S09.E11: Beyond The Expanse

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Once again, no episode description from SyFy yet!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

From the SyFy Face Off blog:

 

The time has come for Face Off to ... evolve.

 

Evolve with The Expanse, that is, as Syfy's upcoming space drama will be inspiring the artists' Spotlight Challenge in the next episode.

 

The Expanse takes place in a near-future where much of our solar system has been colonized, creating radical new worlds and environments that cause their respective populations to physically adapt. As such, the artists -- guided by a few words of wisdom from The Expanse creators Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham -- will create an evolutionary character from a specific extreme environment.

[Mreid]

I wish Jordan won the challenge I liked his design a lot. Nora dodged a huge bullet tonight!  I am surprised Ben landed in the bottom, it wasnt his best work, but I liked his better than Nora's.  I figured Stevie would go home over Ben, hes won way too many challenges this season. Im surprised Stevie made it this far.  A double elimination next week ouch!

[Frozendiva]

Colonisation of the solar system would be in the far-future.  But I digress.

 

I liked the two top looks. Nora got very lucky and got saved. I thought she'd end up on the bottom. Wasn't surprised to see Stevie go. Was surprised that Mr. Westmore made a return trip after the usual weekly walkthrough. Maybe there needs to be a season where there is only one "alien" challenge. This week's challenge was to maybe go forward at most a few thousand years. Ben's may have worked with slightly less lava - maybe a more sooty skintone with a bit of rock in the hair.

 

We don't see the previews up here in Canada. Looks the season is coming to an end.

[Rhetorica]

I may not remember this correctly but didn't Westmore help both the safe people? He nearly created Nora's design for her and repeatedly told Ben that he missed the point of the challenge. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[HunterHunted]

I've got to disagree with the judges, mostly Ve, harping on Stevie's paint job. In 200,000 years of human evolution and migration, humans have evolved skins tones that range from light peachy beige to very dark brown. There is no way in a couple of thousand years that we'd have greenish skin. That was Ve's cognitive dissonance speaking. She's had a career of making blue green fish people and can't imagine anything else.

[Mr. Simpatico]

I've got to disagree with the judges, mostly Ve, harping on Stevie's paint job. In 200,000 years of human evolution and migration, humans have evolved skins tones that range from light peachy beige to very dark brown. There is no way in a couple of thousand years that we'd have greenish skin. That was Ve's cognitive dissonance speaking. She's had a career of making blue green fish people and can't imagine anything else.

I agree. Maybe it shouldn't have been that skin tone, but human skin definitely wouldn't have evolved into fish tones in the period of time. Of all things Stevie shouldn't have  been penalized for that. I'm not sure what Ve was thinking. But I'm guessing Stevie went home because Ben was better overall this season (I think his idea was fine but the actual work was a mess). On the other side Scott would've been totally gone if he had kept his original idea and the Westmores saved him by coming back a second time.

[GaT]

I've got to disagree with the judges, mostly Ve, harping on Stevie's paint job. In 200,000 years of human evolution and migration, humans have evolved skins tones that range from light peachy beige to very dark brown. There is no way in a couple of thousand years that we'd have greenish skin. 

 

I agree. Maybe it shouldn't have been that skin tone, but human skin definitely wouldn't have evolved into fish tones in the period of time. 

I also agree, for what the challenge was, fish characteristics with human skin makes perfect sense. 

[niklj]

Is it me or does this crop of contestants have the lowest self-confidence out of all the seasons?

 

"I don't know what I'm doing."

"This look is definitely sending me to the bottom."

"I'm really disappointed in myself."

"I'm praying I don't go home tonight."

"This isn't my best work but I hope it's enough to keep me safe."

 

Seriously, I know we've heard this before but in this episode pretty much every single person EXCEPT Evan seemed to be ready for a boot tonight. And usually Evan is ready to be booted. C'mon, guys!

[Bella]

I'm not going to quote your entire post, whimsey98, but I agree with most of it. It struck me that there was little if any accounting for the fact that humans have evolved to have melanin for a reason. It helped some of our ancestors to protect against harsh sun, for example. And that is why I would have given the win to Jordan over Evan. Both characters were pale, which made sense in an ice age but not in a desert environment. Evan's evoked Lawrence of Arabia for me, and I didn't find that to be plausible from an evolutionary standpoint.

