Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge (2014) s01e01 Episode Script
What Lies Beneath (Pilot)
1 - [Laughter.]
- [Growls.]
Half a century ago, my father, Jim Henson, founded the Jim Henson company and brought to life some of the most iconic creatures ever seen onscreen - [Roars.]
- [Screeches.]
Beloved by audiences of every generation.
- The creature has no way out.
- [Roars.]
- And All right, ready.
- Oh, spectacular.
Only the most extraordinary artists in the industry are capable of designing, building, and breathing life into these creatures for Hollywood's biggest blockbusters.
Friend.
And it all takes place at the world renowned Jim Henson studios.
Now, we're looking for the next generation of creature designers.
This competition is the craziest thing - I've ever done in my life.
- Ah! Ooh.
Oh, my gosh! Gigi! My name is Gigi Edgley, and I'm your host for the Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge.
Okay, so she played Chiana on Farscape which my family and I watched every week.
One of the key people who have continued the Henson legacy is his son.
He's been involved with some of the most famous creature teams onscreen.
Please welcome Brian Henson.
[Cheers and applause.]
- Oh, my God, it's Brian Henson.
- [Laughs.]
I can't wait to see you put your skills to the test.
The winner will win a contract to work as a creature designer right here in our creature shop.
- Oh, my gosh.
- [All reacting and clapping.]
Getting the job at Jim Henson's Creature Shop would really change my life.
I want to be a part of that legacy.
I want to be part of things that people grow up on.
This is the pinnacle, and we all want it.
Whoa.
Ten talented artists will design and build their own creatures for a series of screen tests.
Take one.
[Growls.]
- Ah! - Ah! [Laughter.]
My name is Solee.
[Grunts.]
[Creatures growling.]
Filmed on the Henson sound stage, and judged by a panel of industry experts, creature designer, Kirk Thatcher Looks like grinch and E.
T.
had a baby.
Creature fabricator, Beth Hathaway Could you not have just used real feathers? And me, chairman of the Jim Henson company, Brian Henson.
The way you worked together was really pretty appalling.
- You guys will have three days.
- [Screams.]
Only one will be awarded the job of their dreams You could have put your foot down.
- Who the [Bleep.]
cares? - Falling apart right now? You could have put your foot down.
- Who the [Bleep.]
cares? - Falling apart right now? [Bleep.]
Disintegrate right here.
We might be in trouble.
And win a prize package worth $100,000, including a coveted job working for Jim Henson's Creature Shop This is Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge.
[Dramatic music.]
Walking to the creature shop, I don't really know what to expect, and I'm just out-of-my-mind excited.
[Gasps.]
My childhood was created here.
This is where all the magic happens.
This is where all the creatures come to life.
Hi, creature designers.
Come on over.
Let's get straight into your first creature brief.
I have no idea what to expect, but I'm just ready to create.
This week we want you guys to imagine a world never before seen by man, three miles below the ocean's surface, where creatures have evolved that are every shape, color, and underwater function that you can think of.
Your first brief is to design and create an original sea creature that is discovered on the ocean floor by a submarine searchlight.
You must build a full-bodied creature that completely conceals your performer inside.
This is awesome.
You think about environment this creature lives in, what it preys on, what it eats, it makes your mind just run wild.
In the industry, these builds can take many, many weeks.
It's true.
You only have two days.
So you'll be working in teams of two to maximize your time.
I love working in teams.
I think it's very important.
In this industry, you always work in a team.
I'm currently working for Walt Disney world working on animatronics.
Henson company, they're the best of the best.
Jim Henson is better than Disney.
Oh, God, I'm gonna get fired.
Your teams have been assigned randomly.
Melissa and Ben, Russ and Tina, Jake and Ivonne, Chaz and Robert, and so that leaves Lex and Josh.
It's really nice to have two people 'cause if somebody does specialize a little bit more than another one, then at least you've got both bases covered.
I have my own creature effects shop, but I'm really not out there.
I'd really like my work to be known and people to see what I can do.
Remember, you may be working as a team, but at the end of the screen test, Brian and the other judges will critique your work as individuals.
I've been working on indie films for years, and because of their constrained times, we're used to being under the pressure and under the gun.
I do have my own studio.
I make creatures for a living, and I've done it for, like, 15 years, so I'm going to win.
[Laughs.]
Respectfully, I'm going to win.
[Laughs.]
The judges and I are looking for believability in your creature.
We want you to very cleverly disguise your performer inside your creature, but make sure the creature is capable of fluid movement, because that's what's really going to bring it to life.
Each week, you'll be mentored by one of our creature shop masters, and your first master is the shop's creative supervisor, Pete Brooke.
Come on in, Pete.
[Cheers and applause.]
Hey, guys.
How are you? Pete is a true master in his field.
He's the top creature designer in the company.
His many, many credits include cats & dogs, Dr.
Dolittle, where the wild things are.
Pete will be on hand to guide you through your process.
Peter Brooke is the man.
I've loved his work for a long time.
Having him in this competition is a dream.
I'm really looking forward to working with you all on this challenge.
Myself and the other masters are basically here as a resource, and we'll be coming around in the next few days just to check on the progress.
So creature designers, Brian, the judges, and I will see you at your screen tests.
See you in two days.
Good luck.
- Bye.
Good luck.
- Bye, guys.
[Applause.]
Okay, guys, good luck.
Let's get going.
You first start out with a sketch.
Draw it out and make it wearable, and then use foam to make the shape of it to cover as much as we can of the person, and then you paint it.
Then after that, you can add eyes, L.
E.
D.
lights, whatever you want.
- Oh, that's beautiful.
- And this crab.
We're definitely on the same page.
- Yes.
- [Both laugh.]
Our creature is inspired by shellfish and crustaceans.
Believability is the most important part of creature design.
If this thing doesn't feel like it could exist somewhere in the world, you failed as a designer.
It might be good to go with something that camouflages in.
That's why it hasn't been seen.
Here's the basis of what we can work with, okay? The first step for me is to think about what position do we want our puppeteer to be in? I'm going to make a board with castors screwed under the bottom so that we can push along.
Once we decided that, we say, "okay, let's design around it.
" So down with that.
So we need to start making this fish tail part.
Russ and I are designing this really cool fish.
We were going to give it somewhere between buck teeth and a beak, so it'll be really wild looking.
We can always, like, have it be whatever shape we want.
I basically grew up in a machine shop.
I worked on about a dozen commercials.
Anything from armor to creatures to props.
I'm much more at home in a studio than I am at a party.
This is good for the underbelly, even if we slice it here.
Tina has put herself in charge.
That's going to need to be strips with a little bit of fabric over it so it can collapse without looking weird and bunched.
She never shuts up long enough for you to get your point across or even get another idea out.
I know you said you wanted it really smooth, but this could be really boring.
We just need to start fabricating.
- [Laughs.]
- Come on.
Oh.
Yeah, we need to start fabricating.
Tina is just gonna be a pain in the ass.
Then you lift up, it opens the mouth.
And that just stays, and it makes a big, like, manta ray kind of opening, - you know? - Yeah.
Our creature is going to be a slug-like creature.
This is the biggest time crunch I've ever worked on.
It's really stressful.
- Clear shells.
- Yeah.
I was going to make big shells, and fabricate them out of the clear plastic.
Our plan is to make something sort of like a crustacean, kind of see-through in the back, kind of like something down deep that hasn't seen sunlight in a long time.
I'm an art director in a casino, and then I do commission work like costumes, props for other people as well.
I originally started doing creatures and things like that when I was little.
We didn't have a lot of money, so I made my own toys.
I made 'em out of tin foil, paper, whatever I could find.
Is there aluminum foil? Because that would be way easier with that.
If I'm building a creature for my studio, I don't use tin foil.
It seems a little bit more the garage way of doing it.
And then do you kind of tape over it with something and then chop it up, or do you - to make it out of foam? - What, the or do you just keep it out of tin foil? Keep it put glue on it, and it gives it this nasty gum look.
Yeah.
Yeah, that is such an interesting technique.
I'm really looking forward to seeing that.
[Laughs.]
And we've got this huge stack of the L200.
So we have to conceal a full-size human inside this creature and make it believable.
The best way to do this is to create that creature out of foam.
Foam is one of the best materials for movement because it's so flexible, so it will bend realistically and move with the actor underneath.
While I'm sculpting the clay head, Ivonne's gonna be making the patterns to build the arms and to build the shell.
Yeah, it's awesome.
It's really beetle-y.
Schwing.
I am sculpting the head out of our block of foam, and then attach it to a helmet.
It's very glamorous, creature art.
I would say that we're at a little bit of a disadvantage.
We have the same kind of education and background, which is not very much foam fabricating.
I've never really made a full body foam creature before.
We might be in a little bit of trouble.
What do you think? I mean, it is what it is at this point.
And keep it flat.
Foam is kind of tricky because it's a subtractive medium.
If you take it away, and you take too much, sometimes, you have to start over.
