Epic Ink - Season 1

In the series premiere, we meet the unique tattoo artists at Area 51 Tattoo: Chris 51 tattoos a client with Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Heather inks a realistic portrait of Sloth and Chunk from the 1985 adventure movie, The Goonies, and Chris Jones brands an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan with the ultimate Terminator homage. Also, shop manager Caroline takes the artists on a surprise trip to the Goonies house in Oregon where they must do the "truffle shuffle" in order to come onto the porch.

The Area 51 crew put their hyper-realistic tattoo skills to the test that include: a portrait of the late comedian Chris Farley performing a populare Saturday Night Live skit that Chris Jones inks, a pair of ram horn tattoos Heather inks that seem to be popping out of her male client's head, and an eye-popping zombie pinup girl, Also a client brings in his pet cat who Josh turns into a hyper-real image of a "space cat" onto his chest, while Caroline babysits his friendly feline on a leash outside the shop.

In honor of Batman's 75th Anniversary, Chris Jones inks a huge fan with a hyper-realistic tribute to the Dark Knight. Chris 51 brings a Tyrannosaurus Rex out of extinction for a Jurassic Park fan. Heather inks a female client's first tattoo of her favorite video game, Elder Scrolls landscape into a artfully designed half sleeve in only one day. Also, Josh and Chris Jones team up to take a famous historical duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton from the past and into the future by turning their dueling pistols into laser guns.

The Area 51 crew travel to Chicago, Illinois to tattoo at C2E2, one of the largest pop culture conventions in the country. But before heading out, Chris 51 tattoos an octopus wrapped around his client's shoulders. Caroline must stay behind to watch the shop, while Heather works on a client who wants a "birthed" unicorn in a his hairy armpit. Back in Chi-town, Josh tattoos a realistic Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990 film and Jeff inks a heavy metal-inspired R2D2/C-3PO tattoo, while Chris Jones creates a RoboCop portrait.

It's Friday the 13th and Chris 51 celebrates with his crew by throwing the biggest party that Area 51's ever seen with a surprise celebrity guest who gets her first tattoo ever. The clients come in costume: three female friends who work at a horror magazine together get horror and sci-fi themed tattoos. Chris Jones tattoos a hyper-realistic zombie from a George Romero classic horror film, Jeff creates an life-sized realistic ray gun on a client's hip, and Josh gets the honor of tattooing a lifelike portrait of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

More unusual and unqiue tattoo ideas come into the shop: Chris Jones tattoos a hyper-realistic bloody mouth on a friend, Heather mashes up My Little Pony with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and Chris 51 and Jeff team up to ink a double space battle between a monster and a robot on two sisters. Also, Jeff honors a fellow tattoo artist by turning his hand into a real-life machine/cyborg, while Josh creates a realistic image of one female client's favorite Grimm Fairy Tale, Sleeping Beauty.

A lot of original tattoo ideas come into the shop: Heather tattoos a bloodshot eyeball on the back of her client's head. Jeff creates a "Royale with Cheese" tattoo inspired by Pulp Fiction for one of the first client's he's ever tattooed. Chris Jones is faced with a client's difficult friend who tries to talk him out of tattooing a JFK cyborg on his chest. Chris 51 designs a scene from The Mikado musical for his client who's dressed like a geisha girl, and gets dressed up like one.

Clients, who all want sc-fi tattoos come into Area 51: A Star Trek fan with a phaser pistol joins in on a dart gun battle with the guys, and gets a tattoo of the Enterprise. Jeff creates a Mars Attacks alien tattoo, while Chris Jones designs a bloody red skull on a female horror fan. After eating at the local Voodoo Doughnut, Chris 51 commissions Heather to tattoo a donut around his belly button, and also holds a donut-eating contest–the winner gets to "set" or slap his new tattoo, causing him pain.

When a Gremlins fan walks into the shop, Heather designs a Gizmo tattoo with half a sneering green gremlin face. Josh gives a Game of Thrones fan a dire wolf and dragon tattoo. As a bonding moment, a mother and daughter get tattoos of time travel devices together. After a baseball fan gets a tattoo of his favorite team the Eugene Emeralds's mascot, "Sluggo", Chris 51 and his team take Welshman Chris Jones out to his very first baseball game.

Chris Jones tattoos a female client's spirit animal—a wolf changing into a werewolf woman. Josh creates an original spin on the Captain Hook's crocodile from the Peter Pan stories. Heather cover-ups one of the first tattoos she's ever done on her long-time friend and replaces it with a lioness and cub tattoo, representing motherhood. Also, Chris 51 tattoos a myrtle tree with a fairy hidden in its leaves, while Jeff designs a cubism/nebula tigress in space tattoo.