 

As for Stevie, I could see that make-up going either way in terms of color. I think her real problem was that her paint job was too subtle and made no impression from a distance. Many sea creatures blend into their environments, which would argue in favor of something darker, while others are bright and colorful. Stevie could have kept the concept with more definition and perhaps hair that was evolving in the direction of colorful fins - red would have been a good choice. Anyway, I agree that she'll likely have a brilliant career.

 

And I also agree with what you said about Nora's willingness to start over speaking to her confidence. One thing that distresses me about these skills competition shows (the cooking shows, PR, and Face Off all coming to mind) is that the normal time for experimentation is lacking, yet creative people are known to make false starts. So what's rewarded is not so much the final product that would matter in the marketplace, but the best first concept. There's a lot to be said for the best first concept, but I think these shows accidentally cull out some talented folks who need more than 30 minutes to think. 

[Primetimer]

A tie-in with another imminent Syfy series lets everyone evolve their concepts.

Read the story

[Nutjob]

This season has shaped up kind of weird for me, as I'm still not seeing a clear top 3. And I thought Scott was a bottom look for sure--his cockroach hybrid should've been there over Ben's, I thought.

[Canada]

I don't think Scott and Ben really understand what an evolutionary adaptation is.  Scott even had an extra visit from the Westmores and he still didn't really get it.

 

When does the next season start?

[Thog]

As a former evolutionary biologist, parts of this were painful to watch. I don't expect make-up artists to have an in-depth understanding of biological processes (or even anatomy, unlike some judges), but some of their thinking was just so wrong that I found myself shouting at the TV. Evolution does not magically prepare you for some potential future calamity! You don't suddenly sprout gills because there's lots of water around! You can't rub ash on yourself and expect it to get passed on to your offspring! Nobody becomes a cockroach just because "nuclear" and "cockroach" are often partnered in word association games! 

In that sense, only Jordan's seemed successful to me. Rolls of fat? Many of us already have them. Change over time in response to the environment, building on features that at least some members of the population already have, is exactly how it works.

(climbing off my supremely nerdy soapbox now)

 

Really glad not to see Ben go, though it feels like some weeks he coasts based on previous work. I didn't agree that Stevie should be in the bottom, and of those two I liked hers better. But I guess they didn't want to be rid of Ben or Nora just yet, and honestly it probably should have come down to them this week.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Thog

[Lorimac]

Completely on board with the posters who said that living in a mostly aquatic environment would not make one's skin turn green - maybe people with smoother skin and streamlined facial contours would survive better in the water, but why would people with blue skin survive better in the water than people with warmer color shaded skin tones. I thought Ben would go.  We were all like "Whaaaaat?" when they announced Stevie's name.  If anything, it seemed like this should have been the challenge to dump two rather than next week.

[Canada]

Agreed, re. the aquatic environment skin tone thing.  Not all water animals are blue or green.  There are lots that aren't. 

[PepperMonkey]

I thought Ben's and Scott's were both kind of awful, but I was okay with Stevie going. NOT for the skin tone thing, though; I couldn't see anything else but how non intentially asymmetrical ("crooked") most of the face was after Glenn pointed it out.

 

I still am thinking Evan, Scott and Nora for the finalists, but it is kind of scary that two are departing next week.

 

I like Jordan, too, so it's tough for me to pick a real frontrunner.

 

Actually, it's hard not to like any of these contestants, so there's that... but Ben is kind of bugging me just because he wins, then almost loses, then wins, then almost loses. Haven't seen much consistent growth from him, imho, although his highs have been very high.

[Frozendiva]

Aquatic and radiation/nuclear disaster could create an X Files Flukeman type being over a shorter timeframe. Major human evolutionary changes would probably take over 50,000 years.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Frozendiva

[Kaoteek]

From an evolutionary standpoint, yeah, the results were a mess.

From a creative & sculpting standpoint, I hated the Polar Ice Man. It just felt so plastic & fake, I would have put him in the bottom, and Ben's in the safe category. Cockroach Girl, though, was camera-ready, and I would have put it in the top two, if it weren't for the evolutionary thingie.

 

As for Nora, I'm kind of tired of her quasi-weekly meltdowns & creative block.

