So Long, and Thanks for All the Smoothies

So Long, and Thanks for All the Smoothies is the fourth episode of the first season of Ben 10: Omniverse, and the fourth episode overall.
==Synopsis==
When Ben and Rook investigate a mysterious alien ghost ship, they discover that Argit and the Vreedle Brothers are fighting for possession of a doomsday device!
==Plot==
When three devices strike the ground from the sky, Crashhopper diverts them away from people and buildings, while Rook protects and evacuates the civilians. The devices cause a derelict ship to appear in Earth's orbit and anchor it to the planet via tractor beams. Crashhopper lands and transforms back into Ben. Some of the missiles send pink beams up to the ship.
Ben and Rook fly the Proto-TRUK to the ship and Rook says that the beams are anchors. Max calls on the comm. At Plumber Headquarters, Solid Plugg is causing a ruckus, but he is quickly apprehended by Max. Max tells Ben to be careful, but Ben brushes his concerns off. He promises to call him if he sees anything weird. Rook then notices a giant hole in the ship that they fly into, and they board it.
Rook finds a piece of bubble wrap. The explore the ship, finding more bubble wrap. Ben hears something, and he and Rook see the Vreedle Brothers, who Rook refers to as the most vile creatures in the universe. Ben attempts to transform into Rath, but he transforms into Grey Matter instead and climbs onto the ceiling and breaks a pipe, freezing the Vreedles. In the ship's command room, Rook is disgusted with the Vreedles, confusing Grey Matter. Rook says that the Vreedles destroyed the Plumbers' Academy, disrupting his final exam. Grey Matter thinks that they hijacked the cruiser as revenge, but they were only scavenging. They also did not make the hole.
They see the Proto-TRUK being stolen, so Grey Matter pulls it back with a tractor beam before transforming back into Ben. The four go to the Proto-TRUK to see that the thief is Argit. Argit is surprised to see Ben. He says that he has the Annihilarrgh, shocking Rook and the Vreedles and confusing Ben. Rook states that according to legend, there once was a race known as the Contumelia whose favorite hobby was jumping from universe to universe scaring the locals, and if they came to dislike it, it would be destroyed by the Annihilarrgh.
While the Contumelia has long since been wiped out, this ship and its secret weapon are still well in existence. While Ben isn't entirely sure the weapon exists, a Incursean war ship captained by Emperor Milleous arrives and attaches itself to the derelict ship. The gathered group splits up to deal with the Incurseans. Ben teams with Argit, the Vreedles team with each other, and Rook goes on his own. Ben transforms into Spidermonkey and webs Argit to the wall. Spidermonkey webs Incurseans as well, only to see that Argit is gone. Rook takes out Incurseans, as do the Vreedles. Argit explores the ship. Ben finds Emperor Milleous, who is looking for the Annihilarrgh. Incurseans arrive, so Ben transforms into NRG. NRG melts the Incurseans ' weapons. Rook arrives, as does Argit. Argit angrily confronts Milleous, who promised to buy the Annihilarrgh from him. NRG grabs Argit and demands the Annihilarrgh. Argit says that he gave it to the Vreedles, who left. Everyone sees them flying to Earth.
NRG transforms back into Ben and capturing all the Incurseans, Argit, Ben, and Rook arrive on the bridge, where Argit reveals that he was hired by Milleous to find the Annihilarrgh. Argit also reveals that the Vreedle Brothers found him and forced him to hand over the Annihilarrgh and now they're escaping to Earth in their ship. Ben and Rook chase after them, unwisely leaving Argit in charge of the Incurseans.
The Incurseans overpower Argit and give chase to the Vreedle Brothers, with Ben shooting them both down in front of Mr. Smoothy. In the resulting dog pile for the Annihilarrgh, the doomsday device is activated. Left with no other choice, Ben transforms into Alien X, just as the universe destroying energy pulse is fired off from the device.
As they watch the universe being destroyed, Ben is able to convince Serena and Bellicus to let him use Alien X to recreate the universe and to undo the destruction of the universe and they recreate it almost exactly as it was - with a few changes, such as Ben's clothing and the appearance of Mr. Smoothy. Alien X transforms back into Ben, and he discovers that he has received a new hoodie as Rhomboid declares the Annihilarrgh a dud and destroys it. Argit tries to get Milleous to pay him, but reconsiders when the Incurseans aim at him. Rook takes Argit into custody. The two Plumbers and con man go for smoothies as Ben tries to explain that the device in fact did go off and he used Alien X to remake the universe. Rook and Argit believe that Ben instead suffered from a panic induced hallucination.
Ben still thinks something is different and it is shown that the Mr. Smoothy building and logo have been altered.
==Noteworthy Events==
===Major Events===
*Ben recreates the destroyed universe as Alien X, with the help of Bellicus and Serena.
*The Annihilarrgh is destroyed and the remains are taken into Plumber custody.
