Ben 10: Alien Force - "Paradox" - Talkback [7/5]

[Mugen]

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Premieres: July 5th at 10:00 AM Eastern
Repeats: July 6th at 11:30 AM Eastern; July 10th at 2:00 PM Eastern; July 13th at 9:00 PM

After a long break, a new episode of Ben 10: Alien Force airs today on Dynamite Action Squad. Here's the synopsis:

A time-traveling experiment from the 1950s sends a monster to the present, and a time-travelling hero named Paradox joins the team in an effort to stop it.

[zoombie]

Old man Kevin rules, he is so funny. But he does look a little bit like Dr. Animo. I suppose this could explain some of the non canon episodes like Gwen 10 and Goodbye And Good Riddance. But I doubt it.

[ShadowGUN]

Paradox = Doctor Who :anime: .

[Master Toon]

The old Kevin was funny, I loved the part where Ben told him he was trying to put the keys in a cactus. The rest was bit confusing, more confusing than most cartoons that do the "I'm a master of time and space" thing. I wouldn't try to find any hidden messages in this episode, just keep in mind that we may see this guy again in an episode where Ben is an adult, perhaps a movie or finale.

I suppose this could explain some of the non canon episodes like Gwen 10 and Goodbye And Good Riddance. But I doubt it.

Keep in mind that he's never disrupted any time periods, he's been very careful. Also, episodes like Gwen 10 could just be the creators having fun.

[creativerealms]

Paradox was a very fun and likable character, yes he reminds me of Dr. Who all right. Interesting how while this was Ben's first meeting with Paradox it was Para's last meeting with Ben. I would expect Para to return during some huge disastrous event in the future, meeting Ben for the first time (In a sense) still this was not a bad episode at all.

[HEATXZ]

Old Kevin is funny XD

[Railith]

Paradox = Doctor Who :anime: .

That's why I liked this episode.

[Anyone00]

I hear Paradox has tea scheduled at half past eon with the G-Man.

[warnerbroman]

Paradox = Doctor Who :anime: .Dr. Who?

[bigddan11]

Paradox was certainly an interesting character. I couldn't help but laugh as he went from building to building, room to room, through time confusing Ben and company. I also couldn't help but laugh when he said Ben was smarter now than when he was older. I can't help but wonder though how he would meet up with an older Ben if reality would have been destroyed from this one event. Also, they never did get around to explaining how they could breathe on the moon.

I was hoping that Paradox would stick around and help them fight the DNAliens. I get the feeling we haven't seen the last of him. Also, while many people say Paradox reminds them of Doctor Who, I couldn't help but feel he was Clocksworth (or whatever the time keeper man was) from Batman: The Animated Series.

[StellaMagic]

Kevin was very open to how he felt about Gwen in this episode.

[warnerbroman]

and thank paradox for the spoilerific surprise about gwen for the records...

I KNEW IT!!!!!!

[Master Toon]

Kevin was very open to how he felt about Gwen in this episode.

I think that Gwen and Kevin both know they have feelings for each other but won't act on them. It could be for a number of reasons, like not letting it ruin their friendship, they're probably afraid that the relationship won't work because of their differences or maybe they don't want to get romantically involved during such a dramatic time. I know Gwen x Kevin fans are happy.

and thank paradox for the spoilerific surprise about gwen for the records...

I KNEW IT!!!!!!

All he said was she was an energy being, that doesn't mean she's going to go all Anodite but who am I kidding? Of course she is.

[RonDrakenfan17]

Very good episode. Paradox, yah he was a cool/funny/likable character. I hope the guy returns and helps Ben fight the bad guy's, maybe in the season finale. It would be neat if he and the other cool new guy's were added to the second season opeaning if they have a new one for the second season, which I hope they do. Ben seemed a lot smarter here too, and yah old man Kevin was darn funny. I liked what he said "Why are you whispering? LOL. Animation was good too. Over all one of my favorite episodes and I can't wait for next weeks.

[vanidad]

Kevin should care more his youth that his car poor him.:p

[Mala Loba]

Paradox = Doctor Who :anime: .

Agreed! I was thinking that the whole episode, but the line, "I walk in eternity" sold it. That and the gumballs.

[Paul_Cousins]

This is one VERY GOOD EPISODE!! :cool:

I love Paradox, he is truly a unique character. He's cross between Doctor Who, Washu (Tenchi), with a touch of Scotty from Star Trek.

He's refreshing to watch on so many levels.

At first you think Paradox is looping insane. But then you realize he just thinks on a complete different level, outside the normal concept of time and space.

Also, we learn that Ben has a firm grasp of temporal mechnics.