[carrps]

And I also agree with what you said about Nora's willingness to start over speaking to her confidence. One thing that distresses me about these skills competition shows (the cooking shows, PR, and Face Off all coming to mind) is that the normal time for experimentation is lacking, yet creative people are known to make false starts. So what's rewarded is not so much the final product that would matter in the marketplace, but the best first concept. There's a lot to be said for the best first concept, but I think these shows accidentally cull out some talented folks who need more than 30 minutes to think. 

Both my sister and I say this every week. Neither of us are quick conceptualizers. It's not that we're not creative. We just need time to let our thoughts percolate.

[Rhetorica]

I'm confused by the comments about symmetry from the judges. Human faces aren't symmetrical, so why is this an issue?

[staphdude]

As a former evolutionary biologist, parts of this were painful to watch. I don't expect make-up artists to have an in-depth understanding of biological processes (or even anatomy, unlike some judges), but some of their thinking was just so wrong that I found myself shouting at the TV. Evolution does not magically prepare you for some potential future calamity! You don't suddenly sprout gills because there's lots of water around! You can't rub ash on yourself and expect it to get passed on to your offspring! Nobody becomes a cockroach just because "nuclear" and "cockroach" are often partnered in word association games! 

In that sense, only Jordan's seemed successful to me. Rolls of fat? Many of us already have them. Change over time in response to the environment, building on features that at least some members of the population already have, is exactly how it works.

(climbing off my supremely nerdy soapbox now)

 

 

How Lamarckian of you.

 

Selective pressure and maintenance of characteristics that provide greater advantage underlie evolution and as such Ben should have been laughed off the stage. For that matter most were rather poor attempts at demonstrating the evolution of humans under the pressures imposed by those environments. I would say that Stevie's aquatic human was rather appropriate for this challenge. Vestigial nostrils with the implied emergence of gills. Subtle changes to the skin to reflect emergence of characteristics that would serve a water dweller. 

 

After the Westmore critique I thought that Scott did the best job both in terms of fitting the challenge and technique.

[Merneith]

To that end, I think paler humans would have an evolutionary advantage underwater, with visible blue veins, perhaps. I think we'd end up with dolphiny type skin & coloration, maybe.

Volcanic disaster that sticks around long enough to affect the human body in an evolutionary way ... is another way of saying ice age, isn't it? Volcanos don't just erupt for thousand of years on end, and if they did, the human response is to go somewhere else. If the Yellowstone Caldera blows - we're all screwed, but we're not going to turn into Basalt People. It's the subsequent volcanic winter that would get us.

We are not going to develop scales in the near future. Or antennas. Or gills, which, FYI, are not just funny-shaped nostrils. We're not going to stop being primates. Michael Westmore's advice to think about brow ridges was the right way to go.

Gah.

I'm tired of seeing Nora cry and I'm especially tired of watching her cry while scrapping her first idea and starting over, even though that's wasting time, which is a thing she's done repeatedly, now, until Evan comes over and hugs her. I get it, honey. He's cute. Stop being such a sap about it, already.

The Ice Age guy should have won. I guess his name's Jordan? I keep forgetting there's a Jordan on the show.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Merneith

[mlp]

This episode annoyed me from the start because the basic concept was flawed.  200 years is a mere blip on an evolutionary timeline.  There's no way a human would change in any way that would be visible from across the room in that short time frame.  The only one that made sense to me was Jordan's because he just exaggerated features that already exist.  I can buy rolls of fat becoming more developed and the long hair and beard made sense as protection from the elements.

 

I am sick of Nora and her carrying on but I have to admit that her face was marginally better than Stevie's although I have no idea what it had to do with toxic pollution.  Her sculpting saved her.  Stevie always looked to me like she needed a transfusion.  When the show started, I thought she used a very pale make up but then I realized that her neck and arms and legs were the same color as her face.  Even the part in her hair was almost bright white.  I hope she's healthier than she looks.

 

I hope Scott and any two of the other remaining men are the final three.

[starri]

I really don't understand how they gave Scott a pass on completely missing the point of the challenge.  I get that it was a nice makeup, but just going off and doing his own thing, no matter how well executed, should have at least earned him a talking-to.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

This episode annoyed me from the start because the basic concept was flawed.  200 years is a mere blip on an evolutionary timeline.  There's no way a human would change in any way that would be visible from across the room in that short time frame.

