"Face Off" Recap: "Extraterrestrial Enterprise"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Few shows in my mind were ever as iconic as Star Trek: The Next Generation. It set the bar on so many levels. It was a show that featured top notch storytelling, action and acting and most importantly...special effects makeup. Week after week we met incredible species after incredible species, magically brought to life by way of Michael Westmore's skill with foam latex and well his imagination. 

So as it turns out, last night's episode of Face Off decided it was high time to not only pay tribute to Michael's work, but the work of aliens in science fiction as a whole with an entire episode revolving around the wonder of the alien make up effect. It was a wonderful and magical episode to say the least because "Extraterrestrial Enterprise" not only featured some incredible work from our contestants but it added a few surprises along the way as well, ones that left geeks like myself and others jumping with joy. 

What made this episode so cool was the fact that everything last night revolved around these intergalactic special effects, starting with the foundation challenge where the contestants were asked to recreate the special effects of old, whipping together a hyper fast makeup that would have shown up in the classic 1960s to 1970s era of sci fi television. The results were fun to see and Evan won the day with a simple but powerful makeup that Michael Westmore said point blank was screen ready right then and there. 

Then it was revealed that the spotlight challenge would enhance their makeups further, since now they had to take their work and evolve it. Essentially they had to look at their own retro makeup and move it into the modern era and I thought this idea was absolutely genius and the results were quite breathtaking to say the least. Especially Ben and Scott's work. Ben originally just put together something pretty meh, but his final result was subtle and impressive and it just so happened to win the night as well. Oh! But I almost forgot the geeky surprises last night...because Jonathan Frakes and Michael Dorn showed up as well, with Mister Frakes offering advice from the director's perspective on makeups and Mister Dorn sat in as the guest judge. It was just a wonderful geek out moment to see these two legends pop up last night, and some of the contestants clearly felt the same way. 

But, all fun aside, there was still the matter of who didn't quite make the cut last night and well, I do disagree with the judges on this one. The good news is, Meg finally got her stuff together and didn't show up in the bottom looks but Jason, Jordan and Jasmine did and Jason was sent home for his technical mistakes and I think he deserved one more chance, especially considering how rough Jasmine's work turned out to be. She bit off way more than she could chew and I flat out liked nothing about her makeup. But, they are the experts and see more than I do, so no doubt their sending home Jason had its merits. Either way, this episode was a ton of fun, and definitely left me smiling with all its wonderful nostalgia. Until next time. 

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