Washington B.C.

Washington B.C. is the second episode of the first season of Ben 10, and the second episode overall.
==Synopsis==
Ben must use the Omnitrix to transform into alien heroes to battle Dr. Animo and his animals running rampant in Washington DC.
==Plot==
A building in Washington, D.C. is on fire; a woman and her son are trapped inside. Heatblast appears and saves them: catching debris and using his fire powers to return the two safely to the ground. He tries to be stoic and heroic but quickly gets amazed by the boy he saved, who has a rare gold Sumo Slammer Card he got as a cereal prize. Gwen and Max drive up in the Rustbucket to pick him up, as the fire was a planned diversion to distract from a jewelry store robbery. Heatblast rides in the RV as it chases after the robbers' car. Hanging out the side, he nails the car with a fireball, causing it to crash. Just before the police arrive, Heatblast intimidates the robbers to get out of the car and surrender -- until the Omnitrix beeps red and turns Heatblast back to Ben, who is not intimidating at all. As Ben modestly starts taking credit for stopping them, a cop tells him to step aside. Ben gets angry as, of course, no one will believe that he was the hero.
In a different part of Washington, a man named Roger knocks incessantly on an apartment door but gets no response, so he lets himself in. Inside the room, he passes many ominous cases and cages housing all types of animals. An angry pale-skinned figure surprises him from behind: the resident of the apartment, a Dr. Aloysius Animo. He barks orders to get out and not disturb his work and research. Roger, who is his landlord, puts his foot down and demands he pay his overdue rent. Dr. Animo places down a frog and decides to show Roger what he's been working on; he wears a machine made of an odd-looking helmet and vest. After Roger takes a laugh at it, it is explained to be a Transmodulator, capable of creating genetic mutations. Dr. Animo uses it on the frog, which grows to a gigantic size. The doctor cackles as it plays with Roger in its mouth, then remarks that he only needs a few more components to complete his work. At that moment, a commercial comes up on his TV advertising a new superstore called "MegaMart", and it catches his eye.
The Tennysons are shopping at the MegaMart themselves, and Ben spots the cereal where the Gold Sumo Slammer card could be won. Ben transforms into Grey Matter, an alien small enough to climb inside the boxes. Gwen catches him opening almost every box in the aisle and starts reprimanding him, but the store manager comes up behind her, and Gwen is forced to hide Grey Matter and take the blame. As Max now has to buy a mountain of open cereal boxes, Ben feigns feeling bad, thinking he deserves that card for his heroics. Max and Gwen leave Ben in the department, where Dr. Animo suddenly breaks in with his mutant frog and steals electronic items. Ben's stunt as Grey Matter has left the Omnitrix in Recharge Mode, so he can't stop him. Animo moves to the pet section, where Gwen and Max are, and starts mutating a hamster and parrot, terrifying them. Ben arrives just as the doctor introduces himself and his plan to reclaim what is "rightfully his". Ben improvises with a football and motor scooter to get the hamster's attention and trap it. The angered Animo proclaims he will turn Washington D.C. into "Washington B.C." and leaves on the back of the mutant parrot. The store owner offers a reward for saving the store, but Max drags Ben away before he could ask for the Gold Sumo Slammers card.
Following the mutant parrot in the Rustbucket, Max comments about how the chase reminds him of the days before he retired, which confuses Gwen, as Max worked as a plumber. Ben pouts about not getting anything for his troubles, to which Max advises that being a hero, and knowing that you've done something good, is itself a reward. Gwen pops in to report what she's found out about Animo: he was a veterinary scientist who performed genetic experiments and became enraged when he didn't win an award. Max loses the trail on Animo, but reflecting on the doctor's words makes Ben realize he's headed to the Natural History Museum. They head inside the museum, where Animo has completed his work on his Transmodulator. Now with the power to reanimate dormant cells, he revives a mammoth in the exhibit and leaves it to deal with them while he escapes. Ben transforms into Four Arms, which he uses to wrestle the mammoth to the ground while Gwen and Max go after Animo. They find him reviving a Tyrannosaurus Rex from its bones and escaping the museum on its back. The mutant parrot swoops in and kidnaps Gwen. Four Arms chases after, but fails at getting Gwen back.
Ben and Max look for Gwen, as Animo rampages on the T-Rex, going through a Sumo Slammers card stand on the way and catching a gold card in the T-Rex's toe. Max hands Ben a slip of paper that Animo had dropped during his escape from the museum. It addresses the information about the person that received the award in Animo's place - a man named Dr. Kelly. They realize that this is who Animo is after. At the same time, the mutant parrot perches itself on the Washington Monument, Gwen still in its clutches. She uses her emergency cell phone to tell Ben and Max her location. As she is about to fall, Ben turns into Stinkfly, a flying alien, and saves her. The parrot attacks Stinkfly, and he attempts to battle the bird with Gwen in tow, while Max heads to the top of the monument. Seeing Max at one of the observation windows, Stinkfly drops Gwen off there. Without the extra weight, he is able to take the mutant parrot down. Max then tells him to go after Animo.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kelly is leading a group of people on a tour of Kelly Industries, when Animo arrives and steals the award. Stinkfly arrives just in time to save Kelly from the T-Rex. The T-Rex smacks Stinkfly down to the floor, where the gold Sumo Slammers card is as well. He could grab it, though he sees the T-Rex is about to eat Kelly. He laments having to choose between the two, and decides to save Kelly, burying the card in debris in the process. Stinkfly evades Animo's attacks, breaks his award, and nabs the Transmodulator. He tosses it to the floor, and it emits a pulse that changes every creature Animo had used it on back to normal.