They covered that; the first TH commenting on the challenge included an implication that the evolution could be artificial. Scientists are already mixing genes between different animals and plants to give something a trait they want (or see if they've correctly identified what something does). It won't be long before they can do major transformations.

[tpplay]

While I think Ben is an extremely good artist, I'm pretty unhappy about this outcome.  This is the second time Ben's work has been the worst but he has not gone home.  This is just unfair on the face of it.  You want to save someone once because of his body of work - okay.  Twice?  Not so much.  I'm pretty pissed.

[Richness]

I like Nora, but I am so tired of her sculpting drama. This is the third week in a row that this has been shown. I'm beginning to wonder if it's happened more often, but they just haven't had the time to show it till now. I'm also beginning to think Evan enjoys comforting her a bit too much. Is there a showmance blooming?

 

Anyway, I agree with the top, bottom, and safe look choices. However, I disagree with the person sent home. Ben's blackened Thing should have sent him home. I suspect it's only his past successes that kept him around yet again. What is up with him and Evan switching around top and bottom looks every episode?

 

I actually liked Stevie's aquaman concept. If she had emphasized the gills a bit more and left the scales off, I think it would have been much better. I realize the scales gave her more detail work to be admired, but it seemed like one thing too many. I'm ambivalent about the skin coloration, but think I would have preferred cooler water colors.

[Canada]

I've been really irritated by Ben recently.  In the beginning, I really thought he might win the whole thing.  But he's been so inconsistent recently and I really thought he should go home this week.  It's almost like if he even slightly dislikes the challenge, he just doesn't bother at all.  The last time he was in the bottom two, I was happy he got saved.  This week, I wanted him to go.

[Betelnut]

No one really did a great job fulfilling the actual brief of the challenge (human evolution)!  I don't expect them to be versed in evolutionary biology or every physical anthropology but still...there seemed to be a lack of imagination of how our bodies could/would change logically.

 

I was most annoyed with Scott who I actually like.  Antennae?  What part of the anatomy are those supposed to have sprung from and what would be the utility of them?  Antennae are for feeling around--why would a nuclear disaster make us need to feel around using our heads?  It just didn't make sense.  Now if the antennae had been extended ears or something that actually exist on people that would have helped but still... 

 

Although it didn't fit the challenge at all, I thought Ben's looked cool so I was glad he didn't get eliminated.

[morakot]

The aquatic human would probably follow the form of the other mammals who returned to the sea -- seals, whales, etc. Extra fat, no scales, possibly more fur, webbing in hands and feet, bigger lungs?

[Eliza422]

Think about what previous Homo species look like (like the new one they just found in the cave in Africa)....I think some of the oldest ones go back 4 million years...and they still look amazingly like us right now!!!! It's clear we are still mammalian primates....no gills or antennae are going to suddenly appear!

[Quilt Fairy]

So the whole point of them mentioning SYFY's new show was just to...... mention SYFY's new show?  After they mentioned that the changes in The Expanse were caused by the gravity of the individual planet, I thought that would be the challenge and the reward for winning might be to show an alien on the show. But they drop that idea entirely and go with global disaster. And they could have presented that challenge without a single mention of The Expanse and it would be as clear and contained as any FO challenge. The 2 creators didn't even stay to be judges.

 

There's a Jordan? I swear, Nora is the only one from this season that I will ever remember.

[needschocolate]

Think about what previous Homo species look like (like the new one they just found in the cave in Africa)....I think some of the oldest ones go back 4 million years...and they still look amazingly like us right now!!!! It's clear we are still mammalian primates....no gills or antennae are going to suddenly appear!

 

True, but real life humans haven't had to adapt to the changes that were given in the challenges.  

 

Plus, I think the judges would have kicked off anyone who sent out a make-up that looked like us now and said that "four million years didn't change us much, I don't think that a couple of hundred (thousand?) years would make much difference, so I all I did was lower his eyebrows and give him more facial hair.

Edited October 10, 2015 by needschocolate

[Eliza422]

True, but real life humans haven't had to adapt to the changes that were given in the challenges.  

