I'm not someone who believes that Doctor Who should be an "adult" show, it can and should appeal to all ages, but it should also aspire to a basic level of seriousness and dramatic storytelling. This episode is juvenile, it's frivolous, it's occasionally very puerile, and it doesn't feel serious at all. Perhaps that was the intent but, if so, it wasn't a good idea. It feels almost like a parody of itself.

When it isn't being childish, it's just being bad. The exposition dump at the start is clumsy with none of the elegance seen in Rose and The End of the World, the latter of which this episode pretty conspicuously apes, the humour isn't very good, the political messaging is questionably-handled, and the pacing is all over the place. The only two redeeming features are the set design, which is great, and Gatwa and Gibson, who are instantly likeable and have great chemistry, but those two things are not enough to save this episode.

And extra points have to be docked for the fact that this was the series opener. Had it been broadcast in a later slot, you could forgive it as one of the mid-series stinkers that you usually find in Doctor Who, albeit a particularly bad one. To show this as the first episode of a new series, which itself was supposed to be a fresh start, was an insane choice and one has to wonder how much long-term damage it did to the new era.

I couldn’t with this one at the time, and I can’t with this one now. Ncuti and Millie are going for it, but the baby lip-syncing and the revolting “monster” are just too ridiculous for me to get at all involved in the story. I have no idea what possessed RTD to open a series with this weird fluff.

The Doctor risking his life to save the only creature in the universe made out of babies' bogies is such pure Doctor Who that I can't even begin to explain

space babies is definitely the episode I enjoyed the least of the season but I don't dislike it. structurally its a good story with the mystery being effective, but the space babies don't work with something being off about them and far too many questions about them being left unanswered. the specifics of this episode felt like it was just trying way too hard.

A baffling choice for a series opener - yes, it has the introductions necessary, but these are rushed and rehashed of The End of the World. The plot is not constructed well to bring and entice new viewers to invest - the story is weak, and just not anything to encourage viewers to keep watching.

Overall, I don't hate this story though, and there are aspects I certainly enjoy - Gatwa and Gibson's performances are still fantastic. Additionally, some great humour, line delivery and general pace are enjoyable enough. It just feels like a filler episode in a series which is too short to justify this.