Later on, as the police drag Animo away, he continues to rant about how the award should be his. His words resonate with Ben, making him realize just how obsessed he was. Ben keeps the Transmodulator as a souvenir, and admits saving the city really is its own reward. Gwen thanks Ben for rescuing her, to which he calls her a dweeb, and the two call each other names as they drive off.
==Noteworthy Events==
===Major Events===
*Team Tennyson meets Dr. Animo.
*The Omnitrix is revealed to need to recharge after a transformation.
====Character Debuts====
*Dr. Animo
*Mutant Frog
*Mutant Hamster
*Mutant Parrot
*Living Mammoth
*Living Tyrannosaurus
*Sumo Slammer Collecting Boy
*Roger
*Regis
*Dr. Kelly
====Omnitrix Alien Debuts====
*Grey Matter
*Four Arms
*Stinkfly
===Minor Events===
*Ben gives Stinkfly his name.
==Characters==
===Main Characters===
*Ben Tennyson
*Gwen Tennyson
*Max Tennyson
===Antagonists===
*Dr. Animo (first appearance)
**Mutant Frog (first appearance)
**Mutant Hamster (first appearance)
**Mutant Parrot (first appearance)
**Living Mammoth (first appearance)
**Living Tyrannosaurus (first appearance)
===Other Characters===
*Sumo Slammer Collecting Boy (first appearance)
*Roger (first appearance)
*Regis (first appearance)
*Dr. Kelly (first appearance)
==Aliens Used==
*Heatblast (off-screen activation)
*Grey Matter (first appearance)
*Four Arms (first appearance)
*Stinkfly (first appearance)
==Quotes==
==Naming and Translations==
==Cast==
==Continuity==
*Dr. Animo was inspired to complete his work and make his own monsters after seeing news footage of Ben saving the campsite in And Then There Were 10.Divided We Stand
==Allusions==
*The title is a play on the trio's second stop, Washington, D.C (and the historical notation, B.C.).
*The Sotopithicus model seen in the natural history museum and the Soto Bridge seen on a billboard at the end of the episode are named after supervising producer, and director of this episode Alex Soto.
**The billboard also has references to crew members Nora Murphy-Berden, Ross Malorzo and Dave Williams.
*Kelly Industries, and Dr. Kelly, are named after Man of Action member, Joe Kelly.
BC (1107).png|Sotopithicus
BC (1852).png|Nora Murphy-Berden, Ross Malorzo, Dave Williams and Alex Soto references
==Errors==
*Even though Max was careful not to show any kind of knowledge of Ben's identity in public while he was in alien form in And Then There Were 10, Gwen openly calls Heatblast and takes him into the Rustbucket in this episode.
*In many shots, the Omnitrix's dial faces the wrong way.
*For a brief frame before Ben is crushed by the boxes that were toppled by the Mutant Frog, the Omnitrix is green, even though it's supposed to be in Recharge Mode.
*When Security Guard #2 tries to stop Animo, he is voiced by Paul Eiding, but in when he grabs the walkie-talkie to report Animo, he is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.
*When Ben hits the Mutant Hamster with a football and begins to lead it away, a black line can be seen on the back of Ben's shirt for a split second.
*When Ben turns into Four Arms, he doesn't activate the Omnitrix. The dial just pops out.
*When Four Arms jumps towards the Mutant Parrot, for a split second, the black line on his leg is not colored in.
*When Four Arms grabs the Mutant Parrot, his Omnitrix symbol disappears for a few seconds.
*When Ben falls from the sky as Four Arms, he creates a large crater, but when the Omnitrix times out and Ben turns back into his normal form, the size of the crater is too large for Four Arms to create.
*When Ben activates the Omnitrix to transform into Stinkfly, Max's white shirt is missing.
BC (99).png|Calling Heatblast
BC (557).png|Omnitrix dial error
BC (637).png|Omnitrix dial error
BC (675.5).png|Omnitrix dial error/The Omnitrix is green
BC (689).png|Omnitrix dial error
BC (751).png|Omnitrix dial error
BC (813).png|Omnitrix dial error
BC (815).png|Shirt error
BC (828).png|Omnitrix dial error
BC (911).png|Omnitrix dial error
BC (1028).png|Automatic activation
BC (1303).png|Transparent line
BC (1309).png|Missing Omnitrix
BC (1334).png|Crater size
BC (1423).png|Missing shirt
==Trivia==
*Tyrannosaurus Rex sound effects from the Jurassic Park franchise can be heard in this episode.
==Notes==
==References==
===Production Material===
====Backgrounds====
===Pop-Up Trivia===
===Cartoon Network===
de:Staffel 1/Folge 2: Washington, Steinzeit
es:Aprendiendo a ser héroe
hr:Washington Pr.N.E
it:Il Dr Animus
pl:Prehistoria
pt-br:Washington A.C.
ro:Washington preistoric
ru:История о докторе Энимо, который хотел превратить современный Вашингтон в доисторический
tr:Washington M.Ö.
Category:Episodes
Category:Ben 10 Episodes
Category:Ben 10 Season 1 Episodes
Category:Episodes Written by Thomas Pugsley
Category:Episodes Written by Greg Klein
Category:Featured Articles