Space Babies
| 305 – "Space Babies" | |||
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| Doctor Who episode | |||
 Promotional poster | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
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| Production | |||
| Directed by | Julie Anne Robinson | ||
| Written by | Russell T Davies | ||
| Executive producer(s) |
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| Music by | Murray Gold | ||
| Series | Series 14 | ||
| Running time | 49 minutes | ||
| First broadcast | 11 May 2024 | ||
| Chronology | |||
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"Space Babies" is the first episode of the fourteenth series and the 880th episode overall of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Julie Ann Robinson, and was released on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ on 11 May 2024. It stars Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as his companion Ruby Sunday. The episode was released alongside "The Devil's Chord".
Plot[edit]
The Doctor and Ruby Sunday travel to a spaceship where they run into a monstrous creature. They find an elevator and reach the higher level, only to discover that the ship is a baby farm, run by talking babies. The babies live in fear of the creature down below, which they have dubbed The Bogeyman, and their only caregiver is supposedly an AI named NAN-E. The Doctor traces NAN-E's programming to a storage room, but discovers that it is actually a woman named Jocelyn. Jocelyn is the last of the ship's original crew who were forced to leave the ship and the babies behind despite their protests against it. The Doctor locates a refugee planet nearby and vows to send Jocelyn and the space babies to it.
One of the babies, Eric, summons the courage to face the Bogeyman, but the Doctor, Ruby, and the rest of the babies come to his rescue. The Doctor finds the Bogeyman's appearance mysterious as he has the urge to run away from it. After finding the ship's programming he discovers that the ship created the Bogeyman as part of its misguided attempt to entertain the children. Not only that, but the Bogeyman is made out of literal "bogies" as it took the command seriously. Jocelyn has the Doctor and Ruby lead the Bogeyman to the airlock, but Ruby points out that the creature appeared the same time the babies were born, thus it is actually one of them. Ruby stops Jocelyn while the Doctor rescues the Bogeyman, whom the babies recondition to behave like a dog.
Reworking the ship, the Doctor manages to get it up and running so that it can fly to the refugee planet. The Doctor gives Ruby keys to the TARDIS and invites her to come travel with him on the condition that they do not visit the night her mother left her at the church on Ruby Road. As they return to Carla and Cherry, the Doctor performs a DNA scan on an unsuspecting Ruby, as it suddenly begins to snow inside the TARDIS.
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
Casting[edit]
Lenny Rush was originally cast as the voice of Eric, but after being impressed by his performance the production team decided to withdraw him from the role in favour of the UNIT scientific advisor, Morris Gibbons, who Rush appears as later in the series.[2] The character was instead voiced by Mason McCumskey.[3]
Filming[edit]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer) | 92%[4] |
| Rotten Tomatoes (Average Score) | |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Radio Times |   [5] |
Broadcast[edit]
"Space Babies" was broadcast on BBC One on 11 May 2024 alongside "The Devil's Chord" which aired immediately after.[6] The episodes were given an early screening exclusive for critics on 6 May.[7][8][9]
The episode was released internationally on Disney+.[6]
Ratings[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of critics gave the episode a positive review.[4]
On Metacritic, the two-episode season premiere received a rating of 72 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10] The Guardian wrote that the episode was "a mid-ranking Who instalment, fun but forgettable and, ultimately, not making sense."[9]
Inverse thought the episode was a "mixed bag", describing it as "an outrageously goofy sci-fi adventure involving talking babies and a terrifying creature that stalks an abandoned space station" that "spends much of the runtime establishing who the Doctor is and what he does, leaving longtime fans to basically twiddle their thumbs as they wait for the good stuff".[8]
In print[edit]
| Author | Alison Rumfitt |
|---|---|
| Series | Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
| Publisher | BBC Books |
Publication date | 8 August 2024 |
| Pages | 192 |
| ISBN | 9781785948848 |
A novelisation of the episode was written by Alison Rumfitt, and made avalible for pre-order in May 2024.[11] It will be officially released as a paperback on 8 August 2024 as part of the Target Collection.[11] An audiobook edition read by TBA was released the same day.[12]
References[edit]
- ^ Griffin, Louise (11 May 2024). "Who is Susan Twist's character in Doctor Who? All the theories". Radio Times. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
- ^ Jeffrey, Morgan (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who guest star Lenny Rush was originally cast in a different role". Radio Times. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
- ^ Griffin, Louise (10 May 2024). "Meet the cast of Doctor Who – Space Babies". Radio Times. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
- ^ a b "Doctor Who – Season 1, Episode 1 Space Babies". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
- ^ "Doctor Who - Space Babies review: A sci-fi romp powered by its dynamic duo". Radio Times. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ a b Mellor, Louisa (25 April 2024). "Russell T Davies Teases Doctor Who's "New Tradition" of Warring Gods". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
- ^ Dowell, Ben (6 May 2024). "Doctor Who first-look review — Space Babies and The Devil's Chord cause mayhem". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ a b "The Longest-Running Sci-Fi Show's Latest Reboot Isn't Really a Reboot". Inverse. 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ a b Seale, Jack (6 May 2024). "Doctor Who first look review – Ncuti Gatwa will make this show far more fun than it's been for years". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ "Doctor Who (2024) season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
- ^ a b "DWN 1 (Doctor Who Target Collection 2024, 2)". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
- ^ "Doctor Who Space Babies". Rare Waves.
External links[edit]
- "Space Babies" at BBC Online
- "Space Babies" at the Doctor Who Stories Website
- "Space Babies" on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki
- "Space Babies" at IMDb