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Things That Doctor Who Made Me Afraid Of: Baby-dolls!

Things That Doctor Who Made Me Afraid Of: Baby-dolls!

by Helly Faye

Author: sanman/Thursday, August 15, 2013/Categories: Blog, KdW Feature

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We whippersnappers in the Whovian Universe seem to be under the delusion that it is the malevolent influence that is Steven Moffat that makes us afraid of the ordinary. Wi-Fi is an excellent example of something that surrounds us everyday that has been delicately poisoned by the Great Intelligence of Moffat into being something sinister. What we do not know due to lack of exposure to classic Who episodic adventures via radio dramas (we are mostly American and thus ignorant of this amazing form of entertainment), television series, and books is that taking the ordinary and manipulating it to fit the needs of the story-line is not a new device in Who. Of course Monsters-of-the-Week are terrifying, especially ancient gods and goddesses (check out Pyramids of Mars (1975) for a great example of this), but monster costumes can get rather costly. The BBC does not like to "waste" their budget on Doctor Who, so we grounded the Doctor for a bit. The Brigadier came into play as did U.N.I.T. for the Second (Patrick Troughton) and Third (Jon Pertwee) Doctors as it was a way to save money on elaborate monster costumes and out-of-this-world sets. Here is where the Uncanny Valley comes into play: Mannequins, Baby-dolls, and Body-snatching (Mark Gatiss’ ‘The Unquiet Dead’ uses this device)! Oh my!

The first of the episodic adventures following the regeneration into the Third Doctor, "Spearhead from Space", majorly deals in the Uncanny Valley. When the viewer is introduced to the villains, aside from knowing that meteors hit the Earth, (but we need not worry too much about that because U.N.I.T. is on the case) we are shown around a factory where baby-dolls are being made. The way this is shot is sickening. I have no idea why it looks so disgusting. I felt like I was watching a bloodless slaughter house. It felt creepy and wrong. I applaud the filming here. I am also freaked out by things shot in technicolor and science-fiction horror of the 1970s. The viewer is alerted by the words of one of the men that something is horrendously wrong. Then we, the man and the viewer, learn the bad guys look like baby-dolls. Like seriously, adult-sized baby-dolls that are henchmen. The Baby-doll men stay perfectly still awaiting instruction before they move from their line. When they are in motion, to perform acts most hideous, the camera stays away from exposing the man beneath's eyes. The said camera trick gives the appearance that these baby-dolls have no eyes. No eyes or pitch black holes for eyes for some reason signal to some viewers that the creature has no soul. This notion is reinforced by the fact that most viewers are use to being the ones to manipulate the actions of a baby-doll and not looking at a baby-doll as an autonomous being. The plastic wax on the baby-dolls face casts a weird glare on the camera. It is the creepiest thing. You can keep your weeping angels. Baby-dolls creep me out.

 

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