Review: Doctor Who, ‘Space Babies’

Print&Features Editor Jess Parker finds the Doctor Who opening episode quirky, silly and fun yet lacking in the impact or memorability of some of the show’s past episodes

Jess Parker
Ex Print & Features Editor and Film Editor. MA Film and Television: Research and Production student.
Published
Images by @bbcdoctorwho on Instagram

The inaugural episode of New-Who’s Disney-fied revamp, entitled ‘Space Babies’ and penned by returning showrunner Russel T. Davies, landed on BBC iPlayer on 11 May 2024, alongside a second episode entitled ‘The Devil’s Chord’. The main narrative of Doctor Who’s ‘Space Babies’ stars leading man Ncuti Gatwa as the eponymous Doctor, alongside companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) and guest-starring Golda Rosheuvel as Jocelyn Sancerre, the ‘Nanny’ to the titular space babies.

‘Space Babies’ sees The Doctor and Ruby land in the future, on an orbital ship that runs a baby farm. The pair soon discover that the baby farm, is in fact, ran by babies who are terrorised by the thing of nightmares: the Bogeyman. The episode runs for 46 minutes and is directed by Julie Anne Robinson.

The episode feels like a classic new-Who series opener, which have been historically quirky and not necessarily that impactful

The episode feels like a classic new-Who series opener, which have been historically quirky and not necessarily that impactful. Think Series One’s ‘Rose’, which saw the Doctor and his companion chased by living shop-front mannequins, or Series Five’s ‘The Eleventh Hour’, which saw Matt Smith’s Doctor fighting against a criminal space eel and Karen Gillan introducing Amy as a ‘kiss-o-gram’. Opening episodes are often a bit of an introductory throwaway for the show, being used primarily as establishing plot devices and to set the tone for the dynamic duo at hand. ‘Space Babies’ is no exception. The episode gives us a clear outline of The Doctor and Ruby’s carefree dynamic, with the duo feeling fresh and pretty cool against Doctor Who’s previously quirky pairings.

The episode lacks in defining features…the plot and villain feel pretty lacklustre

‘Space Babies’ is quintessentially silly. In comparison to the show’s recent 60th anniversary specials, the episode is closest to ‘The Star Beast’ in its humour and unconventional japes. The plot is outright stupid, full of bogies and farts and all sorts of nonsense, but none of that is to its detriment. The episode goes all in on its silliness, not shying away from the ridiculousness of its premise as we see these space babies babble on and take charge in Russel T. Davies’ bonkers opening romp.

Although the silliness of ‘Space Babies’ is not to its detriment, it does partly stifle the episode’s ability to stand out amongst Doctor Who’s astronomically large canon. It is not necessarily memorable, aside from the slightly freakish talking babies, and it feels highly likely that ‘Space Babies’ will be lost to Who’s history as simply a bit ‘meh’. The episode lacks in defining features, and although we get a well-detailed insight into The Doctor and Ruby as a team, the episode’s plot and villain feel pretty lacklustre in comparison to the show’s wildly outlandish specials and Christmas special.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, ‘Space Babies’ is not Doctor Who’s most exciting series opener, however, it does serve a purpose. The episode is a bit of fun, and allows for new watchers of the long-running Sci-Fi series to gain a clear understanding of the show’s mechanics and how it all works. For longer-standing fans of Doctor Who however, ‘Space Babies’ is not one for the history books, and will probably be lost to what promises to be a fairly exciting season of time and space-based adventures.

Rating: 3/5

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