The Fantasy Review’s review of Doctor Who Season 1, Episode 1, Space Babies.
Space Babies is the first episode of RTD2, Russell T Davies’ second time as showrunner. With that comes a soft reboot, so rather than “season 14” we have a new Season 1.
Space Babies is episode 1 of season 1, and was written by Russell T Davies.
Previous episode: 2023 Christmas Special, The Church on Ruby Road – Review & Recap
Spoiler-filled Recap & Review of Doctor Who Season 1, Episode 1, Space Babies
The Butterfly Effect
Because The Church on Ruby Road ended so suddenly, like it had been cut off mid-sentence, Space Babies begins by rewinding a few seconds, to the moment before Ruby Sunday goes into the TARDIS for the first time.
I really like this opening sequence. We are introduced to the TARDIS, the Doctor, some scraps of his history (plus a few name drops for long-time fans), and then we travel 150 million years in the past, showing off what the TARDIS can do and explaining some of the basics of the rules.
This is a quick, no nonsense recap for every new viewer to come in and not get overwhelmed by the show’s rich history, and it works very well. Additionally, it sets up the Doctor as a madman in a box who loves to show off, and Ruby as the “Watson” character, the audience’s way of asking questions.
So, 150 million years in the past and Ruby asks a very important question: “Is it safe? What if I change history by stepping on a butterfly or summat?”
The Doctor’s utter confusion, saying “Who steps on butterflies?” is hilarious.
Especially as the first thing Ruby does when she’s looking around at the dinosaurs is step on a butterfly and turn into a butterfly-human-thing. This is Davies mocking people who take the time-travel rules too seriously. Sure, you need some basic rules for the audience to care about the stories, but also we need to let go a bit and have fun.
From Baby to Baby
Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor gets Ruby to give him some random numbers as a date to travel to and we go to 21506. He is such an excitable and energetic Doctor – it’s impossible not to feel the absolute joy radiating from Ncuti’s Doctor.
They arrive on a space station in the year 21506 (or 21506 years in the future from 2023?) and the Doctor looks confused about something, but doesn’t say what. Instead, Ruby describes their movement through walls like “a matter transporter, like in Star Trek,” and the Doctor responds by saying, “We’ve got to visit them one day.”
This is a fun, one-off comment, but please, Russell, anyone who is listening – please don’t do that crossover! It’s fun to think about, but actually doing it would be so complicated that no one could make it work and everyone would be unhappy with it.
They head off to explore the knackered space station. It stinks and it’s overloaded, and there’s a monster running around. Or, as the Doctor might say (and take back):
“There’s no such thing as monsters…just creatures you haven’t met yet.”
He then proceeds to scream and run away like a novice. This is an intriguing mystery that he asks about himself when they get to safety. He loves meeting new things, and is rarely scared like that (or at least he remains composed). So, why did it scare him so much?
The Doctor then turns a light on and we see lots of babies being incubated – it’s a baby farm. Again, the Doctor says exactly what was on my mind, which is, “We’ve gone from baby to baby.” To be fair, this was a strange choice for the first episode of the season, and not just because it’s babies again.
In a scene reminiscent of Rose’s first adventure with the 9th Doctor, the 15th Doctor pushes yet another button to reveal a window looking over a colony world. It’s a gorgeous nod back to 2005, making all of us who watched the show for the first time back then very happy.
These nods continue, with some remarkably similar talk of TARDIS translations, etc, to bring new viewers in, then the Doctor uses his sonic to make Ruby’s phone able to call home. And, like Rose did while looking at the Earth during its final minutes, Ruby calls her mum, Carla, from 19000 years in the future, looking over a colony world.
Mummy! Daddy!
As the Doctor is questioning why nothing is working properly, a baby called Eric wheels in on his pushchair, talking to someone. Yes, I will repeat that. A baby called Eric, using his pushchair like a wheelchair, rolls on into the room, talking.
You know that from this moment on, Space Babies is going to be a weird episode of Doctor Who, and that’s saying something.
Eric sees the Doctor and Ruby and gets very excited, going to tell everyone else that “mummy and daddy are here” – I have seen this three times and I’m still surprised I am writing these words.
Ruby and the Doctor follow Eric through the ship, taken through corridors with walls covered in toddler doodles and toys on the floor. They absolutely melt at the sight of all the babies, especially Captain Poppy who tells the space babies to get back to work.
It was actually a bit hard watching this, as a parent of very young children, when Ruby picks up Eric for a hug and all the other babies cry out to be cuddled too. But, it is also funny, because they are babies that can talk and have been running the baby farm while “mummy and daddy” were gone, using pulleys and stuff.
Nanomatrix Electroform – Nan-E
While Ruby and the Doctor get to know the babies – and have some adorable cuddles – we meet the disembodied voice of “Nanny” or “Nanomatrix Electroform” – Nan-E.
Then Nan-E tells the kids to blow their noses. This doesn’t sound relevant, but it will be. After the adorable nose blow, the Doctor asks what the creature “downstairs” is.
Eric calls it the “bogeyman” and all the babies cry. My God, this episode is insane!
The Doctor finds a headset, so he can talk about the Bogeyman with Nan-E without continuing to make the babies cry. Nan-E’s response is: “Access Portal 3-5-7” and reveals herself to be a human.
The Doctor and Ruby rush to the old storage unit to find a woman hiding out in the room. On the way there, the Doctor questions Ruby about her mother and father, talking about how she connects to coincidences, and I just want to skip over all this because it’s a red herring that leads to nothing.
Especially the fact that it was snowing… will that ever be explained?
