‘SPACE BABIES’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Space Babies and the Bogeyman with the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby
Well, this is going to be fun, isn’t it? 😀
Here we are, everyone! 🙂 We’ve finally arrived! Here I am doing in-depth reviews on Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’, starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday. It’s taken me a while to get around to this point, but I’m very glad we’re here!
So, at this point in time, we’ve had both seasons of Ncuti Gatwa’s era of ‘Doctor Who’! It probably wasn’t planned that way. I don’t think it was intended for Ncuti to do just two seasons of ‘Doctor Who’, but that’s what we ended up with. I’ve found it a fascinating ride.
It wasn’t my plan to wait until the first two seasons of the neo-Russell T. Davies era were out before I could do more in-depth reviews on the Ncuti Gatwa era episodes. That happened by chance, since I was hoping to review Series 14 a bit earlier than intended. 😐
I was hoping to do my in-depth reviews on Series 14 sometime in 2025. Sadly, there were delays, including doing my updated reviews on Seasons 20 and 25 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Hopefully, the wait of my in-depth reviews on Series 14 has been worth it.
It’s also given me a chance to process my thoughts on Series 14 more and reflect on how my initial viewing experience of the season in 2024 compares to nowadays. This is especially considering how the neo-RTD era turned out compared to its hype built to it. 😐
When Russell T. Davies was announced in taking over from Chris Chibnall as ‘Doctor Who’s showrunner in 2021, there was a lot of speculation as to what would happen once he took over and what new ideas he’d bring. Many hoped that he would improve things. 😐
I can’t say I was that enthusiastic about RTD returning to ‘Doctor Who’ as showrunner, but I was willing to be open-minded and hoped that my doubts about him coming back would be quelled. After all, he did great in his original era. What could possibly go wrong?
Things didn’t go to a great start for me when it came to the 60th anniversary celebrations. I’ve made it no secret that I’m not a fan of RTD’s 60th anniversary TV specials, even though some regard those TV specials highly and praise David Tennant and Catherine Tate in them.
Mind you, in retrospect and from revisiting the 60th anniversary specials for these reviews, I think it’s fair to say RTD made a decent start in terms of returning as the showrunner. The specials aren’t great in my opinion, but they do start off the neo-era well.
And from revisiting ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, it seemed that things would be promising once we got into Ncuti Gatwa’s first season as the Fifteenth Doctor. My expectations of Series 14 weren’t that high, but I was hoping I’d be very pleasantly surprised by the season.
I hoped the writing style of RTD’s neo-era would match to what was in his original era. I was looking forward to how Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday would turn out as a Doctor and a companion and what exciting adventures they’d have. 🙂
I was keen that Series 14 would prove me wrong about any misgivings I had about RTD in the past. And then…(sighs) the season happened. And…err…oh my goodness! All that hype and build-up to seeing such superb things! I mean…I…where did all that go? What happened?
Now, granted, some of you might have had a different viewing experience compared to me when talking about Ncuti Gatwa’s era of ‘Doctor Who’, and I appreciate that. But, speaking personally, I felt something went wrong as we ventured into the two seasons. 😐
Quite frankly, Series 14 and 15 of the neo RTD-era ‘Doctor Who’ aren’t as good as I’d like them to be. It’s not how I recall RTD as a ‘Doctor Who’ showrunner when he was in charge from 2005 to 2010. And I did revisit Series 1 alongside Series 14 to check how I felt on this.
I found the stories in Series 1 with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper far more compelling and better-written compared to how things were done in Series 14 with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. I’m surprised by the situation that ‘Doctor Who’ seems to be in.
Now with all this said, that doesn’t mean to say there aren’t any good moments to be found in Series 14 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Far from it! As usual, I hope to share what I’ve found good and bad about the Series 14 episodes and what could be improved.
There’s no getting away from the fact that Series 14 as well as the Ncuti Gatwa era of ‘Doctor Who’ is incredibly flawed. There are things I don’t like about Series 14, but I hope to illustrate what I’ve found enjoyable about the season as well as what worked for me. 🙂
The first thing I can say that worked well for me in Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ is Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson. Their performances as the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday are so captivating and easy for me to like. I wish we could’ve seen more of them in ‘Doctor Who’.
Sadly, we’re not given that, and I’ll endeavour to explain why that is as we progress further in Series 14 and beyond in Series 15. Most of the good things I enjoyed about Series 14 revolve around Ncuti and Millie and hopefully, that gives me a reason to enjoy the season.
And I need to stress, like with the 60th anniversary specials of ‘Doctor Who’ by RTD, if you love Series 14 and if you love the Ncuti Gatwa era of ‘Doctor Who’ in general, good for you! 🙂 There’s nothing wrong with you enjoying this particular ‘Doctor Who’ era as you watch it.
Some of you probably got emotionally-invested when checking out Series 14 in 2024 and Series 15 in 2025. And I wouldn’t want to stop you from enjoying the two seasons. If you got something more out of the Ncuti Gatwa era compared to me, that’s absolutely fine. 🙂
Unfortunately, I can’t agree with that viewpoint because I feel that the handling of the two seasons of Ncuti Gatwa’s era is rather…well, haphazard. In that, I think RTD’s focus on ‘Doctor Who’ was to attend on things that aren’t necessarily the right things to focus on.