====Character Debuts====
*Bellicus (Omniverse debut)
*Serena (Omniverse debut)
*Argit (Omniverse present debut)
*Octagon Vreedle (Omniverse debut)
*Rhomboid Vreedle (Omniverse debut)
*Milleous (Omniverse debut)
====Omnitrix Alien Debuts====
*Crashhopper
*Grey Matter (Omniverse debut)
*Alien X (Omniverse debut)
===Minor Events===
*Ben gains a new white and green hoodie.
*Mr. Smoothy's design drastically changes.
==Characters==
===Main Characters===
*Ben Tennyson
*Rook Blonko
===Supporting Characters===
*Max Tennyson
*Argit (first reappearance)
*Bellicus (first reappearance)
*Serena (first reappearance)
===Antagonists===
*Solid Plugg (cameo)
*Vreedle Brothers (first reappearance)
**Octagon Vreedle
**Rhomboid Vreedle
*Incurseans (first reappearance)
**Milleous
**Incursean Soldiers
===Other Characters===
*Plumbers
**Magister Patelliday (cameo)
==Aliens Used==
*Crashhopper (first appearance)
*Grey Matter (first reappearance; intended alien was Rath)
*Spidermonkey
*NRG
*Alien X (first reappearance)
==Quotes==
==Naming and Translations==
==Cast==
==Continuity==
*Chronologically, this episode is set after It Was Them.
*Ben and Rook come across sheets of bubble wrap before meeting the Vreedle Brothers, which is a reference to Don't Fear the Repo, in which Gwen distracted the Vreedle Brothers with bubble wrap.
*Grey Matter mentions that the Vreedle Brothers were Plumbers back in The Enemy of My Enemy and in The Mother of All Vreedles, before the two reveal that they blew up the academy.
*Argit greets Ben by saying: "Did you cut your hair?". Argit used the same greeting with Kevin in both Simple ("Did you cut your hair?") and Con of Rath ("Did you get a haircut?").
*Rook is surprised to know Alien X is real, calling back to the previous episode in which he said Alien X was a legend.
==Allusions==
*The title of this episode is a reference to the book So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, the fourth book of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams, in which the dolphins leave the Earth because it is going to be destroyed, much like the universe is destroyed in the episode.
*Octagon Vreedle makes a reference to Dirty Harry with the classic line "Do you feel lucky?"
*This episode is very similar to the Doctor Who episode The Big Bang, as it involved the heroes attempting to prevent the universe from being destroyed, failing to do so, then instead recreating a copy of the universe to replace the destroyed one.
*While crashing, Rhomboid's shout is similar to Disney's Goofy's signature yell.
==Errors==
*In some shots when Ben activates the Omnitrix, the icon wheel is missing.
*Grey Matter is missing his gills in this episode.
*After Alien X recreates the universe, Rhomboid is layered on top of Argit, and Argit's design is incomplete.
SLaTfAtS (115).png|Missing icon wheel
SLaTfAtS (142).png|Missing gills
SLaTfAtS (175).png|Missing icon wheel
SLaTfAtS (339).png|Missing icon wheel
SLaTfAtS (624).png|Layering error/Incomplete design
==Trivia==
*The episode's title is listed as So Long, And Thanks For All The Smoothies within the episode itself.
*In Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, two out of Alien X's three personalities needed to agree in order to perform an action.X = Ben + 2 This episode retcons it, as all three have to agree.
*While this episode aired in Canada on October 6, 2012, it aired in Australia eight days later on October 14.
*The episode was unlocked in the Brazilian and Latin American game Ben 10 Hack on October 9, 2012 and become available on the Cartoon Network website. On October 15, 2012, the episode aired regularly.
*Professor Paradox is well aware of the events of this episode.
*When he was recreating the universe, Ben was trying to save everything he could. He wasn't making conscious choices about what goes and what stays.
*This episode served as inspiration for the plot of the Omniverse graphic novel, Parallel Paradox.
*The scene where Ben and Rook talk to the Vreedle Brothers and Argit on the Contumelia ship was storyboarded by Fill Marc Sagadraca, whereas the scene where Ben talks to Bellicus and Serena was storyboarded by Tony Santo.
==Notes==
==References==
===Crew Statements===
====Matt Wayne====
====Derrick J. Wyatt====
====Fill Marc Sagadraca====
====Tony Santo====
===Cartoon Network===
===Ben 10 Planet===
es:Adiós y gracias por todos los Smoothies
it:Arrivederci e grazie per tutti i frappè
pl:Cześć i dzięki za koktajle
pt-br:Adeus, e Obrigado Pelos Sorvetes
ro:Cu bine şi mulţumesc pentru toată trataţia
Category:Episodes
Category:Ben 10: Omniverse Episodes
Category:Ben 10: Omniverse Season 1 Episodes
Category:Episodes Aired Out of Production Order
Category:Episodes Written by Len Uhley
Category:Episodes Directed by Dan Riba
Category:Episodes with Flashbacks