Monster Infestation

Seems like everybody these days wants some kind of monstrous bug. Tony Randel, director of Hellraiser II, is interested in hiring SOTA to create a biomechanical cockroach-like creature, but he has no design, which means Cleve and his team will have to cram six weeks of work into two weeks. Meanwhile, indie rising star Petro Papahadjopoulos wants SOTA to create an exploding demon ant - talk about a dream job! Petro will hire them on a test basis - if he likes their work, he'll bring them on for the full movie. Cleve tries to farm out various parts of the cockroach to different team members, but when the pieces come together, it's a disaster. They have to throw out all their work and start over from a cohesive design, costing them tons of hours of productivity. They get an idea together, but it's missing that buggy je ne sais quoi, so Cleve takes the more skittish team members on a nighttime field trip to a house filled with creepy, crawly cockroaches. Seeing how the bugs move, and how the team reacts, fills Cleve with inspiration. But with only a few days left before shooting, Roy is praying every minute that Cleve will finish up in time. The ant is coming along more smoothly - Petro loves the design, and Roy is able to pitch in and hollow out the bodies so that the explosive charges can be laid in. Constance and Hill butt heads over how to assemble the giant bug, but ultimately work together to make it happen in time for the test explosion. 3...2...1...boom! It's a hit, and Roy can breathe a sigh of relief that this project was a success. As for the biomechanical cockroach...a new twist was added when SOTA got the script and saw that the creature must have tentacles. Roy is sweating bullets, while Cleve is giddy at the thought of building such an abomination of nature. Tony drops by to check on their progress two days before the shoot, and when he sees the assemblage of parts, rather than a complete creature, he flips out. Cleve, however, is unfazed. He knows that all the elements are there, it's just a matter of putting them together properly. Using a motley collection of spare parts, including hairdressing tools and misplaced tubing, he and his team construct a hideous insectoid antagonist. It has nasty legs. It has tentacles. It has glowing tendons. It has personality. The SOTA team deliver the creature to set, and everyone helps to animate it using hands and rods in an elaborate puppetry dance. It's terrifying, it works, and Tony is thrilled. Another crisis has been averted.