Ben 10: Alien Swarm

Ben 10: Alien Swarm is the third movie in the Ben 10 franchise, released on November 25, 2009. It is also the second live-action movie and the first movie of Ben 10: Alien Force.
==Synopsis==
Our world is threatened with an imminent invasion from a swarming alien menace. And there is only one hero brave enough, smart enough and tough enough to fight back - Ben Tennyson! But when Ben teams up with an outsider, he breaks rank with Gwen, Kevin, and Max and risks losing against the toughest enemy he has ever faced.
The stakes are high and the action is intense as Ben fights to protect our planet from the Alien Swarm!
==Plot==
The film opens as Ben, Gwen, and Kevin are negotiating with a group of black-market dealers, who are attempting to sell them alien nanotechnology. One of them reveals herself to be Elena, a childhood friend of both Ben and Gwen, as well as a Plumber's kid. Elena explains that she had set up the negotiations to lure Ben out and explains that her father has been abducted, and that she needs their help. Just as Ben agrees to help her, the Microchips suddenly spring to life, controlled by a mysterious man hiding in the rafters. Kevin immediately labels it a double cross, though Elena insists that she is not responsible for that. While the dealers escape, Ben transforms into Big Chill (his intended alien being Spidermonkey) and drives off the intruder. Elena escapes in the confusion, further justifying Kevin's suspicions. Ben, however, is not as easily convinced.
Arriving at their headquarters underneath the Bellwood auto repair shop, the trio, along with Max, study the chips, learning that they are a hybrid of organic and technological components. Elena, having followed the trio, breaks in. Max orders her to leave, explaining that Elena's father, Victor Valadis, was dishonorably discharged after stealing the original chips. Ben refuses to believe that Elena is like her father, and breaks ranks to help her.
While Max is away, Gwen and Kevin hack into the computer files relating to Victor Valadis, and discover a video of Max interrogating Victor, in which Victor insists that "the Hive", the mind and intelligence behind the chips, is coming to take over the planet. Realizing that Max's anger towards Victor's betrayal may be clouding his judgment, Gwen and Kevin decide to aid Ben as well.
Meanwhile, Ben and Elena arrive at Victor's old lab. It has been cleared out by the Hive, but they have left Ship-It order slips behind. Other leftover files in the office indicate that Victor was studying and upgrading the chips, and a picture indicates that Elena is close to the person controlling them. A group of people under the control of the chips attack Ben and Elena. Ben tries to turn into one of his aliens, but because the Omnitrix is scanning the Microchips, he is not able to transform, forcing him and Elena to retreat. They head to the Ship-It building to investigate further.
Gwen and Kevin, having reached the building first, are too late to stop the distribution of the chips. Instead, they are met by one of the Ship-It 'Cap Diamant' (head employees), who is also possessed by the chips. He directs a chip swarm to attack Gwen and Kevin, which eventually wrecks Kevin's car after a lengthy chase. Ben, having overheard the commotion and followed them, transforms into Humungousaur to defeat the swarm, completely demolishing Kevin's car in the process, making Kevin mad as usual.
By the time they return to headquarters, the chips have been spread across the globe, and now reached numbers in the millions. The group deduces that there must be a queen controlling the Hive, and by destroying her, they will likely destroy the chips as well. During their search for the queen, however, one of the chips takes over Max. Pulling together, the group notices an anomaly in the chip distribution; while world population centers are all infected, the relatively remote Barren Rock, Missouri, has the highest concentration. The town is home to the central headquarters of Ship-It. With Kevin's car out of commission, Kevin reveals that he has built a car for Ben as a late birthday present. Kevin refuses to let Ben drive the car, but Ben playfully threatens to throw the car to their location as Humungousaur.
Infiltrating the factory, the group discovers that the queen has infected Elena's father, whose body is being used to mass-produce the chips. Ben uses the Omnitrix to transform into a new alien that he dubs "Nanomech", but before he could turn into it, he is instead shrunken down as a human. He then notices the giant feet of Kevin and Gwen in front of him. Gwen begins to scrap her gigantic heavy foot across the floor which causes a loud scratching sound which goes to show the massive difference in both size and mass between Gwen and now her shrunken cousin. Ben realizes that he is small then after a few seconds he then finally transforms into Nanomech, which was created by scanning the DNA of the chips over the course of the film. He enters Victor's brain and battles the Queen while Gwen, Kevin, and Elena fight the drones. After a grueling battle, Nanomech destroys the Queen and thus the entirety of the chips, freeing everybody from their control.