It's time to do the texturing.
You use a dremel to create the detail to add that little bit of texture to the foam sections.
Tina says she wants to do the detail, so I'm going to kind of defer a little bit and be the grunt.
It's snowing.
- It is snow ah! - Oh.
That was not something we wanted.
Working with Tina is a disaster.
We're burning too much time with mistakes.
This is the perfect recipe for someone to go home week one.
Coming up, on Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge - Aw, [Bleep.]
.
- What? The whole back just broke.
So the challenge is to build an underwater sea creature that's never been seen before.
I think that you're not gonna just do a guy in a rubber suit.
You're gonna want something that really screams "creature.
" - Ah! - Oh.
That was not something we wanted to have happen.
[Coughs.]
I haven't exactly put my foot down yet Here, if you want to clean it off.
But I will be damned if my first creation is going to be half done.
Good luck.
I'll see you in a second.
It's not gonna be from a lack of ass-breaking work on my part.
If we just left it in the fabric to stay down when this comes up? The creature is, like, a simple crustacean, thousands and thousands of years old.
Like, it really hasn't evolved very much.
Although I'm best at mechanical design, machining, our creature is kind of like soft foam, and it's just bendy, so we can make something that's relatively simple but that has some bells and whistles to make it stand out.
Things are going very well with Josh.
The guy's a ninja with hot glue.
It's really wondrous for me 'cause, you know, tin foil and hot glue, I'd never use that for a finished piece, but it looks absolutely fantastic.
How much do we want this thing to wobble? I don't know about wobble.
Russ and I are talking about how to make the tail.
We're gonna have a mechanism, so as the puppeteer sways their hips, the tail will go back and forth, and it's that tail that really brings this thing to life.
Just barge-cemented or stuck on, and then with flesh around it sandwiched in.
I'm not sure what you're talking about.
Uh Tina and I are having major communication issues.
I thought you wanted this to overlap, and you wanted this to be apart.
What are you talking about? With Tina, what's going on in her head is not coming out of her mouth.
I'm talking about making it like a lobster tail which overlaps.
You're killing me.
You realize that? So put the helmet on the dummy, and then mark it and start carving it so that you can glue it to the helmet.
I'm really excited to work with Ivonne.
She's a fantastic technician, and she definitely has a lot of shop experience.
I been in the business for ten years.
First movie that I worked on was spider-man 2.
I have done a lot of commercials, but I am here to win.
I don't want anybody to fail, but I don't want to be a failure either.
- You said 3/4 for - That's not what I said at all.
It's okay, just do what you think artistically looks like an organic creature tail.
- So it looks like a tail.
- No, I'm done, I'm done.
- I'm done.
- Don't be done.
We can wrap this in fabric, - and we'll be fine.
- I'm done discussing it.
It's towards the end of the night, and then Tina changes the design again.
I had just done all this work, and now I have to rip it all off and start again.
You know, I-I just mm yeah hey, guys, it's time! It's time, we're done.
So much to do tomorrow.
Are the hot glue guns plugged in? They're gonna take a minute to heat up.
- Start dremeling.
- Awesome.
I could have handled things better yesterday.
I just don't know how.
I'm trying to hold it together.
I'm trying to not be that guy.
Fit tentacles into back of body, add spandex.
I would say I have some formal training and some informal training.
I've definitely picked up a lot of techniques working in effects shops around Hollywood, working on some awesome commercials, movies, and TV shows.
I think that does give me kind of an advantage over some people here.
[Chuckles.]
I started out in theatre, and then got an internship with an effects and fabrication company, and I just absorbed everything.
I may not have all the experience some of the other contestants have, but I'm a beast under pressure.
Like, under that fire, like, I'm forged.
Comes through and it goes out the other side.
- Yeah.
- Hey, Josh.
Hey, Lex.
Having Pete Brooke, the head guy for Henson's, actually coming and looking at something that Josh that I are making, it's, like, really exciting.
So it has three sets of eyes.
The two big ones are red, and they kind of capture infrared.
So you're already thinking about story.
- Both: Yes.
- Good call.
How's the performer gonna move? - He performs - He's gonna be like a crab.
It kind of rears up, and it's got - that kind of warning red belly.
- Like a cobra.
It is very challenging time-wise, - but good team.
- Oh, yeah.
- Yes.
- Good team? It's important.
In our shop, it's all about teamwork.
- Yeah.
- So that's great.
- Good luck today.
- Thank you very much.
See ya.
Neither of us are foam fabricators, so this is a challenge for us.
Absolutely.
No, I get that.
He'll have a giant mouth.
The actors head'll lift up on the upper part of the mouth.
The bottom part will stay on the ground.
It wouldn't be a bad idea, you know, to actually see if it's going to work and move.
- Absolutely.
- It's about selling the whole thing as a believable creature really, and that includes the performance.
Things like lights, and all these little details, judges will dig all that.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Good, I'm hoping.
It's sort of a cross between a angler fish and a coelacanth.
- Now, how does that mouth move? - The puppeteer will have one hand here, and then the top of the head - will be mounted on the helmet.
- All right.
And then their other hand will be operating these fins.
It's been partially textured.
We need to finish up structure around the eyes, - airbrush and paint.
- Okay.
Time management, as you can imagine, is important.
Both of you have got to be, like, okay with the creature - when it's finished.
- Yeah.
How do you feel, Russ, at the moment? - Um - Are you working good together? Yeah, yeah.
I think we're doing all right.
For the sake of the build ahead, I told Pete that we were fine, but - how's it going? - Melissa, Ben.
- Hey, how's it going, man? - [Laughs.]
These shapes are really nice.
Beautiful shapes.
But they're gonna want believability.
There's a lot of parts to our creature that are coming together slowly, and when you're looking at it all spread apart, you really don't know what you're looking at.
Well, I'm be really interested to see how it turns out.
- [Laughter.]
- Me too.
- Nice, lovely shapes.
- What I mean, is this it? - No.
- No, it's getting bigger.
- Ah, okay.
- Everything is just - being painted.
- There's gonna be more modeling and colors over top of it.
This is lovely, but you've only got - until the end of today.
- Yes.
So if you think this needs a ton more paint, - go ahead, be my guest.
- Right, right.
- Of course, of course.
- But this isn't bad.
Pete Brooke has designed some of the coolest things that Henson has ever done, in my opinion.
I really enjoyed getting his commentary on our piece.
Thank you so much for your input.
- Okay, good luck.
- Awesome, have a good morning.
Thank you so much for your input.
- Okay, good luck.
- Awesome, have a good morning.
- Thank you very much.
- See you.
You got nowhere to put your hands, right, because they're all on the fabric.
Right.
Chaz and Robert's creature, it's obvious that it's a little bit difficult to perform in there.
I mean, you're gonna be doing, like, pushup-style walk, you know? There's multiple levels of challenge when it comes to a full-body creature suit.
I'm thinking about the puppeteer, about the movement they can get out of it.
How long is he gonna be on stage? How long does he have to endure this? It's really difficult in there.
I don't really have any experience with full body creatures that go onto an actor.
I really hope our puppeteer can pull this thing off.
Coming up, on Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge The way you two work together is really pretty appalling.
You could have put your foot down.
I just really don't want to go home.
I need this opportunity.
Let's cut a hole for your arms and attach your arm tentacles and try it again, and then see what we got to do.
I'm a mechanical kind of guy, but there isn't a lot of time to work out an idea for making things move around, especially for somebody not comfortable in foam.
Russ and I are dividing up duties.
The tension's left a bit, but we still have to get everything done, and we lost some time.
Cut it from behind.
It'll be way easier.
We're adding some fur at the bottom, and it's a risky choice, just for the fact that it's fur on an underwater creature.
But the way we want to cut it, and the way we want to lay it to the shell, is gonna make it look like water is passing through little tiny membranes and tentacles, and we're hoping to get a really cool fluid effect out of it.
I feel like this would exist in a Henson world.
Yeah.
Let me know when I'm good to take the head off of there.
- I'm going to start painting it.
- You know I'm thinking now it's time.
I was a little worried, 'cause I didn't know what Jake could do.
I mean, he's young.
People are definitely gonna count me out immediately because I'm 21, and I may not have worked in shops, or been out to L.
A.
, but I think that's gonna work for me because it gives me a chance to push harder and show what I can do is right up to the level of what anyone else can do.
We're doing good.
We're jamming.
You're so positive.
Jake and Ivonne's creature looks kind of more alien-like than a creature that you would find on the bottom of the ocean, but it's really well done, really well painted.
Ooh, this side here, it's all visible, and up down to the knees.
We need to just fix where all these bits connect.
There just needs to be something there.
Got some nice bits, but we're lacking the details right now.
And I'd like to do really pretty airbrush work.
Whether we have time for that is another thing.
Hey, guys, 30 minutes till we pack up, and we're done.
30 minutes.
- Creepy, huh? - I like it.
