Retrospective Discussion | Doctor Who | 1x01 "Space Babies"
Retrospective Discussion | Doctor Who | 1x01 "Space Babies"
Logline
Ruby learns the Doctor’s amazing secrets when he takes her to a Baby Farm in the future that’s being run by babies, but threatened by a bogeyman.
Written by: Russell T Davies
Directed by: Julie Anne Robinson
When this first aired there was a lot of expectation riding on it as the first proper episode of SeAsOn oNe. I know I felt sort of deflated when it was over, but on rewatching it I actually really like the weird vibe of a space station run by babies, with a nanny tucked away in the walls (very Gothic!) and a snot monster below decks.
My main problem with this whole season is that there isn't much room for the story to breathe, everything proceeds at such a breakneck speed. "Space babies" is not one of the notable exceptions, unfortunately, but once you see past that, it's just infantile, poop joke fun. Nothing groundbreaking, just... fun.
It doesn't help the episode that Gatwa and Gibson are saddled with an initial "Time Lord 101" aimed at new viewers, but we did get that lovely butterfly effect moment in the bargain. Rubathon Blue, we hardly knew you!
I still fail to see where all that much-debated Disney money went. The deepfaked talking babies were as dodgy, comparatively, as the CGI Slitheen in the last season 1, nineteen years ago. Everything else looked okay, just not quite like a million dollars or however much an episode of Who costs these days?
My thesis remains that they should have aimed for making a 12 episode season with the same total budget; I think fans would have been more forgiving of the less successful episodes. With only eight-and-a-special per year, there is no room for clunkers, and barely any for a season arc...
Well said, all around. Wacky romps aren't my favourite genre of Who, but they're fine, and this is fine.
And I think there are advantages to starting a companion with a wacky romp - when there's a lot of exposition to burn through, it's probably not a great idea to have an overly complicated plot on top of it all. And the exposition is pretty well done - Gatwa's "gone" when Ruby asks him about his people is a uniquely sublime line reading.
If the episode is missing anything that would make it work better, I think it's a scene that "humanizes" the bogeyman before it ends up in the airlock. Thinking back to "The Beast Below," another wacky second outing for a companion, there was at least a trail of clues for Amy to consider that helped her conclude that the space whale was benevolent. "Space Babies" lacks that, and while "compassion for compassion's sake" is probably the better message, it's also a much harder message to sell in the moment.
In retrospect, it's interesting to see the Doctor sieze upon the apparent coincidence of having another adventure involving babies, which gets the Ruby's birth is important narrative going. Knowing that the point of it all is that they gave it importance over time, it's neat to see that beginning here.
I want to rewatch this one properly before I give it a real re-evaluation, but I'm guessing people are going to have Thoughts and Feelings about this one.