I loved Paradox's quote, "Of course I went mad. Then I got bored with even that and went sane. Very, very sane." Best science fiction quote I have heard all year. :cool:

This episode gets a 10 out of 10 stars for a truly unique time-travel episode. :D

Agreed! I was thinking that the whole episode, but the line, "I walk in eternity" sold it. That and the gumballs.I agree. Not many characters can pull over that quote, but he sold it!! :D

[Jack Frenzy]

Inspired by Doctor Who? Maybe in part.

However, given that Paradox was voiced by David McCallum, I'd look instead to McCallum's own British sci-fi time travel series, Sapphire and Steel.

[judyindisguise]

This show is just all kinds of awesome. Have I said that before? Or am I going to say that in the future?

Heh. If this show keeps up its current level of quality, the answer is yes.

It's so cool to see a show live up to its promise, and then some. This episode was wonderfully written and cleverly plotted. The best episode yet. Given its track record so far, this series ought to win an Emmy...but you know it won't. It'll be given to some infantile derivative educational pile of crap like Wow Wow Wubbzy! (shudder)

[Paul_Cousins]

Inspired by Doctor Who? Maybe in part.

However, given that Paradox was voiced by David McCallum, I'd look instead to McCallum's own British sci-fi time travel series, Sapphire and Steel.I was also getting vibes of Washu (Tenchi anime series), in Paradox's personality, in that he seem as first flaky, then you realize he is just cosmicly intellegent. :cool:

[Master Toon]

I was also getting vibes of Washu (Tenchi anime series), in Paradox's personality, in that he seem as first flaky, then you realize he is just cosmicly intellegent. :cool:

I'm having a hard time seeing anything similar between Washu and Paradox.

Speaking of which, how is it that he forgot his name but remembered his friend's name? And why didn't he just go back in time and see what his name was? I guess he likes being called Paradox.

[Kryten]

Is it a bad sign that I found the one-off throwaway character from this episode more interesting and compelling than any of the three leads?

[mojokingbee1]

this series ought to win an Emmy...but you know it won't. It'll be given to some infantile derivative educational pile of crap like Wow Wow Wubbzy! (shudder)

Judy, Do you happen to have a vendetta against EVERY show that has FOP alumni working on it, despite if it's good or not?

[Paul_Cousins]

1. I'm having a hard time seeing anything similar between Washu and Paradox.

2. Speaking of which, how is it that he forgot his name but remembered his friend's name? And why didn't he just go back in time and see what his name was? I guess he likes being called Paradox.1. Both are VERY, VERY old. Their ages can be measured by eons.

Both are super-intellegent.

Both have a grasp of science that borders on the "god like".

Both can bend reality on a whim.

Both have likeable though screwy personalities.

Both are not evil, but their experiments can literally wreck the universe if they are not careful.

Starting to so the similarities.

2. He's around a 100,000 years old. He got suck outside of time for a so long that boredom literally drove him crazy. Then he even got bored with insanity and went sane. Very, very sane. Then he gained god like understanding of science. After that he has crisscrossed space/time so many times he's not sure who he has met, or yet to meet.

After all that, he's probably lucky he can still remembers anything from his former life.

[RonDrakenfan17]

Is it a bad sign that I found the one-off throwaway character from this episode more interesting and compelling than any of the three leads?

I liked the guy too, but on the same level as the three main characters. I want the guy to return and would love to see a movie on that Paradox/Adult Ben working together to save the universe that would be pretty cool to see :D

[Mad Mod 49]

Is it a bad sign that I found the one-off throwaway character from this episode more interesting and compelling than any of the three leads?


Not really. Ben and Gwen, while thankfully having lost their annoying argumentive nature, haven't really made much of an impact as characters IMO. Kevin has, but he's apparently stuck as comic relief and can't display it to it's fullest (and while I do like his humor, I'm still weirded out by it since Kevin was just so darn evil in the original series.)

But yeah, I liked Paradox better too. :sweat:

[Master Toon]

Is it a bad sign that I found the one-off throwaway character from this episode more interesting and compelling than any of the three leads?

No it's not a bad sign. The episode is all about Paradox and since the trio basically stood there with their mouths agape (with the exception of Old Man Kevin), Paradox stole the show, so to speak.

[Paul_Cousins]

No it's not a bad sign. The episode is all about Paradox and since the trio basically stood there with their mouths agape (with the exception of Old Man Kevin), Paradox stole the show, so to speak.The trio probably weren't the only ones with their mouths agape, half the fans watching the episode probably had their mouths agape watching the supreme coolness that is Paradox.

Paradox didn't just steal the episode, he practically owned it and then ran off into the sunset with it.

