When Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hit theaters, a great debate began. Social media has been back and forth on who is cuter; Baby Yoda (yes, The Child, we know) or Babu Frik . The Anzellan droidsmith plays a pivotal role in The Rise of Skywalker. So, how did the littlest member of Zorii Bliss’ Kijimi crew come to life on the big screen? IGN got a chance to speak to the VFX team including creature effect supervisor Neal Scanlan and special effects supervisors Roger Guyett about what it took to make this tiny guy a reality.

Loading

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Visual Effects Behind the Scenes 5 IMAGES

Practical creatures have been a part of the Star Wars universe since the very beginning. You’ve likely seen the video of Mark Hamill working with a puppet version of Yoda back in Empire Strikes Back. Guyett told IGN that Babu Frik “encapsulates the spirit of Star Wars.” Scanlan, who said there were 538 creatures used in The Rise of Skywalker, gave us a look at what went into doing a scene with him.“Babu is a little nine-inch puppet,” he explained. “He has animatronics and mechanisms in his head so that he can talk and blink. And so, to a large extent, what we're trying to do in that world is create a fully livable entity. But he can't obviously move on his own accord, so there are rods attached to him, and those rods are then held by puppeteers who stand behind him in most of the scenes.”The practical effects in films, particularly in the Star Wars franchise, are enhanced with digital work, making puppets look more like real creatures. Though Babu Frik is a rod puppet and was operated by puppeteers in green suits, Babu Frik is enhanced by CG. According to Scanlan, “If we didn't have the wonderment of CG and the brilliance of ILM, we wouldn't be able to do this because you'd see them behind [the set]”.It wasn’t just the usual puppeteers either. Scanlan told us that the voice of Babu joined in. Shirley Henderson (who you’ll remember as Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films) did some work on that front as well. “J.J. [Abrams] said, ‘Wouldn't it be great if she could actually operate Babu's mouth so that when she talks she performs the puppet?’ So she came and she worked with us for a couple of weeks, and she joined him with our puppeteering team.” Henderson was doing the dialogue live and operating the mouth while working with the other actors on set.Scanlan said this whole process is “very unique to Star Wars,” and that the audience responds to that. He said, “We don't want Babu to look so real that you're not - We want him to be a puppet. We want you to engage with him like you would do at a Punch and Judy show as a child.”Babu wasn’t always the witty little droidsmith we saw in the final cut. In fact, he was a little more Zen. Scanlan explained, “Babu’s role in the film changed from the original concept that we talked to J.J. about, to where you see him…His costume changed, and I'm sure I can say this, he was almost like a mystic to begin with. And then he became almost like a welder, and then you can see now his evolution as a character.” That said, Babu’s basic look and size stayed the same.Eagle-eyed fans might have noticed this already, but there may be a little Easter egg in Babu’s workshop. Scanlan said, “I'm not sure if it's there because even I haven't had a chance to look close, but I'm not completely unsure that there isn't a Bad Robot [director J.J. Abrams’ production company] in Babu's workshop…I think he's in there. I glimpsed, so I'm trying to see if he's there. We definitely made one.”Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is in theaters now. Stay tuned for more info on the VFX from the film, including how they made those Leia scenes work.And for more of Rise of Skywalker coverage, check out our review , read our explainer on those Sith revelations , and learn what Finn was trying to tell Rey in that key scene.