Monster Man, Apr. 18 – Devo and Cleve-Zilla Rules

My name is Janel, I have been writing and published for many years. I wrote two poetry books. I was the Associate Editor of my college newspaper. I hope to write my life story one day and finish it.



On tonight’s episode of Monster Man, leave it to Cleve to go big for the season finale. Cleve meets Devo again and creates an awesome creature and Devo Man.

In Los Angeles, Roy receives a call to work with the legendary group Devo to create a few creatures for their new video. Cleve and Roy have worked with Devo in the past on their infamous energy dome hats, and they must meet with the band to pitch the Godzilla versus Devo-Man idea for their new music video Roy will be directing. Cleve and Roy head to Devo’s studio to meet with the band, and Roy is concerned because Cleve has not done any sketches yet to present to Devo, but Cleve is confident.


Cleve and Roy arrive at the studio, and the band is putting the finishing touches on their new song entitledMonster Man. Roy pitches the idea to Devo, and the band sits stone-faced as Roy continues talking. Cleve jumps in and is calm, cool and collective. Devo loves the idea. Roy’s idea is Devo playing on a skyscraper and a giant Godzilla-like monster coming along to possibly squash them into musical history when suddenly a character inspired by Ultra Man, otherwise known now as Devo-Man, comes along to save the day.

Sounds simple enough as Cleve heads back to SOTA FX and begins to throw out assignments to the team. Sonia and Elora are assigned to make the tail for the Japanese inspired Godzilla, and Elora is excited because she feels this the “perfect mother-daughter project.” Hill is assigned to the full facial appliances, and Johnnie and Constance are assigned to the costumes. But what about Cleve? He is the conductor of a monster symphony and is thrilled because he will be wearing the monster suit and controlling the giant monster.

The suit will fit one monster man, and one monster man only, as Cleve acts like an excited kid in a toy store at Halloween. He will be dressed up playing this awesome creature. Hill begins working on the facial masks for Devo and is using the energy dome hats as their ears on the new masks to incorporate them into this new project.

Cleve inspects the dorsal fins for the giant tail and is not happy with them. They are made of foam that Sonia has measured, but apparently not well enough. Cleve decides he will need some extra help, so calls in Tuck Porter. Constance is not happy. “Do we seriously need another chef in the kitchen?” She realizes her father gave her costume assignment away. The team has five days to complete all this work, so Cleve is doing what he has to do in monster land.

Cleve discovers the dorsal fins are too flimsy for the massive tail, facing a huge set back. He must work through the night to get all of the builds finished. Tuck Porter comes in to design the Devo-Man suit and is an incredible tailor and slightly dramatic according to Cleve. Constance is not taking orders from Tuck, but Cleve needs the help, so Tuck jumps right in. Yet first they must head over to Hill and check out the masks to match the suit.

Meanwhile out in the parking lot of SOTA FX on a nice sunny day, Constance, Hill and Johnnie gang up on Cleve. Constance says “BFD” (Big Freaking Deal-the nice version of text talk) to her father. The team is upset because Cleve called in Tuck to help out. Constance is still upset because she wanted to do the Devo Man costume, but Cleve feels he will not be able to get everything done without Tuck.

Roy meets with stunt coordinator Cole McKay who has worked with everyone from Chuck Norris to Steven Seagal, and brings Cleve along to work on his stunts. Johnnie will the punching bag for Cleve. Sounds like fun, right? Maybe not for Johnnie. He discovers he will be getting thrown through a building. It worked out well, as Roy was able to envision all of his ideas and Cleve unleashed his inner beast.

They would love to stay and help clean up but they have monsters to build, so it’s back to SOTA FX as Cleve prepares to design the head of the creature and is looking to Gorgo for inspiration on his monster. Cleve gets to work on the sketch so he can have this creature ready to go. It has to match Hill’s Devo Man design and also make Roy smile. Cleve presents the sketch to Roy and is happy with a quick response of “Cool dude.”

This is quite a lot of work for one Monster Man, so Cleve begins carving the head out of foam. He is a natural foam fabricator, so it comes easy to him. Tuck Porter has a great idea for the space age Devo Man suit and is putting the costume together. Constance is tracing the body armor for the costume and is very concerned about Tuck’s glue idea to hold the suit together.

Constance calls her father over to review her body armor work, and he begins inspecting her work and likes it. “Awesome sauce, Constance.” She and Cleve are happy, but as everything comes together, Cleve must focus on finishing the monster and needs to try it on to see if it moves like a monster should. Cleve needs as much flexibility as possible, yet the suit is not moving the way he wants it to, so he must take it apart. They have two days until the band starts shooting the video.

