19 replies to this topic

[ratgirlagogo]

There doesn't seem to be a thread for this show, so I'll start one. It's such a great idea for a show - and yet the show itself is so frustrating! Here we have a team of interesting, creative people who basically get along very well with other in something that they consider to be a dream job constructing unusual stuff for clients that have sought them out because they are famous for being able to make these unusual things. But the producers apparently think that unless we see the team members squabbling or the clients freaking out that the show will be insufficiently "dramatic", so week after week we are shown minor disagreements blown up by the editing into seeming disasters. As if constructing practical monsters for the movies wasn't dramatic enough by itself! The only tension that ever seems real is the tension between Ron (the owner) and Cleve (the monster designer) over the last-minute execution of the deisigns.

[cabelcb]

I agree. There should be enough tension just trying to figure out the pratical problems of putting the different creatures together. I like watching them make things but it is not fun watching them argue over silly stuff.

[AladdinSane]

It truly mystifies me how the same network that could have (IMO) one of the best Competitive Reality shows going (FaceOff) can't easily identify some of what makes that so entertaining and morph it into a 'weekly visit w/Monster Man & Co's latest project'. I was pumped for MM based on the promo's during FO, but this is unwatchable.

edited because commas are good things

Edited by AladdinSane, Apr 1, 2012 @ 1:58 PM.

[Kaoteek]

So far, three eps in, i'm far from impressed, both by the show, and by the work done by this SOTA Fx studio. But then again, I don't really know why i'm surprised when most of the clients are Asylum/Syfy Movies-type of productions, with very low standards.

[runningoutofnam]

I don't really know why i'm surprised when most of the clients are Asylum/Syfy Movies-type of productions, with very low standards.

Those movie studios you named don't use practical effects monsters. They use cgi exclusively. Hence why you are impressed because the Monster Man stuff looks real instead of fake. Plus they name the movies in the episode summary as to what they are used for and I don't recall ever seeing an asylum or syfymovie channel movie with the movie titles in the episodes so far.

They may be direct to dvd but I don't think they are showing up on the vd sounding channel.

[Kaoteek]

Those movie studios you named don't use practical effects monsters. They use cgi exclusively. Hence why you are impressed because the Monster Man stuff looks real instead of fake.

Except i'm not impressed by Monster Man's creations. At all. Most of the time, they're low-end, cheap, fake-looking creatures.

Also :

Plus they name the movies in the episode summary as to what they are used for and I don't recall ever seeing an asylum or syfymovie channel movie with the movie titles in the episodes so far.

First episode of Monster Man was building a two-headed shark for The Asylum. ;)

[misterbfd]

I agree, the creatures created so far by the "Monster Man" (SOTA FX) team look ridiculously cheesy, low-budget and crappy. No doubt that's why they use so many close ups and quick cuts in the scenes they show us of the films during MM. Frankly, as someone who has opened their own haunt in the past, I've more frightening Halloween costumes.

[runningoutofnam]

I've more frightening Halloween costumes.

Did those cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, that were often able to do certain things?

http://www.syfy.com/monsterman/episodes/season/1/episode/101/seeing_double

Still that shark looks better then the typical cgi stuff in Asylum productions that screams not really there.
Plus having one shark on top of another? Horrible and I don't mean the good horrible.

so many close ups and quick cuts in the scenes they show us of the films during MM

More likely time constraints.

Watching the movie the effects are in is a far better way to see how they pull it off rather then looking at the stuff in a shop.

Tons of effects in a workshop look far far better when in film. Very few look amazing in real life. Not every workshop can do the magic of Stan Winston or Jim Henson.

[misterbfd]

Did those cost thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, that were often able to do certain things?

No, much less and more articulate. Thus making the MM creations even LESS impressive. Let's face it, the creatures built on this show are low budget, low quality, cheesy crap.

Tons of effects in a workshop look far far better when in film.