Gumball anyone? ;)

[Meoshira]

Just finished watching it. Very very strange episode. I hope Paradox does come back, though. He's pretty interesting.

...hahaha, he actually had the same voice actor as Alfred from Batman: Gotham Knight. XD

[Chykin]

Two words: Gumball? Oh wait, that's one word.:sweat:

[judyindisguise]

Judy, Do you happen to have a vendetta against EVERY show that has FOP alumni working on it, despite if it's good or not?

No. I think Mighty B is kinda cute at times.

[Kenny E. McCall]

Inspired by Doctor Who? Maybe in part.

However, given that Paradox was voiced by David McCallum, I'd look instead to McCallum's own British sci-fi time travel series, Sapphire and Steel.

Funny thing though, I happen to own the entire series of Sapphire and Steel, starring McCallum and Joanna Lumley, on DVD from A&E Home Video, and dude, that is one difficult series to sit through.

[Polychrome]

I loved Paradox's quote, "Of course I went mad. Then I got bored with even that and went sane. Very, very sane." Best science fiction quote I have heard all year. :cool:


Agreed. Big time. This quote was epic win.

[Meson]

Something tells me Paradox will be back, which is a good thing. :D

[s3kShUn86]

Very good episode. Paradox, yah he was a cool/funny/likable character. I hope the guy returns and helps Ben fight the bad guy's, maybe in the season finale. It would be neat if he and the other cool new guy's were added to the second season opeaning if they have a new one for the second season, which I hope they do. Ben seemed a lot smarter here too, and yah old man Kevin was darn funny. I liked what he said "Why are you whispering? LOL. Animation was good too. Over all one of my favorite episodes and I can't wait for next weeks.
I dunno, I mean anyone remember Amazo from JL/JLU? He was trumped up to be a powerful god like figure or something, but when time game to save the world they had to almost neuter him in the series finale was it? The same is gonna have to be done with Paradox somehow, otherwise it will be boring.

[Meson]

I don't thinks so. The only power Paradox has is time manipulation. All he can do is move himeself and others through time. Besides that, he is all human. Kevin has more powers than him.

[Paul_Cousins]

I don't thinks so. The only power Paradox has is time manipulation. All he can do is move himeself and others through time. Besides that, he is all human. Kevin has more powers than him.Well he is also unkillable, and immortal, from what we know.

Also, he knows enough about science to give Washu a run for her money.

[s3kShUn86]

I don't thinks so. The only power Paradox has is time manipulation. All he can do is move himeself and others through time. Besides that, he is all human. Kevin has more powers than him.
He has power over the space time continuum. Space, time and I think also gravity cause its linked in there somehow. I mean he claimed to be "righting Earth's wrongs" or something. He could have hypothetically fixed all of Ben10's first season problems, including getting rid of Vilgax and the Forever Knights and whoever else had a half wit plan to destroy the world. But more to the point he can warn anyone of potential problems in the future. Or go back himself and deal with problems before they become problems. High Breed threatening Earth, just go to their home world back in the past with a really big bomb. Problem solved one way. Ben 10 about to die? Go back and tell what not to do. He'll get it eventually. I mean suspense is gonna be hard to build up now because five minutes to the end of the episode, I think he's gonna pop up and pull some magic out of his magic bag of tricks. I mean unless they show unavailable at home with the flu or something.

[Malykoth]

He has power over the space time continuum. Space, time and I think also gravity cause its linked in there somehow. I mean he claimed to be "righting Earth's wrongs" or something. He could have hypothetically fixed all of Ben10's first season problems, including getting rid of Vilgax and the Forever Knights and whoever else had a half wit plan to destroy the world. But more to the point he can warn anyone of potential problems in the future. Or go back himself and deal with problems before they become problems. High Breed threatening Earth, just go to their home world back in the past with a really big bomb. Problem solved one way. Ben 10 about to die? Go back and tell what not to do. He'll get it eventually. I mean suspense is gonna be hard to build up now because five minutes to the end of the episode, I think he's gonna pop up and pull some magic out of his magic bag of tricks. I mean unless they show unavailable at home with the flu or something.
First, I fail to see the gravity connection. Second, often when a story introduces time travelling characters of such power and skill, they also introduce the concept that time is a very complicated and delicate system. One cannot go traveling about "fixing" things whenever one wishes, because such meddling tends to cause other problems further out (i.e.: the Butterfly Effect). More likely than not, Paradox will only intervene when the problem is someone (or something) else trying to muck about with time. In other words, Paradox will be there to fix temporal anomalies, not cause them, and certainly not to clean up every time someone loses a battle or gets a scratch. Now, we still don't know a lot about how he operates, so perhaps you will be right (which would be a huge mistake, IMO). With the way this show is being written, I could see them making nearly any bad decision.