That's what we wanted.
That's what we wanted.
I had an idea early on that if our puppeteer's gonna be dragging himself around on his belly, it's going to be nice to have wheels.
Ben, he was the one that acted on it, not me.
We are at the 11th hour.
We're not gonna be able to pull a cart off at this point.
That's great.
No, that's fantastic.
- [Laughs.]
- [Growls.]
Oh! Oh, let me just put one pin in.
That's time! Everybody, drop what you're doing.
Time is up.
Okay, designers, this week's build is officially over.
Tomorrow is the first screen test, so good luck.
- [Sighs.]
- Aye.
I am very, very nervous about tomorrow.
We have an hour to rehearse and fill in the finishing touches.
I just hope it all goes smoothly.
Both: [Imitating explosion.]
- Ah, fishy, fishy, fishy.
- Let's get to work.
Today is our first screen test.
- Hi.
- Hi! We only have one hour to rehearse with our professional performer.
We're gonna kind of start to go over some movement, and also what you can do, 'cause I'm sure you can bring - some cool ideas to the table.
- Yeah.
You can see out of this and/or the mouth.
Better head movement.
You get a nice jaw wiggle.
We got a nice, easy release.
Velcro straps at the side.
I would recommend aiming for the backpack first, because then we can ease the helmet - down onto you.
- Okay.
This is the basic orientation, right? You just lay down.
This is gonna be head-first.
Let me just snap this chin strap.
Direct it down for you.
I've got one arm, okay.
Can you see my feet? All right, give the mouth a test.
Looking good.
And then you can stick your finger in the foam there.
- Can you feel that? - Yes, I can.
I've worked with so many puppeteers before.
The team of puppeteers that were available to us were top notch.
Very praying mantis.
Yes, that's perfect.
- Do you want to take it off? - Let me out for a sec.
- Sure, let me help you.
- Okay.
This is really lopping to the side.
- We have to fix this.
- I'm gonna go in - with some gaffer's.
- Gaffer's not strong enough.
The original glue has given way, and we're having ribs pop, pop, pop, one at a time.
I am freaking out trying to put some of the adhesive in those areas and hoping that we have enough time to dry it.
It broke because it's two pieces.
Yeah.
Well, I'm no, I'm agreeing with you in that all of the sections gives it that many more well, if you're gonna but if you're gonna agree with me, - then [Bleep.]
agree with me.
- I did.
I'm trying to tell you it's one piece - Yeah, and I'm - is the way it should have been designed.
I don't - Yeah, and I'm - is the way it should have been designed.
I don't but that's really boring.
[Chuckles.]
I am just praying we can get everything done in time.
So we're going to flip it, and we're gonna glue the other side, and we're gonna press on, and we're gonna do this in a professional manner.
All right.
It looks fantastic.
Glad we got your measurements.
It's perfect.
And this one has a little bit of a grip on you, in case you're having any sliding problems - with that one being soft.
- Okay.
It's a method for him to feel and to pick things up and bring it to his mouth.
- I'm already overheated.
- I don't know how he feels at all.
- You can come on out.
- Ooh, ooh.
I'm gonna get my eye poked.
It's okay, don't worry about it.
- Yep.
- You got six at the top.
- You're all right.
- Yeah, you're good.
[Laughs.]
- Excellent, excellent.
- Good? - You ready to go to the bank? - [Laughter.]
Help her with the arms.
May I have that arm? I need to do some quick stitching on it.
Is there anything you want me not to do with it? - Don't stand up.
- We were thinking, yeah, maybe doing a kind of rear, but yeah, the creature doesn't want to walk.
It's right in front of your toes.
If you kneel forward, you'll hit it.
One second.
- Is there a wheel - There's a wheel facing the wrong way probably.
Think something got caught under it.
- Aw, [Bleep.]
.
- What? The whole back just broke.
Hey, guys, time's up.
It's time to head out there.
- Oh, son of a bitch.
- Well, I hid the cracks.
It's not going to keep it from falling apart onstage.
Creature designers, welcome to our very own working set right here at the Henson sound stage.
In keeping with your creature brief, the screen test set behind you has an underwater theme.
Each week, the set will change.
What won't change is our lineup of regular judges.
First, one of the most respected creature designers in the business.
He's famous for making creatures that are seen in gremlins, return of the jedi, and star trek.
Welcome Kirk Thatcher.
- [Applause.]
- Thank you.
Kirk Thatcher is awesome.
He's everything that I want in this competition.
Next, a creature fabricator whose work has spanned film and television, her many credits include Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and the chronicles of narnia, please welcome Beth Hathaway.
- [Cheers and applause.]
- Hi, everybody.
Beth Hathaway has worked on movies that are known for their special effects.
And of course, chairman of the Henson company, and our head judge, Brian Henson.
- [Applause.]
- Hey, guys.
Now remember, guys, the judges are looking at how original and believable your ocean floor creatures are, and how well you bring them to life.
The challenge was to create an underwater sea creature caught in a submarine's searchlight.
You worked in pairs, but you'll be judged as individuals.
I'm so nervous.
I had never built anything to be in front of a camera.
What it looks like in person, and what it looks like on screen are two totally different things.
It's time for the screen test.
Everyone take a seat.
All right, stand by.
Screen test, Ben and Melissa.
Action, Dolly.
Action, creature.
Our creature looks awesome.
The color scheme all blends nicely, in my opinion.
I like our creature.
I feel like it's the perfect baby between Ben and I.
Back to one.
Screen test, Tina and Russ.
Action, creature.
All I'm thinking is, "this thing is gonna disintegrate in front of the judges.
" I could see some of the flaws, but everything that I was really concerned about, like the fins working, worked great.
Cut on the screen test.
Screen test, Ivonne and Jake.
Action, creature.
I really hope he makes it across without any problems.
It's one thing to see your creature on a shop floor, but to see him emote through an environment is just awesome.
Cut, reset.
Screen test, Chaz and Robert.
Action, creature.
I think our creature is the most Henson-esque creature, in that it's half realism and half cartoon.
[Laughter.]
I'm just wanting this first challenge to be over with.
This is not my comfort zone.
I'm stressing it.
Resetting, back to one.
Screen test, Josh and Lex.
Action, creature.
He rears up, and he's just all menacing looking.
Perfect.
I'm feeling pretty confident, but you never know where it's gonna go.
Cut.
That concludes our screen tests.
Let's talk to our designers.
Melissa and Ben, can you start by telling us a little bit about your creature? This is the Scuttleslurp.
All of his little feelers and tentacles he uses to sort through all the particulates and find his food.
Who did what? What was the division of labor? I took on the head with soft foam.
So I fabricated the body.
I had an early idea about putting her on wheels, and based on that, we then said, "what can we work around based on the puppeteer's position?" Yeah, I thought that was very successful.
Is it male or a female? It does not have a definite gender.
It will actually lay an egg that holds its sentience in it, so they live for hundreds and hundreds of years.
You've thought about this.
- Wow, yeah.
- I'm impressed.
The eyes being so small concerns me, 'cause if you're in an environment where there's no light, a small eye is an odd choice.
This thing doesn't really use its eyes all that much.
They're devolving, and we chose the color with that light, very pale blue, almost like cataracts.
They're not really functional anymore.
They're almost vestigial.
The moment it walks in, there is a feeling of ancientness which I think is impressive.
I think overall in our critique, it's pretty positive.
- Thank you, Ben and Melissa.
- Thank you so much.
Ivonne and Jake, why don't you tell us a bit about your creature? He's an ancient creature that lives deep within the trenches.
- That's why he's dark in color.
- We name them "Shellrock.
" The thing that I don't particularly understand is the face, because it looks so humanoid.
Well, I wanted him to have a little bit more intelligence than your average sea creature.
It just seems the head is really big, and the body's really small.
He seems kind of top heavy to me.
Here's a big, odd thing for me.
You would swear that there's a perfectly proportioned person in there that's 3'5".
The idea was to disguise that you've put a person in the creature, and somehow or another, you've come out with something that looks like a person.
The judges gave a lot of constructive criticism, but it was things that could push you to do work better.
- Thank you, guys.
- Thank you.
Lex and Josh, can you tell us a little bit about your creature please? Okay, well, this handsome fellow here is the devil prong, so named for his pronged tail.
The lights on his back are pretty much to attract prey in the dark.
- I worked on the head.
- It's actually made out of aluminum foil and hot glue.
- Really? - [Laughs.]
- Mm-hmm.
- With upholstery foam.
- Really impressive.
- Overall, I really like his movement.
I like the way he can stand up and strike.
You really successfully hid the person in there, particularly the front arms.
Very often, there's an elbow joint or something that gives it away, and I think the design really helped.
It's very ambitious and bold how many textures you have going on here, it's impressive.
You've built a very complex creature in a remarkably short amount of time.
[Laughs.]
Yeah.
We're pretty confident.
They really seemed to like our piece.
- Thanks, guys.
- Thank you so much.
