Space Babies

"Space Babies" is the first episode of the fourteenth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Julie Anne Robinson. The episode was released alongside the next episode, "The Devil's Chord", on BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2024 and in the United States on Disney+ on 10 May 2024. A broadcast on BBC One followed later in the day.

The episode picks up immediately after the events of "The Church on Ruby Road", and follows an alien time traveller known as the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) as they travel to a space station and find a baby farm. The babies are under threat by a creature dubbed the Bogeyman.

Davies wrote "Space Babies" as a soft reboot to serve as an introductory episode for new viewers. It was filmed throughout March and April 2023. The episode was watched by 4.01 million viewers and was met with generally positive reviews from critics. A novelisation written by Alison Rumfitt will be released on 8 August 2024.

Plot
The Doctor explains the TARDIS and his history to Ruby. The two travel 150 million years prior to what will become Green River, Wyoming. Ruby steps on a butterfly and changes form. The Doctor saves the butterfly restoring Ruby to human form.

They then travel to a space station where they run into a monstrous creature. They find an elevator and reach the higher level, only to discover that the ship is a baby farm, run by talking babies. The babies live in fear of the creature down below, which they have dubbed the Bogeyman, and their only caregiver is supposedly an AI named NAN-E. The Doctor traces NAN-E's programming to a storage room but discovers that it is actually a woman named Jocelyn. Jocelyn is the last of the ship's original crew who were forced to leave the ship and the babies behind despite their protests against it. The Doctor locates a refugee planet nearby and vows to send Jocelyn and the space babies to it.

One of the babies, Eric, summons the courage to face the Bogeyman, but the Doctor, Ruby, and the rest of the babies come to his rescue. The Doctor finds the Bogeyman's appearance mysterious as he has the urge to run away from it. After finding the ship's programming he discovers that the ship created the Bogeyman as part of its misguided attempt to entertain the children. Not only that, but the Bogeyman is made out of literal "bogies" as it took the command seriously. Jocelyn has the Doctor and Ruby lead the Bogeyman to the airlock so she can eject it into space, but Ruby points out that the creature appeared the same time the babies were born, thus it is actually one of them. Ruby stops Jocelyn while the Doctor rescues the Bogeyman, whom the babies recondition to behave like a dog.

Reworking the ship, the Doctor manages to get it up and running so that it can fly to the refugee planet. The Doctor gives Ruby a key to the TARDIS and invites her to come travel with him on the condition that they do not visit the night her mother left her at the church on Ruby Road. As they return to Carla and Cherry, the Doctor performs a DNA scan on an unsuspecting Ruby, as it suddenly begins to snow inside the TARDIS.

Development
Davies wrote the episode as an introduction for new viewers. Despite this, it was described as being "one for the OG fans". When writing the episode, Davies intended to open the series on a lighter tone. The primary antagonist for the episode was inspired by the Bogeyman and within the universe of the show, was created by bogies. Some scenes paralleled those from Davies first run on Doctor Who, namely "The End of the World" (2005). Davies also said he tried to create differences between the first companion he created, Rose Tyler, and Ruby, noting how Ruby was aware of finances and asked how much a phone call in outer space would cost, something that Rose wouldn't do. He also went on to note that Disney did not make any notes on the episode, particularly in question to one of the babies brandishing a flamethrower.

Filming
The read through for "Space Babies" took place on 1 March 2023. It was directed by Julie Anne Robinson. The episode was produced in the series third block alongside the third episode "Boom" in March and April 2023. For Ruby's prehistoric prosthetic, the production team attempted to create something similar to the Silurians but were instructed by Davies to make it appear cute. Twenty real infants were used and were occasionally replaced with dolls due to UK law and actors' union restrictions. CGI was used for their mouth movements. Reportedly the dolls used scared the cast. Some of the baby strollers were pushed by men in green suits. The fake snot used while filming was created by molding liquid latex and using a hairdryer to provide texture. It was then painted to obtain the proper color. A mixture of resin and glycerin was used for the liquid portion.

Casting
The episode features Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday respectively. Sami Amber voiced baby Eric. Lenny Rush was originally cast in this role, but after being impressed by his performance the production team decided to withdraw him from the role in favour of the UNIT scientific advisor, Morris Gibbons in "The Legend of Ruby Sunday"/"Empire of Death. Michelle Greenidge and Angela Wynter reprised their roles as Carla and Cherry Sunday, respectively. Robert Strange portrayed the Bogeyman. The episode features Susan Twist as Comms Officer Gina though she goes uncredited. Twist returned in every episode of the series as seemingly separate characters.

Broadcast
"Space Babies" was first released in the United Kingdom on BBC iPlayer and in the United States on Disney+ on 11 May 2024; followed by a broadcast on BBC One later in the day. The episode was released alongside "The Devil's Chord" which aired immediately after. The episodes were given an early screening exclusive for critics on 6 May. The episode is the first non-special to air since the thirteenth series finale "The Vanquishers" (2021).

Disney also handled international distribution of the episode outside of the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Ratings
Overnight viewing figures estimate that the episode was watched by 2.6 million people on its BBC One broadcast, 200,000 more than the following episode. Louise Griffin from Radio Times attributed the low ratings to the episodes launch on BBC iPlayer nearly 20 hours previously. Griffin stated that it was likely that the episode was viewed by significantly more people. The episode received a total of 4.01 million consolidated viewers. As of 21 June 2024, "Space Babies" was seen by 5.9 million viewers.

Critical reception
Jack Seale of The Guardian described the episode as "a textbook example of a mid-ranking Who instalment, fun but forgettable and, ultimately, not making sense." Stephen Kelly from i similarly called it forgettable and felt it was too similar to "The Church on Ruby Road". Writing for The Independent, Ed Power felt that it had "a promising idea that never entirely comes to life on screen". Den of Geek writer Stefan Mohamed criticised the episodes CGI. He also praised how the episode followed up on the "Timeless Child" plot line.

Inverse's Bui Tran-Hoai thought the episode was a "mixed bag", describing it as "an outrageously goofy sci-fi adventure involving talking babies and a terrifying creature that stalks an abandoned space station" that "spends much of the runtime establishing who the Doctor is and what he does, leaving longtime fans to basically twiddle their thumbs as they wait for the good stuff". Reviewing the episode Radio Times, Morgan Jeffery believed the story to be simple, but saying that it should please both new and returning viewers. Jennifer Zahn with Vulture noted an allegory between the thematic element of the baby farm and the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States.

In print
A novelisation of the episode was written by Alison Rumfitt and made available for pre-order in May 2024. It is currently listed as being set for release as a paperback on 8 August 2024 as part of the Target collection. An audiobook edition is set to be released the same day.