Face Off blasts out our screens with flourish

I must say, we’re off to a roarin’ start this season of Face Off.

The bar has already been set extremely high by several contestants, a few more may appear to be in over their heads (but still manage to make their mark) and major drama in spades made an appearance to end the season 3 premiere. Who could ask for anything more?

As a general rule, the season kick off is waaaaaaaaaaaay too early to contain this much action — albeit quality action — out of the gate. But ready or not we got it thrown at us anyway. Stand outs emerged immediately.

Of course it’s impossible to form an opinion on all the contestants from the get go, but here’s a lowdown on a few of them:

With the main Spotlight Challenge incorporating the Star Wars brand, you’d think there would be some pretty spiffy creations to spawn out of everyone’s imagination. In some cases, that was clearly evident … right down to the backstory on a few of the proffered characters. For example, the creature Laura and Sarah brought to life was one who was birthed on the wet world of Dagobah (Yoda’s preferred digs in The Empire Strikes Back) but who resided on Tatooine as a bounty hunter. Acclimated to a moist climes, it was necessary for alien to sport a breathing apparatus to survive without difficulty on the arid planet, something that impressed the judges when they asked the girls about their work. Nice touch.

Roy and Rod came up with a creation that was pretty mind blowing, equally so for it’s concept as well as the sheer amount of labor that went into the piece, a tiny-bodied scavenger alien requiring a robotic exoskeleton in order to move around. The amazing amount of work necessary to pull it off was superseded only by the fruits of the boys’ output … and with flair. They deserved to win the overall praise of the judges.

But I have to tip my hat to Alana and Nicole. Not only did they know very little about the Star Wars universe, they buried themselves in a seemingly impossible headpiece which could have very easily sealed their fate. (Their efforts are pictured above.) They took a huge chance in molding the piece to begin with and very nearly didn’t finish it, but their handiwork certainly passed muster when it came game time. Of everyone, these two gals were the heroes of the episode.

The same can’t be said for Tommy and Joe, however. Everything that could go wrong with these two did go wrong: Incompatibility, clashing egos, in-fighting, the mutual sharing of sour grapes … you name it. Just as off-putting as Joe’s bulldog attitude when it came to ordering Tommy around was Tommy’s whiny complaining and childish attitude in dealing with the bully. The result of their efforts was a visionless, poorly-executed and incomplete creature garnering the honor of “worst creature produced.” Additionally, just as pathetic as Tommy’s whining was the fact Joe walked off the show, effectively being disqualified from the competition, I sure much to Tommy’s delight. Let’s hope the enthusiasm he originally brought to the program hasn’t been hampered by his poor opening experience.

Rod and Roy’s winning creation is being featured on the Star Wars website and will also be immortalized in The Clone Wars mythology. Pretty hefty prize right out of the gate. With such a high-profile award to start things off, Face Off is launching into its third chapter with all thrusters firing.

Note: Nice addition of Neville Page to the judging panel, the reknowned design consultant for the entertainment, toy and automotive industries.

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Aug 22, 2012 @ 10:56 EST5EDT