Luckily, Nan-E comes through a door and tells them to stop yapping and get into Portal 3-5-7.
I Don’t Want to Watch Them Die
The Doctor and Ruby watch a video of the crew “signing off” after being ordered to leave the baby factory – they all leave under orders and did not want to go.
This is the third time we see Susan Twist in a role in Doctor Who, first in Wild Blue Yonder, and second in The Church on Ruby Road. In this episode, she is Comms Officer Gina Scalzi, one of the crew members who left.
The story is that the government closed the Babystation to save money due to the recession. However, by law they cannot stop the birth machine. So… it’s a very obvious analogy of abortion? Hit me over the head harder and I’d die!
I do like it though – science fiction and fantasy can be used to take real life issues to the extreme so they can be explored in new and exciting ways. This opens new methods of talking about important things. Still, not very subtle!
Nan-E’s real name is Jocelyn Sancerre and she was originally the on-site accountant. Not exactly the most qualified person to be looking after the ship. But she had no choice – she wanted to stay and look after the children.
She hides because she doesn’t want to see them die, and she doesn’t want them to see her die. It’s a bleak moment of sincerity in an otherwise hilarious episode, and while I think it’s a bit of a strange one, I do like the thought that went into it. Davies is able to capture some glimpses of excellence, like this scene, amongst the madness of babies and the Bogeyman.
We learn the space station has limited food, limited air, and they are running out, with no prospect of help from the planet below as it is a closed station. There is another planet nearby that takes in refugees and would help, but you have to go to them, and the space station cannot move.
So, the plan is to get Jocelyn and all the babies on to the TARDIS, and the Doctor will take them to the refugee planet. But between them and the ship is the Bogeyman.
Every Story Has Its Hero
The Doctor and Ruby are very surprised when Jocelyn says she has no idea what the Bogeyman is. It was not part of the manifest and it just appeared out of nowhere.
Ruby makes the point that it’s like a children’s story: you’ve got the nanny, the children and the Bogeyman living downstairs. It is at this point the Doctor sees Eric in his pram heading towards the Bogeyman – “and every story has its hero.”
They try to get him to stop (with some hilarious nanny-translations for Jocelyn over the intercom which make the child peril more bearable), but Eric refuses. He is acting on what Ruby told him earlier, that there was no such thing as the Bogeyman, so he is being brave and going to tell the “naughty doggo” off.
Ruby and the Doctor sprint off to find Eric, and find his pram. Again, the child peril is lessened by Nan-E’s translation to “waste products”. They decide to bash pipes against the walls to get the Bogeyman’s attention – and it works.
They find Eric hiding in a small cupboard and are found at that moment by the Bogeyman, so they run. Nan-E calls the Bogeyman an “illegitimate person” and I laughed while I was meant to be scared, but in the case where a baby is in danger, I am glad.
Captain Poppy then comes in with a FLAME-THROWER and scares off the Bogeyman and that is insane! Then, Nan-E says that “babies will return to the upper levels or have no expletive dinner.” That joke would never get old for me!
Our Mad Universe
The babies head upstairs while the Doctor and Ruby go to find out what the Bogeyman is and to get the TARDIS to take everyone to the refugee planet. Jocelyn tells them things started small, in the pipes, six years ago – so when the babies were first born.
The Doctor finds a “spore” left by the creature and sends it to Jocelyn through a vent to be analysed. Before he can do that, though, Ruby is covered in some of the gunk from a pipe… ew.
They work out that the Bogeyman was created by the machine that made the babies, as the whole thing is one big machine. The educational software went haywire and decided the children needed the Bogeyman as part of their education.
It is so scary because of infrasound – roaring at 17 hertz. It’s designed specifically to make you scared. And he built it out of… bogey. It’s fair to say that Ruby is not happy that there are bogeys in her hair.
“Oh, isn’t the universe mad!”
the Doctor
The Doctor is absolutely gleeful at this revelation and probably excited to finally have an answer. He loves figuring out even the smallest of puzzles.
You Save Them All
The Bogeyman comes up behind them, so Ruby and the Doctor make a run for it. Jocelyn decides to get rid of the creature, opening the air vent she gets it trapped in, which starts ripping it apart.
The Doctor is horrified at seeing the potential death of the creature. The babies see it happening on their screen and tell her to stop too.
Ruby and the Doctor stop Jocelyn from killing the creature at the last moment, in what is a surprisingly emotional scene. I think it was mainly Murray Gold’s score which was just beautiful and evocative.
The Doctor then uses the TARDIS to take all the babies and Jocelyn to the refugee planet and everyone live – even the bogeyman.
Concluding Thoughts to This Review of Space Babies
The episode ends with Ruby getting a TARDIS key, officially being welcomed as a companion. The Doctor tells her he will never take her to the Church the day her mum dropped her off there, putting aside all concerns we would have another Father’s Day – so the Doctor does learn from his past!
And then he takes Ruby back home for Christmas. It turns out that he can also manage to arrive places at the right date too, which he has definitely struggled with in the past. It had become a bit of a tired trope, to be fair.
Space Babies was a fun TARDIS adventure, but it was a bit strange and slightly anticlimactic as the first episode of a new season. Rose wasn’t perfect either, but it had a lot of work to do introducing the entire concept of the show, and it was still a better story, I think.
Plus, we had already been introduced to much about the show in The Church on Ruby Road, so this could have been a much more traditional tale of the Doctor facing down a baddie. I didn’t hate Space Babies, but, despite some brief moments of excellence when it came to character interactions, the story as a whole was a little disappointing.
