DISCLAIMER: This recap of Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 1, “Space Babies,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
Who doesn’t love a story about space babies? Doctor Who is finally back, and folks, it’s just as silly, campy and out-of-this-world ridiculous as ever. Of course, it wouldn’t be Who without a heaping helping of heart, which episode writer Russell T Davies delivers in spades. Ncuti Gatwa is the Doctor. He’s charming; he exudes warmth and a surplus of empathy. He also captures the Doctor’s inherently inquisitive nature and enthusiasm. Gatwa feels like a combo of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors to me. Millie Gibson is also an excellent addition as Ruby.
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Ruby Sunday and the Doctor
We open with Ruby Sunday (Gibson) stepping into the TARDIS. The Doctor (Gatwa) grins at her from the staircase. He snaps his fingers, dimming the lights. He gives her a timey-wimey crash course, revealing he’s the last Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey (and adopted like her). The Doctor survived a genocide. Oh, and the TARDIS is a time machine disguised as a police box. He’s over a thousand years old and travels through time and space. We know the story, but it’s still exciting to hear it.
Next, our new dynamic duo travels millions of years into the past. The Doctor informs Ruby that “TARDIS” stands for “Time and Relative Dimension in Space.” They exit the TARDIS to find dinosaurs roaming in what will inevitably become Green River, Wyoming. The Doctor can’t stay away from the American West, can he?
Stepping on Butterflies
Anyway, Ruby steps on a butterfly shortly after panicking about doing so. You know, changing one thing in the past can have significant repercussions. Ruby instantly transforms into a green alien with antennae. She declares she’s Rubathon Blue of the 57th Hemisphere Hatchlings. Ruby asks the Doctor if she did something wrong. Oh, and should one make an “incorrect accusation,” she’ll have to kill them. Uh-oh. Thankfully, the Doctor scoops up the stepped-on butterfly and breathes on it, bringing it back to life. Ruby morphs back into a human.
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Then, the pair returns to the TARDIS. Our titular Time Lord lets Ruby call the shots. She throws out a random time far into the future. The intrepid travelers land in the year 21, 506. They find the TARDIS parked inside a space station. The Doctor adopts a new mantra on this adventure: “Push the button.” So, they take an elevator to the bottom of the station, where, let’s be honest, it stinks to high heaven.
That Goes Bump in the Night
While there, they run into a terrifying creature. Our duo seeks shelter in the elevator, ascending to a baby farm. The Doctor wonders why he’s scared of the monster. After all, he loves new things, and monsters are simply creatures you haven’t met yet. Methinks the Twelfth Doctor would beg to differ re: monsters.
Ruby and the doc notice the baby farm is seemingly under zero supervision. The Doctor sees yet another connection between Ruby and babies (remember the child from “The Church on Ruby Road?”). He tells Ruby that growing babies boosts the population, especially when a world goes sterile or someone in charge, like a lord, “goes mad and bans kissing.” Oh, Doctor, you know that’s not how babies are made.
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Then, our fave Gallifreyan pushes yet another button. This time, he shows Ruby a breathtaking, ethereal view of space. They talk about how lonely the doc must feel, being the last Time Lord. However, he lives for stuff like this—showing humans like Ruby how magical the universe is. The Doctor utilizes the TARDIS to determine the planet around which this station orbits. We learn it’s Pacifico del Rio.
Easter egg: When examining the statistics for Pacifico del Rio, we see a section for “Mavity.” This is a nod to “Wild Blue Yonder,” when, after meeting the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna Noble, Sir Isaac Newton believes he heard Donna say “mavity” instead of “gravity.” What a fun little callback.
Calling Mum
Ruby has a striking thought: her mother is long dead by now. The doc uses his Sonic Screwdriver to allow Ruby to call her mom. Carla Sunday (Michelle Greenidge) answers Ruby’s call. It’s still Christmas Day and Ruby’s birthday. Carla wonders why her daughter is calling when she ran off with the Doctor mere seconds ago. Ruby tells her mom she loves her before hanging up.