Or at least, he didn’t focus on them well enough in order to balance it out to make for good and compelling storytelling. A lot of criticisms that the neo-RTD era received upon transmission of the seasons is the stories contained too many political elements in them.
Whilst there may be in truth in those criticisms, I don’t think that necessarily affects the way RTD and his team of writers told their stories in the two Ncuti Gatwa era seasons. Or perhaps it did, but I don’t think it should be the main source of concern for the episodes. 😐
I’m not going to try and explain what I think RTD was attempting to do in terms of political messaging. If it slips in my reviews, it’s not intentional. My focus on these reviews is to analyse and evaluate what I consider to be good or bad story and character development.
I’m going to try my best to explain what an episode or a story is trying to achieve and point out what I think works and doesn’t work for a character or characters. I don’t want to end up writing these reviews and come across as political. That isn’t really my kind of thing. 😐
I just want to share what I think of these ‘Doctor Who’ stories as ‘Doctor Who’ stories. So, let’s go forward and check out these stories featured in Series 14 of the new TV series, find out what’s good and what’s bad about them, and do our best to leave it at that, okay?
Although, I do feel like we need to start off on a point where I think we need to agree on something. Can we at least…at least all agree that labelling Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ as SEASON ONE instead, is a very baffling move made by RTD and quite a wrong one at that?
Why re-number Ncuti Gatwa’s first season as Season One instead of continuing it after Jodie Whittaker’s era? The show wasn’t cancelled in 2022! There wasn’t a big gap between Jodie Whittaker and Ncuti Gatwa, like between Sylvester McCoy and Christopher Eccleston.
When the new TV series started with Christopher Eccleston in 2005, it made sense to call his first season Series 1, as it was the start of the new TV series. It had been 16 years since ‘Doctor Who’s cancellation in 1989, so, it was fine to restart the numbering in a new series.
I don’t see the logic in restarting by having Ncuti Gatwa’s seasons as Seasons One and Two when we’re clearly continuing on from where we left off from the end of Jodie Whittaker’s era. Even Wikipedia isn’t that willing to call Series 14 as Season One instead.
Of course, I know why it was decided to restart with Ncuti’s first season as Season One. To put it into context, the neo-RTD era is a co-production between the BBC and Disney. And the episodes would be shown on Disney+ for whoever was watching outside the UK.
Essentially, the neo-RTD era is a soft reboot of ‘Doctor Who’. Meaning that it’s starting again to introduce ‘Doctor Who’ to new fans discovering the series. It was hoped that fans would likely be less intimated to start the show if they assumed it was the ‘first season’. 😐
Whilst I appreciate that mindset, I think that ‘Doctor Who’ has been on TV long enough for people to know what it is. Or is this for the non-UK audiences? Frankly, why couldn’t they put the first 13 seasons of new ‘Doctor Who’ on Disney+ for viewers to see?
This would have helped in terms of celebrating ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary by showing the first 13 seasons of new ‘Doctor Who’ on Disney+ for non-UK viewers before we get onto watching the 60th anniversary specials and the two Ncuti Gatwa era seasons.
Or is there a licencing agreement involved where Disney+ isn’t allowed to show previous BBC seasons of ‘Doctor Who’, both classic and new, that would inform non-UK viewers that the show has lasted for a long time? I mean, America’s had BBC America for crying out loud!!!
I feel this is a big misstep in calling Ncuti Gatwa’s first two seasons as Seasons One and Two instead of Series 14 and 15, because people are likely to be confused when it comes to identifying what is Seasons 1 and 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ if we put other seasons in account.
For example, if you want to look up Season 1 of ‘Doctor Who’, you’d better make sure you’re talking about the first season with either William Hartnell, Christopher Eccleston or Ncuti Gatwa. People are bound to be so puzzled by which season you’re talking about.
If we want to be very specific, Ncuti Gatwa’s first season should really be called Season 40. If we continued the numbering from where we left off with Sylvester McCoy, Christopher Eccleston’s season should be called Season 27 and we continue from there.
Are we to assume that Ncuti Gatwa’s era or the neo-RTD era is to be considered the ‘new, new’ TV series of ‘Doctor Who’ now? That probably might make sense considering RTD wrote New New York in the New Earth episodes of his original TV era, but there’s an issue there.
RTD doesn’t specifically say that this is the ‘new, new’ TV series of ‘Doctor Who’. Or at least, I’ve not come across many people calling it that? If RTD had went along with that and told us that’s what it is, maybe I would have been on board with that particular notion.
As is, it’s clearly part of a production deal between the BBC and Disney, not helped by the fact that there’s confusion as to whether Ncuti’s first season is Series 14 or not. And it isn’t helped more when you consider the BBC and Disney deal has now ended by this point.
Can we at least get on board with this problem and agree that calling Series 14 as Season One is a bad idea and ruins things in terms of consistency in ‘Doctor Who’s longevity? (sighs) Maybe we can’t. Maybe this is all for nothing. As such, let’s check out Series 14! 🙂
And yes, I’m calling it Series 14, as I wish to go by how Wikipedia calls it. TARDIS fandom (not TARDIS wiki) also calls the season Series 14. As I don’t find the new TV series got cancelled after Jodie Whittaker finished, I wish to continue the numbering from there.
