15.2: Space Babies

In which we are all scared of the bogeyman.

Hey everyone, I’m back! I’ve been stressing about the amount of stuff I have to do before Christmas, so obviously I decided this was the time to get my stupid Doctor Who blog up to date.

Actually, I do have some ulterior motives. Firstly, my book A History of the World in 47 Borders makes an excellent Christmas present for any humans you happen to have in your life. Foyles shortlisted it for “book of the year”! I lost to Sally Rooney, but it still counts.

Secondly, I’m on the panel for the Oh God, What Now? Christmas liveshow at the Comedy Store, Leicester Square next Tuesday. Come along!

Right, that’s enough promo, here’s some nonsense about Doctor Who:

15.2: Space Babies

Broadcast: May 2024

Watched: November 2024

“I am so, so glad to be alive.”

Or, more prosaically: “A baby farm, run by babies!”

A bit of a remix. New Earth x The End of the World (Ruby looking out of the window is a direct lift), with just a touch of some of the more Red Dwarf-y bits of Sleep No More and the DNA scan nicked from a couple of different Moffat episodes. (Why does the Doctor just leave it running on the wall? Idiot.)

Like New Earth it suffers slightly from the show having already done the proper episode 1 at Christmas. And despite the fact this is, on some levels, this era’s fourth attempt at a launch (Star Beast, the last 20 minutes of The Giggle, Ruby Road, this), it still spends the first few minutes doing a lot of “explaining how Doctor Who works” stuff.

I’m also not entirely convinced by the decision to pair the new regulars with an almost entirely baby-based guest cast. I don’t go soppy over babies anyway – I do not, and may have missed my chance to, have one – so it isn’t aimed at me. But if it’s aimed at kids that feels a bit of a misfire – kids famously don’t like watching stuff about younger kids do they? – and the sentimentality jars with me slightly. Plus (this may just be me) lead baby Eric is a bit too Arnold J. Rimmer-y for me to find remotely cute. Also when he cries, surely the noise we hear is a younger baby? (Come to that, is it properly articulated why they remain babies for years?)

A lot of the humour is also a bit, well, young: the bogeyman, the fart jokes, the way they find Eric because they smell his nappy. (Is this the only story in which someone explicitly soils themselves?) The nanny filter is pretty funny, although the fact the Doctor nearly says “shit” feels extremely weird. The bogeyman is first mentioned immediately after the nose blow sequence, which is a bit obvious in retrospect. I really don’t think the episode sells the pivot from “the bogeyman is a monster!” to “we must save the bogeyman!”

On the other hand, though… This is also a story in which the Doctor, played by a Rwandan, upgrades “There was a war” to “There was a genocide”; in which the allegory is about the absurdity of anti-abortion campaigners forcing kids to be born but then completely losing interest in their well-being, and which is fundamentally about refugees. Even in this fluffiest of episodes, it’s already clear this season is going to go hard.

So there are loads of good bits – I think maybe it’s just not for me. Which is fine. Other things:

• This week, Ncuti’s outfit is a zip up woollen top, while Susan Twist is a comms officer.

• Ncuti’s delivery of his speech about having freedom is pretty amazing. “How do you keep going?” “For days like this.” I wonder if this is RTD writing about his husband again.

• The moment with the snow feels quite weird, but intriguing. The repeated refrains of “Push the button” and “Space babies!” are actually quite irritating.

• I’ve written down “very Davison”. Not sure why. Terminus?

• I like the bit where Ruby reads “Pacifico Del Rio” and says “Oh, that’s in English!”

• The TARDIS now lands instantly; the Doctor threatens to move the babies in it (hmm, maybe that’s the very Davison bit?).

• Sort of love the “stepping on a butterfly” sequence, as a way of showing that history can and does change. Also the dinosaurs are a real “Look, we have budget now!” sequence.

• “No one else like me exists,and that is true of everyone” – doesn’t that mean the Doctor has to stop everyone dying? I mean, I guess it is the mission, but…

• Talking of which: Star Trek is fiction and you can visit it. There’s a mission statement for Doctor Who if ever there was one.