Tuck is almost finished with the body suit and Cleve calls in stunt man, Mike Su, who is a suit actor and a former actor in the Power Rangers. The suit already has tears in it, and it tears more every time Mike moves. Cleve yells at Constance about the suit but he realizes he needs Tuck to step up his game and get the suit done correctly.

Roy is preparing to direct and leaves Cindy in charge of SOTA FX while he is off preparing on the day before the official shoot for the video. Roy needs the monster onset within the next five hours, and Cindy is already threatening to get a cattle prod to “zap them in the ass” to get the team working. Cindy heads out to see Cleve and repeats five hours at least ten times. Cleve does not respond well to threats.

Cindy is still complaining, and Cleve is letting her in on everything that needs to be done in time. She is going on and on about how this is about Roy and his video, and here they thought it was about Devo and Monsters. She is such a buzzkill. Cleve is going to get the build done and goes off in his world as Cindy continues to yell (Cleve should buy ear plugs).

Cleve is a very talented monster creator and knows what he is doing after thirty years, so she needs to cut him some slack. There is one day until the shoot, and Roy wants the monster suit on set by the end of the day. Cindy comes back to yell some more, so Cleve heads outside and calls Roy to inform him that he needs a few more hours. Roy is fine with that as long as it gets done, because he has already missed his opportunity to test the monster.


Tuck Porter puts Cleve in the suit, and then they have a few more alterations to get done. Johnnie takes a break to laugh hysterically at Tuck’s thong … yes, a thong. Cleve knows how to pick them. Tuck is from the seventies, but Sonia loves him because he is entertaining. Tuck says he is going to the club and is a tailor, an artist and a dancer. He has to get to work so he can dance later.

Cleve is working on the head of the monster and is concentrating and using spoons for eyes. It must set overnight and be ready for tomorrow’s shoot. Mike Su returns for the Devo Man suit and preps by moving around and doing a few roundhouse kicks. The suit must hold up. Tuck comes through, and Constance is thrilled.

Cleve must get his monster ready. They are stuck pulling an all-night build to get the monster done. Cleve drowns out Cindy with more hot air as he dries the monster. This is a lot of work and does not look like something you could put together in five minutes, so maybe they should lock her in an office … no offense Cindy.

Cleve is hard at work putting the final pieces and finishing touches on the monster. Johnnie is worried they might show up late, as well as how Roy will react, so they pack up quickly and head to the video shoot to meet Roy and Devo at Laurel Canyon Studios. Roy is directing and still waiting for Cleve. They have a lot riding on this shoot, but Cleve arrives and Roy advises him to get suited up. He must assemble the suit and put it on, because Roy is directing and flipping out more than usual (someone get the man some blood pressure medication),

Mike is put in his costume and Constance explains that Roy is really on top of everyone because he is directing, and if everyone would stop asking Cleve when the monster will be done, he will have time to actually finish it. Roy finishes with Mike’s scenes, as Devo Man and Cleve are getting the monster suit on.

Sonia complains she is not dealing with the yelling and having Cindy throwing stuff at Cleve. It is childish. As Cleve finishes up his Monster suit, Roy begins filming Mike, and in comes Cleve in all his awesomeness. Cleve knows that Roy and Devo are going to love the suit, and as always he is right. It looks amazing, and Cleve is ready in character with fire-breathing and all.

The fight scene is up, and Cleve has had no sleep. Mike and Cleve fight in character, and Mike takes Clevezilla down, but Cleve is not moving. He is unconscious and down on the ground, not moving. He is incoherent and does not want to get out of the suit. Something is seriously wrong.

Roy is really panicking. Johnnie says Cleve needs air, while Sonia is upset. Cleve is dazed, leaving Sonia worried he may die or slip into a coma as he has been working around the clock and pushing himself. Cleve realizes where he is and just needs to breathe in the monster suit. All is well in monster land, and now that he can breathe, he is ready to destroy the city.

Okay, here we go, let the destruction begin. Cleve goes to work destroying the building, and for the final shot, they get to see all of their work together, and it looks unreal. Cleve, Mike, Devo and massive destruction are seen as the band does their thing. A fire-breathing Cleve causes mass chaos. That is a wrap for the Monster Man as he stressed the hell out of Roy and overworked himself, but impressed the hell out of Roy and Devo.

Roy is grateful Cleve had his back, and Devo is excited. They all may just drive home in these costumes. Who’s the man, who’s the Monster Man … Cleve Hall is the monster man. To all you ghouls and scream queens everywhere ,may your nightmares inspire you.