Just to point out, Series 14 has 8 episodes. This contrasts with RTD’s original era where its seasons had 13 episodes. The issues of the neo-RTD era seasons having 8 episodes instead of 13 is something I readdress later, particularly concerning Ruby’s development.
In the first week of Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ being shown in 2024, there was a double bill of episodes given to us, both on BBC iPlayer and Disney+, including ‘Space Babies’ and ‘The Devil’s Chord’. I admit, it was great to have that double bill of episodes given to us. 🙂
Though for reasons that utterly baffle me, it was decided to release the Series 14 episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ early on BBC iPlayer at around midnight before the episodes were shown on BBC One in the evening. Though, of course, it was to match with the Disney+ releases.
Whilst I appreciate the episodes being shown on BBC iPlayer first, as I could watch the episodes at any time throughout the day they were released, it did jeopardise ‘Doctor Who’ in the ratings department, which, again, is something I’ll readdress for another time.
The season begins with ‘Space Babies’ by Russell T. Davies. And we have a change in the ‘Doctor Who’ title sequence once again. It’s not a big change, but it was decided to have new CGI effects for the TARDIS entering the space cloud as well as for the ‘Doctor Who’ logo.
Frankly, I would have just left the title sequence alone. It was fine as it was when it was shown for the 60th anniversary specials and ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. I know I criticised the title sequence in my ‘Star Beast’ review, but the changes weren’t necessary!
The episode begins with Ruby entering the TARDIS from the end of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. Just to be clear, this is an altered version of Ruby entering the TARDIS compared to ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ version. (sighs) Immediately, I have a complaint about this. 😐
Now to be fair, this is a nitpicky complaint. It doesn’t really have any bearing to the main story of ‘Space Babies’ in any way possible. But I must raise this point to illustrate how I feel about the creative choices by RTD and his production team, as I find them questionable.
Quite frankly, what is served in terms of recreating the shot of Ruby entering the TARDIS compared to how it was shown at the end of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’? There was no need to do that, especially when it contradicts what happened in the actual ‘Church on Ruby Road’!
I checked ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ and it’s clear Ruby didn’t walk far to get into the TARDIS. She was quite close to the blue box before entering. And she previously entered the TARDIS once before she going back out again to check it was ‘smaller on the outside’.
In the reshot version of that scene in ‘Space Babies’, Ruby is clearly a fair distance away from the TARDIS before she walks up to go inside. That doesn’t match to how Ruby entered in the TARDIS in ‘The Church of Ruby Road’. What was the point of doing that? 😡
I checked on BBC iPlayer and I timed Ruby’s entry into the TARDIS in ‘Space Babies’. It took her like 26 seconds to get inside. In ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, it took her 8 seconds to get inside. Again, this is all a nitpicky complaint, but the two scenes don’t match at all!
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| ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ | ‘Space Babies’ |
I don’t understand why they had to go to the effort of recreating that end scene of Ruby entering the TARDIS when clearly using ‘The Church of Ruby Road’ version of that scene would have been fine. Heck, you don’t need to be outside the TARDIS to start the episode.
You could have just started from inside the TARDIS with Ruby entering and that would have been enough. That would have been enough information for people to process that Ruby had just gone into the TARDIS after Mrs. Flood had encouraged her to go inside the blue box.
It’s a very illogical way to start off the season. Maybe this was a callback to when episodes of the William Hartnell era started with recreations of the cliffhanger scenes before the story continued. Even that was the case, it still doesn’t justify the recreation of that scene.
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| ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan: The Nightmare Begins’ | ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan: Day of Armageddon’ |
For one thing, ‘Doctor Who’ was made at a different time in the 1960s. They didn’t have the editing techniques that we have today where we can replay a scene from a previous episode and insert it at the start of the next one. There are certain things you can tolerate.
Secondly, when those ‘Doctor Who’ recreations happened in the William Hartnell episodes, at least the production team was trying to match exactly what was done at the end of the previous episode. It may not have been an exact match, but it was acceptable.
Doing a recreation of Ruby’s entry into the TARDIS from the end of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ in the opening of ‘Space Babies’ wastes a lot of effort, time and money, especially when you show that scene in an entirely different way compared to what’s in the original.
Imagine what those 26 seconds could have been used up for instead of having that recreated scene of Ruby entering the TARDIS. It could’ve been used to help explain the episode’s ending better or perhaps permit a deleted scene to be included in the final edit.
I know 26 seconds doesn’t sound like much and, again, this is just a minor complaint. But it really baffles me when a creative decision like that is made, as it kind of ruins the credibility of the story that you’re trying to tell as well as the TV series in general. Not good!
If all this ranting of mine is getting tiresome, then let’s move on to something that I find positive in the episode. Millie Gibson as Ruby and Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor interacting with each other in the TARDIS. Again, I enjoy seeing these two together in ‘Doctor Who’. 🙂
That first scene of Ruby asking the Doctor questions and getting to know him, as he explains to her what the TARDIS is. It’s a very captivating scene and one I enjoyed thoroughly, especially since this is Ruby’s first adventure in the TARDIS in ‘Doctor Who’. 🙂
It’s very clear that Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson get on well with each other as their chemistry oozes heaps off-screen as much as it does on-screen. I really like seeing these two together and it saddens me that they only did one season together in the TV series. 😦
The way Ncuti’s Doctor expresses his pain when sharing to Ruby that his home planet Gallifrey is gone is one of the best moments featured in that scene. Even Ruby’s reaction to the Doctor telling her that Gallifrey is gone is ‘wonderful’ acting on Millie Gibson’s part.
