How not to start off a series - a guide.

Doctor Who has plenty of episodes with a tone similar to Space Babies. The Slitheen two-parter, Aliens of London/World War Three, springs to mind. As does Love and Monsters. One of those is a masterpiece that I would recommend gladly, the other lands about as badly as this one does.

Firstly, I don't think they should be babies. Babies, including physically infants with the brains of six-year-olds, would not be able to survive and do what they do in this episode, I'm sorry. Space Kids would also solve the awful CGI mouth issues by having actual six-year-old child actors as both the bodies and voices of the characters. You could spend that Disney money on a Beatles' song for the next, possibly meant to be later in the series, episode. Secondly, what's with the repeated title drops? Especially the times when the Doctor says 'Babies - Space Babies'. Even writing that out, I had to roll my eyes.

I mentioned AoL/WW3 earlier, and I feel like this is actually RTD going 'Oh, a child-aimed episode worked out well in 2005. So did taking the companion to the far future to show her space the first time' and mashing together AoL/WW3 and The End of the World in a big way... Mess.

Saving the Bogeyman is also something that just doesn't make sense. It's made of bogeys and animated by a computer. It's not alive. It's snot being piloted by a machine. And why does it turn into a werewolf at the end? Actually, why are there so many jokes about bodily fluids? This is as juvenile as Torchwood series 1, just about different, kid-friendly fluids. To quote Sixie, 'yuck!'

Also, why do the babies suddenly care for the Bogeyman, they were scared of it earlier.

No wonder the viewing figures went down, all that new audience RTD wanted to bring in, hence restarting the series numbering, probably saw this juvenile drivel, went 'Oh. I guess Doctor Who isn't for me' and turned off.

AoL/WW3 worked because the fart jokes were in moderation, and the story has both a light-hearted, child aimed surface and dark undercurrent (which becomes more apparent in part 2). Additionally, time is wasted setting up a mystery that isn't a mystery, with the Doctor's memory of the night of Ruby's birth changing. From a post-Empire of Death perspective, this ruins one of the few interesting scenes from my first watch of the episode. Don't worry, there's no mystery here, she was just pointing at something that doesn't exist because she was naming her daughter.

There was good political commentary in one of the other intriguing scenes, when Ruby and Jocelyn talk about societies that force babies to be born but don't want to look after them once they exist. No matter your personal opinions on abortion, other people need to be free to make their own choices. But that's about it. I mean, there was a funny joke about the butterfly effect, and some of the Doctor's info dump about Time Lords and TARDISes and everything was good (though I don't think it should have all been in one scene)... But yeah. I don't particularly want to go sifting through shit for less nuggets of gold than I can count on the fingers of one hand. Especially when one turns out to be more shit.

Babies are cute! You guys are just mean

Space babies, Space babies, Space Babies

The number of time the Doctor says this during the episode is ridiculous.

The Doctor takes Ruby off on her first adventure in the TARDIS, they find themselves on a space station with a monster and babies... I wasn't impressed with this on first viewing and I was interested in seeing it again. I thought a second watch might mean I'd reappraise it, get past the not so good aspects and enjoy a great episode, but no. Its not something I can be proud of as a fan, quite frankly I want to disown it completely.

Its RTD's Doctor Who by numbers, doing the same stuff as he did when he relaunched in 2005 - jiggy pokery with the mobile phone, almost idenitcal shots from End of the World.

The first 10 minutes isn't bad, going back in time seeing dinosaurs, Ruby treading on a butterfly, arriving at the space station but then the babies come out...

Each time there is a new Doctor, there's a period getting used to the new person, is this still the same character that I've known and loved. This Doctor seems less like the Doctor than ever, but then maybe thats how Colin Baker was recieved on his first story (I know my family turned off after the Twin Dilemma). Maybe it needs change to continue, but that maybe with out me.

Apart from the constant 'Babies, Space babies' said by the Doctor, there's also the ramming it home that the Doctor is an orphan reinforcing the worst retcon that ever entered the Doctor Who universe, and for me I find it alienating and unnecessary. The fact is that sooner or later a show runner will decided 'lets find out who the Doctor is' and write a story of how the Doctor was abandoned. Then there'll be no mystery left and a few years later someone else will want to put the mystery back and do another retcon.

The episode isn't as bad as I remembered, but as with Aliens of London/World War Three its not one I'll be revisiting much.

