Ben 10 2016 Reboot Episode Review: Bright Lights, Black Hearts

[Tactical Ochoa]

Oh. Wonderful. We really need to be reminded of the Twilight series in this episode, don't we, Cartoon Network and Man of Action?

This is the episode that debuts Michael Morningstar. Yeah, that's right. That villain from Alien Force that was pretty brilliantly well implemented especially in his very first appearance. In this episode, the main characters go to visit a film set. Gwen is a big fan of Michael Morningstar. Michael Morningstar turns out to be an energy vampire that feeds off of people's admiration of him. Ben and Gwen such his attention away, weakening him to the point where Ben was easily able to defeat him. The end. Once again, more of the same.

Let's focus on Michael Morningstar. What made him such a great villain in Alien Force was just how manipulative and seductive he was. He was a lot like a predator, taking advantage of others in order to get the power that he wants. I find Michael Morningstar to be at his best in the very first episode that he appeared in because it showed just the type of villain that he was. He was quite a scary and intimidating villain and proved to be very dangerous to the main characters. In the reboot, all of that is gone. What made Michael Morningstar at his best was thrown out the window for him in the reboot because "oh, that is just too dark for our viewers. We have to stick to standards and practices. We don't want to poison children's minds now, do we? NO no No No no." Folks, let me just state this. Taking things away is not innovation and improvement. It's the opposite; especially if you're going to take away the best aspects of a certain element. Even then, if you're going to take certain elements and characteristics out of a show, movie, game, character, etc., replace it with something else. Give us something else. But oh way, they did give us something else about Morningstar, right? If so, that is him being a typical, generic, and bland attention getter. Yeah, I'm not fond of this.

Let's get to the other aspect about Michael Morningstar that also undermines him as a villain and that's his powers. Like I said before, Michael Morningstar feeds off of people's admiration of him...and that is the only way in which he absorbs more energy. In the previous shows, he can just simply use his powers to absorb energy from other beings and that's it. He doesn't have to do something so specific in order to get the energy that he needs. In the reboot, however, because Morningstar needs to get people to admire him in order to absorb energy from him, it makes him less of a threat because all Ben needs to do is just get all that admiration and attention away from him...or maybe even find an isolated location to fight him in so that Morningstar isn't able to get more energy from others. This episode clearly showcases the problem with his powers. It clearly shows why Michael Morningstar is less dangerous and challenging to the main characters.

Yeah, I don't like this episode. This is a terrible way to implement a villain such as Michael Morningstar. They didn't innovate and improve him. They took away some of the best aspects about him and made his powers too easily exploitable to make him a suitable challenge for the main characters.

On another note, apparently, Michael Morningstar has been around for centuries in this reboot. Ok then.