r/doctorwho • u/PCJs_Slave_Robot • May 11 '24

Doctor Who 1x01 "Space Babies" Post-Episode Discussion Thread Space Babies

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393 Upvotes
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273

u/agitatedandroid May 11 '24

I don't mind the exposition. Every episode is someone's first episode and there's a few parameters you need to establish.

The Doctor and Ruby are great.

Production on this must have been a pain considering the rules around kids on film.

Touching on abortion and refugees was good though it was such a light touch you can blink and miss it.

But the plot was juvenile. I wish I thought farts were funny. I just don't.

80

u/FalafelSnorlax May 11 '24

Production on this must have been a pain considering the rules around kids on film.

I kinda wondered if the babies were just full cgi just because working with babies is so complicated.

Touching on abortion and refugees was good though it was such a light touch you can blink and miss it.

I actually kinda like this sort of reference. Makes a very clear point when you notice it, and doesn't feel forced at all. This is the sort of thing that comes out weird if they put too much focus into it (cue the Meeps gender scene)

43

u/willstr1 May 12 '24

I kinda wondered if the babies were just full cgi just because working with babies is so complicated.

They definitely used real babies, if they were CGI, then it would look more like they were talking when they were talking

4

u/Still_Independent_90 May 12 '24

There was a credit for puppeteers in the episode. Since you can't really make body molds of babies, I would bet that they photographed the bejeezus out of them, then used 3d printers or something similar to make duplicate-looking molds of the babies, then made those molds into puppets.

14

u/Rustash May 12 '24

Probably for the Bogeyman, mate.

2

u/willstr1 May 12 '24

The head and full body shots look too realistic and again if they went to that level of effort I feel like the babies acting would have been better. A lot of the head and full body shots looked more like what you could actually direct a real baby to do which is why they are mainly limited to just slightly holding an object and sitting in their chairs. All the shots were they are using machinery you usually see just a baby hand pushing a button or pulling on something which is a classic trick used when you need a baby, animal, or traditional puppet manipulate something, you create a decent hand on a stick and then film just the hand doing the action (which would be the puppeteer credit, plus the boogeyman as another commenter mentioned)

22

u/sleepyotter92 May 12 '24

i think the babies were real, but the mouths were cgi. at the end when ruby is holding eric and he speaks, the camera is really zoomed in on his face, and the mouth moving almost looks like it glitches

9

u/thequeenisalizard1 May 12 '24

Didn’t feel forced? The line about making babies but refusing to look after them after is one of the clunkiest attempts at satire in RTD’s career

3

u/TestiCallSack May 15 '24

It felt incredibly forced to me. To the point where I cringed. And I agree with everything they’re saying

41

u/Rustash May 12 '24

A light touch? They basically put the abortion metaphor in big bright neon lights.

3

u/FABBAWABBA May 18 '24

Yeah no idea what that guy is on about. Felt far too on the nose for me, like in the first christmas special.

3

u/agitatedandroid May 12 '24

I believe you. I just didn't see it.

I once couldn't find my glasses because they were sitting in the middle of my desk where my wrists rest when I type.

I probably zoned out when I saw the babies. As soon as the first baby comes in and starts talking, I think my brain just said, "I get the joke" and shut off until something interesting happened.

2

u/childproofbirdhouse May 14 '24

It was not a light touch at all. Took me out of the dialogue and story immediately because it was so obviously “topical.”