Liz OhanesianAsk a question that involves revealing a spoiler at a TV panel and you probably won't get an answer. That is, unless you're a little kid.
“What's the next big alien?” asked one child during the Q/A portion of Sunday's Ben 10: Ultimate Alien panel, part of the weekend-long PaleyFest Family Series at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills.
The team behind Ultimate Alien, the third television series in the franchise, did hesitate for a moment before answering.
Credit: Liz Ohanesian
Next season, they will be introducing an alien named Juryrigg (spelled with two gs, as story editor Charlotte Fullerton noted). Little else about Juryrigg was revealed, although Fullerton and others on the panel acknowledged that the new alien isn't “big” in a physical sense.
That wasn't the only surprise in store for Ben 10 fans on Sunday. The panel opened with a screening of the forthcoming Ultimate Alien episode “Double or Nothing.” The episode begins with an art-imitating-life moment when our young protagonist, Ben Tennyson, now a famous superhero, attends a stage show based on his life. This is quite likely a reference to Ben 10: Power of the Omnitrix, a live show that has played in countries like Singapore, Australia and UAE.
The Ultimate Alien panel was the first in a day's worth of Cartoon Network programming, with panels dedicated to Dude, What Would Happen? and Adventure Time, a major hit at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, following later that afternoon. Given the Family Series theme of the weekend, the crowd consisted almost entirely of children. The panelists– voice actors Yuri Lowenthal (Ben), Greg Cipes (Kevin) and Dee Bradley Baker (a whole bunch of aliens), along with story editors Charlotte Fullerton and Matt Wayne, Supervising Producer Matt Youngberg and Cartoon Network Action Adventure VP Tramm Wigzell– kept a kid-friendly bent to the presentation. The actors spoke primarily about their characters and how they relate to them.
Greg Cipes, Dee Bradley Baker and Yuri Lowenthal; Credit: Liz Ohanesian
“Who as a kid, or an adult in my case, doesn't want to do that stuff?” asks Lowenthal (who anime fans might recognize from shows like Naruto, Gurren Lagann and, our recent favorite, Durarara!!) about playing the alien-transforming/alien-fighting lead.
Save for naming one new alien, the panelists kept the teasers for next season vague. They indicated that Ben will still be dealing with his newfound fame and there may be some returning characters.
“We love evil twins,” Wayne added.
Bradley also mentioned that there may be a “love story” in store, though no further details were given.
Meanwhile, fans should be preparing themselves for Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United, the one-hour television special that will bring together Man of Action's Cartoon Network hits. Panelists indicated that the show would be set in the Generator Rex universe.
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