With regards to the idea of Alien Force receiving a reboot, I think it ultimately boils down to the execution. For anyone curious about what I thought were good points of shows outside of the Original Series, I bring up several examples in the thread linked here (for context, it's a thread I created for Ben 10 fans to have a place to share their ideas on how they would approach creating their own continuity within the Ben 10 Franchise).
The Reboot Series is my least favorite series in the franchise but that is mostly due to the executive mandates it had (give or take some other aspects).
I recall hearing that (at least some members of) Man of Action still respected contributions that crew members of the sequels to the franchise even if they didn't agree with all the choices and/or execution and that sentiment is along the lines of how I look at the sequels. Personally, the Original Series is my favorite series from the Ben 10 Franchise but I still feel it had its flaws and feel the Sequels & the Reboot Series had their strengths and had concepts that I liked/felt had potential even if I wasn't a fan of the execution. Likewise, I have seen cases where retcons have been well executed while also seeing cases where retcons have been poorly executed.
To further clarify on this topic of tone, I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with the idea of different adaptations and/or different continuities having different tones in comparison to each other (such as how the Batman Franchise has various adaptations with a serious tone and various adaptations with a silly tone), I think the problem is how a poorly executed example of a change in tone can make entries that are supposed to be part of the same continuity feel like they should be part of separate continuities. I believe a well executed example of a change in tone can help a series to grow with its audience while I think a poorly executed example of a change in tone can make a later entry feel out of place with an early entry. I am a big believer in execution being what matters the most, so I don't think a change in tone in later series or retcons is inherently a bad thing. Based on what I was able to gather, it seems this was the result of executive mandates to follow the current trends and the crew members having to make lemonade out of the lemons they have received.Īs an aside, I think it would be best to clarify my thoughts regarding change in tone and retcons. Fast forward to when the Reboot Series premiered and it was clear that the Reboot Series was also a base breaker among the fandom with the usual reason I heard being that it is another "wacky comedy" with roughly 11 minute episodes like other shows on Cartoon Network.
The biggest arguments I tend to see in the debates about the UAF Era is with regards to its more serious tone compared to the Original Series (with some fans thinking the UAF Era took itself too seriously while some fans appreciated the UAF Era changing to a more serious tone as the characters became older) and the retcons that were present ( Omniverse had its share of retcons with some of them undoing retcons from the UAF Era which added fuel to the fire in debates comparing the UAF Era to Omniverse).Ī usual reason I heard for why some fans were displeased with the Sequels was because Man of Action didn't have a direct role in the sequels the way they did in the Original Series (from what I was able to gather, it seems as though they at least talked about some bullet points with the show runners of the sequels early on in production but were hands off, otherwise) which is why some fans were pleased when it was first revealed that Man of Action would be more hands on for the Rebbot Series. While I have noticed the base breaking status of Omniverse among the fandom, my reference pools have lead me to finding the more heated debates being in relation to Alien Force and Ultimate Alien (commonly called the "UAF Era" for short in some circles). To convey my own thoughts on the topic, I think it would help by sharing my thoughts on the debate surrounding the Sequels and the Reboot Series in relation to my observations and reference pools to said debate. This also reminds me about how the Sequels and the Reboot Series of the Ben 10 Franchise are quite the base breakers among the fandom, so I can understand why there are some mixed feelings about such a possibility. One of the members of Man of Action bringing up the possibility of a reboot for Alien Force reminds me of how there were reports that Man of Action were originally set to be the show runners for Alien Force (back when its working title was "Hero Generation") before the series eventually had Dwayne McDuffie & Glen Murakaimi at the helm.