It’s not usual for me to be here on a Tuesday reviewing Doctor Who, but then again it isn’t usual for there to be a double bill before Eurovision. That happens to make May 11th, 2024 the gayest day in history. Directed by BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated director Julie Anne Robinson, she’s known for Holby City, Grey’s Anatomy, Pushing Daisies, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and the Miley Cyrus film, The Last Song. With some young whippersnapper called Russell T Davies writing and (more importantly) Scott Handcock script editing. Handcock directed a lot of Big Finish, including The Lone Centurion series and a boatload more.

This is a bit of a mixed-bag episode, trying to play catch up for those in the back while also launching a new ship after christening it last time out. I may be mixing up metaphors and turns of phrase there, but we pick up from where we left off, flying off to Wyoming or at least what will be in a couple million years once Jesus kills all the dinosaurs. I think that’s what they believe in Wyoming, that or Utah. Then from Wyoming with that one bit from the trailers that seemed to tease something weird, we’re launched into the episode proper.

It does what it says on the tin, doesn’t it? The episode is called “Space Babies” and launched straight into Alien but with a bit of that 80s/90s Look Who’s Talking, Look Who’s Talking 2 CGI talking space babies. It’s another space station episode, another monster of the week, and another fairly standard drama/horror episode of Doctor Who. Despite that, I kind of enjoyed it when I sat watching it Saturday morning nearly bawling my eyes out when Ncuti tells Captain Poppy, “Nobody grows up wrong.”

After years of Chibnall’s exposition, it felt good to have fresh characters and proper dialog. Even if it isn’t among the pantheon of great Doctor Who, it is refreshing. Though we do get an indication that Chibnall’s Flux mess will continue throughout, this time Russell is at least writing Ncuti to wear that weight of the character around his neck like a dumbbell. This is where I think I’m about to draw parallels and say why the episode didn’t land as well. This was a congealed “Rose” and “The End of the World.”

You have the phone-job with the screwdriver, the proper introduction of who he is and what he is, the reveal of the beautiful space shot and the companion’s reaction, the running (there’s always running), and just little bits. It felt like a special of all of Russell’s introductory tricks, even down to the low oxygen for the space station, which didn’t play into the central danger much. Without trying to degrade the enjoyable bits, it felt like a do-over.

Not only are we given all of those narrative devices we saw previously throughout Russell’s first run, we also have the companion who wants to go back in time to meet a parent they’ve never known. I’m reticent to say “A Rose by any other name” as that’s often misused, but there are certainly connections to prior series we’ve seen. Again I’m not saying I hate it, it is simply something that needs to be addressed as it might have diminishing returns, especially for the nostalgic and pedantic among us.

The one major issue with “Space Babies” is its plot is weak. It is quite light and what is there is good, yet it seems to be an idea first and an episode later. Look Who’s Talking but with Alien is a great idea. We’ve returned to the whimsical nature of Russell’s run. He grounds the show back down to being about family, and there is a lot there to tease out the series’ arc, but it feels like a vehicle to get us into the characters again. A second bash at “This is Ruby Sunday, this is The Doctor; they travel, and do this, and do that.”

However, what was the point of the Christmas special then? I get it, new people are jumping on all the time, but it was one episode ago and we’ve had almost six months between them. Almost all of the pieces are there from “Smith and Jones” but you can’t compare the two as “Smith and Jones” is perfect. From the sonic and its somewhat new abilities to explaining how the TARDIS works, I see why the plot is so thin with talking babies that never grew up on a space station haunted by the Bogeyman.

Yes, Bogeyman. This is the “problem” with doing a more international style of show. I have to explain to some Americans that it isn’t “Boogeyman” for a reason. I assumed my editor would be one. It is noted in the episode of Unleashed and is fairly clear in “Space Babies” itself, Russell is simply connecting the dots of Bogeyman and bogeys. The same as the Golf term, for the Americans joining us. The thing is “Runny Snotman” doesn’t work, so he used the UK-centric pronunciation and spelling, Bogeyman.

Doctor Who is still a very UK-centric show, but as we’ve seen with the big US premiere days before launch and some minor production things, a lot of people are up in arms over its “Americanization.” Yes, you can see the production values a lot more, the budget isn’t £2.50 now, but there is still some of that grimy, paper-mâché, focus on the dialog and actor’s performances thing Doctor Who is best at. We’ve seen it a couple of times (“The Devil’s Chord” included), Ncuti can elevate a middling-ish/camp-heavy script.

I adore Millie and I think she’s doing great with the more dramatic stuff, but it is the camp that I think doesn’t always land too well. It is just a little sparkle of something missing, and I hate to say it, but that little something is important. Millie, Ncuti, and the babies are adorable. I love just how warm it feels to have a Doctor… who (indeed) has emotion. I’m not trying to slag off Jodie, in those Lockdown videos she had some solid stuff, but the writing during her era sandblasted everything away from her, making this night and day in comparison.