If it weren’t for all the issues I have about Series 14 and the Ncuti Gatwa era of ‘Doctor Who’ in general, I would happily give this season a pass, thanks to Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson being so amazing together. Some may disagree with me on this, but it’s how I feel.
But yes, like I said. This is Ruby Sunday’s first adventure in the TARDIS following her debut in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. So, where does she get to go in this episode? And when? Well, there are two places she gets to visit in this story. Let’s check them out, shall we? 🙂
The first place that the Doctor and Ruby go to is the planet Earth in its past – 155 million years to be precise. It happens to be a region that will eventually become the American town of Green River, Wyoming. There happen to be many dinosaurs dwelling in that place.
And seeing them dinosaurs makes me think…why hasn’t ‘Doctor Who’ done a ‘Jurassic Park’-type of an adventure in the new TV series lately? It’s probably been done in books and perhaps audios and comics, but I don’t recall a full-on ‘Doctor Who’ dinosaur story on TV.
Yes, we’ve had ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’ and ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’ and the T-Rex has been in ‘Deep Breath’ and later in ‘Joy to the World’, but we haven’t had a dinosaur adventure set in Earth’s past or in a jungle environment similar to the ‘Jurassic Park’ films.
There’s a missed opportunity here for the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby to have an adventure in Earth’s past where they’re tackling dinosaurs and such. It could’ve been the first historical or pseudo-historical adventure for the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby to have on TV.
Sadly, that’s not what happens in this episode, as we don’t stay in Earth’s past with dinosaurs for very long. The reason for the Doctor and Ruby’s visit to Earth’s past is…well, it’s really a set-up for a joke. And to be honest with you, a rather bad joke concerning Ruby.
As Ruby and the Doctor step out of the TARDIS to find themselves in Earth’s past, well…
Yeah. That’s the reason why we go back to Earth’s past in this episode. RTD thought it was a good idea to have this joke played out where Ruby accidentally steps on a butterfly and she ends up as this reptilian humanoid version of herself – much to the Doctor’s horror. 😐
Words fail me. (sighs) I believe this is supposed to be a callback to Martha Jones’ concern of killing her grandfather in ‘The Shakespeare Code’ and Bill Potts’ concern of stepping on a butterfly that ended up killing Pete in ‘Thin Ice’, but…was this necessary? 😐
According to Millie Gibson, RTD called it ‘the most expensive ‘Doctor Who’ joke in history’. And to be fair, it does look expensive, especially when you consider this is the first time that Millie wears prosthetics in ‘Doctor Who’. Must have been a unique experience for her.
But with that said, the money used to put Millie in prosthetics as Rubathon Blue of the 57th Hemisphere Hatchings could have been used for something else. You know, like, another episode or maybe something that’s far more important in terms of telling a story.
The reason why I say that is because Ruby as a lizard doesn’t really last that long in the episode. As soon as the Doctor revives the butterfly with…a breath of air…we see Ruby back to her human self, completely unaware of what happened once she stepped upon it.
Meaning that the joke of Ruby becoming a reptilian humanoid is rather pointless. Why was so much effort put into that one scene that didn’t really need to be there? I was expecting it to be part of a huge plot that would be featured throughout the episode itself.
If there had been an episode where Ruby and the Doctor visited Earth’s past and she was a reptilian humanoid for a while, maybe that effort of putting Millie Gibson in prosthetics would have been worthwhile. It would’ve been captivating and gripping to be watched.
Because, quite frankly, where’s the punchline in this being a joke? Is Ruby becoming a reptilian humanoid really supposed to be that funny? I didn’t find it funny. I was concerned for Ruby when she became a lizard. I was like, “Oh no, what happened to dear Ruby?”
This is because I really like her and I didn’t want Ruby to end up like that. I know the scene lasts for about a minute or so, but I honestly wouldn’t have included that in the episode, especially as the Doctor’s showing off what the TARDIS can do when visiting Earth’s past.
The visit to Earth’s past could have easily been cut from the final edit of ‘Space Babies’, as we would probably just focus on the Doctor and Ruby’s visit to Earth’s future in the year 21506. The visit to Earth’s past could have been the plot in a separate episode altogether.
Anyway, enough about that pointless scene. Let’s move on. Ushering Ruby back into the TARDIS, the Doctor then pilots the space-time ship to the year 21506, as I said, and they end up aboard a space station. Incidentally, the Doctor’s changed his shirt, hasn’t he? 😀
I noticed this when rewatching ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ as well as ‘Space Babies’, but Ncuti wore a bluer shirt at the end of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ leading into ‘Space Babies’ compared to him wearing a more orange shirt matching his orange leather jacket.
I say that because for the majority of ‘Space Babies’, we see him not wearing the orange leather jacket much which he began wearing in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. To be honest, I wish he kept wearing the orange leather jacket, as it’s like his signature trademark outfit in the series.
That’s not what happens as he keeps changing outfits in the rest of the time he’s in ‘Doctor Who’. I’ll explain more about this in another review as we progress further into the series, but it’s considered one of the problems of the Fifteenth Doctor as a character, which is intriguing.