After that, the Doctor plays around with the equipment, realizing the upstairs is peaceful, while the downstairs, where that creature resides, is “seething.” The doc wonders if there’s a captain or crew. Suddenly, Eric (voiced by Sami Amber) appears, a talking baby in a stroller. Eric sees Ruby and the Doctor. He believes that “Mummy and Daddy” are home.
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Eric leads our titular Time Lord and Ruby to a host of other talking babies in strollers. They meet Poppy (voiced by Shola Olaitan-Ajiboye), who’s the leader of the group. Each baby performs a function to keep the space station running. Our duo tries to explain that they’re not the parents while the babies continue referring to them as such.
The Doctor asks Poppy questions regarding the adults’ whereabouts. We learn the adults left, so the babies had to make do. After introducing themselves as Ruby and the Doctor, they embrace each baby, giving them the biggest hugs in the known universe.
Space Babies
Later, the Doctor continues tinkering with the equipment to get more answers. He deduces that after the crew left, the birth machine kept on plugging away, meaning the babies there aged mentally but not physically. Poppy asks our Gallifreyan if they’re “all wrong.” The doc vehemently reassures her that they’re perfect as they are. He connects with her, explaining his origins and how he’s alone now.
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Then, we meet Nan-E, or “nanomatrix electroform,” as the Doctor calls her. Nan-E helps care for the children. At one point, she orders a simultaneous blowing of their noses using machinery on the baby farm. The conversation turns to the monster in the lower levels, aka the Bogeyman. Naturally, the babies start bawling. Nobody likes scary creatures. The Doctor wonders aloud—for a second time—why he’s so frightened of the monster.
He puts on a headset to communicate with Nan-E by himself. He reveals that the station is in trouble. There’s a pressure buildup in Hull-3-B, and something is ramping up where the Bogeyman lives. If this continues, the station will explode. Nan-E responds, “Portal 3-5-7.”
The Church on Ruby Road
So, he and Ruby head toward Portal 3-5-7. They see colorful drawings decorating the walls of the station courtesy of the babies. Here, Ruby discovers that the Doctor has two hearts. Two! The discussion veers into parentage territory as the doc asks Ruby about her biological mother. She states her mother left her at the church on Ruby Road in the snow on Christmas Day. Of course, we know the Doctor was there. He saved her.
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Suddenly, he returns to that place, standing outside the TARDIS in the snow as Ruby’s presumed mother walks away. A hooded cloak conceals her face. She turns toward the doc, pointing at him. When he winds up back in the space station, the Doctor and Ruby notice it’s snowing. It’s almost as if the memory is leaking into their present. The Doctor claims he knows the identity of Ruby’s mom and that she pointed at him.
Hey, Jocelyn
Next, a woman, Jocelyn Sancerre (Golda Rosheuvel), appears at the entrance of an elevator. They realize she’s Nan-E. They follow her. There, they watch footage of the Baby Station Beta crew signing off, claiming they can’t condone what the government is doing with the baby farms.
The Doctor notices Jocelyn whack a liquid hydrogen pipe with a wrench. He plugs his Sonic Screwdriver into the station’s interface, claiming that it should recalibrate the station’s maintenance issues once it syncs up. Jocelyn explains she was the station’s on-site accountant. She doesn’t know how any of this works. However, she stayed behind once the captain and crew departed to care for the space babies. She’s been here for six years with the children.
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The Doctor asks why Jocelyn hides from the babies. She states she doesn’t want to watch them die, nor does she want them to see her go. The station is on its last legs, and they’re stuck here. She’s tried to conserve oxygen and food as much as possible. So, she plans to give the babies the last of the oxygen in Portal 3-5-7.
Mondo Caroon
Next, the doc looks at a map of the solar system. He notes the fifth planet out, Mondo Caroon, is a DuBarryDuPlessy world. The Doctor explains to Ruby that DuBarryDuPlessy is a star-wide organization that takes in refugees. Jocelyn adds that they won’t come here, though. Only refugees can arrive on their shores. That sounds familiar…
Our favorite Time Lord remarks that he has a ship. The problem is that the Bogeyman roams between them and the TARDIS. The three of them figure out how the Bogeyman exists—it’s a creature from fairy tales. You know, as in one from children’s books.
