Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder Review - 9 Ups And 2 Downs
6. UP - Some Wafty CGI (But This Time It Works)
Yup, we’re putting bad CGI as an up as well as a down. A ‘dup’, if you will.
In the hallway, the poor CGI didn’t work, but on our antagonists of the week, it only adds to it – intentionally or not.
These creatures exist slightly outside the rules of physics, attempting to mimic the Doctor and Donna and, at first, not doing a great job. They’re meant to be a poor rendering of the duo, like a drawing where the dimensions are off, the eyes are too big, or the hands look like clubs.
In this case, the dodgy CGI of the faces like your first Photoshop attempt, and the inconsistent supersizing of the characters during the hallway chase all feed into the surrealist vibe of this episode. They’re so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, a little uncanny valley even, and don’t look like anything we’ve seen in the show before. These things really do feel like aliens slightly beyond our comprehension, living at the very edge of reality.
We also loved the creepy contortion used later in the episode, especially Tennant going full horror movie and walking backwards on his hands while making weird chattery mouth noises. 10/10.