As Ruby and the Doctor step out of the TARDIS to find out where they are, Ruby comments that them materialising aboard the space station is similar to how it’s done in ‘Star Trek’. Amazing how these ‘Star Trek’ references keep popping up in ‘Doctor Who’ now and again.
Ruby: But we’re indoors! We…got through walls. Uh-huh. Is that like a matter transporter, like in ‘Star Trek’?
Doctor: (laughs) We’ve got to visit them one day.
Craig: A teleport? A teleport? A teleport like, a beam me up teleport, like you see in ‘Star Trek’?
Doctor: Exactly! Someone’s been using a beam me up ‘Star Trek’ teleport.
And yes, I’m aware that the TARDIS made a cameo in one of the ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ episodes recently – specifically, the sixth episode in Season 3 called ‘The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail’. I’ve not seen the episode yet and it’s probably blink and you’ll miss it. 😀
Anyway, the Doctor and Ruby wander down a utility corridor where they discover the station has a poor electrical infrastructure. Before the Doctor can fix anything, he and Ruby are soon chased by a mysterious bipedal creature that’s terrifying and very slimy. 😐
The Doctor and Ruby take an elevator to get up to the next level, and the Doctor is wondering why he was so scared of the creature and why he ran away from it. Ruby says because ‘it was scary’, but the Doctor insists he ‘loves meeting new things’ on his travels.
In the room they end up in, they find babies encased in pods. The Doctor deduces that they’re in a baby farm and that they’re stationed above the planet Pacifico Del Rio. Just to be clear, the Doctor confirms that the babies are ‘human’ and grown from a colony world.
Remember this point. This is part of an argument I have about what I think is wrong with this episode. Also, it’s implied that the babies are grown rather than naturally produced as you would expect them to be. Does that mean the babies are clones? I’m not entirely sure.
Once again, we have another great scene between Ruby and the Doctor where he shows her the wonders of the universe, as they look out to see the view of Pacifico Del Rio before them. A lovely scene that illustrates Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson’s chemistry very well.
Unfortunately, this kind of leads to an issue I have about the neo-RTD era in general and it’s a bit of a running theme, particularly in the Ncuti Gatwa era. It’s the theme of RTD repeating things from his original ‘Doctor Who’ era in his new era. What do I mean by that?
Well, as you saw in the video clip, we have the thing of the Doctor establishing to his companions that the TARDIS can translate any alien language into English. You might say that was also done in the Steven Moffat era where Clara heard English instead of Russian.
But then there’s the extra thing of something being repeated from RTD’s original era in his new era where Ncuti’s Doctor charges up Millie’s phone to be a ‘superphone’ so that she can call her mum in the past. That had been done with Rose Tyler in ‘The End of the World’.
Now I get what’s going on here. This is a soft reboot of ‘Doctor Who’ where RTD is introducing the series to new audiences who may be unfamiliar with what went on in the TV show beforehand. So, the TARDIS translating languages and the superphone is a part of this.
However, this demonstrates why I feel the neo-RTD era is underwhelming for me. The idea of RTD coming back to doing ‘Doctor Who’ again is so that he can provide new ideas to the TV show’s format. That he could reinvigorate the series with a brand-new lease of life.
But based on him reusing the TARDIS translating languages thing and the superphone thing again like he used before in his original era, I don’t think this is a good way to illustrate what brand-new ideas RTD can bring to the show when he’s reusing old ones. 😐
Now these two reused things aren’t necessarily things that damage the TV show in the long-run. But like I said, this becomes a reoccurring thing for later episodes of the Ncuti-Gatwa/neo-RTD era of ‘Doctor Who’, which I’m hoping to readdress more as we go further.
Back to the story! As the Doctor and Ruby ponder more about what’s going on aboard the space station, they’re interrupted by…um…oh dear! Oh, boy! This is where the episode goes downhill for me. And it’s very painful to see the realisation of this concept on screen.
The Doctor and Ruby meet a crew member aboard the space station. And it happens to be a baby! A baby that can talk! The Doctor and Ruby soon meet up with other babies aboard the station that also talk. 😐 And they’re able to move about in automatic prams. 😐
These are titular ‘space babies’ in the episode. The Doctor even calls them ‘space babies’ more than once in the episode. More on that later. And I must say, this is probably one of the most bonkers and weirdest ideas RTD has come up with. And not for the right reasons.
The idea of babies talking in ‘Doctor Who’ is so ridiculous. I mean, babies are meant to start talking at around 4, I think. Not sure how old these babies are, but the fact they’ve stayed like that for a very long time and not grow up is so bafflingly weird and nonsensical.
How did they end up like that? It’s not explained well! I don’t know if the explanation is in the Target novelization/audiobook, as I’ve yet to check it out, but for this TV episode alone, it doesn’t make any sense how the babies are able to run this baby farm on the station. 😐
I’m sure I’m not alone on this, as I’ve come across backlash against this episode concerning the babies being able to talk. I don’t understand why RTD thought this was a good idea, as it has the opposite effect of what he was trying to achieve with this concept.
I think he thought the babies being able to talk would be a cute thing, but frankly, I don’t find it to be that cute. If anything, seeing the babies talk makes them look creepy, especially when they have CGI mouths. It’s scarier than the Bogeyman monster in this story.
