While all the hybrid children of Netflix’s hit adaptation of the DC comic series Sweet Tooth have won over fans, there’s easily one that stands out as a fan-favorite, Bobby the Gopher boy. Fans immediately fell for the adorable character that the show introduces in Episode 4, “Secret Sauce”. Unlike the titular Sweet Tooth and Wendy, a half-pig, half-girl which are both played by human actors (Nonso Anozie and Naledi Murray respectively), Bobby is actually a puppet and now, showrunner Jim Mickle is sharing an amazing behind-the-scenes look at how they brought Bobby the Gopher to life.
On Twitter, Mickle shared a short video of the Bobby the Gopher puppet with puppeteers walking the adorable creature around, showing how they brought the lifelike character to screen and it’s just adorable to behold. Mickle captioned the photo “Good morning! Nothing like good old-fashioned puppets.”
Mickle also recently spoke with ComicBook.com about more of the secrets to bringing Bobby to life, describing working with a puppet to be challenging but also “really fun”.
Good morning! Nothing like good old-fashioned puppets#SweetTooth #Bobby pic.twitter.com/LF1WjIz2u5
— Jim Mickle (@Mickle_Jim) June 27, 2021
“First I need to thank to Nick Damici, my writing partner, who years ago I was like, ‘How are we going to create this character?’ And he was like, ‘Just go full ET, man, just go full Gizmo,'” Mickle said. “And it kind of started as a joke really. And then next thing you know, they’re designing it. So that was Fractured FX, Justin Raleigh, our effects company. And they just went full animatronics and we really embraced that idea of when you look at Gremlins and you look at that kind of stuff, always having to hop out of a hole or block a scene around a puppet. It was a challenge, but it was really fun. I’m psyched to see people respond though.”
And while Bobby isn’t physically portrayed by a human actor, there are two people who give him his voice, even if his lines are pretty limited in the first season of the series.
“It’s actually two different actors,” Mickle said. “One is named Lilly and I think she’s 13 or 14 years old. And then she goes into the booth and she watches and she just makes crazy Ewok sounds for like an hour. And then that gets edited in. And another one is one of our voiceover artists, one of our Loop Group artists.”
Season 1 of Sweet Tooth is now streaming on Netflix.
What do you think about this behind-the-scenes look at Bobby? Let us know in the comments.
