Reflecting on this Episode, Eh.
Do I see it as the weakest Series/Season (personally speaking)? No.
Is it THAT different compared to an RTD Opener like New Earth (in my Eyes)? No.
Do I like it? Also, no.
I think there are a lot of Issues in that Episode. The Farting Humor is just something I don’t think ever works in Who. Who can deal with Comedy quite well, that said this kind of Humor leaves me personally very cold and feels jarring. The Babies and their Effect don’t quite work in Live Action and there will be always something offputting of their Mouth. There is a lot of Exposition at the Beginning, which fair but almost feels like we are checking a Checklist, Exposition doesn’t have to feel like that. And there are a few other Things, which just don’t work for me.
I think in many ways it falls in the same issues that a lot of the campy/silly RTD penned Scripts do. And that’s honestly a personal Thing really, Who can and should be silly at times. That said, I find RTD kinda goes a bit over the board with it when he does it, like here where the constant Mention of the Title feels like a humorous Attempt to make a Point how self-aware they are about the absurd Concept. This by itself isn’t a bad Thing, but the amount it’s done can quite be annoying.
That is not to say all of it is bad, Ncuti, Millie and a lot of the other Cast Members do a good Job in their Performance. Millie’s Make-Up for the Butterfly Effect is quite nicely done. I appreciate the Ambition of this absurd Concept, which while I don’t think is quite suited to Live Action. And the Bogeyman has quite a nice Design. There are also some lovely Scenes like 15’s and Poppy’s Exchange for example.

Overall, it’s not the worst of this Era (in my personal Opinion), but it lefts a lot to desire. Some wonderful Things can be found here, but I think the bad Things do kinda brought it down for me.

Still, I am glad to see there were quite a few People who enjoy this Story!

What a terribly strange and baffling idea this was.  I'm not against the idea of Space Babies, I suppose.  I mean it is a tacky idea straight out of the 90s but any idea can be fun if executed well.  It looked just awful though and their whole side of the story was quite boring.  I don't hate the way we speed ran through Ruby's introduction to TARDIS life, but it does feel silly and makes the episode a poor introduction to Doctor Who when it really, truly shouldn't be one.  This is the big start to the new Disney partnership with Doctor Who (previous year specials aside) and it's a truly awful experience.

One thing working for Space Babies is the stuff around Ruby's mysterious origins.  In hindsight, this mystery has no pay-off down the road, and while that's not entirely on this episode, it does make that stuff feel pointless, because while those scenes are cool here, they aren't paid off in any way in this or any other episode.  So no, it's not very good.  It might be one of the worst, if not the worst, series premiere in all of Doctor Who.  And it's a real shame because I quite like the rest of this season.  It's pretty fun, but this was a bit of a train wreck.

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.