One thing that has held over from that era though is the truly terrible audio mixing. Sometimes Murray Gold’s soundtrack of the episode overpowers the dialog to the point it is difficult to hear what is said, other times it simply sounds like the microphones are blown out from a previous recording. I’ve no idea why this is the common thing now, not just in Doctor Who but elsewhere too. It makes shows terrible to watch and sometimes requires subtitles. I think it is Bang Post Productions this time out, and I want to know why this is so awful.

Tim Hodges is similarly getting a verbal kick-in too, with some of those (video) edits being quite needlessly jarring. It’s that “For days like this” line from Ncuti, “The End of the World” homage with the viewing gallery shot out at a planet below from a space station. Part of me wants to say that’s either a time constraint thing, a director not getting a decent enough take between the lines, or maybe even a cut line. It was the most egregious cut of the episode, but certainly not the only odd cut.

Since I’m being nitpicky about behind-the-scenes/production stuff, I’m tempted to pull up that “eww brother, eww” meme. Who is honestly out here doing VFX in Final Cut Pro/Apple Motion? Oh yeah, we’re in the real deep cuts of nerddom now, so much we’re in the Apple Vs Microsoft, After Effects Vs Final Cut/Apple Motion Vs Blackmagic Fusion Vs DaVinci Resolve debates. I get that you can use Final Cut/Apple Motion but still, from a “I know what I find comfortable and easy to use,” Apple-based editing and motion graphics software is a nightmare. This is less of a criticism and more of “that’s how you’re doing that, ok.“

Without trying to spoil “Space Babies” aside from the broad strokes, it is a solid episode that gets us back on track of the episodic/serial-ish thing following years of barebones Doctor Who. If I could do without something it would be Ncuti’s “sh… Shizzle.” I found the Nan-E filter stuff funny: “I swear, this system is a load of [cut to Nan-E filtered voice] waste product,” that’s fun, that’s playing with the medium and leaving in a thing for the more grown-up audiences. It is just that one little bit that reminds me of Moffat’s later run and Picard that doesn’t sit well.

As I say, “Space Babies” is a fun, light, whimsical adventure that course-corrects from Chibnall’s navel-gazing. Yet the weight isn’t lost as Ncuti beautifully does something that I want to say is from his upbringing in Scotland, the stern shout of “gone!” and acknowledgment of The Doctor’s trauma but an unwillingness to dwell on it. It is the quintessential response any man has as he sits silently in a working man’s pub, usually slurping a horrible pint of something yellowish-brown. It is the “I know what is causing me pain, I’m dealing with it one way or another, let’s do or focus on anything else.”

As much as I’ve instantly fallen in love with him as The Doctor, there are also two bits that made me fall in love with Millie’s Ruby Sunday too. I’m not trying to spoil too much about the episode while also talking about it, but there is a point where The Doctor and Ruby see a danger to one of the babies and need to distract the Bogeyman. The way she picks up that pipe and starts clattering it off of everything, shouting like a Glasgow woman pulling her husband out of the pub, it is a chef’s kiss of a moment and a character beat.

Her second moment is when the two are figuring out what has happened and the Bogeyman rises up like the Alien from Alien. It is a simple thing, but her point, saying “Bogeyman” matter-of-factly, then they run. That’s camp Doctor Who doing its best, as is most of the episode. It doesn’t make it the perfect episode though, which is the problem with it for me. It tries to balance the serious and the silly, only sometimes getting it perfect and other times still trying to find its feet.

That said, it continues the tradition of sci-fi being political as Doctor Who has always been. I don’t care if you want to shout about “wokeness,” neither of us wants to hear each other talk, go away. That said, the maternity analog is about as subtle as a brick to the eye, especially with Ruby’s line about it being common in her world too. I don’t mind the line, I’d have just liked a breath between the analog and the straight line to us. That said, the refugee line (especially now) could not have been done any better.

Ultimately, “Space Babies” is maybe Russell’s third-best jump-on episode behind “Smith and Jones” and “Rose” leading into “The End of the World.” Some will look at the CGI and think it is cheap as they fork over lots of money for the next pulpy, Marvel/DC film. It would be easy to criticize the baby/child acting (especially the eyes), and quite frankly the campness could kill this US-expansion. However,, I enjoy it enough on its own once we get there, but again it isn’t the pantheon of Doctor Who. It will be remembered more than “Partners in Crime” but not much higher.

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Doctor Who "Space Babies"

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Look Who's Talking with a bit of Alien.
• Ncuti and Millie solidify their roles.
• Ncuti wearing the weight of the character.
• Finally, someone is writing about The Flux as if it affects the character.
• "I can't."

Cons

• Somewhat weak plot.
• I could have done without that first little trip.
• Unnecery line, "Sh-- Shizzle"