Space Babies

Last updated

305 –"Space Babies"
Doctor Who episode
Doctor Who Space Babies.jpg
Promotional title-card
Cast
Guest
  • Golda Rosheuvel – Jocelyn Sancerre
  • Michelle Greenidge – Carla Sunday
  • Angela Wynter – Cherry Sunday
  • Mason McCumskey – Eric
  • Sami Amber – Voice of Eric
  • Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps – Poppy
  • Shola Olaitan-Ajiboye – Voice of Poppy
  • Cadence Williams – Voice of Sandra
  • Param Patel – Voice of Marcel
  • Lonnee Archibong – Voice of Adjani
  • Jesus Reyes Ortiz – Rico Trieste
  • Yasmine Bouabid – Lucia Colasanto
  • Robert Strange – Bogeyman
  • Susan Twist – Comms Officer Gina (uncredited) [1]
Production
Directed by Julie Anne Robinson
Written by Russell T Davies
Script editor Scott Handcock
Produced byVicki Delow
Executive producer(s)
Music by Murray Gold
Series Series 14
Running time46 minutes
First broadcast11 May 2024 (2024-05-11)
Chronology
← Preceded by
"The Church on Ruby Road"		Followed by →
"The Devil's Chord"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"Space Babies" is the first episode of the fourteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who . It was written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Julie Anne Robinson, and was released alongside the next episode "The Devil's Chord" on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ on 11 May 2024.

Contents

In the episode, the alien time traveller known as the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) travel to a space station and find a baby farm, which is under threat by a creature the babies call the Bogeyman. The episode was watched by 4.01 million viewers and was met with generally positive reviews from critics. A novelisation of the episode written by Alison Rumfitt will be released on 8 August 2024.

Plot

The Doctor and Ruby Sunday travel to a space station 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 so she can eject it into space, 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

Filming

The episode features twenty real infants and these were occasionally replaced with dolls due to UK law and actor's union restrictions. [2] [3] CGI was used for their mouth movements. [4] [5] Reportedly the dolls used scared the cast. [3]

Writing

Gibson described the episode as being "one for the OG fans". [6] Though despite this episode was written as an introduction for new fans. [7] [8]

Casting

The episode features Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday respectively. [6] The episode features Susan Twist as Comms Officer Gina though she goes uncredited. [1] Twist returned in every episode of the series as seemingly separate characters. [9] [10]

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 appeared as in, "The Legend of Ruby Sunday". [11] [12] The character was instead voiced by Sami Amber. [5]

Broadcast and reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Rotten Tomatoes (Tomatometer)92% [13]
Rotten Tomatoes (Average Rating)6.8/10 [13]
Review scores
SourceRating
i Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Radio Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [15]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [lower-alpha 1] [16]
The Independent Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [lower-alpha 1] [17]
Vulture Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [7]

Broadcast

"Space Babies" was first released in the United Kingdom on BBC iPlayer and in the United States on Disney+ on 11 May 2024; [18] followed by a broadcast on BBC One later in the day. The episode was released alongside "The Devil's Chord" which aired immediately after. [18] The episodes were given an early screening exclusive for critics on 6 May. [19] [20] [16] The episode is the first non-special to air since the thirteenth series finale "The Vanquishers" (2021). [21]

Disney also handled international distribution of the episode outside of the United Kingdom and Ireland. [22] [23]

Ratings

Overnight viewing figures estimate that the episode was watched by 2.6 million people on its BBC One broadcast, 200,000 more than the following episode. [24] Louise Griffin from Radio Times attributed the low ratings to the episodes launch on BBC iPlayer nearly 20 hours previously. Griffin stated that it was likely that the episode was viewed by significantly more people. [25] The episode received a total of 4.01 million consolidated viewers. [26]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 92% of 13 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10.The website's consensus reads: "Starting things off on a buoyant and eccentric note, 'Space Babies' is an intergalactic bundle of joy as far as introductions go." [13] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the episode a score of 72 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [27]

Jack Seale of The Guardian described the episode as "a textbook example of a mid-ranking Who instalment, fun but forgettable and, ultimately, not making sense." [16] Writing for The Independent , Ed Power felt that it had "a promising idea that never entirely comes to life on screen". [17] Writing for Den of Geek, Stefan Mohamed critised the episodes CGI. He also praised how the episode followed up on the "Timeless Child" plot line. [4]

Inverse's Bui Tran-Hoai 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". [20]

In print

Space Babies
Author Alison Rumfitt
Series Doctor Who book:
Target novelisations
Publisher BBC Books
Publication date
8 August 2024
Pages192
ISBN 9781785948848