Chaz and Robert, can you tell us a little bit about your creature? Well, his name's Floyd, and he's kind of just got one question, and it's "food?" I sculpted out the body, and Chaz built the face.
My overall impression is it's very cartoony.
Going with the big eyes, and kind of the big grin, I mean, I kept thinking of H.
R.
Pufnstuf.
What kind of direction did you give the performer? We wanted him to stay low with the bottom jaw to the ground, so when he lifts up his head, that gives more of the snappy action.
It seems like he's working really hard to make that happen.
All right.
It's clearly really hard work.
I think it's far too much that you're demanding from a performer.
Are you okay in there, performer? - We should get him out of there.
- Here.
I got the head.
[Cheers and applause.]
I thought our creature was the most Henson-esque creature, which I thought would be good, and it ultimately didn't work in our favor.
Russ and Tina, can you tell us about your creature? Well, this lovely lady's name is Ethel, Ethel the - gutter tuna.
- [Laughter.]
She just sort of floats about with her jaw open and then Kills what she needs to.
Overall, the design was very effective.
It looked like a fish.
In terms of originality, it looked like a fish.
What was that process with the two of you for, "well, we're gonna make it a fish"? How did that break down? Russ.
There were some things that I would have loved to do - to punch it up.
- But why did that not happen? You know, you can only talk over somebody so often.
- Um, excuse me? - And so was it disagreement or just time? Obviously, you're working on a tight clock.
You can only talk over somebody so often.
- Um, excuse me? - And I had hoped that you would have spoken up more, would've helped in certain areas.
- I know I can be Gabby, but - Gabby doesn't cover it.
I mean, I don't want to throw anybody under the bus, but I was trying to be political.
- It's not working.
- And every single time, I said, "what do you think of this?" - And stared at you.
- Yeah.
And you said that was good.
- Okay, thank you.
- Thanks.
The fact that you guys weren't on the same page has translated through to the creature, and it looks kind of like two different creatures going on.
From the jaw down, it's just sort of a washout, because that could never be shot.
There's an awful lot of detail work that does look good, but clearly, there was a lot of friction and disagreement between the two of you, and when that happens, the fewest ideas go into the creature.
Yes, sir.
I wish I had just kept my mouth shut.
This is not the impression I wanted to leave Brian Henson and the other judges with.
- Thank you, Tina and Russ.
- Thank you.
Thank you, creature designers.
The judges have a lot to discuss.
We're gonna ask you to wait it out in the Henson screening room.
So that was intense.
When you're in a collaboration, it has to be a meeting of the minds, and you know, but when you walk into the situation saying, "I have no idea what to do.
" There were no ideas shared.
The sketches alone show that.
I'm a big girl.
You could have put your foot down.
Who the [Bleep.]
cares? - Falling apart right now? - Yes.
- Is that a big girl? - I just really don't want to go home.
I need this opportunity.
You keep going on about how professional you are, and so on, and so forth.
Throwing me in front of the bus, as it's called.
That is the last thing I wanted to do - in front of Brian Henson.
- I didn't want to be a fool in front of those people either.
Well, first of all, I'm incredibly impressed with what these ten people did in two days.
- Two days, yeah.
- Yes.
- No, it's amazing really.
- Yeah.
A costume character like this would be weeks.
Let's start with Ben and Melissa, their Scuttleslurp.
I know I was pretty impressed with this.
- I haven't seen that creature.
- I agree, and he doesn't look like a fish, which is nice.
- He looks different.
- Yeah.
There was a logic to it.
It looked organic.
I thought they made some really intelligent, cautious choices.
They didn't try to put in a working mouth.
They hid it underneath the cilia.
They were smart, I thought, with a lot of their choices.
Yeah, didn't look like a man in a suit to me.
Okay, let's move on to Josh and Lex's devil prong.
- This is a great team.
- It shows.
- It transferred.
- I mean, it is a really interesting design.
Josh was very involved in the face and the mouth, which I actually was impressed that he made the mandibles - out of tin foil and - Tin foil and what? - Mattress foam.
- Foam? Mattress foam.
- That's really remarkable.
- This is a fabrication dream, this, because nothing was sculpted.
It was all just made out of rubber bands and shoe laces, basically.
They did something very ambitious, and because they work so well as a team, they really did produce something impressive.
Let's move on to Jake and Ivonne's Shellrock.
As far as originality goes, I've never seen anything like it before, but I don't know that it seems like something I would see on the bottom of the ocean.
If you gave it more of a fish face or a, you know, a crustacean face, but it was very human, two eyes and mouth.
They ended up with perfectly human proportions.
To me, it looks anthropomorphic.
Clearly, the performer's moving around on their knees, which is not a great thing to ever do to something if you want it to move with any sort of grace.
Still, you look at it, it's impressive - for two days, though.
[Laughs.]
- Absolutely.
Let's move on to Chaz and Robert's Floyd.
Two things really killed it for me for believability.
The glowing eyes and that mouth.
That was a big, cartoony muppet mouth.
- [Laughs.]
- I would even be if someone walked in with a muppet with that mouth, and you're like, "it moves, right?" And they go, "oh, I'm sorry, he doesn't move.
He rolls around the floor," I'd be like you could tell the man in the suit was suffering.
Look at what they were asking a performer to do.
- Oh, yeah.
- With your arms, you have to move all three arms, and then, you have to pull your body weight and the whole suit with you.
You're gonna have an actor passing out on set.
- That's what I would yeah.
- Which very nearly happened.
Chaz in particular was responsible for the face? Yeah, and Robert basically did the body.
And I think the body was more successful.
Oddly, when it wasn't moving, I thought it was very successful in concept, - when it didn't move at all.
- Yeah.
Well, then, that's a really good prop.
- No, exactly right.
- Yeah.
It can't just be a good photograph.
It has to be a good movie.
Well, let's move on to Tina and Russ, Ethel.
- Ethel.
- [Sighs.]
- That was some real fireworks.
- Yes, it was.
It's always uncomfortable watching a team - fall apart to that degree.
- And it's the most unprofessional thing in the world.
To me, there wasn't a lot of originality there, because it looked like a fish.
'Cause it's a fish.
- It's a fish.
- A fish that walks around on the bottom of the ocean? If it was a school play, you'd go, "oh, that's great.
" - Yeah.
- But, you know, we're talking professional creature builders here.
But on the plus side, you can see that they're both skilled craftsmen.
Right, that's what was interesting.
- Yes.
- Good paint job, good eyes.
They didn't light 'em up, which I liked.
- And the fins did move.
- And there were some cool textures back here in the back.
But just some fundamental flaws in the design and on the execution and performance.
Again, from the personality clash, yeah.
Yeah.
I think we're all in agreement then? - It's tough, but I agree.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Well, we should bring 'em back in.
Creature designers, one of you will win this week's challenge, and one of you will be eliminated.
Melissa and Ben, Ivonne and Jake [Dramatic music.]
You're safe.
You can return to the screening room.
- Good work, guys.
- Both: Thank you so much.
[Dramatic music.]
One creature received the highest praise from all the judges.
The judges and I were most impressed with One creature received the highest praise from all the judges.
The judges and I were most impressed with Lex and Josh's devil prong.
- Thank you, sir.
- Really ambitious, but very, very well executed.
The fact that you work so wonderfully well together as a team made it kind of hard for us to pick a favorite designer out of the two of you.
But ultimately, the way the character entered frame with those great antennas that you created, and the mandibles, and the materials that were used, Josh, you win this week.
- [Applause.]
- [Laughs.]
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
[Laughs.]
Congratulations, both of you.
You can head back to the screening room.
I can't believe I won using aluminum foil and hot glue.
It shocked me.
The judges were not as impressed with your work this week, and one of you will be eliminated.
Tina and Russ You're safe.
We will see you next week.
[Whispers.]
Thank you.
Hey, guys, before you go, though, I just want to say, the way you two work together as a team was really pretty appalling, very, very unprofessional.
- Yes.
- You're here by the skin of your teeth.
- Yes, sir.
- All right? Thank you.
To hear Brian say how poorly we work together as a team, it was a kick to the stomach.
I'm so relieved to still be in the competition.
I want to prove that I really have what it takes, and I can be very professional.
[Dramatic music.]
That leaves Chaz and Robert.
One of you will be eliminated.
Guys, we were really unimpressed with your creature.
Chaz, your work on the face and head was very unbelievable, particularly the treatment of the big mouth.
Robert, you were responsible for the body, and the moving of the body was almost impossible for the performer inside.
So Chaz and Robert, the eliminated creature designer is Chaz.
Robert, you can head back to the screening room.
Chaz, I'm really sorry to see you go.
You're clearly a really talented guy.
That's fine.
I started with my smallest skill set unfortunately, but it's fair enough.
- Take care, Chaz.
- Thank you, guys.
All right.
It's kind of bittersweet to be the fist person gone because this was a tremendous opportunity.
but somebody has to leave today, and somebody's gonna have to leave each time until there's one person left.