In the aftermath, Max, after personally apologizing to Victor, decides to retire and leave his position as leader to Ben, but Ben refuses to allow him to do so. Kevin then asks for his keys back, but Ben tells him that he is driving from now on. The film ends as Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and Elena drive home.
==Noteworthy Events==
===Major Events===
*The team encounters Elena, who seeks their help in saving her father from the Microchips.
*Ben receives the Mark 10 as a birthday present from Kevin.
*Ben obtains a new DNA sample (Nanomech).
====Character Debuts====
*Elena Valadis
*Microchips
*Victor Valadis
*The Queen
*Fitz
*Helio
*Genaro
*Big Ed
*Molly
*Ship-It Employee
====Omnitrix Alien Debut====
*Nanomech
===Minor Events===
*It is revealed that the Omnitrix can create an alien species.
==Characters==
===Main Characters===
*Ben Tennyson
*Gwen Tennyson
*Kevin Levin
*Elena Valadis (first appearance)
===Supporting Characters===
*Max Tennyson
===Antagonists===
*Microchips (first appearance)
*Victor Valadis (first appearance, mind controled)
*The Queen (first appearance)
===Other Characters===
*Fitz (first appearance)
*Helio (first appearance)
*Genaro (first appearance)
*Big Ed (first appearance)
*Molly (first appearance)
*Ship-It Employee (first appearance)
==Aliens Used==
*Big Chill (selected alien was Spidermonkey)
*Humungousaur
*Nanomech (first appearance)
==Quotes==
==Cast==
Actor 	Role
Ryan Kelley 	Ben Tennyson
Galadriel Stineman 	Gwen Tennyson
Nathan Keyes 	Kevin Levin
Alyssa Diaz 	Elena Valadis
Barry Corbin 	Max Tennyson
Herbert Siguenza 	Victor Valadis
Dee Bradley Baker 	Big ChillHumungousaur
Alex Winter 	Nanomech
Jeremy Decarlos 	Helio
Brian Beegle 	Genaro
Eric Mendenhall 	Fitz
Tony Larkin 	Ship-It Employee
Wendy Cutler 	The Queen
Patrick Cox 	Big Ed
Michelle Wang 	Molly
Joyce Kurtz 	Computer
Aaron Munoz 	Psycho 1
Justin Welborn 	Psycho 2
Wilbur Fitzgerald 	Financial Guy in Suit
Deborah Duke 	Nurse
Nicole Krausen 	International Plumber 1
Shankar N. Mahadevan 	International Plumber 2
Cesar Aguirre 	Mechanic Zombie
Grace Baine 	Alien
Stephen Bise 	Robe-Wearing ZombieFactory Worker Zombie #1
Erin Leigh Bushko 	Factory Worker Zombie #2
Jon Gould 	Stand-InFactory WorkerMechanic
Travis Grant 	Zombie College Student
Jevocas Green 	Assembly Line Zombie
Ashley Harvin 	Factory Worker Zombie #3
Roger Herrera 	Forklift Driver
Barry Hopkins 	Factory Worker Zombie #4
Shawn Knowles 	Zombie Street Hoodlum
Micheal Leath 	Zombie College Student
Candace Mabry 	Factory Worker Zombie #5
Lynn McArthur 	Waitress Zombie
Katherine Neslund 	Zombie Assembly Line Worker
Bill Pacer 	Factory Worker Zombie #6
Timothy Douglas Perez	Forklift Operator #1
Tammy Luthi Retzlaff 	Zombie Mom
Lauren Rothermel 	Business Woman
Sean M. Sellers 	Factory Worker Zombie #7
Jimmy Shaw 	Zombie Worker
Sonya Thompson 	Factory Worker Zombie #8
Joe Walsh 	Mind controlled Zombie
Steve Warren 	Factory Worker Zombie #9
Ken R. Wheeler 	Forklift Operator #2
Erika J. Wood 	Factory Worker Zombie #10Factory Chasing Zombie
==Music Used==
*Story of the Year - "Tell Me" (second trailer)
*Red Fang - "Sharks" (opening scene)
*Danger Doom - "The Mask" (heard in Kevin's car when the team arrived at Plumbers' HQ)
*The Black Maria - "Betrayal" (heard when the group enter Big Ed's car workshop)
*Hawthorn Heights - "Rescue Me" (briefly heard in Kevin's earbuds)
*There for Tomorrow - "A Little Faster" (heard in Mark 10 and an official music video)
*El-P - "Flyentology" (feat. Trent Reznor) & Torche - "Healer" (end credits)
==Naming and Translations==
==Nominations==
Ben 10: Alien Swarm was nominated for Primetime Emmy in the recipient Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, the VES Award in the category Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, and the Movie or a Special and Excellence in Production Design Award in the subject Television Movies or Mini-Series.