A novelisation of the episode was written by Alison Rumfitt and made available for pre-order in May 2024. [28] It is currently listed as being set for release as a paperback on 8 August 2024 as part of the Target collection. [28] [29] An audiobook edition is set to be released the same day. [30] [29]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Reviewed with "The Devil's Chord"

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References

  1. 1 2 Griffin, Louise (11 May 2024). "Who is Susan Twist's character in Doctor Who? All the theories". Radio Times . Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  2. ↑ Dunn, James (9 May 2024). "'Doctor Who' Star Ncuti Gatwa Filmed With 20 Babies for Season Premiere: 'They Were Little Divas'". Variety . Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  3. 1 2 Prescott, Amanda-Rae (12 May 2024). "Doctor Who's Stars Were Freaked Out by "Horrendous, Demonic" Rubber Space Babies". Den of Geek. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  4. 1 2 Mohamed, Stefan (10 May 2024). "Doctor Who Series 14 Episode 1 Review: Space Babies". Den of Geek. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  5. 1 2 Griffin, Louise (10 May 2024). "Meet the cast of Doctor Who – Space Babies". Radio Times . Archived from the original on 13 May 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  6. 1 2 McEwan, Cameron K. (16 May 2024). "'Doctor Who' Duo Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson Say "Space Babies" Premiere Episode Was for the Fans". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  7. 1 2 Zhan, Jennifer (10 May 2024). "Doctor Who Season-Premiere Recap: Babies on Board". Vulture. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  8. ↑ McEwan, Cameron K. (9 May 2024). "'Doctor Who' Boss Russell T Davies Talks Space Babies, The Beatles and Cameos Ahead of Disney+ Debut". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  9. ↑ Bibby, Daniel (15 June 2024). "Susan Twist's Doctor Who Season 14 Role Explained: Who She Was Really Playing". Screen Rant . Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  10. ↑ Simons, Roxy (10 June 2024). "Why does Susan Twist keep appearing in Doctor Who? All the theories". Yahoo! Entertainment . Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  11. ↑ Jeffrey, Morgan (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who guest star Lenny Rush was originally cast in a different role". Radio Times . Archived from the original on 11 May 2024. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  12. ↑ Tantimedh, Adi (14 June 2024). "Doctor Who: "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" Goes All-In on Callbacks". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 "Doctor Who – Season 1, Episode 1 Space Babies". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  14. ↑ Kelly, Stephen (10 May 2024). "Doctor Who is on the right track, but it's still not good enough". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  15. ↑ "Doctor Who - Space Babies review: A sci-fi romp powered by its dynamic duo". Radio Times. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  16. 1 2 3 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.
  17. 1 2 Power, Ed (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who: Space Babies and The Devil's Chord review – Ncuti Gatwa is the perfect Doctor with megawatt charm". The Independent. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  18. 1 2 Mellor, Louisa (25 April 2024). "Russell T Davies Teases Doctor Who's "New Tradition" of Warring Gods". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  19. ↑ Dowell, Ben (6 May 2024). "Doctor Who first-look review — Space Babies and The Devil's Chord cause mayhem". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460. Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  20. 1 2 "The Longest-Running Sci-Fi Show's Latest Reboot Isn't Really a Reboot". Inverse . 6 May 2024. Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  21. ↑ Belam, Martin (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who: Space Babies and The Devil's Chord – season one opening recap". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  22. ↑ Knight, Lewis; Griffin, Louise (11 May 2024). "Doctor Who season 14: Release date, trailers, episodes and latest news". Radio Times . Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  23. ↑ Lovette, Jamie (10 May 2024). "Doctor Who Season 1, Episode 1 Recap With Spoilers: "Space Babies"". ComicBook.com . Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  24. ↑ Griffin, Louise (16 May 2024). "Doctor Who ratings revealed for season 14 launch after early iPlayer debut". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  25. ↑ Griffin, Louise (16 May 2024). "Doctor Who's overnight ratings aren't the full story - but they still matter". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
  26. ↑ Griffin, Louise (20 May 2024). "Doctor Who ratings revealed for first week of season 14". Radio Times . Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  27. ↑ "Doctor Who (2024) season 1". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  28. 1 2 "DWN 1 (Doctor Who Target Collection 2024, 2)". Amazon.co.uk . Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  29. 1 2 Laford, Andrea (11 June 2024). "BBC Books offers three new 2024 series Doctor Who novels". CultBox. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  30. ↑ "Doctor Who Space Babies". Rare Waves. Archived from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
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