Dr. Animo and the Mutant Ray

Dr. Animo and the Mutant Ray is the twelfth episode of the second season of Ben 10, and the twenty-fifth episode overall.
==Synopsis==
Dr. Animo has broken out of jail, and has been tracking down Ben, intent on revenge. At the same time, Ben's broken off a piece of the Omnitrix, and as a result, has turned into weird alien combinations, e.g. Stink Arms.
==Plot==
Max and Gwen walk out of the Rustbucket, to a place that seems to be at a local swamp in Florida. Max tells Gwen that Gator-fest is starting the next day and it'll be crowded with people. Gwen is disgusted by the foggy, dark, and dreary environment. She walks around the RV to find Ben fiddling with the Omnitrix with a screwdriver. Ben says that he needs to figure out how to unlock more secrets of the Omnitrix - thinking that he could unlock more aliens, as he's done before, although Gwen warns him about how dangerous it might be. Max agrees with her, telling him to promise not to tweak around with it again. As usual, he won't listen and continues prying until he pulls the faceplate right off of the Omnitrix, although its face starts to rotate in different directions and sparks fly out. A blinding green light comes out of the Omnitrix.
Ben sits on the floor after the flash. He looks at the top of the Omnitrix, and the shape appears to be twisted. Max and Gwen head out of the RV curious about the flash. Ben hides it by saying that the flash came from lightning. His alibi is weak, as Gwen clarifies that there's not a cloud in the sky, though he continues to hide it. Max tells the two of them to forget about it and head to bed. However, the glowing green ground where the faceplate of the Omnitrix landed starts to react strangely and tentacle-like worms begin to spawn out of the swampy soil.
Mutant (373).png|Four Arms fused with Stinkfly
Mutant (915).png|Grey Matter fused with Diamondhead
Mutant (1380).png|Ripjaws fused with Heatblast
The next day, Ben heads out of the RV. He looks back inside through the window and around the RV. He stretches the gum he is chewing and rings it around the Omnitrix faceplate, then replaces it to where it belongs, hoping that the device would be fixed up. Gwen suspects Ben's actions, although Ben thinks of an insult to cover up his doings. Before they argue more, they see the festivities of Gator-fest set up. They enter the festival, while a pair of huge eyes look out from the swamp water.
It had a lot to offer from toys to games, food and refreshments, novelties and collectables, most of the things are alligator themed. A man picks out strange worms from his bucket and shows them to a friend, Larry. The worms have mutated to have the appearance of Stinkfly, although they have no wings and no extra limbs.
People are gathered to see the hatching of newborn crocodiles and alligators. The Tennysons decide to join in. The hatchlings come out of their shells and head into the water, and everyone cheers. Gwen appears to enjoy the sight of these cute creatures. Suddenly, the three babies head out of the water and hide in a nearby grass, which puzzles Ben. They soon discover that they were running from the gigantic mutant frog belonging to Dr. Animo, who isn't far behind. The mutant frog attacks the crowd with its tongue, but the crowd avoids injury. However, it causes the Omnitrix to lose the emblem's faceplate again. Ben doesn't seem to notice that it fell off. Right there, Animo is in front of him, this time, wearing giant, metal, gorilla-like arms and red goggles. He tells Ben how it's easy to track him and his family with his aliens always helping where they can. He orders his mutant frog to attack Ben. Ben avoids his attack, and he prepares the Omnitrix. As Ben pushes the plate-less face of the Omnitrix back down, he transforms into Stink Arms, a mix of Four Arms and Stinkfly. Ben gleams that this must've been caused by the faceplate coming off.
Stink Arms can't carry the mutant frog and can't fly either due to his massive size. His only option is to avoid the frog. The alligators and crocodiles notice Stink Arms and try to snap at him, thinking that he's something to be eaten. Stink Arms grabs a nearby novelty alligator and hit the mutant frog towards Animo, and Animo notices something on the ground. He finds that the Omnitrix's faceplate can mutate DNA, and the small crab shows him that when it transformed with Stinkfly's eyes and wings. Instead of continuing the fight, he leaves with the faceplate. Stink Arms reverts back into Ben, and he notices that the faceplate is gone.
At an abandoned observatory in the heart of the swamp, far from any city lights, Animo inserts the face of the Omnitrix into a giant device. It appears to be something he was working with for quite some time. He tests it on a bat, and in a giant flash, he knows that his ray is functioning the way he designed it to.
The Tennysons ride down the swamp river. Ben wants Gwen to get the gloating that she was right over with. She says that she has no clue about what he's blathering on about in an attempt to annoy him, which works. A loud roar distracts them from behind. It appears to be the bat Animo experimented with, and this time, it has the appearance of Heatblast, called Heatbat. Ben readies to transform into a fusion, but Max says that it isn't a good idea. With no choice, Ben transforms into Diamond Matter, a fusion between Diamondhead and Grey Matter. Heatbat grabs Diamond Matter and drops him into the water. Max tells Diamond Matter that something is behind him before a crocodile eats him, although he gets spat out, thanks to his ability to sharpen his body. Heatbat heads back to their boat, and Max splashes water into it. It flies away, and Diamond Matter thinks it must be heading back to Animo.
The Tennysons find themselves at the old observatory, and inside, they find the giant ray that Animo built. Out of nowhere, the mutant frog jumps onto their boat, smashing it into pieces. Animo tells them that he'll put the Omnitrix's faceplate's DNA to good use. He explains that he plans to create a new world filled with life mutated from the DNA of the Omnitrix, by pointing the ray's signal into a nearby satellite, thus delivering it all over Earth. To test his hypothesis, he points the Transmodulator towards Ben. He inserts his giant robotic appendages into the device and activates it. The flash of light heads towards Ben, but Max pushes him out of the way and ends up being struck, becoming mutated with Lepidopterran DNA, resulting in him turning into a maggot version of Stinkfly.
