Ben 10 Omniverse: Galactic Monsters Just In Time for Halloween

I admit, I'm not completely up to speed on the Ben 10 phenomenon. I know that Ben's a kid with a special wristwatch (like Johnny Sokko) that allows him to turn into one of any variety of aliens so that he can go into battle against other aliens (like Ultraman). And, that's about it.

In this new Omniverse series, Ben is palling around the galaxies with some friendly aliens as they try to track down one of their fellow Plumbers -- galactic troubleshooters -- which leads them to being stranded on a planet where the population looks oddly like the set of a Universal Monsters movie. On this planet, Ben is considered the outcast, and the folks there want nothing more than to be rid of this "monster." Unfortunately for Ben and his friends, they have to first repair their ship, and there really is an evil monster making nefarious plans, which leads up to a confrontation between Ben and the evil Lord Transyl. Along the way, Ben will transform into such characters as Frankenstrike, Snare-Oh -- and the Whampire!

This release also includes two bonus episodes, pitting Ben and his friends against the zombie clown, Zombozo, and teams him up with his college student cousin in her superhero secret identity, Lucky Girl.

As a grownup, I didn't get all that drawn in. But looking back, what I found these episodes to be most like was Filmation's Ghostbusters, which my (much) younger self really dug. And I can't begrudge the writers their clever titles or their imaginative plots. I'd have to see more to become a fan, but I can see why the series has an appeal to its audience, and this DVD specifically is well-timed for the upcoming Halloween season.