Doctor Who (2023 – 20XX)

#1.01. Space Babies ~ 8/10

◆ An Introduction

A companion’s first adventure through time and space should always be a special one – unless your name is Hex or C’rizz, then you get lumbered with something experimental which does nothing for their character development – so here’s hoping Ruby has better luck.

On an unrelated note, I hope you’ve got some tissues to deal with the walking snot monster.

◆ Publisher’s Summary

Ruby learns the Doctor’s amazing secrets when he takes her to the far future. There, they find a baby farm run by babies. But can they be saved from the terrifying bogeyman?

◆ The Fifteenth Doctor

His parents abandoned him and he became the foundling of the Time Lords, so he can empathise with the inhabitants of Baby Station Delta and their worries that they “grew up wrong”. But he assures them that nobody grows up wrong: you are what you are, and that is magnificent. This episode does an excellent job of tying the Doctor’s backstory into the narrative.

Considering the Doctor is the only member of his species in the whole universe, it’s not surprising the horror on his face when Jocelyn tries to blast the Bogeyman out of an airlock! ‘Space Babies’ featured an amazing performance from Ncuti Gatwa.

Because he was adopted, and the planet that took him in, they were kind of posh. They’d use titles like the Doctor, or the Bishop, or the Rani, or the Conquistador: say Doctor for a thousand years and it becomes his name. His world was called Gallifrey, and it’s gone. There was a genocide, and they died, so the one that was adopted was the only one left. He is the last of the Time Lords. And he is so, so glad to be alive. The Doctor claims that most of the universe is knackered. He believes that there is no such thing as monsters, there’s just creatures you haven’t met yet. The Doctor doesn’t have a people. He doesn’t have a home. But he doesn’t have a job, either. He doesn’t have a boss, or taxes or rent or bills to pay. He doesn’t have a purpose or a cause, or a mission, but he has freedom. And so he keeps moving on, to see the next thing, and the next, and the next. And sometimes, it looks even better through his companion’s eyes. The Doctor’s parents left him, and he was found by the Time Lords, but it doesn’t matter where he comes from, because he is absolutely lovely. There’s no-one like him in the whole, wide universe. No-one like him exists, and that’s true of everyone. It’s not a problem, it’s a superpower. He’s met a million ugly bugs – he is an ugly bug! – but that thing made him run, and he wonders why.

◆ Ruby Sunday

A companion’s first adventure through the fourth dimension always features a great deal of culture shock, and Ruby is clearly struggling with the idea that a bunch of babies are running a space station, and somewhat horrified that their parents / guardians decided to just up and leave. This episode also kick-starts a series of weird occurrences surrounding Ruby, including having the ability to summon snow when in danger…

Millie Gibson put on an excellent performance in ‘Space Babies’, really connected with the material.

Ruby worried about how safe seeing dinosaurs would be: what if she changed history by stepping on a butterfly or something? Lo and behold, she ends up doing exactly that… briefly transforming into Rubathon Blue of the 57th Hemisphere Hatchlings!

◆ Walking Sneeze

Speaking as someone who is severely germaphobic, this week’s monster genuinely made me wretch when it was revealed to be made from actual snot, but I’ll admit that the lore behind it is actually quite interesting.

The parthenogenesis machine had inbuilt education software which started going haywire and taking things literally: babies need fiction, so it created a genuine nightmare creature so they had something to be afraid of! It was designed to have a roar with a frequency of 17Hz to instil fear in anyone who heard it, which even made the Doctor recoil when he first encountered it.

Certainly a fascinating concept, but one which I don’t find myself relating to in the slightest, because my nightmares as a child weren’t of unreal creatures like the Bogeyman. One nightmare from childhood has actually been lodged in my brain ever since I was three years old: being trapped in the Metrocentre ASDA and attacked by an evil swan! Considering I’ve never been frightened of birds, that nightmare still feels very random.

◆ Set Design & Visuals

Our first destination is 150 million years in the past, and this is where production really start flexing their Disney budget; huge mountains surround a lush green valley, with a river and waterfall cutting right through the middle. Dinosaurs of several varieties are roaming around the plains below, while pterodactyls soar across the skyline. Rubes then steps on a butterfly and briefly becomes some form of avian-Silurian hybrid! It definitely makes sense to open on such a grandiose image, considering the majority of this episode falls into the traditional Doctor Who category of running round a load of cramped corridors.

