Everybody Talks About the Weather

Everybody Talks About the Weather is the third episode of the first season of Ben 10: Alien Force, and the third episode overall.
==Synopsis==
Gwen discovers Grandpa Max's Plumber Badge emits a map showing the location of other Plumbers. Ben, Gwen and Kevin follow the map to nearby town and run into a Heatblast. He helps the heroes discover that DNAliens have taken over the town and have erected a tower to control the weather. Ben must develop leadership skills to help a young hero save his hometown.
==Plot==
Out in the country, on a farm, a farmer working in the cornfields sees a Pyronite fly by as he is being chased by two police officers on foot. One of them contacts the other officer in a police car nearby and confirms that the fire truck they've prepared will be ready when the Pyronite gets there. The Pyronite continues to blaze through the sky with a police car in pursuit, but the Pyronite accidentally crashes into a scarecrow sticking up from the cornfields, causing him to fall to the ground. 
As he recovers, the sheriff and his two subordinates have brought the fire truck and immediately spray the Pyronite with water from the fire hose. However, it's not enough water and only serves to make the Pyronite mad, who shoots a fireball at the fire truck, destroying it. The officers are shocked, as the Pyronite asks them to leave him alone. Another police car comes out from the cornfields and crashes into the Pyronite, which knocks him unconscious as he reverts to his human form.
As he regains consciousness, the Pyronite kid, Alan Albright, finds himself handcuffed in an ice warehouse, as he is being questioned by the police officers he tried to fight off earlier. The sheriff tells Alan that there's been a series of fires all over Grover's Mill and thinks Alan is the culprit, but Alan insists that he's innocent. However, the sheriff doesn't believe him, and since Alan refuses to say anything else, the sheriff takes Alan's Plumber Badge from his chest. Alan tells the sheriff to give it back to him, since his father gave it to him, but the sheriff wants him to tell him what it is first. However, Alan refuses to tell him anything about it, so the sheriff decides to take the badge and leave him locked in the ice room and tells the other police officer to leave him in there until a judge can decide what to do with him. As the sheriff puts the badge on his desk, the badge starts flashing and beeping.
Ben, Gwen, and Kevin are driving down the highway. Ben complains to Kevin that he's driving too slowly and asks him if he can go faster, which he says yes. However, Kevin continues to drive at the same speed in order to follow the speed limit, making Ben worry that he might be late getting home and get grounded by his mother. Kevin then states that if Ben gets grounded, then he and Gwen will be alone together, but Gwen rejects this. 
Kevin's Plumber badge starts ringing and Gwen asks him why it's ringing, but he doesn't know. After it stops ringing, a holographic map pops up, and Ben thinks it may be a GPS for other badges. Kevin wonders why one of them is flashing, so Ben thinks it might be a message from Max trying to tell them where he is. Kevin decides that it's worth breaking the speed limit and turns left on the highway to go to Grover's Mill, where the badge was flashing.
At the ice warehouse, Alan tries to turn into a Pyronite to break free of his confinement, but it's too cold. So, he decides to spit lava on the handcuffs, which melts away the handcuffs. The police officer outside has fallen asleep, so Alan uses the opportunity to transform into a Pyronite and burn a hole in the wall to escape. Ben, Gwen, and Kevin arrive afterwards at the ice warehouse, since that's where the map led them. They see the hole in the wall that Alan made and wonder what happened. As they go inside, they find Alan's flashing Plumber badge, and Ben guesses that maybe Max is still out there chasing whatever made the hole in the wall.
The sheriff and three police officers are looking for Alan in the cornfields again, as Alan tries to hide from them underneath a tractor. However, they soon find him and try to arrest him again, but Alan becomes furious and unleashes a powerful fire attack, knocking the sheriff and his subordinates unconscious. Alan tries to check to see if they're okay, but Gwen uses her magic to prevent Alan from touching him. Ben transforms into Jetray tries to fight off Alan in the air, but in the end, Jetray sends Alan crashing to the ground. Jetray transforms back into Ben and asks Alan if he's seen Max, but Alan doesn't know what he's talking about. While they're talking, the sheriff and his assistants find them and assume that Ben is Alan's accomplice. Ben and Alan try to make a run for it by running through the cornfields.