- [Growls.]
Half a century ago, my father, Jim Henson, founded the Jim Henson company and brought to life some of the most iconic creatures ever seen onscreen - [Roars.]
- [Screeches.]
Beloved by audiences of every generation.
- The creature has no way out.
- [Roars.]
- And All right, ready.
- Oh, spectacular.
Only the most extraordinary artists in the industry are capable of designing, building, and breathing life into these creatures for Hollywood's biggest blockbusters.
Friend.
And it all takes place at the world renowned Jim Henson studios.
Now, we're looking for the next generation of creature designers.
This competition is the craziest thing - I've ever done in my life.
- Ah! Ooh.
Oh, my gosh! Gigi! My name is Gigi Edgley, and I'm your host for the Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge.
Okay, so she played Chiana on Farscape which my family and I watched every week.
One of the key people who have continued the Henson legacy is his son.
He's been involved with some of the most famous creature teams onscreen.
Please welcome Brian Henson.
[Cheers and applause.]
- Oh, my God, it's Brian Henson.
- [Laughs.]
I can't wait to see you put your skills to the test.
The winner will win a contract to work as a creature designer right here in our creature shop.
- Oh, my gosh.
- [All reacting and clapping.]
Getting the job at Jim Henson's Creature Shop would really change my life.
I want to be a part of that legacy.
I want to be part of things that people grow up on.
This is the pinnacle, and we all want it.
Whoa.
Ten talented artists will design and build their own creatures for a series of screen tests.
Take one.
[Growls.]
- Ah! - Ah! [Laughter.]
My name is Solee.
[Grunts.]
[Creatures growling.]
Filmed on the Henson sound stage, and judged by a panel of industry experts, creature designer, Kirk Thatcher Looks like grinch and E.
T.
had a baby.
Creature fabricator, Beth Hathaway Could you not have just used real feathers? And me, chairman of the Jim Henson company, Brian Henson.
The way you worked together was really pretty appalling.
- You guys will have three days.
- [Screams.]
Only one will be awarded the job of their dreams You could have put your foot down.
- Who the [Bleep.]
cares? - Falling apart right now? You could have put your foot down.
- Who the [Bleep.]
cares? - Falling apart right now? [Bleep.]
Disintegrate right here.
We might be in trouble.
And win a prize package worth $100,000, including a coveted job working for Jim Henson's Creature Shop This is Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge.
[Dramatic music.]
Walking to the creature shop, I don't really know what to expect, and I'm just out-of-my-mind excited.
[Gasps.]
My childhood was created here.
This is where all the magic happens.
This is where all the creatures come to life.
Hi, creature designers.
Come on over.
Let's get straight into your first creature brief.
I have no idea what to expect, but I'm just ready to create.
This week we want you guys to imagine a world never before seen by man, three miles below the ocean's surface, where creatures have evolved that are every shape, color, and underwater function that you can think of.
Your first brief is to design and create an original sea creature that is discovered on the ocean floor by a submarine searchlight.
You must build a full-bodied creature that completely conceals your performer inside.
This is awesome.
You think about environment this creature lives in, what it preys on, what it eats, it makes your mind just run wild.
In the industry, these builds can take many, many weeks.
It's true.
You only have two days.
So you'll be working in teams of two to maximize your time.
I love working in teams.
I think it's very important.
In this industry, you always work in a team.
I'm currently working for Walt Disney world working on animatronics.
Henson company, they're the best of the best.
Jim Henson is better than Disney.
Oh, God, I'm gonna get fired.
Your teams have been assigned randomly.
Melissa and Ben, Russ and Tina, Jake and Ivonne, Chaz and Robert, and so that leaves Lex and Josh.
It's really nice to have two people 'cause if somebody does specialize a little bit more than another one, then at least you've got both bases covered.
I have my own creature effects shop, but I'm really not out there.
I'd really like my work to be known and people to see what I can do.
Remember, you may be working as a team, but at the end of the screen test, Brian and the other judges will critique your work as individuals.
I've been working on indie films for years, and because of their constrained times, we're used to being under the pressure and under the gun.
I do have my own studio.
I make creatures for a living, and I've done it for, like, 15 years, so I'm going to win.
[Laughs.]
Respectfully, I'm going to win.
[Laughs.]
The judges and I are looking for believability in your creature.
We want you to very cleverly disguise your performer inside your creature, but make sure the creature is capable of fluid movement, because that's what's really going to bring it to life.
Each week, you'll be mentored by one of our creature shop masters, and your first master is the shop's creative supervisor, Pete Brooke.
Come on in, Pete.
[Cheers and applause.]
Hey, guys.
How are you? Pete is a true master in his field.
He's the top creature designer in the company.
His many, many credits include cats & dogs, Dr.
Dolittle, where the wild things are.
Pete will be on hand to guide you through your process.
Peter Brooke is the man.
I've loved his work for a long time.
Having him in this competition is a dream.
I'm really looking forward to working with you all on this challenge.
Myself and the other masters are basically here as a resource, and we'll be coming around in the next few days just to check on the progress.
So creature designers, Brian, the judges, and I will see you at your screen tests.
See you in two days.
Good luck.
- Bye.
Good luck.
- Bye, guys.
[Applause.]
Okay, guys, good luck.
Let's get going.
You first start out with a sketch.
Draw it out and make it wearable, and then use foam to make the shape of it to cover as much as we can of the person, and then you paint it.
Then after that, you can add eyes, L.
E.
D.
lights, whatever you want.
- Oh, that's beautiful.
- And this crab.
We're definitely on the same page.
- Yes.
- [Both laugh.]
Our creature is inspired by shellfish and crustaceans.
Believability is the most important part of creature design.
If this thing doesn't feel like it could exist somewhere in the world, you failed as a designer.
It might be good to go with something that camouflages in.
That's why it hasn't been seen.
Here's the basis of what we can work with, okay? The first step for me is to think about what position do we want our puppeteer to be in? I'm going to make a board with castors screwed under the bottom so that we can push along.
Once we decided that, we say, "okay, let's design around it.
" So down with that.
So we need to start making this fish tail part.
Russ and I are designing this really cool fish.
We were going to give it somewhere between buck teeth and a beak, so it'll be really wild looking.
We can always, like, have it be whatever shape we want.
I basically grew up in a machine shop.
I worked on about a dozen commercials.
Anything from armor to creatures to props.
I'm much more at home in a studio than I am at a party.
This is good for the underbelly, even if we slice it here.
Tina has put herself in charge.
That's going to need to be strips with a little bit of fabric over it so it can collapse without looking weird and bunched.
She never shuts up long enough for you to get your point across or even get another idea out.
I know you said you wanted it really smooth, but this could be really boring.
We just need to start fabricating.
- [Laughs.]
- Come on.
Oh.
Yeah, we need to start fabricating.
Tina is just gonna be a pain in the ass.
Then you lift up, it opens the mouth.
And that just stays, and it makes a big, like, manta ray kind of opening, - you know? - Yeah.
Our creature is going to be a slug-like creature.
This is the biggest time crunch I've ever worked on.
It's really stressful.
- Clear shells.
- Yeah.
I was going to make big shells, and fabricate them out of the clear plastic.
Our plan is to make something sort of like a crustacean, kind of see-through in the back, kind of like something down deep that hasn't seen sunlight in a long time.
I'm an art director in a casino, and then I do commission work like costumes, props for other people as well.
I originally started doing creatures and things like that when I was little.
We didn't have a lot of money, so I made my own toys.
I made 'em out of tin foil, paper, whatever I could find.
Is there aluminum foil? Because that would be way easier with that.
If I'm building a creature for my studio, I don't use tin foil.
It seems a little bit more the garage way of doing it.
And then do you kind of tape over it with something and then chop it up, or do you - to make it out of foam? - What, the or do you just keep it out of tin foil? Keep it put glue on it, and it gives it this nasty gum look.
Yeah.
Yeah, that is such an interesting technique.
I'm really looking forward to seeing that.
[Laughs.]
And we've got this huge stack of the L200.
So we have to conceal a full-size human inside this creature and make it believable.
The best way to do this is to create that creature out of foam.
Foam is one of the best materials for movement because it's so flexible, so it will bend realistically and move with the actor underneath.
While I'm sculpting the clay head, Ivonne's gonna be making the patterns to build the arms and to build the shell.
Yeah, it's awesome.
It's really beetle-y.
Schwing.
I am sculpting the head out of our block of foam, and then attach it to a helmet.
It's very glamorous, creature art.
I would say that we're at a little bit of a disadvantage.
We have the same kind of education and background, which is not very much foam fabricating.
I've never really made a full body foam creature before.
We might be in a little bit of trouble.
What do you think? I mean, it is what it is at this point.
And keep it flat.
Foam is kind of tricky because it's a subtractive medium.
If you take it away, and you take too much, sometimes, you have to start over.
It's time to do the texturing.