We get this absolutely glorious shot of the TARDIS emerging from the time vortex, hurtling towards Baby Station Beta and shifting through the walls. The space station corridors are dark and cramped, hiding a slimy creature that immediately starts chasing the Doctor and Rubes. I particularly like how we get to see these corridors through the station’s onboard CCTV systems: it’s very reminiscent of ‘Sleep No More’.

As our dynamic duo explore the upper levels of Baby Station Beta, you can see drawings made on the wall in crayon, and various children’s toys being used to operate control panels. It’s more like a branch of Mothercare than a space station!

The constant switching camera angles make the Bogeyman absolutely horrifying, especially since it’s skulking around in those dark corridors. We never actually get a proper look at it until Cpt. Poppy attacks it with a flamethrower!

◆ Conclusion

“You’ve literally got a monster living down below. It’s a children’s story! Come to life.”

Encountering a real-life bogeyman, our dynamic duo must uncover its surprising origins, and decide if it really poses a danger to the inhabitants of Baby Station Beta.

When the episode names were unveiled across social media, I immediately started cringing at this one, but the adventure itself turned out pretty good. Considering both the Doctor and Ruby are foundlings, it seems more than coincidence that they should find themselves on a space station inhabited by babies, where all the parents have just upped and left; the former also develops a connection to our antagonist, because they’re both the only member of their species in existence.

Ignoring the atrocious title for a moment, ‘Space Babies’ was genuinely a great episode to kick off the series with, though I was surprised just how many moments in the story were ripped wholesale from Rose Tyler’s first outing in the TARDIS.

It's crazy how long it feels since the last proper series of Doctor Who. The last time we had more than just Specials was back in 2021, with Flux, which in my opinion was Jodie Whittaker's strongest series. Space Babies gives us the first actual series to use Disney money, although I don't think it shows for most of Space Babies.

Possibly the clearest glimpse at that American investment is in the scene where the Doctor takes Ruby back to the prehistoric era, which is coincidentally also my favourite sequence from the episode. It's such a playful take on the idea that stepping on a butterfly in the past can change the timeline, and the way that Millie Gibson makes the reptilian version of Ruby seem so different really highlights just how incredible of an actor she is.

It also gives us a nice explanation for why the Doctor has never encountered the butterfly effect before, revealing that the TARDIS has a special switch to counter it. Whilst I did enjoy Space Babies, I do think a whole episode set in the prehistoric era and exploring the butterfly effect would have been a more dynamic episode.

The main narrative in Space Babies is decent, albeit unoriginal. It concerns a baby farm on a space station, where the babies themselves are in charge, and being terrorised by the Bogeyman. The Bogeyman itself is extremely well realised, and the way they film the babies to make it appear as though they are reacting to the Doctor, Ruby, and the Bogeyman is quite clever. I also liked the Wallace and Gromit-esque machinery for changing nappies and blowing noses, which fits Doctor Who's quirky nature like a glove.

However, a lot of the scenes are very similar to The End Of The World, to the point where it feels like a straight copy. Russell T Davies even does the exact same scene where the Ninth Doctor Sonics Rose's phone so she can call her Mum. It feels like watching one of those movies like Jurassic World, where they copy the same beats but with new actors, but Jurassic World at least added something new with the park now being fully operational.

There is also a massive exposition dump at the beginning, where the Doctor explains about the TARDIS, and how he was raised on Gallifrey to Ruby. I get that the aim is to bring new viewers onboard, and this scene is to get them up to speed with the basics of Doctor Who, but there must have been a better way to put that information across.

The Bogeyman, on the other hand, is explained very well as being comprised of snot from the babies, gathered by the ship's computer systems. The idea that they based the Bogeyman on the iconic children's story, believing the babies need fiction as much as food and sleep, and took its name literally as a being of snot, is a nice and unexpected reveal, as I was anticipating the Bogeyman's existence to come from the Doctor spreading salt in Wild Blue Yonder. I am also intrigued by the snowflakes that keep appearing around Ruby Sunday. It seems somewhat ominous, and I hope it doesn't mean Ruby will have an unhappy ending.

Overall, I would probably rate Space Babies a 5/10. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, but it also copies a lot of what came before.