I’m sure that wasn’t the intention by RTD, but some people might regard it as such. And what makes it worse is that these babies happen to be human. I’m pretty sure human growth doesn’t work like that. Or maybe it does in the future, but it’s not explained how. 😐
If these babies were actually Gifftan instead of human – you know the species where a man like Yoss Inkl in ‘The Tsuranga Conundrum’ was pregnant and able to have a baby – then maybe I would’ve accepted the babies could talk, as they’d be alien and not human.
But that’s not the case here and they’re clearly meant to be human. RTD could’ve had every opportunity to make the babies alien instead of human so that we could appreciate the fact they’re talking and thus the story’s credibility would stand. But he didn’t do that!
There’s probably a ‘don’t judge’ thing here, since there’s a conversation between the Doctor and Captain Poppy where he tells she’s okay in being different when she asks whether she and her lot are ‘wrong’ or not. And to be fair, it’s a nice scene between them.
But it still doesn’t help when you’re trying to understand how all of this possible. It’s not explained well, even for a sci-fi series as this. And yes, I know RTD is going for more fantasy elements in his neo-era as opposed to sci-fi elements, but that makes it worse. 😐
I struggle to connect with the babies featured in this episode when I think it would have been better if they didn’t talk and they were actual babies doing baby things. In fact, wouldn’t that have been better? To see the babies not talking whilst watching the episode?
The Doctor and Ruby would still find them cute when they’re not talking, surely. You can still have the babies being in charge of the space station, but by having them not talk, you’d appreciate them more in being human babies whilst having to cope by themselves.
It wouldn’t be a perfect solution, but at least you wouldn’t be distracted by the babies talking, as it would make them more endearing that way, both to the Doctor and Ruby as well as to audiences. It would make the story more decent and passable in the viewing.
I don’t have anything against the mothers and the babies they provided in this episode, including Mason McCumskey as Eric and Sienna Robyn Mavanga-Phipps as Captain Poppy (Who knew that Poppy would be returning in another ‘Doctor Who’ story after this?).
I also don’t have anything against the voice actors for the babies, including Sami Amber as Eric and Shola Olaitan-Ajiboye as Captain Poppy. There’s also Cadence Williams, Param Patel and Lonnee Archibong as the voices of the babies Sandra, Marcel and Adjani.
This disgruntlement I have about the titular ‘space babies’ is more in the narrative sense as well as how it’s presented on screen, as I don’t think RTD thought this idea through. It should’ve been handled differently compared to how and what is presented on screen. 😐
Moving on, here’s another issue. Sometimes, dialogue can be so repetitive, can’t it? 😀
We get it, Russell! You don’t have to keep calling the babies ‘space babies’ to get the point across to us! Once or twice is more than enough. It also makes Ncuti Gatwa sound silly when he says “Babies” before adding “Space Babies” afterwards. Again, it’s unnecessary.
Also aboard the space station is a nanny. Well, to be specific, it’s Nan-E – a Nanomatrix Electroform. The babies are under the care of Nan-E. Initially, I thought that Nan-E was an artificial intelligence aboard the space station, but it turns out that it’s far more than that.
When the Doctor communicates with Nan-E, he’s directed to Storage Unit 3-5-7, which is where Nan-E happens to be. She turns out to be Golda Rosheuvel as Jocelyn Sancerre, the on-site accountant on Baby Station Beta. The only adult human aboard the station. 😐
As the Doctor and Ruby work things out, it transpires that the original adult crew abandoned the station but left the birth machines running, allowing the babies’ intelligences to develop but it stunted their physical growths. Again, how is this possible?!
Also, how could the original adult crew abandon their babies? That just sounds very cruel and heartless. It’s lucky for the babies that they got one adult aboard the station being their Nan-E, as they themselves are running the place, which, frankly, just beggars belief.
The babies are also easily afraid when it comes to the creature on the floor below, which happens to be the Bogeyman. (sighs) Okay, let’s talk about the Bogeyman for a bit. Now, you see, as the story progress, it turns out the Bogeyman was created aboard the station.
How, may you ask? Well, you see, there’s this parthenogenesis machine that’s essentially the baby farm on Baby Station Beta. As well as creating the babies, the machine also created the Bogeyman for the babies to be scared of when it began taking care of them.
But what was it made from? Well, believe it or not, the Bogeyman was made…from the babies’ snot. When the babies had to have their noses blown, the snot ended up going down the lower levels and it somehow made this monster to instill fear into anyone aboard.
So, yeah. The Bogeyman…is an actual bogeyman. Made out of bogeys. Ugh!!! And it was designed to have a roar with a frequency of 17 hertz to instill that fear into anyone who heard it, including the Doctor, which explains why he was scared and ran fast as he could.
Now, to be fair, the monster itself does look pretty terrifying in terms of design. This is especially when you see it stalking the dark corridors it stalks in on the station’s lower levels. Robert Strange who plays him also needs to be commended for wearing the outfit.
With that said, the concept of the Bogeyman and what it actually is is…well, rather off-putting. Over the years, I think we should be thankful we have an original monster in the Ncuti Gatwa era, since goodness knows there’s not so many of them that stand out well.