Kevin almost runs over the sheriff and his assistant in his car, so they start chasing him in their police car. However, when Kevin comes across some plowing equipment, he is forced to stop. The sheriff is confident that Alan and Ben are inside the car and asks them to step out. But when Kevin lowers the window, they see that it's just him and Gwen in the car. In the meantime, Ben and Alan are able to hide in a nearby barn, where Alan asks Ben why he helped him. Ben says he did it because he reminded him of himself. Alan tells him that he only got his powers a couple of weeks ago and that he's only part-alien since his mother is human. Alan says he thought he was human until he woke up one morning and his bed was on fire. After his dad put out the fire, he explained everything to him. His father was a Plumber and gave him his badge, but the sheriff took it away. However, Ben tells him that he took it back and gives it to Alan. 
Meanwhile, the sheriff and his assistant leave Kevin and Gwen and drive away. Kevin is proud that they managed to lead them away from Ben and Alan while only receiving a $400 speeding ticket, which he puts in the glove compartment along with several others he's accumulated. Gwen comes to the conclusion that Max isn't involved at all, and Kevin thinks Alan is most likely just another Plumber's son, since he has the badge, but doesn't act like a Plumber. Gwen wonders why a police officer would give their offspring their badge and Kevin explains it supersedes the need for a passport that keeps them from getting arrested by real Plumbers for interplanetary trespass. He also thinks Alan is also part human, since humans with alien ancestors are pretty common which is also what Gwen is. However, Gwen tells him she gets her magic powers and abilities from talismans and books. 
Alan finishes explaining to Ben how the sheriff thinks that he started all the fires, but Ben believes that it wasn't him. Afterwards, Kevin and Gwen meet up with them again, and Ben makes a drawing in the ground to show them what he saw while he was flying over the cornfields at Jetray earlier. He tells them they're crop circles. However, Gwen thinks they're actually circuit boards. She uses her powers to get everyone high enough in the air to see the circuit boards. She thinks the whole valley may be some kind of machine. Ben points out that he sees sparks in the distance and wants to go take a closer look. As they take a closer look, they see men in suits activate the circuit boards to launch a large tower, which causes snow to start falling.
The sheriff and his assistants arrive and think Alan built the machine to steal all the heat to feed his powers, but Alan tries to tell them that he had nothing to do with it. The assistant officer tries to keep Alan away from the sheriff by pointing his rifle at him, but Kevin grabs it to absorb its metallic properties and breaks it. The sheriff concludes that they're all freaks, but Ben tries to calm him down. However, the men in suits interrupt and freeze the assistant officers. Before they can do the same to the sheriff and the others, Gwen uses her magic to protect them, while Ben transforms into Swampfire and attacks them. Together, Swampfire, Gwen, Kevin and the sheriff are able to defend themselves. But when Swampfire rips off the helmet from one of them, he realizes that they're actually DNAliens.
The DNAlien tells them who they are and that they will destroy them all, but Swampfire simply knocks him out. Afterwards, Swampfire remembers how cold it was on their ship, and thinks they need cold weather to survive, which is why they built the tower to produce snow. While Swampfire, Gwen and Kevin are busy talking, a DNAlien hiding in the cornfield freezes them. The sheriff tries to defend himself, but he too, is frozen, leaving only Alan. The DNAlien tries to use his freeze gun on Alan, but it has no effect, even after using it at maximum power. However, he is soon surrounded by five more DNAliens.
Swampfire is able to free himself by using his heat and goes to help Alan by using his ability to control plants and using the cornfields to capture the DNAliens and defeat them. However, there are more DNAliens at the top of the weather tower. Swampfire asks Alan to take care of the ones at the top so that he can get close, but Alan doesn't think he can do it, since he's bad at flying. Swampfire tells him he had trouble at first, too, so he teaches him a trick he learned by using a piece of rock to stand on so that he can fly better. 
