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Ben 10 Omniverse: Galactic Monsters
Score: 88%
Rating: TV-Y7
Publisher: Cartoon Network
Region: 1
Media: DVD/1
Running Time: 110 Mins.
Genre: Animated/Family/TV Series
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH

Features:
  • Episodes:
    • Rad Monster Party
    • Charmed, I’m Sure
    • The Vampire Strikes Back
  • Bonus Episodes:
    • Something Zombozo This Way Comes
    • Mystery, Incorporeal

Ben 10 Omniverse: Galactic Monsters is a collection of five episodes that primarily focus on Ben's unexpected trip to the monstrous planet of Anur Transyl, where he faces off against one of his biggest recurring enemies, Ghostfreak (or Zs'Skayr, if you prefer his real name).

The main three episodes of this collection start off with Ben, Rook, Hobble and Rad crash-landing on the planet that is the homeworld of Ben's Transylian alien, Frankenstrike. Ben soon finds that on a planet of monsters (quite literally, since the inhabitants look like werewolves, mummies, ghosts and Frankenstein's Monsters), Ben is the monster. While Ben and company look for a replacement part for their broken ship, Ben has to keep to the shadows, that is, until the rest of his group turn up missing. Ben teams up with a local plumber, the only Loboan plumber actually, named Scout in order to find out who has kidnapped their compatriots. It isn't long before they discover that the trip that passed close to Anur Transyl was actually all a plot by Ghostfreak to have one of his minions brought to the monster planet, Viktor.

While still looking for a replacement part, Ben's group finds themselves butting heads with Ghostfreak a few times. In the second episode, Ben actually ends up teaming up with Charmcaster, who confronted Ghostfreak about a stolen artifact. When Ghostfreak effortlessly removes Charmcaster from his presence, she approaches Ben to help her take the artifact back before Ghostfreak uses its powers for some diabolical purpose.

That purpose, as it turns out, is to resurrect the leader of a long-extinct alien race. Lord Transyl was the leader of the Vladats who apparently kept the Frankenstein-like race as slaves a long time ago. With this vampiric alien resurrected and working for Ghostfreak, Ben will have to come up with some new moves in order to win, and with the Vladat's ability to control other people's minds, he might just have to do it alone.

The DVD's two bonus episodes, "Something Zombozo This Way Comes" and "Mystery, Incorporeal," actually take place before the main shows. As a result, I actually recommend watching the special features first since it will set up a couple of necessities like Rook getting his first taste of fighting against magic and the not-to-subtle hint of Ghostfreak's coming return. Actually, there is a point in one of the episodes where Ghostfreak explains how he got free, and without the references to one of the bonus episodes, it feels a little wishy-washy.

All five episodes in Ben 10 Omniverse: Galactic Monsters are fun and given the proper viewing order, really make for a cohesive DVD. In the past, some of these releases feel like they were a bit scattered in their selections, but even the episode not directly linked to the main trio has the right feel to it as the fear-feeding clown, Zombozo, simply fits with the other monsters on this disc.



-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer
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