This week on the Jim Henson Creature shop Challenge we got to see our first individual challenge as the designers were asked to create a character that would serve as a comedic partner in a scene with a sorcerer played by Donald Faison. This character was to be based off of a real animal and was to be a mounted head in sorcerer’s trophy room. As excited as I was to see the artists being asked to work on their own, one this is for sure… creature building is definitely a team sport.
Now there are pros and cons to working alone, the cons sadly out weighing the pros in my opinion. On positive side, you do not have to worry about someone stepping on your ideas or overlooking you in an attempt at personal advancement, like Tina. You also do not have to worry about a weaker link breaking up your chain, like the shows kiss of death, Russ. However, you also don’t have the added benefit of another players expertise. Unfortunately, all of the women on the show this week seemed to be hurting from this fact, as the evils of setting up servos proved to be a formidable foe in the creature shop.
All of the ladies are very accomplished designers and fabricators, however as far as the mechanics and animatronics pieces are concerned, they seem to be quite in the weeds. Each of the three remaining women find themselves in a bind over an eye blink, but none more than Ivonne’s creature “AH!” Based on the head of a honey badger, the biggest problem was obviously size. The head was molded too small for the mechanism to fit into, causing her to have to rip the fabricated pieces and add material which can drastically change the way the creature looks in the finished product. It’s also a huge drain on her time, which might not even as the judges are quick to point out in the stage test. The end result sadly were eyes that were very small and foam exposed ears. This is a huge dilemma, turning in an unfinished product to the sound stage can show the judges that you aren’t able to pull enough weight to be an asset to the team of creature designers.
Ivonne wasn’t the one lost as Lex seemed to be having a tough time getting her large eyes to open. It seems like every challenge so far Lex has stated this isn’t what I do. I’m more or less wondering what she does do. Still her creature comes out pretty adorable but with one huge flaw, in her rush she goes with over sized eyes with stagnant pupils set closely together giving it more of a Muppet feel. Still, her cheerfully silly otter/ lion looking “chupacadabra” brings an element levity to a troubled build.
Melissa also takes a hit as the mechanisms take out it’s third victim in the build of her loch ness character. The hardest to watch, Melissa’s loveable nature and upbeat attitude wasn’t even enough to cover her massive flaws. The paint job failed Melissa this week as her sea creature lacked a slippery or slickness, perhaps if she had added a clear coat? Still the color pallet over all was flat and dull on camera making her monster seemingly uninteresting.
On the other side of the room the boys seemed to be diving into the challenge with an unmatched fervor, and with quite a bit more experience in animatronics it was easy to see that the servos were not going to cause them any issues this time. That doesn’t mean that they are completely without incident, starting with Russ. Now either Russ has the worst luck of all the contestants, or perhaps this competition is weighing on him, but this week the problem lies in the size of his project. Having chosen a large bull bust, Russ decides to create a minotaur. Now the idea is sound, save for the fact that it is supposed to be a bust, and the head of a minotaur is basically, a bull.
Robert’s “Jasper” brought a lot the back story table with his story about being the sorcerer’s official party planner. His comfy hippie and stoner vibe brought a lot of laughs and gave the actors a lot to go on, but he was defiantly not without flaws. The eyes seemed to be a little off putting to the judges and they didn’t read party animal being constantly wide open. The notes were pretty much across the board that he should have left the eyes half lidded to give him a kind of sleeper/ stoner vibe and therefore giving the actor a little more to animate on the big parts of the story. Still he was a successful character to play with.
Jake’s creation of an ice troll, while creative was hard to read. The flaw had to be the spindly, weak horns that Jake added to hold the sorcerer’s keys. When you do a horn, you want to make it strong fitting so that when the animal moves the horns remain stationary, not the case here. Now the character itself was adorable but it was really hard to over look a kind of undeveloped ideal.
And finally, my favorite of the night “Sherman Oaks” a wood creation brought to life by Ben. Ben is emerging as a huge talent in this competition, and this bust is another example of his ability to sculpt and create through both the design and mechanics. The wood texture of the creature itself was impressive and the amount of time spent in the paint paid off. Still even this creature was not without flaws, as the judges didn’t like how the creature couldn’t look at the audience. Also the placement of the eye in the design seemed to be in a place that you would have a hard time believing that it would be part of a face. Still his ability and drive definitely shown through and he is awarded another win.
As easy as it was to pick a winner, picking who created the most grievous offense was incredibly hard on the judges. In the end, however it was Ivonne’s unfinished creation that is chosen to send her home. In this world of deadlines delivering an unfinished creature can tear apart an entire production and the shop can not risk that. I wish her luck on her future and know she will be able to come back from this.
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