Ben 10: Race Against Time is a 2007 Live-Action Adaptation movie of the original Ben 10 series and the first movie in the series overall.
The movie is set at the end of Ben's summer vacation in which Grandpa Max, Gwen and he are returning home to Bellwood. Naturally Ben's not looking forward to returning to school and his boring old life. But that soon becomes the least of his worries when a mysterious figure named Eon comes looking for him and the Omnitrix. As things progress, secrets are revealed and naturally the fate of the world is at stake.
Notable for starring Lee Majors, Robert Picardo and Aloma Wright among others. Alex Winter (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure) directed.
While the movie isn't considered canon to the series, some elements from it make it to the sequels, such as Ben's parents and Eon (though the latter usually was mostly alternated).
This film has the following tropes:
- Alien Invasion: What Eon hopes to accomplish with the Hands of Armageddon.
- All There in the Manual: According to pop-up trivia:
- Eon was the first extraterrestrial threat that the Plumbers faced, having previously dealt with supernatural threats.
- Before the Plumbers, Professor Paradox prevented Eon from accessing the Hands of Armageddon.
- Alternate Universe: Confirmed in the Ben 10: Ultimate Alien episode, "Ben 10,000 Returns", that this film takes place in an alternate timeline.
- Artifact of Doom: The aptly named "Hands of Armageddon."
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other:
- While constantly bickering throughout the movie, Gwen admits that she loves Ben (who's transformed into Eon) to try and make him transform back to his regular self.
- There's a small moment before that involving them too. After the first big fight with Eon the first thing Ben asks Grandpa Max if Gwen was okay, and is relieved when Max says that she was fine. Showing that they do care about each other.
- Bad Boss: Eon to his minions. Killing one out of anger and keeping the others from helping him.
- Big Bad: Eon, who seeks to use the Hands of Armageddon to bring his people to invade Earth.
- Clone by Conversion: Eon forces the Omnitrix to lock Ben in the form of a younger clone of Eon that is powerful enough to activate the Hands of Armageddon.
- Cryo-Prison: 200 years prior to the film, Eon was arrested by the Plumbers during his search for the Hands of Armageddon and was kept frozen in suspended animation. He was finally able to thaw out and aged his guardian to near-death.
- Dodgeball Is Hell: When Ben goes back to school after summer vacation ends, he goes to gym class to play dodgeball. Ben lost the game when he got hit by various dodgeballs.
- Dying Race: What fuels Eon's ambitions as he wishes to revive his race of people.
- Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion: After Eon-transformed Ben activates the Hands of Armageddon, which frees Eon's people so that they invade Earth, Max and Gwen free themselves, then Max intervenes, Gwen reaches Ben inside Eon, and after that, Ben and the plumbers pull Max away from the Hands, sending Eon's people back to their dimension.
- Expy: Eon looks and acts a lot like Darth Vader.
- Exposition: Eon provides some about why the Omnitrix has a ten-minute time limit; supposedly, that's a security measure to keep Ben in control of the transformations (which doesn't mesh all that well with the cartoons, where Ben frequently has stayed transformed for longer without losing control).
- Fantastically Indifferent: After Ben hacks the machines at the cafe to start throwing cakes and ice creams at the bullies, the old man merely asks the owner for more coffee.
- Food Fight: Ben starts one at a cafe to get even with Cash and JT.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Gwen to an Eon-transformed Ben in the climax.
- Growing Muscles Sequence: Ben briefly during his transformation to Eon.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Ben doesn't want to go back to normal life, and all he wants to do is be a hero again.
- Insufferable Genius: Gwen tends to come across as this.
- Improbable Weapon User: Wildmutt uses a time frozen Gwen to finish off Eon in their final fight.
- Live-Action Adaptation
- Made-for-TV Movie
- Men of Sherwood: The Bellwood Plumbers, even the unnamed and uncredited ones, easily hold their own against Eon’s Mooks with both laser pistols and random blunt instruments. However, Eon himself can defeat them without any difficulty.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: Gwen delivers one of these to an Eon-transformed Ben, in the climax.
- Plot Pants: Ben wears assorted clothes throughout the first chunk of the movie. Once it's hero time, though, he changes into the same white shirt with black highlights that he wore all throughout the original series.
- Rapid Aging/Not Quite Dead: One of Max's friends is found like this, scaring the crap out of Ben, Gwen and Max when he reveals he is still alive (for the moment anyway).
- Rearrange the Song: The series' pop-rock theme tune gets a hard rock remix for the film's opening.
- Recurring Extra:
- Alpha Bitch duo Candace and Stephanie are constantly accompanied by three younger girls who are training to dance at the talent show with them, none of whom talk or are credited.
- Bellwood plumbers Mrs. Carlyle, Mr. Jenga, and Mr. Engels appear in several scenes, are mentioned by name, and share friendly nods with Ben, but none of them talk or are credited
- Secret Police: The Plumbers, which include many of the town's residents, such as the cafe owner, the principal, the fireman... Heck, even a harmless old man.
- Stealth Pun: Ben's principal, once he reveals that he's a Plumber, mentions that the one time that he accidentally set off the Great Quake of '89. He then proceeds to quip that it was a rocky afternoon the rest of that day.
- Time Master: Eon, whose primary ability is time manipulation.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Eon seeks to use the Hands Of Armageddon to bring his Dying Race to Earth to repopulate, but traveling through time so much has weakened him to the point where he's unable to use the Hands. His plan is to use the Omnitrix to turn Ben into himself (a second Eon), so that he can activate the device and end the reign of humans on Earth. The movie is pretty vague about how it works, but at first glance, it seems as though Eon may actually be Ben, corrupted by himself in his own past. On top of that, when Eon succeeds in implanting himself in the Omnitrix, he declares that "two cannot exist in one world", disappearing into a different point in the time stream.
- Too Dumb to Live: Ben, after being attacked twice by Eon, decides to take him head on by himself by waiting out in the open for him despite the fact that Eon can keep the Omnitrix from working properly. You can guess how well that plan goes.
- Two Guys and a Girl: Grandpa Max, Ben, and Gwen.
- Tokusatsu: The transformation sequences of the live action film adaptation and Eon's henchmen.
- MagicPants: Ben's casual clothing changes into his trademark shirt during the Grey Matter transformation scene. He wore his trademark shirt physically, 2 scenes later
- Villainous Rescue: Eon claims to be doing this when he dragged Ben out of the Plumbers' headquarters.
- Wham Line: Courtesy of Eon.Eon: It's MY DNA that will be released from the Omnitrix. I am the alien lifeform that will soon overwhelm you. YOU ARE ME, BENJAMIN!
