10 replies to this topic

[fliptopbox]

So who knew there was a niche for competitive taxidermy? I sure didn't. But I will check it out anyway. Looks kind of fun, if not somewhat gruesome.

[bilgistic]

I watched the pilot last night, because apparently I will watch anything. (Well, except for most of TLC's programming.) I should've known better, as a strict vegetarian, to stay far away. I literally had to put my hand in front of my eyes when the cat was shown, in various states. My affection for Brian Posehn will not, cannot, bring me back to this.

Also, it was contrived and boring.

[The Deej]

Yeah, I can handle weird, but even this was too weird for me.

[Maddingcrowd]

I don't know if I can get behind the idea of mutilating dead animals into art for a competition. It also didn't seem fair to pit a guy who only works with insects with a woman who likes to work with dead cats and other creatures, especially since it was clear that the judges wanted to see something that wasn't an insect.

I actually thought the insect guy had a cool idea and I liked the living ants in the jar 'heart'. I didn't like cat/fish combo at all and the fact that she had to hold it up with so many stands made it work less for me (and it had nothing to do with the challenge). Lastly, I felt sorry for Mr. Smart the cat who had to end up as a stupid art project.

[lordonia]

The show didn't hold my interest enough to ever watch again, but I thought the judges went out of their way to be condescending about the insect guy's work. Didn't he have to taxidermy/preserve every one of those specimens? That seems at least as difficult as what the catfish woman did. I thought his Gulliver scene was colorfully pretty, fun, and creative.

I know zilch about taxidermy but did used to watch that Mounted in Alaska show and they never once used visible stands. I thought those looked quite amateurish.

[Dame]

I watched this, and I don't think I will again.

The premise is interesting, even if it's just Iron Taxidermist (at least they give them enough time to complete things?). I'm more squeamish than I thought about seeing them work with animals, especially the poor cat. I know he died of natural causes, but he couldn't have been so bad as to deserve being spliced to a fish with a bespangled horn slapped on his head.

If they could get a sense of humor about it, or, really, anything besides "Who DARES consider themselves the EQUALS of our IMMORTALIZERS" and the sad, sad, /sad/ attempt at trying to read each other, it might work better, but it's so self-serious I can't take it seriously. You're playing with dead things.

I sort of understood where she was going, where proportion is more important than just plain size, but it wasn't exaggerated enough to convey that well. I thought his idea was much clearer and better executed.

[Kromm]

Wow, this was somehow both creepy AND stupid at the same time.

If they could get a sense of humor about it, or, really, anything besides "Who DARES consider themselves the EQUALS of our IMMORTALIZERS" and the sad, sad, /sad/ attempt at trying to read each other, it might work better, but it's so self-serious I can't take it seriously. You're playing with dead things.

Good observation. If they are going Iron Chef in their model, it needs to go over the top. Play UP the creepy EVEN MORE--middle of the road just wasn't cutting it. Have a grandiose host and not the boring as shit one they had. I would have dragged Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark) out of her retirement and used her. We needed mood lighting, organ music, fake thunder and lightning claps, and a Vincent Price-like announcer to back her up. Or they could have used Steve Valentine as the main focal point if Elvira was old hat--he's got that creepy undertaker look and voice--basically have him do the same thing he did on the short-lived "Estate of Panic". Link this to the obligatory celebrity judge being from the Horror film world (or occasionally even authors) and you'd have something here. As is stands? They didn't. It was just boring, and so the creepy which DID exist also came off as trivial, not fun.

Also the judging was a crock. They clearly aired this out of order, since the judges talked like they'd seen other displays before this in the contest. Even so, the challenger lost because the show was trying to infer an Iron Chef-like home court advantage. But the Immortalizer's piece was lame, whereas the challengers was actually interesting, and actually kind of beautiful in a way. Of course they DID stack the deck towards him with the "size" theme--it inherently favored the taxidermist who's subject matter inherently had a size theme--so they seem to have counterbalanced that misjudgment of the Producers by rewarding the ugly piece of shit their Champ dragged out.

Also, the lame shit where they tried to convince the viewers that the two contenders "went home" and worked after finding out the theme? Good lord. Any idiot could see that the two came in with all that home stuff being pre-taped and they just were asked to (badly) act like they were just being told. This show seems to assume stupidity in its viewers.

[ratgirlagogo]

This was pretty bad. Both creepy and stupid, as you noted.

Have a grandiose host and not the boring as shit one they had. I would have dragged Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark) out of her retirement and used her. We needed mood lighting, organ music, fake thunder and lightning claps, and a Vincent Price-like announcer to back her up.

I would have said Elvira and Zackerley. Zack's still alive, right? Maybe Bill Hader from SNL?
On the other hand I actually would defend the idea that insects are somewhat easier than non-insects - in that insects can more easily be made to look natural after death since their skeletons are external. Still that cat/fish was horrible looking.

[Lost and Found]

Watched it tonight and was REALLY irritated by the totally affected Japanese "Immortalizer" from Coney Island. He thought he was so much cooler and quirkier than he really was. The thing that totally tipped the scales into WTFeverland was not just his grandiose fake laugh, stupid top coat and silly hat with the side flaps AND his weird stuffed rabbit with the freaky fish tail bottom on it that he carries everywhere, but the fact that he apparently thinks he needs a catch phrase. And it's "Shoot-ZAM". Not intentionally, I'm sure, it's just that he's fucking up pronouncing "Shazam". If you're gonna try and be a real tv "character" with a gimmick, just don't make it an irritating one.

Oh... and he did the whole "Shoot-ZAM! Ha Ha HA HA HA (wide gesture with arms)" thing twice. Was even more irritating the second time.

And I'm also kinda bothered by the fact that the challenger didn't win. Sure, he used reproduced fish, but the theme was "The Oddysey", and the "Immortalizer" didn't even connect it to Homer. He just made some weird 5-headed fox with horns. Why even have a theme.

Holy Shit! I just typed out a manifesto about a taxidermy competition. I need a life...

[Maddingcrowd]

This show is so bizarre that I don't know why I am watching it. For the judges you have a former taxidermist from the Smithsonian, a artist taximdermy lady, and a comedian who has no business judging anything. Then the contestants in each case are into something totally opposite of what the "immortalizer" does so it is almost impossible to compare the too.

Last week's episode with the crazy Japanese guy was good for a laugh, tonight's was funny for a different reason. So the theme was your worst nightmare and the challenger builds a literal night-mare with a horse head and spider legs made out of pipes. The immortalizer builds a tribute to 9/11 which was not made into a nightmare theme but a thank you to the first responders. It was topped off with an eagle made from a duck and it fell far short of looking like an actual eagle. Of course the immortalizer won because how can you not choose a 9/11 tribute. In essence, very little about this show relates to taxidermy, most of it is building junk with other materials.

Edited by Maddingcrowd, Mar 8, 2013 @ 12:03 AM.

[nottopbravo]

For some reason (ratings?) AMC showed S1/Ep08 on Sunday night at 12pm.

I have been following this series and was surprised to see an episode (Heaven and Hell) which did not premere in primetime.

Takeshi Yamada (Sha-zam!) won again with his multi-horned creature. His opponent seemed not to take this competition very seriously with his terrible mouse diorama.