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So, what does a fairy tale need? A hero to vanquish the monster. Suddenly, baby Eric decides to be that hero, riding toward the Bogeyman in his stroller. The Doctor and Ruby head to the lower levels to save him. Jocelyn communicates with Eric as Nan-E. Every time she swears, it’s via a “nanny filter,” and it’s cute. Our time-traveling pair discovers Eric’s stroller. Thankfully, they find him in a cupboard of sorts.
Babies With Flamethrowers
Suddenly, the creature pursues them. However, our fearless space babies save the day before the Bogeyman can attack. Poppy arrives with a flamethrower because this is Doctor Who, dammit, and it’s all camp, all the time. Eric returns upstairs with the other babies as Ruby and the Doctor investigate the Bogeyman. How did it come to be?
While there, a bunch of goo spills onto Ruby’s head. The Doctor examines the strange secretions all around them. And that pungent smell! They stumble upon the parthenogenesis machine, essentially the same tech running through the station. The Doctor inserts a sample of the spore they discovered. That’s when he learns that the Bogeyman emits a noise at 17 hertz, which is the optimal volume for terrifying people. That’s why even the Doctor was scared of it.
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However, he also discovers that the Bogeyman is made of … wait for it … boogers. Well, baby boogers and snot. Remember when Nan-E ordered the children to blow their noses? That means Ruby was sprayed with snot earlier. Oh, Doctor Who. Never change. Anyway, the Bogeyman is a child, like the babies. They created it, too.
The Doctor Saves the Day
Suddenly, the Bogeyman finds them again. Jocelyn directs them through the corridors, utilizing them as bait to entrap the Bogeyman in the airlock. Then, she opens it. Jocelyn has every intention of sending it into space. The Doctor urges Ruby to return upstairs to stop Jocelyn from killing the creature. Nobody dies on the Doctor’s watch.
As the oxygen levels drop in the opened airlock and the monster hangs on for dear life, our brave Gallifreyan joins it. He hangs on as well while stretching toward the button within. Push the button—there’s that mantra again. After pushing said button, the airlock closes, saving the Bogeyman. Oxygen levels return to normal, too.
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Later, Jocelyn joins the babies upstairs, finally putting a face to Nan-E. She apologizes for almost killing the Bogeyman. The children get a wonderful surprise when they see the creature is alive and well. The Doctor informs them that Mondo Caroon will be their new home. Remember that buildup of pressure in Hull-3-B? That’s all methane, baby. It’s the babies’ farts! So, the Doctor lets it rip. He releases said methane from the hull to get the station moving to its occupants’ destination.
Keys to the TARDIS
After saving the day and sending the station to Mondo Caroon, our Time Lord gives Ruby a key to the TARDIS. All of time and space — where will they go next? Ruby eagerly accepts.
Once inside the TARDIS, the doc explains there’s one place he won’t go to … ever. It’s the church on Ruby Road to see Ruby’s biological mother. If they inadvertently change one thing, it could plunge them into a paradox. Thankfully, Ruby wants to return home to see her adoptive mother, Carla.
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Meanwhile, Carla tells her mom, Cherry Sunday (Angela Wynter), about Ruby running off with her new pal. They hear the sounds of the TARDIS arriving. As Ruby reunites with her family, the Doctor utilizes his Sonic Screwdriver to analyze a scan of Ruby’s body. He seems shaken. Earlier in the episode, he explained to Ruby that everyone on Gallifrey had titles like “Doctor,” “Bishop,” “Rani,” etc. He dashes out of the TARDIS, seemingly about to disclose his real name. Oh, Russell. What a tease.
We see the scanning of Ruby’s system continue in the TARDIS after the Doctor departs. Suddenly, snow starts to fall, just as it did on the space station. There’s something up with Ruby and her origins.
Doctor Who drops new episodes every Friday at 7 pm on Disney+.
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