 

Plus, I think the judges would have kicked off anyone who sent out a make-up that looked like us now and said that "four million years didn't change us much, I don't think that a couple of hundred (thousand?) years would make much difference, so I all I did was lower his eyebrows and give him more facial hair.

But humans have lived through ice ages...and have adapted to live in desert areas, arctic areas, tropical rainforests, high elevation environments...we survived via technology, not evolution.

[needschocolate]

But humans have lived through ice ages...and have adapted to live in desert areas, arctic areas, tropical rainforests, high elevation environments...we survived via technology, not evolution.

 

True, but the challenge wasn't about using technology to adapt to whatever catastrophe they survived. 

 

Maybe I misunderstood your original post, but I thought you were saying that it was wrong for the artists to make changes to the basic anatomy, and my point was the challenge was to have the humans evolve due to some sort of change in the environment and that, even though in reality humans may not change much that quickly, the artists probably would have gotten marked down for not making big changes, like giving humans gills. 

[Eliza422]

True, but the challenge wasn't about using technology to adapt to whatever catastrophe they survived. 

 

Maybe I misunderstood your original post, but I thought you were saying that it was wrong for the artists to make changes to the basic anatomy, and my point was the challenge was to have the humans evolve due to some sort of change in the environment and that, even though in reality humans may not change much that quickly, the artists probably would have gotten marked down for not making big changes, like giving humans gills.

I know the contestants did what was asked of them, I just had issues with how ludicrous the whole idea of the challenge was...

[Pandora]

After they mentioned that the changes in The Expanse were caused by the gravity of the individual planet, I thought that would be the challenge and the reward for winning might be to show an alien on the show. But they drop that idea entirely and go with global disaster.

 

I think that says a lot about how mediocre this season is---they probably didn't want to be stuck with a substandard alien.

[CherZ]

I still like Nora, - she's just so darn likeable!

 

Agreed that Ben is getting a pass. I adore his work when he's spot -on but his last two bottom looks have been cringe-worthy. I think Stevie isn't as good as the others but she only went home because they wanted to save Ben's behind again.

[starri]

Interestingly, Ben admitted on Reddit that he thought Stevie's makeup was better.  At the same time, he also vehemently disagreed with the judges' opinions on his own piece.

[carrps]

 Stevie always looked to me like she needed a transfusion.  When the show started, I thought she used a very pale make up but then I realized that her neck and arms and legs were the same color as her face.  Even the part in her hair was almost bright white.  I hope she's healthier than she looks.

 

She's just very pale. Nothing to do with being healthy. In fact, she's much more healthy than if she'd gone out and literally tanned her hide.

[tpplay]

 

Interestingly, Ben admitted on Reddit that he thought Stevie's makeup was better.  At the same time, he also vehemently disagreed with the judges' opinions on his own piece.

 

Well.  That's illogical.

[Portia]

She's just very pale. Nothing to do with being healthy. In fact, she's much more healthy than if she'd gone out and literally tanned her hide.

Thank you. I get so tired of the automatic conflation of paleness with unhealthiness. I thought Stevie's complexion was quite pretty. It was her dead, soulless eyes that I found off-putting!

[Canada]

And that nasal, monotone voice.  Ugh!

[Jynnan tonnix]

On 10/7/2015 at 12:04 AM, HunterHunted said:

I've got to disagree with the judges, mostly Ve, harping on Stevie's paint job. In 200,000 years of human evolution and migration, humans have evolved skins tones that range from light peachy beige to very dark brown. There is no way in a couple of thousand years that we'd have greenish skin. That was Ve's cognitive dissonance speaking. She's had a career of making blue green fish people and can't imagine anything else.

It was actually all the fish scales rather than the pigment which seemed outside of whatever time period in the future these characters were supposed to be at. Fish come in pretty much every color imaginable, but as long as humans have hemoglobin, one would think that the skin tone would stay within the warm range. I'd imagine that it would take millions of years to evolve scales, though. Gills I could see since the human fetus still has gill-like structures at some point in its development. If I were doing something like this challenge, I'd look more toward the fetal development in various animals for my cues. But, as others have noted, there seem to be limits on how much research they can do. I've seen them with books  in the lab...I wonder whether they can at least check some of those out overnight or something.