==Continuity==
*The movie takes place between Seasons 1 and 2 of Alien Force.
==Errors==
*At the start of the movie when Kevin discusses the Microchips with Ben, Kevin refers to the chips as Grade 9 technology as opposed to Level 9 technology, the common unit for measuring how advanced a piece of technology is.
*In one scene at the Plumber Headquarters, several transmissions from other countries can be heard. All of them are asking for help, and they do this in the countries' languages. However, the transmission from Berlin, the capital of Germany, has a distinct English accent to it.
*Elena says the Plumbers are a secret interplanetary security force, when in the series, the Plumbers are an intergalactic police force.
*When Ben investigates Victor's hideout, he finds a Ship-It form with a January date on it, with Ben commenting on that being tonight's date. However, Gwen later finds another Ship-It form with the date being March 24 instead. Despite this, Gwen later comments that it's February while approaching the alien chip shipping center in Misssouri.
*Kevin gives Ben the Mark 10 as a late birthday gift, confirming that Ben is 16 during the events of the movie. According to Dwayne McDuffie, it takes place between Seasons 1 and 2 of Alien Force. Although this would indicate that Ben and Gwen are 16 and Kevin is 17 during Season 2, this is contradicted in The Final Battle: Part 2, when Kevin says that he is turning 18 a year from the Tuesday after the episode, proving that he is still 16 in Season 2.
*When Ben transforms into Nanomech, he doesn't immediately change and initially just shrinks. Furthermore, when he finally does change, his Omnitrix symbol is grey and green instead of black and green.
Swarm (1590).png|Date error
Swarm (3150).png|Omnitrix symbol error
==Trivia==
*Alien Force's opening theme is not referenced in the movie, unlike the Original Series' live-action movie.
*In the movie, Gwen states that Elena Valadis was Ben's first crush when he was in middle school. This is retconned in Omniverse, as Rook reveals that Ben's first crush was Petty Berkenfeld when he was in the 3rd grade.Showdown: Part 1
*Unlike the show, Humungousaur does not talk in this movie, as he only makes realistic grunting and roaring sounds.
*Though it served as a television film with home release six days following the original broadcast, Alien Swarm had a limited theatrical release in Australia.
*A movie tie-in novel was authorized by Tracy West, published by Scholastic and released in the same year.
**This also includes a poster using the movie's concept logo.
*The movie was in the works as early as August 26, 2008.
*The crew of the series talked to the crew of the movie during production. Glen Murakami in particular worked closely with them.
*Ben's jacket was made by the same people who made other movie props, and it cost thousands of dollars to make. There were two of them made. Ryan Kelley regrets not stealing the jacket while he had a chance.
*Ten reconfigured Omnitrix props were made, and all of them were broken by the end of filming the movie.
*There were additional movie sequels planned, but ultimately, they never came to fruition.
*During the filming, Ryan Kelley and Nathan Keyes were hanging out in Kevin's car when a school bus full of little kids pulled up beside it. The kids saw the car and got excited. Ryan and Nathan, in full costume, got out of the car, which made the kids even more excited.
*Turner Studios finished 410 VFX shots for the movie in three months.
*Derrick J. Wyatt believed that this film was not canon to the animated Ben 10 continuity. However, this statement is inaccurate as Nanomech's inclusion in Ultimate Alien and the events of Revenge of the Swarm would canonize the film into the Classic Continuity.
==References==
===Crew Statements===
====Dwayne McDuffie====
====Ryan Kelley====
====Evan Jacobs====
====Derrick J. Wyatt====
===Merchandise===
====Blu-rays====
===Ben 10 Planet===
==See Also==
*Destroy, Build, Destroy: Ben 10 Alien Swarm vs. Dude, What Would Happen
==External Links==
*Official Website
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