Wee Boots

Roy knows that Cleve is a family man, but when the monster maker misses two client meetings because he's having Manicure Mondays with Sonia and the girls, Roy is inches away from firing him. SOTA's mountain of work this week includes a multi-part build for a '50s camp-style alien movie, directed by Jason "Wee Man" Acuna of Jackass fame, as well as a pair of 12-foot foam boots for the premiere of the Dreamworks movie, Puss in Boots. Cleve gives the bulk of the work to Constance, which totally gets her hackles up and makes her take revenge by hiding her dad's computer. The studio explodes into chaos as father and daughter fight, with a little help from mom, but finally the computer is found and everyone gets back to work. Jason comes in to get a life cast for his alien head, and Constance is mollified by getting to work with such a fun star. Cleve also forgets about the feud when he realizes how much work he has to do to get the boots ready for the premiere, and later in the week, when Cleve and Constance collaborate on building the alien head, it proves to be good bonding time, and the two move past their differences. The Dreamworks folks drop by, and everyone's on edge, hoping that such a big client will dig their work, and though they have some reservations due to the fact that there's such a short time frame in which to do so much, but the reps like what they see. When they tell Roy that it has to be done by Saturday night instead of the originally-planned Sunday morning, Cleve nearly has a heart attack. But, he works through the night and the following day, and manages to knock it out. On to the next challenge: The alien head for Jason's film is complete and gorgeous, but when they get to set, they learn that it's not going on Wee Man, after all, but on his stunt man, who has a completely different head shape. They carve out the inside to make it work, and the scene goes perfectly. Next comes the shot where the alien slits Jason's throat, and Hill has trouble with the fake blood, which is meant to flow profusely. It's too thick, but after an on-the-spot thinning method, the murder scene flows as smoothly as the fake red stuff. Finally, Constance comes in to do Jason's transitional make up. The alien will peel off Jason's face to discover that he, too, is an alien, and Constance's handiwork will make both the fake human face look real, and the transitional alien face look convincing. She achieves both with aplomb, and another day is won for old school creepy creature making. Plus, the SOTA team is that much closer as a family for the challenges they've been through.