I agree for the most part, but I’m not sold on Ncuti yet.
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One thought I had on the space station being propelled by a … a giant expulsion of methane, let’s go with that. The Doctor had already made an offer to take them in the TARDIS, surely that would be less silly? But! Imagine that scene with ~10 babies in strollers scooting around the TARDIS set going weeeeee. 
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I was on the verge of turning off at one point. were there space babies? is the doctor now an orphan? if only it had been made clear.
It reminded me of the siltheen episode back in 2005 - it the kind of episode I’m going to have to excuse when the not we talk to me about it.
Not terrible but a bit embarrising.
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It was alright. 7/10 for me. I think the thing that hurts it are some bad CGI for the lips (Poppy was a lot better than Eric) and the Doctor, for whatever reason, could not stop saying Space Babies. Like, why? Why was that so emphasized? It was getting a bit annoying towards the latter half.
I liked the Doctor and Ruby’s characterization. I liked that the bogeyman was literally made out of boogers! And the fart propultion fit in with the episode, I was fine with it. Saving the Bogeyman didn’t quite hit me in the emotional way I think it was aimed? This is very much “Your First Episode” with all the lore dump.
Overall, I liked it, but I could see how it’s a bit too silly in places. I’m very intrigued by the snow scene and Ruby’s story.
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Yes! Totally agree!
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RTD really speedrunning Doctor Who right here. Companion and Doctor are bffs right away, hey look at that this is just like when it was the end of the world, by the way im the last of the timelords, the rest all died dont worry about it we can emotionally develop the characters now, doctor shows sensitive side, doctor shows emotions we usually dont see from him, doctor wants to save others who are also the last of their kind, companion gets tardis key, doctor actually has hidden motives, there are probably 300 other references and comparisons to older RTD episodes that I forgot.
All of this stuff what previously was slowly shown to us through seasons and episodes is now being shown in a few secon- oh there is the next important development already.
But this does mean that all of this stuff is now behind us already! You’re upset your entire race is dead Doctor, okay, too bad, moving on. I don’t need a repeat of what we already had, so we rushed through all it for the new viewers, and the rest of the season we’re gonna explore new new ideas!
That’s what I’m hoping at least.
Episode was aight. Everything went at breakneck speed at the start, (but i already made that clear) luckily we slow down at some point. And for what it was id say it was good. Very RTD! I liked the themes it managed to convey through its utterly silly premise. Ol 6 out of 10. 3/5. Could have been a lot better as a season opener but it wasn’t bad imo.
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I had a lot of fun with this! It’s very ‘by the book’ RTD, but I found Ncuti to be a sparkling presence throughout, and I loved how it leant into the idea of children’s fairytales. I also called both boogeyman twists well in advance which was really fun!
I do think it lacked a moment of seriousness or solemnity—for contrast I much prefer the End of the World to this, because it has those moments of pathos and sadness throughout, whereas I found this too one-note all the way through. Still, a perfectly enjoyable opener!
Oh, and I loved the ‘pushed the button’ callback.
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Meh. It was fine. Nothing that’ll totally change the world but it’s a solid standard base under siege-esque story with the dodgy effects I love to see in my Doccy Who
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I enjoyed it. It was silly, but I like silly.
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Not to mention that the space station isn’t exactly able to go in for the landing either, are they just going to crash?
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I’d imagine the Doctor would follow along in the TARDIS and get them situated properly.
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Yeah this one, this one was bad.
Embarrassing writing, egregious failures at humour, flimsy and plot hole ridden script and a story with barely any enticing concepts and a tone aiming itself at literal five year olds.
I found it atrocious personally and watching it felt like a chore - 3/10
You can read my full review here if you want`
Season 1 (Series 14); Episode One — “Space Babies” by Russell T. Davies
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I liked this one, it wasn’t anything amazing but it was never going to be. I think it was probably as good as it was ever going to be.
Sidenote, real trickster vibes when Ruby’s mum turned around and pointed at the Doctor, and now I want that to be true so badly but its never going to happen
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This was my thinking exactly. It’s a silly hanging thread that could easily be sorted with a line of dialogue: “We’ll follow and help them with the landing babes” would have sorted it. It’s not so much the “how” it’s achieved that bothers me; I just like to know that the story has considered it.
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Time for some thoughts then.
Overall I enjoyed it. I really like Ncuti and Millie and there was some good ‘solving the mystery’ in this one - why was the Doctor scared? Where did the monster come from?
Jocelyn was a great character and I liked the ‘Nanny filter’ gags.
As soon as the babies appeared and started talking, my heart sank a little - I’ve never liked those films with CGI’d mouths on babies or animals as they never really convince. That said, the visuals of the babies zooming around in their pushchairs were hilarious and rather endearing.
Everything did seem a bit rushed, especially all the ‘last of the Time Lords/call your mum/have a key/look at the view of a planet in space’ stuff which hit almost entirely the same beats as Rose’s storyline except it happened in about 3 scenes rather than 3 episodes.
What this felt like was a story which would have worked much better as a comic strip but it did feel very Doctor Whoey all the same.
Not sure why they’ve decided to have the TARDIS smashing into everything when it materialises though.
I don’t agree though that it was childish or silly - at least not to its detriment. Doctor Who is an inherently silly show at its heart and ‘what’s the point of being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes’.
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The way 15’s just on and on about the phrase “space babies” is just weird. That and the way babies talk and act. It’s just not possible for kids that small to act in a to show. The story would work better in audio format
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Yeah, this would have been better as an audio! The effects in this episode looked terrible and even their strollers felt like really cheap props. This episode didn’t really show off that Disney budget the way last year’s specials did, but I don’t think any amount of money would have saved Space Babies. It was just a bad idea for an episode and those babies did not look that comfortable being on set.
On the other hand, the scene where Millie is reacting to the genocide word while trying to keep up with everything, and the one with the snow, show how great these two are going to be together. It reminds me of Partners in Crime, where I love the Doctor/Companion dynamic but did not care for the Adipose/Space Babies.
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This was the first “regular” episode of Doctor Who in years, everything since Flux has been labelled a “special”. And it felt like just that to me, a regular RTD season opener, I might not be RTDs biggest fan but he felt very much on brand to me. And due to the nature of the “soft reboot” where a lot had to be explained in the first 25 minutes, there was only so much room for an actual plot. It felt like it achieved exactly what it set out to do.
Basically the only negative thing for me was when the story told us to care about the snot monster, it was a bit abrupt and very little reason was given for us to empathise with the roaring pile of snot. Great design though 
On the babies talking it took me out of it for like five seconds and then I just said “eh” and went on enjoying the story being told. Effects are just not the most important thing about Doctor Who for me, haven’t we all learned that collectively from Invasion of the Dinosaurs?
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(Thoughts after a rewatch)
This episode was fun and silly, but I really think it was a bad choice for a first episode, to try and reach audiences old and new.
If you compare it to Rose, The Eleventh Hour, The Pilot, or The Woman who fell from Earth, I feel that as a pilot it fell short.
Although I guess, on Disney+ at least, they are framing The Church on Ruby Road as the pilot. A strange situation to be in.
But regardless of the story or the silly talking babies, the one thing I’m confident about is that both Ncuti and Millie are absolute stars and could make any story riveting to watch!
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