This thread contains open SPOILERS for the episode SPACE BABIES. Please only discuss this episode here, use the other threads for discussions about future episodes.
As we’re getting ready to watch the first few episodes of 15’s era, I thought I’d get discussion threads ready for them, so we’ve got one consolidated place to discuss them.
First episode of this season is ‘Space Babies’.
There’s a trailer here:
This’ll be posted a few hours before the episode, so you can speculate and such before it comes out here. Since two episodes are being posted at once, I’d like you to limit this thread to just discussing Space Babies, and leave anything about the Devil’s Chord to the other thread.
The episodes should be on iPlayer and Disney+ at midnight
Just for fun, add your rating here (after you’ve watched it):
not watching till the BBC broadcast so getting my reactions in in advance.
Wow, what an episode, it really was an episode of Doctor Who.
I liked how there were babies and they were in space, but did anyone else think that bad bit was bad.
Also did anyone notice Ruby Sunday and the Doctor as played by Ncuti Gatwa were in this story. Interesting stuff can’t wait to see where it goes!
Well, this one was alright. Not the greatest episode in the world but enjoyable. As @sircarolyn pointed out, it was a version of The End of the World. The story was a bit creepy at first, but it did start to pick up pace. The babies were what creeped me out the most.
A respectable (EDIT EDIT) on further reflection changed to a 2.5/5.
The babies were so creepy and horrible I did not like them at all haha. But the episode was good enough for an onboarding one, and the bit at the start with the butterfly was sooo Eighth Doctor core, that made me smile
So I’ve just watched the first episode of the new season. And… it’s okay. I mean, I had fun, I enjoyed it. But it didn’t wow me. I think the Doctor and Ruby are the best parts of this. I like the introduction that essentially brings new viewers up to speed on Doctor Who. I’m seeing bits from old Modern Series episodes weaved in (but weaved in well). This also might be the quickest a companion has gotten a TARDIS key. I liked the monster… sort of. There were some great Jurassic Park vibes in places. The politics were there, a bit on capitalism, refugees, body positivity, etc; but they didn’t feel forced. The babies themselves were a little uncanny valley maybe. The Doctor continually amending the word “babies” to space babies got old fast, and I see they’re still going hard with the mavity bit. A decent episode, but nothing special. On to the next one.
Initial reaction is actually really positive I’m just so happy to have new Doctor Who
The story itself was just fine and very straightforward, probably made particularly for newcomers with the plethora of explanations we got.
A shortened season means we get to the heart of the mystery about Ruby sooner, no time for dillydallying.
Now after having a bit of time of thinking, I am going to be honest, this just wasn’t really for me. I didn’t hate it, but this just didn’t do much for me.
I can’t properly put down what it was, but really this just wasn’t an episode for me (and that’s honestly fine!)
Happy for everybody else who had a blast, and of course Ncuti is a joy to watch here already!
I like how every now and then they just gotta make an episode that’s absolutely ridiculous and will embarrass you if you show it to your non-whovian friends.
It was fine, some nice moments (the line about no one being born wrong is especially good), but overall I’m glad it wasn’t the only episode this week.
What did I just watch……. Working with babies is always interesting but their facial features at times do not sync the best even though it was a full facial vfx. We get some rehashing to bring new folks to what this thing we call Doctor Who. Overall the whole episode did not jive with me but hopeful that it gets better with every episode. Once season is over will rewatch after I see what maybe the bigger picture is and will adjust my ratings then.
glad we’re all united in our feelings about the Air Buddies CG mouthflapping… definitely not blown away but still pretty fun. i really like the characterization Ruby and Fifteen are getting so far, it almost reminds me of s5 Amy and Eleven where a lot of the time you get the impression that they’re two same-age best friends. Fifteen also feels very ‘idealized image of the friend you need right now’ for Ruby, but for an early-twenty-something rather than a kid…
was gonna write more of this but i got very distracted by going outside and seeing the goddamn aurora from my backyard which feels very fitting. happy doctor who day. i love outer space. peace and love on planet earth. 3/5
I found the lipsyncing really offputting, but while I’m no expert what I think happened is that they were animated to match, only for things to get rearranged a little in the edit and throw things off, because in the back half of the episode the syncing worked so much better.
Overall I enjoyed the episode though, I rated it 3.5/5 which feels right. I’m just glad I watched it at home, because I really didn’t like that the episode quite literally ended with a giant fart, and I can’t imagine how embarassed I’d feel about that with someone else there.
The literal bogey monster was an… interesting twist, I wish they didn’t play up the “that’s so gross” angle so much because I feel like dragging that out so long made it feel too childish. When it came to the point where they had to save it, I got what they were going for, but I don’t feel like they did enough to make me particularly feel for the living pile of bogeys.
Definitely not enjoying the reversion to a shorter runtime, the extra 5 minutes minimum we had last era helped a lot and Russell T Davies scripts need all the breathing room they can get.
A loose limbed and silly opening episode, with sparkling performances from Ncuti and Millie at the heart of it. Not to be taken too seriously, it would be terrible if truncated series lengths meant we didn’t get breezy episodes like this.
It did take me a little while for me to settle in while they loaded in all the lore for new viewers, but I relaxed and was chuckling away after that. Would be very interesting to see how someone found this episode if they were totally new to the show.
I’ve rated it 6/10, but feel that may change. Honestly too childish an episode for me. Theres some nice interactions between the Doctor and Ruby, all though it can be a bit lore-dumpy at times, and I did love some of the themes, the Doctor saying how no one grows up wrong was really touching for me. Jocelyns comment ablut being alone for too long was a nice and obvious parallel to how the Doctor can make some not great decisions when he has no one with him. And the bogeyman being made of bogeys was a nice touch. Baby’s were a bit weird though. Honestly an episode I’ll be in no hurry to rewatch.
I adored the line “most of the universe is knackered”. Made me laugh so much and honestly so relatable
I really loved this one. The right balance of silly and serious, with lots of opportunities for both the Doctor and Ruby to have character moments. We see how the Doctor has changed (they’re explaining Gallifrey on the first trip now!). I could do without the fart jokes but wasn’t as bad as the Slitheen episodes so I’ll take it. And the Doctor laughing while explaining the “bogey man” to Ruby totally made up for the gross out factor there for me. I definitely need to rewatch to cement my opinion but I had the right amount of fun and the right amount of feelings watching this.
I enjoyed this episode but think it was probably too silly for the first episode. How many people are going to be put off by this?
We got loads of lore dumps, no slow build-up about Gallifrey this time!
It’s all about babies and being a foundling. That’s clearly the theme this year but it’s very blatant.
I liked that there were political messages. RTD is pulling no punches. There were commentary about abortion rights in the USA (they are forced to keep having babies but then no-one looks after them when they are born), about refugees, about being born different. Never change, Russell.
I rated it 6/10 for now, may change my mind upon rewatches.
I seriously don’t know how someone could make the talking baby premise work outside of a cartoon series.
This episode is a mess, and many of the jokes are bad. At least Ncuti and Millie were great in it
I’m just so happy to have new Doctor Who 