But I think the whole explanation of how the monster was created is rather…weakly-handled, to say the least. Like the parthenogenesis machine created the Bogeyman to provide a monster for the babies to be scared of? Who thought of that and designed that?
Not only is it cruel but, again, was it a necessary thing for the station to have to scare the babies? Babies should be nurtured and cared for! Not scared out of their wits! Then again, we are talking about an adult crew that abandoned their babies when they left the station.
And yes, yes, I know, I know, Nan-E Jocelyn explained to the Doctor and Ruby that the crew left under protest due to a recession, as laws don’t permit the closure of the birth machine. But even so, what kind of government comes up with that law in the first place?
If that’s how the future of humanity is going to turn out, it’s very bleak and off-putting indeed. And I know I’m angling for a more idyllic future for humanity as depicted in ‘Star Trek’ shows and such, but sometimes the future in ‘Doctor Who’ stories isn’t so pleasant.
Going back to the Bogeyman, it’s not ideal to have a monster made out of bogeys or snot in a ‘Doctor Who’ story when you’re watching TV with a meal. I wonder if many people were feeling sick when watching this episode about a monster made out of babies’ bogeys.
It’s snot nice! And yes, I know I wrote. 😀 Whilst the Bogeyman is terrifying in the episode in terms of design, its fate of whether it’s permitted to live or not is something that becomes a significant factor in how the episode concludes, which we’ll return to shortly in the review.
There’s a moment in the story where the Doctor and Ruby discuss the connections of childhood abandonment between Ruby and the babies. This leads to a flashback (sort of) where the Doctor is back on Ruby Road on that snowy night on Christmas Eve in 2004. 😐
Except something’s different. When the Doctor sees the mysterious hooded figure who left Ruby on the doorstep of the Church on Ruby Road, she points at him. This is something that didn’t happen in ‘The Church on Ruby Road’. Thus, something’s changed!
The flashback also physically brings snowflakes into the space station. This is something that the Doctor has never experienced before, and he suspects it’s a message. Whether this is a message from the past or the future, it’s not explained. It could also be a warning.
The Doctor suspects this at the end of the episode when he tells Ruby he can’t take her back to Christmas night on Ruby Road in 2004 to find out what happened and why her mum left on the church doorstep. How the snow can appear like that also isn’t explained.
This is a plot thread that will reoccur in future episodes of the season, and we’ll return to address it again in a future review. At this point, it seems like an unusual thing to happen, though it’s likely to be part of the fantasy element that RTD wishes to bring into the series.
That the Doctor’s tampering with the universe when making that superstition become real in ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ affected reality quite significantly. This isn’t just in Series 14, but also in Series 15 concerning how things turn out in a two-part finale that we’ll get to soon.
Anyway, when the Doctor and Ruby meet up with Jocelyn Sancerre in Storage Unit 3-5-7, she tells them she spent six years caring for the babies but resources are limited. There’s a planet called Mondo Caroon, the fifth planet in the solar system, that accepts refugees.
The Doctor offers to provide transportation for the babies to Mondo Caroon via TARDIS, but they have to get past the Bogeyman. There’s a scene where baby Eric attempts to fight the Bogeyman, and the Doctor and Ruby rush to save him on the station’s lower levels. 😐
Fortunately, the Doctor and Ruby manage to save baby Eric and they’re equally saved by Captain Poppy and the babies who ward off the Bogeyman with a flamethrower. I agree with Ruby. 🙂 A baby in a pram using a flamethrower to ward off a monster is impressive. 🙂
The babies are guided back up to the upper level by Jocelyn, whilst the Doctor and Ruby investigate the creature. They discover what the Bogeyman is and that it was made from baby snot, which freaks Ruby out. I felt for Ruby when she heard the revelation from the Doctor.
Ruby: This is the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone! Don’t laugh!
I also felt sorry for Ruby when she slipped and had bogeys dribbled onto her head from a pipe outlet on the ceiling. For her first adventure in the TARDIS, she probably wasn’t anticipating this. It’s fortunate she kept on travelling with the Doctor after this adventure.
Ruby: Oh, this is disgusting! Don’t call me Rubes!
Hearing her say “Don’t call me Rubes!” to the Doctor puts me in mind of when the Fifth Doctor told Tegan “Braveheart!” in ‘Psychodrome’ and she didn’t like it at first. The Doctor keeps calling Ruby ‘Rubes’ now and again in future episodes, plus the book ‘Ruby Red’. 🙂
When the Bogeyman finds the Doctor and Ruby and chases after them, Jocelyn leads them to an airlock. Once the Bogeyman is in the airlock, she attempts to blast it out into space. Shocked, the Doctor sends Ruby to stop Jocelyn, as he goes to save the Bogeyman.
Now, in a sense, I can see why the Doctor would do this. After all, the Bogeyman is a form of life, and the Doctor will do anything he can to preserve life at all costs. The Bogeyman is also one of its kind, just as the Doctor happens to be one of its kind – being a Time Lord.
With that said, I don’t really know what’s going to happen when the Bogeyman is spared. How will it continue to live? How long is its life expectancy? Will it have to remain on the space station once everyone else is gone? These questions aren’t really answered here.
Fortunately, the Doctor survives when going out into the airlock to save the Bogeyman and he pushes the button to reverse the vacuum and close the airlock. There is a deleted scene where the Doctor checks the Bogeyman’s alright, but that’s on YouTube, not on DVD nor Blu-ray.
