I was completely unfamiliar with the Ben 10 Universe prior to receiving the massive Ben 10: The Complete Collection box set from our friends at Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment for review. The box is massive. It looks cool. I was excited to dive in.
The Ben 10 franchise began on Cartoon Network in 2005 and continued until 2014. The collection follows Ben Tennyson’s epic journey from an everyday, average kid to a legendary teenage hero across four action-packed series. With the Omnitrix – a powerful device that lets him transform into incredible alien heroes – at his side and the help of his cousin Gwen, he battles powerful villains, uncovers hidden alien worlds, and saves the galaxy time and time again! Whether Ben’s facing classic foes, unlocking ultimate transformations or stepping into a new era, every adventure proves that it’s always Hero Time!
There were four different series in that franchise over the years. The collection is advertised as including 227 episodes (which is false–more on that below) from the original Ben 10 series, as well as Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, and Ben 10: Omniverse. The box set also includes the two Ben 10 movies that were made later– Ben 10: Secret of The Omnitrix and Ben 10: Destroy all Aliens.
The set apparently is a repackaging of all the previously released Ben 10 series individual releases in one box set. Here’s the bad news: From what I have gathered online, the original release of Ben 10: Omniverse was missing about 40 episodes. And this set is missing those same episodes. This is an unforgivable mistake. Warner Bros. Discovery— you had a perfect opportunity to correct a past error and make the fans happy and you blew it. Now for the good news: Faced with major backlash, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has issued a statement online that there was a “manufacturing error” and that replacement sets will be going out in September. I’m not sure if I buy that excuse, but at least they are trying to make the situation right. (If you have already purchased the set, you can reach out to Warner Bros. customer service at whv@wbd.com for help).
There are two other major problems with this release. The first is that there are a few seasons from the original Ben 10 series and also the first season of Ben 10:Ultimate Alien that are presented in the 4:3 aspect ratio instead of the wider 16:9 ratio. The episodes HAVE been mastered in that wider ratio and exist in digital format but not here (because these are just repackaged discs from the original sets). The other problem I had– and this is one you hear me speaking of often– is the lack of new bonus features. There are some promos and alien databases that were originally included in previous releases but nothing new. They had a perfect opportunity to do a 20-year retrospective look back at the series and it’s impact, but alas, another opportunity wasted.
All of the problems listed above all stem from the same reason– this is a lazy release. New packaging on the outside but the inside are just repackaged discs– with missing episodes, inferior aspect ratios, and minor special features.
The series is fun and as I said at the start, I was excited to dive in. The excitement faded as the realization set in that this was an inferior release. Hopefully, the new set in September will fix the problems.
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