Theme park FX look better than a lot of what we've seen out of SOTA FX (so far). I don't hold out hope that they're going to get much better. Still, this show is great to make fun of!

[misterbfd]

FYI, I checked out the IMDB page for "Mega Spider" and found that Lin Shaye is in it! Always been a fan of Lin's.

[runningoutofnam]

No, much less and more articulate.

Which of course were mass produced meaning the cost is much less then if they just made one unit.

Theme park FX look better than a lot of what we've seen out of SOTA FX (so far)

Which typically tend to last for years and years of use and tend to cost several mill to twenty or thirty mill.

Once again film shows how good it looks not in the workshop or behind the scenes filming. Most effects don't look good in the workship. Lighting, filming, editing that is where the magic happens.

It still looks way better then the cgi used in most low budget films and tends to be cheaper.

[Rammchick]

Like everyone else, I expected MM to be good from the promos during FaceOff. What we get instead is a weekly dose of family drama I could live without and nowhere near enough content about the actual monster building process. It always seems to be the same thing: Clients come in to the shop. Cleve may or may not be there. Boss gets hysterical. Deadlines are ridiculous. Cleve's daughter has some sort of hissy fit. Monster/effect is finished but never on time. Client is annoyed by the delay but likes the result so everyone's happy. The end.

I'm actually glad that next week's episode is the finale.

[runningoutofnam]

Deadlines are ridiculous.

Which anyone can tell you is reality.

So you didn't like the wee alien?

[misterbfd]

Clients come in to the shop. Cleve may or may not be there. Boss gets hysterical. Deadlines are ridiculous. Cleve's daughter has some sort of hissy fit. Monster/effect is finished but never on time. Client is annoyed by the delay but likes the result so everyone's happy. The end.

Rammchick:

The artificial deadlines are the least believable aspect of this show. The clients always need things completed in a week or a few days, which while that does happen from time to time, it doesn't happen every time. And if the FX crew consistently showed up late to every shoot, as is depicted by the show, they'd quickly find their work dwindling. If you can't deliver on time, you don't accept the work because constantly missing deadlines is a fast route to out-of-business-ville.

So either the timelines are amped up for the benefit of TV drama, or this company is incredibly poorly managed. Or maybe both.

[runningoutofnam]

The clients always need things completed in a week or a few days, which while that does happen from time to time, it doesn't happen every time

What was shown and often does happen is that the client doesn't tell all the details that are needed. Plus the real time it's expected to be done. Also things change on the client's mind which causes delays etc.

Sorry the drama at the shop is something that effects shop people will tell you happens all the time because of the demands of clients who don't care to to tell what they want. Items get late in shipping etc.

[misterbfd]

The episode with Jason Acuna was fun, mostly because he's such a card. I grew up on cheesy 50's sci-fi schlock, so that made the whole thing a hoot. Of course, cheesy fits SOTA FX to the tee because their work is so low-budget and cheesy. The silly phony Dreamworks "uh-oh, the boots have to be there the night before?" foolishness didn't add any value at all because we already knew they were going to make there in for the red carpet.

[runningoutofnam]

The silly phony Dreamworks "uh-oh, the boots have to be there the night before?" foolishness

Yet that stuff happens in real life all the time with projects because the people responsible don't pass such tiny important details alone to the people working on the project.

[misterbfd]

FYI: "2-Headed Shark Attack" (starring Carmen Electra and Brooke Hogan) is now available on Netflix Streaming and Amazon Instant Video if you want to enjoy the schlocky, cheesy, low-budget goodness.

[runningoutofnam]

So was the shark good in it or not?

You are saying it is a good Asylum movie that shows the cheesy goodness of a proper b-movie and doesn't infuriate the watcher with how stupid it is?

If so I may have to watch it.

[misterbfd]

BTW, if anyone watches "2-Headed Shark Attack" to see SOTA's practical FX shark, don't blink. 99% of the shark footage in the film is CGI (really bad CGI).