DVD Review: The Complete Ben 10 Season 3
Cartoon Network and Man of Action Present Ben 10 Third Season on DVD
Ben Tennyson's summer vacation with his cousin, Gwen, and his grandfather is still rolling across the United States, and Ben is still fighting bad guys, old and new. Each episode has the same spunk from episodes of the previous two seasons, but this time around, the season has an aimless feel. There isn't exactly a point Ben is heading towards throughout the season. Ben is just living day to day as an alien superhero, which still makes for good entertainment but it's hollow entertainment when compared to the first two seasons.
Focus of Season 3: There Really Isn't One
Season 3 feels more like a collection of episodes without a cohesive flow or an underlying plot. A few of the episodes fall in a storyline regarding Ghostfreak, but it's nothing like the underlying story of the first season or even the second. The episodes do lay some groundwork for a bit of continuity into the fourth season, but that's about it.
The closest thing this season has to a focus is the constant lesson to Ben that it isn't all about him, which is a valuable lesson every ten-year-old has to learn at some point. In "Ben 10,000," Ben has to learn to think of others than himself, something his future-self learned twenty years too late. Ben has to once again learn to let others do what they want to do in "Monster Weather," when his grandfather wants to make a stop to see his favorite rock band instead of a game convention Ben wants to attend. In the two-episode story, "The Return," Ben has to accept that Grandpa Max and his cousin Gwen are just as capable as fighting evil as Ben is. And in the final episode of the season, "The Visitor," Ben is smacked with the truth that the Omnitrix was meant for Grandpa Max. It really isn't about Ben at all.
What's New: Gwen Tennyson's Magic and a Couple of New Omnitrix Aliens
Gwen has tampered with the idea of performing magic since season one, but it isn't until the third season that she starts casting some real spells. When Charmacaster accidentally switched bodies with Gwen, Gwen learned she did indeed possess magical abilities. Some of her spells are useful, but most end up with comical effects, like when she tried to cast a spell wearing a hazmat suit. Gwen was never useless in a fight, but now that she's developed powers of her own, she's proven to Ben that he isn't the only special one.
But Gwen isn't the only one to develop new powers. Ben unlocks the ability to turn into three new aliens: Benwolf, Benmummy, and Upchuck.
Lack of DVD Extras Shows How Lackluster the Season Is
Unlike the first two season box sets, this season lacks entertaining DVD extras. The set still includes some deleted scenes from a few episodes, but unlike the first two seasons, it doesn't come with a how-to-draw session or audio commentary. It does include a character gallery of the different design ideas for future Ben, future Max, Charmacaster, Benwolf, and Upchuck. It also has a couple of movie trailers for Ben 10: Race Against Time and Horton Hears a Who.
The lack of audio commentary is the most disheartening about this season's DVDs. In a way, this omission says it all about the season: it's too ho-hum for the creators to even produce an audio commentary. The audio commentaries in the past two seasons were produced for episodes that had a pivotal moment for that season, but this time around, there really wasn't a pivotal moment to comment on.
Still a Must for Ben 10 Fans
Ben 10 fans still should not hesitate to add this DVD to their Ben 10 collections. All in all, the episodes are very Ben 10, and every Ben 10 fan will enjoy them just for that fact.
Season 3 box art
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