I can't say I like this episode. I didn't have an issue with the general premise and the childish jokes weren't what put me off, but I've never been a fan of baby stories, and this was no different.

I found the opening to go by much too fast. There was no time to really see Ruby's reaction to everything she was suddenly exposed to. It felt almost like checking things off the list so we could get to the actual plot. While I enjoyed the butterfly-effected Ruby and the Doctor breathing life back into the butterfly and especially the switch to mitigate the effect, it felt very much like a moment written in exclusively to feature in the trailer and added nothing to the overall story, especially when it could have used a little more breathing room.

Many parts of this episode felt like RTD was stealing from his earlier stories: the reveal of the translation matrix and the phone call were both taken directly from The End of the World, the Doctor telling Ruby she can't see her mum was taken right from Father's Day (and without even a throwaway line about having been caught in such a paradox before!), and so on. Perhaps it was meant to be a nice call-back, but to me it felt more like he ran out of ideas.

Too much lore was dumped in this first story. The Doctor has always been secretive, and him sharing so much felt rushed and out of character. Yet another box to tick so we could move on. This is probably indicative of the switch to only 8 episodes a season, which is a change I disliked in every show I've seen it happen to so far. Fewer episodes mean less time to get to know our characters, means more infodumps with less time to digest the information.

I didn't really like Ruby in this. I enjoyed her well enough in CORR, but here every moment of awe from her was undercut by a gag, and then we quickly moved on to the next plot point. I know her saying "This is the worst day to happen to anyone ever" was supposed to be hyperbole to lighten the mood, but she got to see dinosaurs and space while I spent the day before rushing my cat to the emergency vet via public transport and paying my entire monthly income in vet bills - and that didn't even reach the top three worst days of my life. It felt a little like a personal attack, honestly.

I don't understand how Jocelyn could be the only person to stay on board with the children. Were none of the other crewmembers bothered by this? Also, don't children die without physical contact? There is also something to be said for this being the second story in a row where a Black woman who's entire character is centred around taking care of children that are not her own, half of whom are white, is introduced. Knowing RTD's track record with racism, I don't love this.

The political messages are nice, but terribly undercut by the babies doing child labour to keep the station running.

The climax was extremely underwhelming. I love the design of the Bogeyman, I thought having it made out of actual bogeys was clever and fun, but at no point was I made to believe that this creature was sentient, let alone sapient, or even *alive*. The message of "Even scary things deserve to live" is good and important, but there are definitely better ways to get it across. It doesn't help that it was probably still making the scary noise and wouldn't be able to cohabitate with the babies on their new planet, which appeared to be the goal by the end.

The running gag of the Doctor correcting himself from "Babies" to "Space babies!" was funny the first time, but got very old by the third. Even the "Press the button!" thing got tiring quickly, especially since I didn't get the point of it from the start.

I suppose this isn't really the first episode of the series - that would be CORR - but I did expect something that establishes Ruby and the Doctor a little bit more. It felt like they took a backseat to the plot. Not a great start.

I won't form an opinion on the snow scene until it either does or doesn't pay off.