You use a dremel to create the detail to add that little bit of texture to the foam sections.
Tina says she wants to do the detail, so I'm going to kind of defer a little bit and be the grunt.
It's snowing.
- It is snow ah! - Oh.
That was not something we wanted.
Working with Tina is a disaster.
We're burning too much time with mistakes.
This is the perfect recipe for someone to go home week one.
Coming up, on Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge - Aw, [Bleep.]
.
- What? The whole back just broke.
So the challenge is to build an underwater sea creature that's never been seen before.
I think that you're not gonna just do a guy in a rubber suit.
You're gonna want something that really screams "creature.
" - Ah! - Oh.
That was not something we wanted to have happen.
[Coughs.]
I haven't exactly put my foot down yet Here, if you want to clean it off.
But I will be damned if my first creation is going to be half done.
Good luck.
I'll see you in a second.
It's not gonna be from a lack of ass-breaking work on my part.
If we just left it in the fabric to stay down when this comes up? The creature is, like, a simple crustacean, thousands and thousands of years old.
Like, it really hasn't evolved very much.
Although I'm best at mechanical design, machining, our creature is kind of like soft foam, and it's just bendy, so we can make something that's relatively simple but that has some bells and whistles to make it stand out.
Things are going very well with Josh.
The guy's a ninja with hot glue.
It's really wondrous for me 'cause, you know, tin foil and hot glue, I'd never use that for a finished piece, but it looks absolutely fantastic.
How much do we want this thing to wobble? I don't know about wobble.
Russ and I are talking about how to make the tail.
We're gonna have a mechanism, so as the puppeteer sways their hips, the tail will go back and forth, and it's that tail that really brings this thing to life.
Just barge-cemented or stuck on, and then with flesh around it sandwiched in.
I'm not sure what you're talking about.
Uh Tina and I are having major communication issues.
I thought you wanted this to overlap, and you wanted this to be apart.
What are you talking about? With Tina, what's going on in her head is not coming out of her mouth.
I'm talking about making it like a lobster tail which overlaps.
You're killing me.
You realize that? So put the helmet on the dummy, and then mark it and start carving it so that you can glue it to the helmet.
I'm really excited to work with Ivonne.
She's a fantastic technician, and she definitely has a lot of shop experience.
I been in the business for ten years.
First movie that I worked on was spider-man 2.
I have done a lot of commercials, but I am here to win.
I don't want anybody to fail, but I don't want to be a failure either.
- You said 3/4 for - That's not what I said at all.
It's okay, just do what you think artistically looks like an organic creature tail.
- So it looks like a tail.
- No, I'm done, I'm done.
- I'm done.
- Don't be done.
We can wrap this in fabric, - and we'll be fine.
- I'm done discussing it.
It's towards the end of the night, and then Tina changes the design again.
I had just done all this work, and now I have to rip it all off and start again.
You know, I-I just mm yeah hey, guys, it's time! It's time, we're done.
So much to do tomorrow.
Are the hot glue guns plugged in? They're gonna take a minute to heat up.
- Start dremeling.
- Awesome.
I could have handled things better yesterday.
I just don't know how.
I'm trying to hold it together.
I'm trying to not be that guy.
Fit tentacles into back of body, add spandex.
I would say I have some formal training and some informal training.
I've definitely picked up a lot of techniques working in effects shops around Hollywood, working on some awesome commercials, movies, and TV shows.
I think that does give me kind of an advantage over some people here.
[Chuckles.]
I started out in theatre, and then got an internship with an effects and fabrication company, and I just absorbed everything.
I may not have all the experience some of the other contestants have, but I'm a beast under pressure.
Like, under that fire, like, I'm forged.
Comes through and it goes out the other side.
- Yeah.
- Hey, Josh.
Hey, Lex.
Having Pete Brooke, the head guy for Henson's, actually coming and looking at something that Josh that I are making, it's, like, really exciting.
So it has three sets of eyes.
The two big ones are red, and they kind of capture infrared.
So you're already thinking about story.
- Both: Yes.
- Good call.
How's the performer gonna move? - He performs - He's gonna be like a crab.
It kind of rears up, and it's got - that kind of warning red belly.
- Like a cobra.
It is very challenging time-wise, - but good team.
- Oh, yeah.
- Yes.
- Good team? It's important.
In our shop, it's all about teamwork.
- Yeah.
- So that's great.
- Good luck today.
- Thank you very much.
See ya.
Neither of us are foam fabricators, so this is a challenge for us.
Absolutely.
No, I get that.
He'll have a giant mouth.
The actors head'll lift up on the upper part of the mouth.
The bottom part will stay on the ground.
It wouldn't be a bad idea, you know, to actually see if it's going to work and move.
- Absolutely.
- It's about selling the whole thing as a believable creature really, and that includes the performance.
Things like lights, and all these little details, judges will dig all that.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Good, I'm hoping.
It's sort of a cross between a angler fish and a coelacanth.
- Now, how does that mouth move? - The puppeteer will have one hand here, and then the top of the head - will be mounted on the helmet.
- All right.
And then their other hand will be operating these fins.
It's been partially textured.
We need to finish up structure around the eyes, - airbrush and paint.
- Okay.
Time management, as you can imagine, is important.
Both of you have got to be, like, okay with the creature - when it's finished.
- Yeah.
How do you feel, Russ, at the moment? - Um - Are you working good together? Yeah, yeah.
I think we're doing all right.
For the sake of the build ahead, I told Pete that we were fine, but - how's it going? - Melissa, Ben.
- Hey, how's it going, man? - [Laughs.]
These shapes are really nice.
Beautiful shapes.
But they're gonna want believability.
There's a lot of parts to our creature that are coming together slowly, and when you're looking at it all spread apart, you really don't know what you're looking at.
Well, I'm be really interested to see how it turns out.
- [Laughter.]
- Me too.
- Nice, lovely shapes.
- What I mean, is this it? - No.
- No, it's getting bigger.
- Ah, okay.
- Everything is just - being painted.
- There's gonna be more modeling and colors over top of it.
This is lovely, but you've only got - until the end of today.
- Yes.
So if you think this needs a ton more paint, - go ahead, be my guest.
- Right, right.
- Of course, of course.
- But this isn't bad.
Pete Brooke has designed some of the coolest things that Henson has ever done, in my opinion.
I really enjoyed getting his commentary on our piece.
Thank you so much for your input.
- Okay, good luck.
- Awesome, have a good morning.
Thank you so much for your input.
- Okay, good luck.
- Awesome, have a good morning.
- Thank you very much.
- See you.
You got nowhere to put your hands, right, because they're all on the fabric.
Right.
Chaz and Robert's creature, it's obvious that it's a little bit difficult to perform in there.
I mean, you're gonna be doing, like, pushup-style walk, you know? There's multiple levels of challenge when it comes to a full-body creature suit.
I'm thinking about the puppeteer, about the movement they can get out of it.
How long is he gonna be on stage? How long does he have to endure this? It's really difficult in there.
I don't really have any experience with full body creatures that go onto an actor.
I really hope our puppeteer can pull this thing off.
Coming up, on Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge The way you two work together is really pretty appalling.
You could have put your foot down.
I just really don't want to go home.
I need this opportunity.
Let's cut a hole for your arms and attach your arm tentacles and try it again, and then see what we got to do.
I'm a mechanical kind of guy, but there isn't a lot of time to work out an idea for making things move around, especially for somebody not comfortable in foam.
Russ and I are dividing up duties.
The tension's left a bit, but we still have to get everything done, and we lost some time.
Cut it from behind.
It'll be way easier.
We're adding some fur at the bottom, and it's a risky choice, just for the fact that it's fur on an underwater creature.
But the way we want to cut it, and the way we want to lay it to the shell, is gonna make it look like water is passing through little tiny membranes and tentacles, and we're hoping to get a really cool fluid effect out of it.
I feel like this would exist in a Henson world.
Yeah.
Let me know when I'm good to take the head off of there.
- I'm going to start painting it.
- You know I'm thinking now it's time.
I was a little worried, 'cause I didn't know what Jake could do.
I mean, he's young.
People are definitely gonna count me out immediately because I'm 21, and I may not have worked in shops, or been out to L.
A.
, but I think that's gonna work for me because it gives me a chance to push harder and show what I can do is right up to the level of what anyone else can do.
We're doing good.
We're jamming.
You're so positive.
Jake and Ivonne's creature looks kind of more alien-like than a creature that you would find on the bottom of the ocean, but it's really well done, really well painted.
Ooh, this side here, it's all visible, and up down to the knees.
We need to just fix where all these bits connect.
There just needs to be something there.
Got some nice bits, but we're lacking the details right now.
And I'd like to do really pretty airbrush work.
Whether we have time for that is another thing.
Hey, guys, 30 minutes till we pack up, and we're done.
30 minutes.
- Creepy, huh? - I like it.
That's what we wanted.
That's what we wanted.