[Mugen]

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This episode repeats at 10:00 PM Eastern.

[Bunai]

this episode is creepy
okay, it got happy...sort of

the car : if it comes in contact with anything else from the 70's it will explode?
then it should have done that by touching the dirt and air around it.

"i went sane" is a funny quote
the doctor was amusing, but kind of annoying because he's a jerk

[PC!]

Once again, I must express how much I love Kevin. Practically every line that came out of his mouth in tonight's episode was gold.

[Collie]

Once again, I must express how much I love Kevin. Practically every line that came out of his mouth in tonight's episode was gold.

Up to a point, but as annoying as Paradox was, there was a point where Kevin really should have dialed the aggression down. It would be nice if he'd have an emotion other than 'I wanna hit stuff' and 'I have the hots for Gwen' from time to time.

BTW, does anybody think they missed an opportunity by not actually calling the scientist 'Professor Paradox', officially?

[Malykoth]

BTW, does anybody think they missed an opportunity by not actually calling the scientist 'Professor Paradox', officially?
The first time I typed his name in a post I actually typed 'Professor Paradox', then I realized he was just Paradox...so, yeah, they do kind of go together.

[Paul_Cousins]

The first time I typed his name in a post I actually typed 'Professor Paradox', then I realized he was just Paradox...so, yeah, they do kind of go together.I agree. The name "Professor Paradox" goes well together.

[R-Taco]

I loved the dialogue, but the way that time travel supposedly works for this guy made no sense to me at all.

[Malykoth]

I loved the dialogue, but the way that time travel supposedly works for this guy made no sense to me at all.
Of course you can't make sense of it...it took Paradox thousands and thousands of years (and at least one bout of insanity) to figure it out. Here's my take on it; All times and places are literally riddled with countless vortices and wormholes of time/space. They're always changing and shifting, and humans just can't perceive them, let alone access them. Paradox had a lot of time in his temporal prison thingy to watch them "from the other side" as it were. Finally knowing the trick of seeing (and opening) these portals and time-gates, he can simply pick one that's going where he wants it to go (or connects/will connect to another that does...eventually), and takes it. I'm sure he's gotten good at catching "connecting flights", as it were. Since they flicker in and out all over the place, he may need to 'walk' a few feet to enter the right portal, or just wait for the right one. I imagine they'd be changing by the nanosecond, so the wait or walk shouldn't ever be too long...but you can see why he gets confused on occasion as to where and when he is, exactly. I guess if you could somehow paralyze him, he might not be able to move through time, either. I'm just not sure how to explain the "standing on the Moon and not suffocating" deal.

Does any of that make any sense?

[R-Taco]

What I meant confused me was the "rules" of time travel in this series, like "Can the past be changed?" That question in particular bugged me, because this episode had examples that showed it could (the doomed future, Paradox's assistant) and examples showing that the effects of time travelers "already happened" (like Humongousaur showing up at the accident).

And how exactly did de-aging Kevin work, seeing as he retained all of his memories?

[Collie]

I think the creators intentionally didn't want people to be able to figure out the 'rules' of Paradox's time manipulations ... they wanted you to look at everything that happens and say ... "Wait, how did ... HUH?!"

By not presenting rules, they don't have to worry about people pointing and saying 'Hey, that's not the way it's supposed to work, it's against the rules' the way other shows that tried to define time travel (like Star Trek or Quantum Leap) did.

[Bunai]

Does any of that make any sense?
that was cool ^_^

the Moon part was odd, and so was the Car contacting anything else

[Paul_Cousins]

What I meant confused me was the "rules" of time travel in this series, like "Can the past be changed?" That question in particular bugged me, because this episode had examples that showed it could (the doomed future, Paradox's assistant) and examples showing that the effects of time travelers "already happened" (like Humongousaur showing up at the accident).

And how exactly did de-aging Kevin work, seeing as he retained all of his memories?Paradox can bend reality.

It struck as I rewatch this episode that Paradox is not just a cross between Dr Who and Washu, but also a bit of Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen (especially Paradox's origin).

Paradox can change the past, present and future, but he dares not personally tamper with the experiment that made him who he is for fear of what would happen to him and the rest of the time stream.

It also struck me that Paradox can pick and chose which possible futures he wants to go too. It is very possible he has the abilities to travel the multiverse itself.

