Permanent Retirement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ben 10 episode | |
| "Permanent Retirement" | |
 Heatblast faces off against the giant Limax. |
|
| Episode # | 4 |
|---|---|
| Production # | 104 |
| Airdate | January 21, 2006 |
| Writer(s) | Marsha F. Griffin |
| Director | Scooter Tidwell |
| Story | Bouakeo Thong Kham David Chlystek Sebastian Montes |
| Guest star(s) | Miriam Flynn Walker Edmiston |
| Season 1 December 27, 2005 – March 25, 2006 |
|
| TV.com episode summary | |
| List of all Ben 10 episodes... | |
"Permanent Retirement" is the fourth episode of the American animated television series Ben 10, that premiered on January 21, 2006.
[edit] Recap
The episode starts out at an ice cream shop in the middle of the desert. Max is making a withdraw from an ATM. A large man comes up behind Max and throws him to the side, then stabs a hook, connected to his truck, into the ATM. Inside the ice cream shop, Ben notices what's going on and runs outside. When the thief's partner tries to drive off, he's stopped by Upgrade, a bio-mechanical alien who can merge with technology. Upgrade has merged with the truck, and tosses him outside. He then takes care of the first thief. Ben is excited by his victory, wondering what's going to happen next. Max answers by saying that they're going to visit his Aunt Vera, which promptly dampens Ben's excitement.
At the retirement community, Vera is excited about her nephews' visit, having not seen them for a long time. She invites her neighbor, an elderly man named Marty, to come again some time. He says that he'd like to and then enters his house. As he sits down to watch television, a slimy, green blob attacks him.
When Ben, Gwen, and Max arrive in the RV, Ben begins to notice strange behavior in the elderly residents, but ignores it for now. Once they meet Vera, they come inside for lunch. It turns out to be less than appetizing, as is the candy she keeps in the house, so Ben excuses himself.
Wanting to get away and have some fun, Ben transforms into Ghostfreak, a shadowy alien that can turn invisible and phase through solid matter. As he explores, he sees more odd behavior in the residents. He is eventually passed by Marty, who's driving a golf cart and transporting a rolled-up rug. As he passes Ghostfreak, he swerves frantically to avoid a sprinkler that suddenly activates, so Ghostfreak follows in a golf cart.
The two eventually arrive at the community dump. As Marty moves one of the dumpsters aside and prepares to enter a trapdoor beneath it, Ben returns back to human form, drawing his attention. Marty then reveals his ability to change shape, shape-shifting to face Ben rather than simply turning around. Ben tries to escape in the golf cart, but is eventually caught by Marty. Luckily, a sprinkler activates near the two and scares Marty off.
At Vera's house, Ben recounts his experiences with the alien to Gwen and Max. They decide to search Marty's house, but find nothing while doing so. Meanwhile, Vera is attacked by the same kind of blob that attacked Marty earlier on while she's asleep.
The next day, Vera begins acting strangely like the other residents, and has also gained the same aversion to water as Marty, which she shows when Gwen spills some coffee on the floor. As Gwen cleans, Vera notices that Max is missing. Gwen explains that he went for an early walk. Upon hearing this, Vera excuses herself and tells the kids to behave. Once she leaves, Ben accuses her of being one of the aliens. To that end, they look for proof for his claim. Ben takes them to the dump where the trap door he saw earlier was located. Meanwhile, Marty and Vera discuss some kind of preparations, implying that they intend to eat the residents of the community. Since Ben and Gwen are too young, they decide to take care of them in a different way.
On their way to the trap door, Ben and Gwen are attacked by the residents. When they run into Max, he attacks them too, having been seemingly turned into an alien himself. When they reach the trap door, Ben transforms into Wildmutt and knocks away the dumpster covering the trap door at them. He then takes Gwen through it as they recover. The trap door leads to a network of tunnels, in which Wildmutt fights and defeats the alien Max with Gwen riding on his back. Wildmutt them senses something and crashes headfirst through a nearby wall to get to it, reverting to human form right after doing so.
Behind the wall, Ben and Gwen find an alien ship with hundreds of pods surrounding it. Within the pods are the real residents of the neighborhood, along with Max. Ben frees him upon finding him. The other aliens arrive to stop them, showing their true forms (vaguely human-shaped, green blobs). They decide to launch the ship since its been discovered. Ben transforms into Heatblast to hold them at bay, but his powers only cause them to merge and grow several times their original size. While he fights them, Gwen and Max unload the pods from the alien ship. Some of the normal-sized aliens try to stop them, and their aversion to a water pistol in Gwen's backpack reveals their weakness to Gwen. When she sprays them with it, they dissolve. She tells Heatblast about this, and he breaks a water pipe to dissolve the giant alien. After it is dissolved, they unload the last of the pods just as the ship launches. The dissolved Limax crawl inside just before it does so. Ben says he can use XLR8 to return the residents to their condominiums.
After the incident, Ben, Gwen, and Max say their good-byes to Vera. Meanwhile, one of the Limax is seen crawling through the tunnels.
Aliens used in this episode:
- Upgrade
- Ghostfreak
- Wildmut
- Heatblast
- XLR8 (supposedly used, did not actually make an appearance)