I had an idea early on that if our puppeteer's gonna be dragging himself around on his belly, it's going to be nice to have wheels.
Ben, he was the one that acted on it, not me.
We are at the 11th hour.
We're not gonna be able to pull a cart off at this point.
That's great.
No, that's fantastic.
- [Laughs.]
- [Growls.]
Oh! Oh, let me just put one pin in.
That's time! Everybody, drop what you're doing.
Time is up.
Okay, designers, this week's build is officially over.
Tomorrow is the first screen test, so good luck.
- [Sighs.]
- Aye.
I am very, very nervous about tomorrow.
We have an hour to rehearse and fill in the finishing touches.
I just hope it all goes smoothly.
Both: [Imitating explosion.]
- Ah, fishy, fishy, fishy.
- Let's get to work.
Today is our first screen test.
- Hi.
- Hi! We only have one hour to rehearse with our professional performer.
We're gonna kind of start to go over some movement, and also what you can do, 'cause I'm sure you can bring - some cool ideas to the table.
- Yeah.
You can see out of this and/or the mouth.
Better head movement.
You get a nice jaw wiggle.
We got a nice, easy release.
Velcro straps at the side.
I would recommend aiming for the backpack first, because then we can ease the helmet - down onto you.
- Okay.
This is the basic orientation, right? You just lay down.
This is gonna be head-first.
Let me just snap this chin strap.
Direct it down for you.
I've got one arm, okay.
Can you see my feet? All right, give the mouth a test.
Looking good.
And then you can stick your finger in the foam there.
- Can you feel that? - Yes, I can.
I've worked with so many puppeteers before.
The team of puppeteers that were available to us were top notch.
Very praying mantis.
Yes, that's perfect.
- Do you want to take it off? - Let me out for a sec.
- Sure, let me help you.
- Okay.
This is really lopping to the side.
- We have to fix this.
- I'm gonna go in - with some gaffer's.
- Gaffer's not strong enough.
The original glue has given way, and we're having ribs pop, pop, pop, one at a time.
I am freaking out trying to put some of the adhesive in those areas and hoping that we have enough time to dry it.
It broke because it's two pieces.
Yeah.
Well, I'm no, I'm agreeing with you in that all of the sections gives it that many more well, if you're gonna but if you're gonna agree with me, - then [Bleep.]
agree with me.
- I did.
I'm trying to tell you it's one piece - Yeah, and I'm - is the way it should have been designed.
I don't - Yeah, and I'm - is the way it should have been designed.
I don't but that's really boring.
[Chuckles.]
I am just praying we can get everything done in time.
So we're going to flip it, and we're gonna glue the other side, and we're gonna press on, and we're gonna do this in a professional manner.
All right.
It looks fantastic.
Glad we got your measurements.
It's perfect.
And this one has a little bit of a grip on you, in case you're having any sliding problems - with that one being soft.
- Okay.
It's a method for him to feel and to pick things up and bring it to his mouth.
- I'm already overheated.
- I don't know how he feels at all.
- You can come on out.
- Ooh, ooh.
I'm gonna get my eye poked.
It's okay, don't worry about it.
- Yep.
- You got six at the top.
- You're all right.
- Yeah, you're good.
[Laughs.]
- Excellent, excellent.
- Good? - You ready to go to the bank? - [Laughter.]
Help her with the arms.
May I have that arm? I need to do some quick stitching on it.
Is there anything you want me not to do with it? - Don't stand up.
- We were thinking, yeah, maybe doing a kind of rear, but yeah, the creature doesn't want to walk.
It's right in front of your toes.
If you kneel forward, you'll hit it.
One second.
- Is there a wheel - There's a wheel facing the wrong way probably.
Think something got caught under it.
- Aw, [Bleep.]
.
- What? The whole back just broke.
Hey, guys, time's up.
It's time to head out there.
- Oh, son of a bitch.
- Well, I hid the cracks.
It's not going to keep it from falling apart onstage.
Creature designers, welcome to our very own working set right here at the Henson sound stage.
In keeping with your creature brief, the screen test set behind you has an underwater theme.
Each week, the set will change.
What won't change is our lineup of regular judges.
First, one of the most respected creature designers in the business.
He's famous for making creatures that are seen in gremlins, return of the jedi, and star trek.
Welcome Kirk Thatcher.
- [Applause.]
- Thank you.
Kirk Thatcher is awesome.
He's everything that I want in this competition.
Next, a creature fabricator whose work has spanned film and television, her many credits include Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, and the chronicles of narnia, please welcome Beth Hathaway.
- [Cheers and applause.]
- Hi, everybody.
Beth Hathaway has worked on movies that are known for their special effects.
And of course, chairman of the Henson company, and our head judge, Brian Henson.
- [Applause.]
- Hey, guys.
Now remember, guys, the judges are looking at how original and believable your ocean floor creatures are, and how well you bring them to life.
The challenge was to create an underwater sea creature caught in a submarine's searchlight.
You worked in pairs, but you'll be judged as individuals.
I'm so nervous.
I had never built anything to be in front of a camera.
What it looks like in person, and what it looks like on screen are two totally different things.
It's time for the screen test.
Everyone take a seat.
All right, stand by.
Screen test, Ben and Melissa.
Action, Dolly.
Action, creature.
Our creature looks awesome.
The color scheme all blends nicely, in my opinion.
I like our creature.
I feel like it's the perfect baby between Ben and I.
Back to one.
Screen test, Tina and Russ.
Action, creature.
All I'm thinking is, "this thing is gonna disintegrate in front of the judges.
" I could see some of the flaws, but everything that I was really concerned about, like the fins working, worked great.
Cut on the screen test.
Screen test, Ivonne and Jake.
Action, creature.
I really hope he makes it across without any problems.
It's one thing to see your creature on a shop floor, but to see him emote through an environment is just awesome.
Cut, reset.
Screen test, Chaz and Robert.
Action, creature.
I think our creature is the most Henson-esque creature, in that it's half realism and half cartoon.
[Laughter.]
I'm just wanting this first challenge to be over with.
This is not my comfort zone.
I'm stressing it.
Resetting, back to one.
Screen test, Josh and Lex.
Action, creature.
He rears up, and he's just all menacing looking.
Perfect.
I'm feeling pretty confident, but you never know where it's gonna go.
Cut.
That concludes our screen tests.
Let's talk to our designers.
Melissa and Ben, can you start by telling us a little bit about your creature? This is the Scuttleslurp.
All of his little feelers and tentacles he uses to sort through all the particulates and find his food.
Who did what? What was the division of labor? I took on the head with soft foam.
So I fabricated the body.
I had an early idea about putting her on wheels, and based on that, we then said, "what can we work around based on the puppeteer's position?" Yeah, I thought that was very successful.
Is it male or a female? It does not have a definite gender.
It will actually lay an egg that holds its sentience in it, so they live for hundreds and hundreds of years.
You've thought about this.
- Wow, yeah.
- I'm impressed.
The eyes being so small concerns me, 'cause if you're in an environment where there's no light, a small eye is an odd choice.
This thing doesn't really use its eyes all that much.
They're devolving, and we chose the color with that light, very pale blue, almost like cataracts.
They're not really functional anymore.
They're almost vestigial.
The moment it walks in, there is a feeling of ancientness which I think is impressive.
I think overall in our critique, it's pretty positive.
- Thank you, Ben and Melissa.
- Thank you so much.
Ivonne and Jake, why don't you tell us a bit about your creature? He's an ancient creature that lives deep within the trenches.
- That's why he's dark in color.
- We name them "Shellrock.
" The thing that I don't particularly understand is the face, because it looks so humanoid.
Well, I wanted him to have a little bit more intelligence than your average sea creature.
It just seems the head is really big, and the body's really small.
He seems kind of top heavy to me.
Here's a big, odd thing for me.
You would swear that there's a perfectly proportioned person in there that's 3'5".
The idea was to disguise that you've put a person in the creature, and somehow or another, you've come out with something that looks like a person.
The judges gave a lot of constructive criticism, but it was things that could push you to do work better.
- Thank you, guys.
- Thank you.
Lex and Josh, can you tell us a little bit about your creature please? Okay, well, this handsome fellow here is the devil prong, so named for his pronged tail.
The lights on his back are pretty much to attract prey in the dark.
- I worked on the head.
- It's actually made out of aluminum foil and hot glue.
- Really? - [Laughs.]
- Mm-hmm.
- With upholstery foam.
- Really impressive.
- Overall, I really like his movement.
I like the way he can stand up and strike.
You really successfully hid the person in there, particularly the front arms.
Very often, there's an elbow joint or something that gives it away, and I think the design really helped.
It's very ambitious and bold how many textures you have going on here, it's impressive.
You've built a very complex creature in a remarkably short amount of time.
[Laughs.]
Yeah.
We're pretty confident.
They really seemed to like our piece.
- Thanks, guys.
- Thank you so much.
