TL;DR – It was a deeply silly episode, yet I could not help but have a smile on my face for the entire run time.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Doctor Who Review –

After finishing the 60^th Anniversary specials  The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder, and The Giggle at the end of last year and getting a small taste of our new Doctor in The Church on Ruby Road, it is now time for us to officially dive into the third era of Doctor Who. This is a series that always brings a mix of emotions, but now it is on a bigger platform than it has ever been, and it is time to see if it will thrive or flounder.

So to set the scene, after we get a crash course in Doctor Who lore, it is time for The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) to go on their first official adventure, and why not have a random landing with dinosaurs and a little chaos theory. Then, let’s jump into the future onto a space station that is having severe problems, with monsters and all. But what no one was expecting was that they landed on a baby farm. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Doctor Who is a series that can find itself sitting in very different places on the emotional spectrum. From serious to farcical and everywhere in between, and that can dramatically change during the episode. Well, when you have an episode that has ‘space babies’ and the ‘boogyman’, you will suspect that this will fall at the sillier end of that spectrum, and you would be mostly correct. I mean, there is literally a sliming or two. It also helps that the musical score is big and brassy, and it fits the emotional tune.  

From a technical perspective, I liked how they made the babies talk. You could tell it was an effect. However, it didn’t rip you out of the episode. Also, it was nice to see them pull out a classic ‘man in a monster suit’ for their first big episode out. Puppetry is one of the show’s strengths, and it is good to see them lean into that from the start. All of these factors help the show keep the weirdness it’s known for without spinning out of control. Okay, mostly without spinning out of control, some of that ending is very silly.

One thing I do want to point out is part of the narrative. They are very much treating this first season as a new era for the show, a little bit more than the usual soft reset we get each time the Doctor changes. However, it is not sweeping everything that has come before it away, even those bits that I think some people would like them to. But how do you onboard people with 60 years of lore? Well, this episode is an excellent example of that. You distil it down to those core features that you need to explain, you cast Ncuti to give your words energy, and you bring in a new companion to both give justification for the lore catch-up and also be the person to ask the same questions the audience has. It was a neat little bit of dialogue.

In the end, do we recommend Doctor Who: Space Babies? Look, there are many things you can say about Doctor Who, but you can’t but find yourself with a big smile at Ncuti Gatwa proclaiming, ‘Space Babies!’ and that is what I found myself with this whole episode, a big smile. I don’t think the episode will have the sticking power of some others, but it was a fun and ridiculous ride.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Doctor Who yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Doctor Who
Directed by – Julie Anne Robinson
Written by – Russell T Davies
Production/Distribution Companies – BBC Studios, Badwolf & Disney+
Starring – Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson with Michelle Greenidge, Angela Wynter, Golda Rosheuvel, Sami Amber & Shola Olaitan-Ajiboye and Robert Strange, Mason McCumskey, Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps, Cadence Williams, Param Patel, Lonnee Archibong, Jesús Reyes Ortiz & Yasmine Bouabid