Ruby also stops Jocelyn, pulling out the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, which he inserted into the storage unit’s computer to help the space station’s system. Jocelyn is also forgiven for what she did to try and kill the Bogeyman. She was thinking of keeping the babies alive.
When gathered back on the upper level, the Doctor announces to everyone that he utilised the pressure buildup in Hull-3-B to fly the space station to Mondo Caroon. This contradicts a statement made by the Doctor to Ruby that space station can’t actually fly.
Doctor: Er, space station. Stationary, no engines. This great big thing can’t move. It’s just stuck in orbit, which is a shame, because this is a nice little system.
Try telling Chief O’Brien that when he managed to move Deep Space 9 out of orbit from Bajor to the wormhole leading into the Gamma Quadrant in the ‘DS9’ episode ‘Emissary’. I’m quite sure space stations have the limited power to move if you put your mind to it. 😀
And what was the pressure buildup in Hull-3-B? Six years of methane from diapers. Baby poop, no doubt. You know, there was a time when I used to admire Russell T. Davies’ writing in ‘Doctor Who’, but this borders on the line of being disgusting in a family TV show.
Then again, we are talking about the man who introduced farting aliens in the Slitheen during the Christopher Eccleston era, so there you go. I suppose we should be thankful that the Bogeyman is a monster made out from baby’s snot and not…well, you know what.
After that adventure, the Doctor and Ruby return to the TARDIS. It’s here where the Doctor gives Ruby her own TARDIS key. This is another great scene featuring the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby, as Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson’s chemistry radiates in spades throughout. 🙂
It’s a scene where Ruby is finally accepted as a ‘Doctor Who’ companion and I like that the friendship between the Doctor and Ruby is going to be a happy one when they’re travelling together. Again, it’s a pity it isn’t in more than one season, but back to that another time.
Once again though, I must point out that this is another instance of RTD repeating something from his original era in his new era, as the scene of the Doctor giving someone a TARDIS key had been done before with Rose Tyler, Martha Jones and Donna Noble before Ruby Sunday. 😐
I suppose you could say we’ve had an absence of that scene during the Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall eras, as it’s not a necessary requirement to have that scene repeatedly. But this does lie with the problem of why RTD’s neo-era is rather underwhelming at times.
Once they get inside the TARDIS, the Doctor warns Ruby that he can’t take her back to the day of her abandonment, lest it creates a paradox. Whilst Ruby is disappointed by that, she makes it very clear that she wants to return to her adoptive mum Carla for Christmas.
And that’s what they do. They return to Carla’s flat later that evening on Christmas Eve where Michelle Greenidge as Carla and Angela Wynter as Cherry, Ruby’s grandmother, are waiting, wondering what’s become of Ruby. They then get a bit of a shock, very frankly.
Instead of parking the TARDIS outside, like I’d expect the Doctor to do, the TARDIS ends up materialising inside the kitchen of Carla’s flat. Why park the ship in the kitchen? Parking the TARDIS in the kitchen is going to ruin the ceiling. Even Carla complains about that! 😀
I guess this is to save Ruby explaining to her mother and grandmother that she’s been travelling in space and time with the Doctor and the TARDIS ended up in Carla’s kitchen to prove that. But you didn’t need to park the TARDIS inside the kitchen in order to do that!
You could have just parked the TARDIS outside and then have Ruby fetching Carla and perhaps Cherry to come out and see the space-and-time ship for themselves as well as the Doctor. There’s no need add more to that repair bill when Carla needs her flat fixed! 😐
As the Doctor is about to join Ruby, Carla and Cherry, he secretly does a DNA scan on her before he leaves the TARDIS. Whilst the scan goes on, it starts to snow inside the TARDIS. Again, this snow thing that’s happening in Series 14 will be readdressed for another time.
The DVD/Blu-ray special features for ‘Space Babies’ are as follows. On Disc 2 of the Series 14/Season One DVD/Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’, there’s a behind-the-scenes featurette on ‘Space Babies’, ‘Ncuti Gatwa’s Special Message For Fans’, a ‘Video of a Bogeyman’ video diary with Robert Strange, and ‘Finding Fifteen’. On Disc 6 of the Series 14/Season One DVD/Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’, there’s the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ episode for ‘Space Babies’.
‘Space Babies’, as a season opener, is rather silly in my opinion. The idea of human babies actually talking, even if it’s in a futuristic scenario, is quite nonsensical for me. I would’ve preferred it if the babies weren’t talking, as they’d be appreciated more for being in space.
Also, the fact that there’s a Bogeyman monster literally made out from babies’ snot in the episode is rather off-putting for me when checking out the story. The Bogeyman is impressive in terms of design, but the concept of how it came to be didn’t sit well for me.
Despite these issues, Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson continue to impress me as the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby, especially as a pairing. I was looking forward to seeing more of them and hoped they would continue to impress me as Series 14 progressed further.
This is disregarding how the rest of the season would turn out in terms of storytelling, and believe me, the storytelling issues I have with Series 14 didn’t stop with ‘Space Babies’. The next episode ‘The Devil’s Chord’ was right after I saw ‘Space Babes’ on BBC iPlayer. 😐
‘Space Babies’ rating – 4/10
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