Animo is satisfied with the result, though he follows the standards of scientific experimentation. He points at Ben again, and Ben dodges the blast, but the giant frog and the Heatbat surround him. Again, Ben activates the Omnitrix and transforms into Heat Jaws, a fusion between Heatblast and Ripjaws. He attempts to shoot fire at Animo but fails. Animo shoots the ray at Heat Jaws, though, being an Omnitrix alien, it doesn't affect him. Instead of modifying his DNA, Animo decides to end Heat Jaws' life instead. He orders his pets to get rid of him. Heat Jaws brings Heatbat down into the water and manages to get the frog to let go of him but is suffering from water.
Gwen runs up the stairs and Animo aims the ray at her. She is fast enough to get away from his attack, though it is revealed that Heatbat survived being thrown into the water. It attacks her, though she finds a way to get into the ray machine. Luckily enough, the doorway is too small for Heatbat to enter. Meanwhile, the mutant frog comes out of the water to fight. The mutant frog dodges Heat Jaws' fire blast, but is taken down the second attempt, sending them both into the water. Heat Jaws defeats the mutant frog and defeats Heatbat by shooting steamed water at it, up through the depths he's in.
Gwen tries to find the Omnitrix part, just as Animo is ready to activate the ray. Heat Jaws delays the activation, Animo attempts to do it again. This time, the ray doesn't turn on, and Gwen comes out to show him that she took back the Omnitrix faceplate. Animo heads up to get it back from her, but Heat Jaws takes him down and knocks him out as he falls onto the hard floor beneath the ray.
Heat Jaws heads to mutant Max, and he's extremely disappointed with how everything has turned out. Gwen finds that Heat Jaws has progressed, claiming his mistake since the beginning. She heads back into the ray and tells Heat Jaws to fire it up. It reverses the effect and Max changes back to normal, although he wonders why he has a craving for rotten eggs and sewer water. Gwen explained that she put the Omnitrix face in backwards and hoped that it would reverse the mutation. Just as the Omnitrix is ready to time out, Heat Jaws tells Gwen to throw him the faceplate. He places it on his Omnitrix's emblem, and as he reverts back to being Ben it bonds with the Omnitrix, setting it and the glitch back to normal. Gwen and Ben head down the ray and Gwen shouts "I TOLD YOU SO!", and Ben admits that she was in the right all along.
In the RV, and on the TV, Gwen watches Animo being taken into custody by the police. Gwen thinks that Ben has learned his lesson, but he's in the back with a screwdriver joking around about rigging the Omnitrix so he can turn into alien combinations by choice as they drive away through the swamp.
==Noteworthy Events==
===Major Events===
====Character Debuts====
*Heatbat
*Larry
====Omnitrix Alien Debuts====
*Stink Arms
*Diamond Matter
*Heat Jaws
==Characters==
===Main Characters===
*Ben Tennyson
*Gwen Tennyson
*Max Tennyson
===Antagonists===
*Dr. Animo
**Heatbat (first appearance)
**Mutant Frog
===Other Characters===
*Larry (first appearance)
==Aliens Used==
*Stink Arms (first appearance)
*Diamond Matter (first appearance)
*Heat Jaws (first appearance)
==Quotes==
==Naming and Translations==
==Cast==
==Continuity==
*Ben recognizes Dr. Animo's mutant frog, after having encountered it in Washington B.C.. 
*At the end of the episode, when Animo is being taken away by the police, Gwen remarks that she feels she is watching a rerun, as Animo was similarly being taken away by the police in Washington B.C..
==Errors==
*The belts on the trio's life jackets are pictured in different ways.
*In one shot, Max is not wearing a life jacket.
*In one shot, the cat logo on Gwen's shirt is missing.
*For two frames, Gwen's lower half is cut off.
*At the end of the episode, Ben states that if he broke the Omnitrix's faceplate again, he could possibly turn into a combination between XLR8 and Ghostfreak (XLR-Freak). However, this would not be possible as Ghostfreak escaped from the Omnitrix several episodes ago.
*When Ben fiddles with the Omnitrix at the end of the episode, in one shot, the Omnitrix's dial is drawn in an oval shape.
Mutant (796).png|Changing belts
Mutant (825).png|Changing belts
Mutant (886).png|Changing belts
Mutant (1180).png|Changing belts
Mutant (1196).png|Missing jacket
Mutant (1345).png|Missing cat logo
Mutant (1836).png|Lower half cut off
Mutant (1837).png|Lower half cut off
Mutant (2428).png|Omnitrix dial error
==Trivia==
*The real-world equivalent to Gator-fest is held in Anahuac, Texas. However, the episode describes the weather as "Floridian", setting the trio's stop in Florida.
*Animo's plan is similar to that of Zs'Skayr's in Be Afraid of the Dark, which also involves turning everyone in the world into mutants with a satellite.
*This is the only episode of the Original Series to feature none of the traditional alien forms, due to all transformations used being one-off fusions.
*The online game DNA Lab was based on this episode.
==Notes==
==References==
===Cartoon Network===
es:Dr. Animo y el rayo mutante
pl:Powrót doktora Animo
pt-br:Dr. Animal e o Raio Mutante
ro:Dr. Animo şi raza mutantă
ru:Возвращение Доктора Энимо
Category:Episodes
Category:Ben 10 Episodes
Category:Ben 10 Season 2 Episodes
Category:Episodes Directed by Scooter Tidwell
Category:Filler
Category:Episodes Aired Out of Production Order