Chaz and Robert, can you tell us a little bit about your creature? Well, his name's Floyd, and he's kind of just got one question, and it's "food?" I sculpted out the body, and Chaz built the face.
My overall impression is it's very cartoony.
Going with the big eyes, and kind of the big grin, I mean, I kept thinking of H.
R.
Pufnstuf.
What kind of direction did you give the performer? We wanted him to stay low with the bottom jaw to the ground, so when he lifts up his head, that gives more of the snappy action.
It seems like he's working really hard to make that happen.
All right.
It's clearly really hard work.
I think it's far too much that you're demanding from a performer.
Are you okay in there, performer? - We should get him out of there.
- Here.
I got the head.
[Cheers and applause.]
I thought our creature was the most Henson-esque creature, which I thought would be good, and it ultimately didn't work in our favor.
Russ and Tina, can you tell us about your creature? Well, this lovely lady's name is Ethel, Ethel the - gutter tuna.
- [Laughter.]
She just sort of floats about with her jaw open and then Kills what she needs to.
Overall, the design was very effective.
It looked like a fish.
In terms of originality, it looked like a fish.
What was that process with the two of you for, "well, we're gonna make it a fish"? How did that break down? Russ.
There were some things that I would have loved to do - to punch it up.
- But why did that not happen? You know, you can only talk over somebody so often.
- Um, excuse me? - And so was it disagreement or just time? Obviously, you're working on a tight clock.
You can only talk over somebody so often.
- Um, excuse me? - And I had hoped that you would have spoken up more, would've helped in certain areas.
- I know I can be Gabby, but - Gabby doesn't cover it.
I mean, I don't want to throw anybody under the bus, but I was trying to be political.
- It's not working.
- And every single time, I said, "what do you think of this?" - And stared at you.
- Yeah.
And you said that was good.
- Okay, thank you.
- Thanks.
The fact that you guys weren't on the same page has translated through to the creature, and it looks kind of like two different creatures going on.
From the jaw down, it's just sort of a washout, because that could never be shot.
There's an awful lot of detail work that does look good, but clearly, there was a lot of friction and disagreement between the two of you, and when that happens, the fewest ideas go into the creature.
Yes, sir.
I wish I had just kept my mouth shut.
This is not the impression I wanted to leave Brian Henson and the other judges with.
- Thank you, Tina and Russ.
- Thank you.
Thank you, creature designers.
The judges have a lot to discuss.
We're gonna ask you to wait it out in the Henson screening room.
So that was intense.
When you're in a collaboration, it has to be a meeting of the minds, and you know, but when you walk into the situation saying, "I have no idea what to do.
" There were no ideas shared.
The sketches alone show that.
I'm a big girl.
You could have put your foot down.
Who the [Bleep.]
cares? - Falling apart right now? - Yes.
- Is that a big girl? - I just really don't want to go home.
I need this opportunity.
You keep going on about how professional you are, and so on, and so forth.
Throwing me in front of the bus, as it's called.
That is the last thing I wanted to do - in front of Brian Henson.
- I didn't want to be a fool in front of those people either.
Well, first of all, I'm incredibly impressed with what these ten people did in two days.
- Two days, yeah.
- Yes.
- No, it's amazing really.
- Yeah.
A costume character like this would be weeks.
Let's start with Ben and Melissa, their Scuttleslurp.
I know I was pretty impressed with this.
- I haven't seen that creature.
- I agree, and he doesn't look like a fish, which is nice.
- He looks different.
- Yeah.
There was a logic to it.
It looked organic.
I thought they made some really intelligent, cautious choices.
They didn't try to put in a working mouth.
They hid it underneath the cilia.
They were smart, I thought, with a lot of their choices.
Yeah, didn't look like a man in a suit to me.
Okay, let's move on to Josh and Lex's devil prong.
- This is a great team.
- It shows.
- It transferred.
- I mean, it is a really interesting design.
Josh was very involved in the face and the mouth, which I actually was impressed that he made the mandibles - out of tin foil and - Tin foil and what? - Mattress foam.
- Foam? Mattress foam.
- That's really remarkable.
- This is a fabrication dream, this, because nothing was sculpted.
It was all just made out of rubber bands and shoe laces, basically.
They did something very ambitious, and because they work so well as a team, they really did produce something impressive.
Let's move on to Jake and Ivonne's Shellrock.
As far as originality goes, I've never seen anything like it before, but I don't know that it seems like something I would see on the bottom of the ocean.
If you gave it more of a fish face or a, you know, a crustacean face, but it was very human, two eyes and mouth.
They ended up with perfectly human proportions.
To me, it looks anthropomorphic.
Clearly, the performer's moving around on their knees, which is not a great thing to ever do to something if you want it to move with any sort of grace.
Still, you look at it, it's impressive - for two days, though.
[Laughs.]
- Absolutely.
Let's move on to Chaz and Robert's Floyd.
Two things really killed it for me for believability.
The glowing eyes and that mouth.
That was a big, cartoony muppet mouth.
- [Laughs.]
- I would even be if someone walked in with a muppet with that mouth, and you're like, "it moves, right?" And they go, "oh, I'm sorry, he doesn't move.
He rolls around the floor," I'd be like you could tell the man in the suit was suffering.
Look at what they were asking a performer to do.
- Oh, yeah.
- With your arms, you have to move all three arms, and then, you have to pull your body weight and the whole suit with you.
You're gonna have an actor passing out on set.
- That's what I would yeah.
- Which very nearly happened.
Chaz in particular was responsible for the face? Yeah, and Robert basically did the body.
And I think the body was more successful.
Oddly, when it wasn't moving, I thought it was very successful in concept, - when it didn't move at all.
- Yeah.
Well, then, that's a really good prop.
- No, exactly right.
- Yeah.
It can't just be a good photograph.
It has to be a good movie.
Well, let's move on to Tina and Russ, Ethel.
- Ethel.
- [Sighs.]
- That was some real fireworks.
- Yes, it was.
It's always uncomfortable watching a team - fall apart to that degree.
- And it's the most unprofessional thing in the world.
To me, there wasn't a lot of originality there, because it looked like a fish.
'Cause it's a fish.
- It's a fish.
- A fish that walks around on the bottom of the ocean? If it was a school play, you'd go, "oh, that's great.
" - Yeah.
- But, you know, we're talking professional creature builders here.
But on the plus side, you can see that they're both skilled craftsmen.
Right, that's what was interesting.
- Yes.
- Good paint job, good eyes.
They didn't light 'em up, which I liked.
- And the fins did move.
- And there were some cool textures back here in the back.
But just some fundamental flaws in the design and on the execution and performance.
Again, from the personality clash, yeah.
Yeah.
I think we're all in agreement then? - It's tough, but I agree.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Well, we should bring 'em back in.
Creature designers, one of you will win this week's challenge, and one of you will be eliminated.
Melissa and Ben, Ivonne and Jake [Dramatic music.]
You're safe.
You can return to the screening room.
- Good work, guys.
- Both: Thank you so much.
[Dramatic music.]
One creature received the highest praise from all the judges.
The judges and I were most impressed with One creature received the highest praise from all the judges.
The judges and I were most impressed with Lex and Josh's devil prong.
- Thank you, sir.
- Really ambitious, but very, very well executed.
The fact that you work so wonderfully well together as a team made it kind of hard for us to pick a favorite designer out of the two of you.
But ultimately, the way the character entered frame with those great antennas that you created, and the mandibles, and the materials that were used, Josh, you win this week.
- [Applause.]
- [Laughs.]
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
[Laughs.]
Congratulations, both of you.
You can head back to the screening room.
I can't believe I won using aluminum foil and hot glue.
It shocked me.
The judges were not as impressed with your work this week, and one of you will be eliminated.
Tina and Russ You're safe.
We will see you next week.
[Whispers.]
Thank you.
Hey, guys, before you go, though, I just want to say, the way you two work together as a team was really pretty appalling, very, very unprofessional.
- Yes.
- You're here by the skin of your teeth.
- Yes, sir.
- All right? Thank you.
To hear Brian say how poorly we work together as a team, it was a kick to the stomach.
I'm so relieved to still be in the competition.
I want to prove that I really have what it takes, and I can be very professional.
[Dramatic music.]
That leaves Chaz and Robert.
One of you will be eliminated.
Guys, we were really unimpressed with your creature.
Chaz, your work on the face and head was very unbelievable, particularly the treatment of the big mouth.
Robert, you were responsible for the body, and the moving of the body was almost impossible for the performer inside.
So Chaz and Robert, the eliminated creature designer is Chaz.
Robert, you can head back to the screening room.
Chaz, I'm really sorry to see you go.
You're clearly a really talented guy.
That's fine.
I started with my smallest skill set unfortunately, but it's fair enough.
- Take care, Chaz.
- Thank you, guys.
All right.
It's kind of bittersweet to be the fist person gone because this was a tremendous opportunity.
but somebody has to leave today, and somebody's gonna have to leave each time until there's one person left.