[Neo Ultra Mike]

It's not like Ben 10's a stranger to time travel. We've seen him see his own future in that Ben 10,000 epsiode and later see a full epsiode dedicated to the future. So I guess the three not being that surprised about all the time traveling going around makes sense. This time though the time traveling comes from this Paradox guy who makes for a rather interesting character: A Person who fell into a time portal and was actually able to stay there long enough how to manipulate time to master it to his whims? Makes for a pretty interesting hero. It also made for a lot of confusion even by the ending with all the time and space dimensional warping but hey it's a time travel plot: If it WASN'T confusing in some way then it woudln't really make it a time travel plot would it? In truth the kids really kind of didn't get to do much here: Besides Ben saving the day with a good guess and a humongous hand (I suppose it makes sense Paradox wouldn't consider the possibilities of messing time around the place where he got his time travel powers from so he wouldn't of seen that) and Gwen destroying the portal they didn't do too much besides listen to Paradox's stories and make a lot of quips. In fact I think out of the history of this show Kevin makes the most attempts for amount of one liners even uttered in any episode Ben 10. Some work (I liked his old man rambalings and wanting his car to be fixed) but some of them just felt unnecessary (trying to crack wise whene they were first going into the base and all). Also a lot of the alien transformations felt really unnecessary: just an excuse to remind you that you're watching Ben 10 not Paradox's amazing time trael adventures. I guess we'll see him again based on his musings of seeing Ben in the future but I don't know if this is a character you should do too much with. He is interesting and amusing but really having someone who can time warp anything would get old in a more action show like this. A defenite step up from 'The Gaunlet" since there wasn't anything too preachy here but not the best ep of the show. I am hoping that next time around they give Kevin more to do then make jokes and prove ineffecatual since that's all he seems to be doing latley.

[Chykin]

Paradox can bend reality.

It struck as I rewatch this episode that Paradox is not just a cross between Dr Who and Washu, but also a bit of Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen (especially Paradox's origin).

Paradox can change the past, present and future, but he dares not personally tamper with the experiment that made him who he is for fear of what would happen to him and the rest of the time stream.

It also struck me that Paradox can pick and chose which possible futures he wants to go too. It is very possible he has the abilities to travel the multiverse itself.
Your wisdom impresses me.:)

[warnerbroman]

Paradox can bend reality.



It is very possible he has the abilities to travel the multiverse itself. he a time traveler not a teleporter

[Malykoth]

he a time traveler not a teleporter
Uh...except for that one time when he teleported to the moon...and back.

[Chykin]

Uh...except for that one time when he teleported to the moon...and back.
I don't think his abilities are simply time travel. I believe he has the power to travel across the space-time continuum, and thus the multiverse.:)

[Collie]

I don't think his abilities are simply time travel. I believe he has the power to travel across the space-time continuum, and thus the multiverse.:)

"I was reading this book on making balloon animals when I gained the ability to bend the space-time continuum. It seemed natural to combine the two ..."
:)

[Mala Loba]

Something just occured to me after re-watching the 'pop-up' version of the live action movie... they mention Paradox in one of the pop-ups. Very briefly, but it's worth noting. I guess he was right about saving the world hundreds of times...

If I recall correctly, the pop-up version first aired a few days before Alien Force premiered- I remember yelling out, "Who is Paradox??!"

[Chykin]

Something just occured to me after re-watching the 'pop-up' version of the live action movie... they mention Paradox in one of the pop-ups. Very briefly, but it's worth noting. I guess he was right about saving the world hundreds of times...

If I recall correctly, the pop-up version first aired a few days before Alien Force premiered- I remember yelling out, "Who is Paradox??!"
Yeah, so did I.:p

[Kazuya Prower]

This is getting annoying now. Toonami seems to be airing this episode every other week.

[Megaman X]

Watch next week its going to be the Knights episode >_> and then the carnival AND repeated with this episode. Seriously I think Tom might like these episodes a bit to much.

[Bunai]

i like this ep
but this is getting weird...whats with the repeat of these?

i would like previous episodes. the one with the alien eye babies

[MasterofRoku]

And it was good idea for Alien force to replace Bakugan that was replacing One Piece?:sweat:

There's barely any point to air Alien Force on toonami anymore, all of Season 1 has been shown repeatedly, so I doubt anyone's going to watch this on saturday night.

[Mugen]

And it was good idea for Alien force to replace Bakugan that was replacing One Piece?:sweat:

There's barely any point to air Alien Force on toonami anymore, all of Season 1 has been shown repeatedly, so I doubt anyone's going to watch this on saturday night.

Well, Toonami hasn't aired the Season 1 finale, "X Equals Ben Plus 2" yet.

[MasterofRoku]

Well, Toonami hasn't aired the Season 1 finale, "X Equals Ben Plus 2" yet.

Okay, almost all of Season 1. But still...