After Alan takes out the DNAliens, Swampfire is able to get close enough to the tower to push it over and destroy it, restoring the weather back to normal. Afterwards, Alan uses his Pyronite powers to free everyone from suspended animation. Ben tells the sheriff that it was Alan who defeated the aliens, destroyed the weather tower and saved everyone.
Ben asks Alan to join their team, but the sheriff tells him he can't since Alan will be busy helping him fight off any other aliens that might still be around in town. However, Alan tells Ben to call him anytime they need him.
==Noteworthy Events==
===Major Events===
*The team meets Alan Albright and help him clear his name of alien activity.
*The name of the aliens who are invading Earth is revealed to be the DNAliens.
====Character Debuts====
*Alan Albright
*Sheriff Mason
*Officer Wells
====Omnitrix Alien Debut====
*Jetray
===Minor Events===
*It is suggested that DNAliens prefer being in colder conditions, which is why they were setting up the towers and crop circles to create snowy weather.
==Characters==
===Main Characters===
*Ben Tennyson
*Gwen Tennyson
*Kevin Levin
*Alan Albright (first appearance)
===Supporting Characters===
*Sheriff Mason (first appearance)
*Officer Wells (first appearance)
===Antagonists===
*DNAliens
==Aliens Used==
*Jetray (first appearance)
*Swampfire
==Quotes==
==Naming and Translations==
==Cast==
==Continuity==
*The trio remark how Alan looks like Heatblast, the first alien Ben transformed into and one of his regular transformations during the Original Series.
*Ben mentions the aliens they were fighting looked like the ones they fought before in Ben 10 Returns.
''
==Allusions==
*The title of the episode is a fragment from the quote "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it," by Charles Dudley Warner.
*The scene where Kevin gets a speeding ticket is a reference to 1973 film American Graffiti when Milner gets a ticket and tells Carol to "file that under C.S." and put it the glove compartment, which has a whole collection of them.
==Errors==
*When the farmer wipes the sweat from his forehead, his right thumb is missing part of its outline.
*Gwen's stockings are missing when she tracks Alan. This error occurs again when she tells Ben and Kevin about the hole in the ice building.
*When Alan tries to turn into his Pyronite form in the ice building, his Plumber badge is seen on his chest for a split second although Sheriff Mason took it away earlier. Alan's badge appears on his chest once again as he flies out of the ice building. In the next scene, however, Ben finds it on the table where Sheriff Mason left it.
*Throughout the entire episode, whenever Ben activates the Omnitrix, the aliens' holograms face away from him. Furthermore, Jetray's hologram is in an upward flying position.
*During his fight with Alan, Jetray's Omnitrix symbol is momentarily black, grey and green.
*While the DNAliens break through Gwen's shield, her entire jaw disappears for a few frames.
*In one scene, Swampfire's mouth starts moving a few seconds before he actually speaks.
ETAtW (6).png|Missing outline
ETAtW (104).png|Missing stockings
ETAtW (114).png|Badge error
ETAtW (141).png|Missing stockings
ETAtW (197).png|Hologram error
ETAtW (492).png|Hologram error
==Trivia==
*The episode's title is listed as Everybody Talks About the Weather... on the Ben 10 Alien Force: Volume 1 DVD.
*Kevin bought a phone after this episode, but wouldn't give anyone his number.
**He would later be seen with a phone on-screen for the first time in Grounded.
*The scene where Kevin gets a speeding ticket from Sheriff Mason before revealing that he has a whole collection of them in his glove compartment is Greg Cipes' favorite moment in the episode.
==Notes==
==References==
===Crew Statements===
====T.J. Collins====
====Dwayne McDuffie====
====Greg Cipes====
===Cartoon Network===
es:Todos hablan sobre el clima
it:Un Altro Inferno
pl:Wieża pogodowa
pt-br:Tempo Fechado
ro:Toată lumea vorbeşte despre vreme
ru:Внезапная смена погоды
Category:Ben 10: Alien Force Episodes
Category:Ben 10: Alien Force Season 1 Episodes
Category:Episodes
Category:Highbreed Wars
Category:Episodes Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Category:Episodes Directed by Dan Riba