the birthplace of their entire force. Seriously makes you wonder why everyone calls earth a mud ball. If a villain does it it’s because it’s the birthplace of the thing always arresting them. And when a plumber does it they are completely disregarding and disrespecting the birthplace of their job.
@FueguitoAzul Plumbers were always an Earth based organisation created to defend against extraterrestrial and supernatural forces in the Original Series, it was UAF that retconned them into being intergalactic police without any explanation, all Omniverse did was show how they became an intergalactic organisation between the events of the OG series and Alien Force.
Indeed. It’s just weird how earth is always considered a backwater planet when it is in fact the birthplace of the intergalactic police force practically holding criminals to standards outside their home planets
I hope I'm not the only one who noticed this but you can clearly see the transition from how kuro started to now, he sounds dismal and bored compared to how he started out
I think it's also kinda neat how the entire concept of the high breed and their final redemption can be interpreted as an analogy of human nature over history. For centuries we've been living in an egocentric worldview that taught us we're superior to other creatures, and everything else exists only to be of use to us. But as we got more developed and gained a better understanding of the world, we're finally starting to understand that we're simply a part of nature just like everything else, not something above it.
@@manofiron5934 Sorry, but RU-vid deletes comments with links automatically, but I can give you the name of my story: Rise Of G-Morph And The Amazing Spider-Man. It is a story where Ben sent a replica of his Omnitrix to the Marvel universe and it is found by Gwen Stacy a few days before Peter Parker gets bitten by the spider. Ben barely appears in this story, but I want to give him a mentor role in most of his appearances.
Personally I kinda like the Omnitrix when it has a glow like a light source but I still think the reactive lighting works nice as is. It just feels cooler to see it have a small green light in use is all, kinda like Iron Man's Arc Reactor
I think, whenever a fight starts unexpectedly, Kevin absorbs the first thing he can so that he at least has SOMETHING. So when the Highbreed burst through the wall, he reached for his car. But since the bodywork is probably made of Aluminum or something like that, he decided to switch to concrete which is probably stronger.
Now I'm just thinking that after war of the world's, it would have been the perfect time to gain the highbreed DNA for the Omnitrix. Like kind of showing the piece between the highbreed and galaxy under Ben and Reiny
33:15 I don't know, I can't really agree. I feel like Gwen would know what a ball bearing is made of. Or at least would say "Iron, or steel, I'm not really sure." You could say she probably just had that moment when you forget a word, I do have those a lot, but I feel like that's just an overall problem with Gwen in Alien Force season 1 and 2 - they really made her much less intelligent, and much less assertive. As much as I like that episode about Darkstar, it would never work with Gwen in the original series, or UA, or Omniverse, she wouldn't just date some dude to make Kevin jealous, and she would be able to pick up on all the red flags Micheal is giving off. This is why I can't agree that the network mandates were completely bad, I think Gwen is much better in post-rework UAF and Omniverse. Especially in Omniverse, cause there they actually give Gwen more interests on top of "Gwen likes school", they let her share some interests with Ben, like she genuinely is excited about this whole superhero thing, and is very knowledgeable about superhero staples like secret identities, flying, secret lairs. It's really fun to watch Gwen do things that are normally reserved for male characters. And also Many Happy Returns shows how much better Omniverse Gwen handled this relationship stuff. I feel like Alien Force Gwen would be moping, and act like a doormat like she sometimes does in season 1 and 2. Meanwhile in OV she gets mad, like any normal person would, and doesn't even get jealous, she's just mad at Kevin for lying and seducing someone for money.
Yeah the moment where Kevin's backstory begun to be mess around... I think i would have liked this more, if it was more into the theme of this season. If you look at this season there is a reason to why they change the origin of Gwen's powers and they have Kevin said that because they are hybrids, they have powers. It's the idea of diversity and all that stuff. i think this chapter could have been a good way to show why does Kevin know this? He didn't needed to look into that, but he came to know that, as an illegal dealer. He doesn't need to know more then the important figures to sells his products, so it would had been nice to say you know, he doesn't know his dad neither did his mother know much about his job, other that he was a Plumber, that trigger him looking into regarding the plumbers, reason to why he was able to find Max message so quickly he had experience trying to track down Plumber information, and he discover that he was on the ranks. And the Ragnarok thing could be that he was listed on the files as the killer of Officer Devlin... And ironically, if it was done this way, the Omniverse retcon of his background would still fit with the narrative...
I just had a thought that at some point it would be interesting to see all the scores of the episodes WITHOUT the importance ranking. Just to see how each episode holds up on their own, without any of the surrounding overarching plot.
