An Hour of Who a Day: September 29: "Space Babies"

September 29: "Space Babies"

We've had a Christmas special, but now it's time, nearly 5 months later, for the regular season to begin. And like the previous season, series 14 also consists of 8 episodes plus a special. Series 13 was that way due to COVID; series 14 is that way because... the previous series was? It's not really clear why.

But in any event this is basically the start of the new series. So, Russell T Davies appears to have decided, this would be a good time to reintroduce the basic premise and rules of the show. (Maybe Disney also requested this?) But the result is rather clunky: we get a bunch of exposition about who the Doctor is and how the show works (right down to explaining what TARDIS stands for), along with a slightly odd sequence where Ruby steps on a butterfly and turns into a lizard person (though not a Silurian) until the Doctor somehow resurrects the butterfly. The sequence manages to be both clunky and really bizarre -- they did a much better job with Bill in "Thin Ice".

But then this whole episode is rather bizarre. On an intellectual level I can appreciate the chutzpah in making the main characters a bunch of talking babies running a spaceship; I'm just not convinced they pull it off. Part of the issue is that babies aren't actors, so they can't deliver performances. The baby playing Eric, for instance, perpetually looks incredibly unhappy, even when he's meant to be happy. They try, of course, with the voice actors and the CG lip sync, but it never quite works. It doesn't help that we never really get the sense, after an initial "checking readings" bit, that these babies (who are also 6 years old? That also never quite makes sense) are really running things. But then maybe it's just an illusion to give the babies something to do, I suppose. Certainly it seems like Jocelyn is the one actually trying to run the station, posing as the computer NAN-E so that she doesn't "see them die. And I don't want them to see me die." Making the computer actually just one overworked person is a clever idea, and it leads to some entertaining moments -- if they'd run with that a bit more, it might have been more interesting. Unfortunately, however, they instead spend a bunch of time dealing with the monster of the week, which is, let's face it, a snot monster. This has the real feel of Davies noticing the similarities between Bogeyman and the slang word "bogey" and deciding to build a monster around it. In that regard it's very reminscient of the eye-booger monsters from "Sleep No More" and is about as believable.

So once again this means it's up to Gatwa and Gibson to carry the episode. To his credit, Gatwa is so exuberant as the Doctor, marveling at everything, that he is in fact able to do a lot of the work of making this entertaining. Watching him coo over "space babies" or wonder why he's frightened of the Bogeyman is a joy. There's also the throwaway comment suggesting the Star Trek universe is real (unless he's suggesting visiting the soundstage or something), which is wonderfully cheeky. Meanwhile, Millie Gibson is doing a good job of being both the audience identification and showing why the Doctor chose her, being both brave and smart, such as when she works out the actual computer has designed the station to basically be a children's story. The word for her is plucky, and she fulfills the role admirably, being clever without being annoying. That said, there's a weird moment where the Doctor is asking if there was a note left when Ruby was dropped off at the church, and it starts snowing. It's not at all clear why, but this at least seems to be an ongoing mystery through the whole series, given the final scene. But even so, it's a strange little moment.

The ending is also a bit strange. I get Jocelyn wanting to get rid of the Bogeyman, and I understand why the Doctor wants to save it. I don't really get why the babies are so upset that the thing that's been terrorizing them is being destroyed. Even a line or two might have helped explained this, but as is it's because the babies are just good? Or something? And then the whole thing ends with basically a fart joke, as there's been a build-up of methane that the Doctor expels to propel the station to a refugee planet. If they'd leaned into that it might have been audacious enough to be worth it, but the way it's presented it's just another weird moment in an episode filled with weird moments.

Because that's the thing with this episode. It's competently made and the performances from the adult actors are enjoyable, but it never really coheres into anything. There's a veiled comment about abortion ("So the planet down below refused to stop the babies being born, but once they're born, they don't look after them?" Ruby asks. "It's a very strange planet," Jocelyn replies. "It's not that strange," Ruby says), but just like the rest of it, it's a moment that never snowballs. The problem with "Space Babies" is that there's almost nothing to engage with. It's a silly premise that they don't push nearly far enough in any given direction, either with the babies in charge or any sort of social commentary or anything at all, really. As with the last episode, this is an episode that, if it succeeds at all, is due to performances -- but "Space Babies" doesn't even have the fantasy vibe to fall back on. I appreciate the absurdity of the main conceit; I just wish they'd done more with it.

(This week's Susan Twist appearance: Comms officer Gina Scalzi, signing off duty on the Babystation.)