Space Babies was the first episode of Series 14 of Doctor Who. It continued the fairytale theme began in The Church on Ruby Road ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)., this time dabbling in children's stories and imaginations of the Bogeyman coming in to existence. It also carried on the story-arc concerning Ruby Sunday's mother abandoning her and her subsequent connection to snow, revealing she can instinctively summon snow when in distress.

This episode, while not being the first starring Ncuti Gatwa or Millie Gibson, was the first non-Christmas Special episode to star them, and the first regular episode to be part of a numbered series since 2021's The Vanquishers ^[+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 13 (BBC One and BBC America, 2021).. It was also doubly released with its successor, The Devil's Chord ^[+]Doctor Who (BBC One and Disney+, 2024)., marking the start of a brand new release method for the series. Now, new episodes would be uploaded to BBC iPlayer in the United Kingdom at 12 midnight, simultaneously with the episodes being added to Disney+ worldwide.

Synopsis[]

Ruby learns the Doctor’s amazing secrets when he takes her to the far future. There, they find a baby farm run by babies. But can they be saved from the terrifying bogeyman?

Plot[]

After officially coming aboard as a companion, the Doctor takes Ruby to Earth 155 million years into the past to a region that would eventually become the American town of Green River, Wyoming. Accidentally stepping on a monarch butterfly, Ruby transforms into a reptilian humanoid version of herself named Rubathon Blue of the 57th Hemisphere Hatchlings. She reverts back to her human form, completely unaware of her transformation, after the Doctor revives the butterfly.

He ushers her back into the TARDIS, and they travel to the year 21506, aboard a space station. Wandering down into a utility corridor, the Doctor discovers the ship's poor electrical infrastructure, but before he could fix it, they are chased away by a mysterious slimy bipedal creature. They take an elevator up to a room with babies encased in pods, the Doctor deducing it as a baby farm. They discover they are stationed above the planet Pacifico Del Rio.

They are interrupted by a crew member Eric, who is a baby in an automatic pram. He mistakes the Doctor and Ruby for "Mummy" and "Daddy", and takes them to the rest of the crew, who are also all intelligent babies. They are led by Captain Poppy, who runs the station for "Mummy" and "Daddy" in anticipation of their return, revealing they took over the station from the adults. The Doctor discovers that the original adult crew abandoned the ship but left the birth machines running, allowing the babies' intelligences to develop but stunting their physical growths. The babies are under the care of a nanoelectric maxiform, called Nan-E. The babies panic when the Doctor mentions the creature below, they call it the Bogeyman. The Doctor communicates with Nan-E about a high-pressure buildup in Hull-3-B that could destroy the station, and she directs him to storage unit 3-5-7.

On the way there, the Doctor mulls over the connections of childhood abandonment between Ruby and the babies, Ruby being left behind with nothing to indicate the whereabouts of her parents. He flashes back to that snowy night on Ruby Road, where he remembers a mysterious hooded figure. The flashback physically brings back snowflakes into the space station, the Doctor remarking never experiencing anything like this before. At 3-5-7, Nan-E is revealed to be an actual person, former on-site accountant Jocelyn Sancerre, who reveals the crew returned home under protest due to a recession that closed the baby station but laws do not permit closure of the birth machine. She spent six years caring for the babies, but laments that limited resources will eventually be their demise. They discover Mondo Caroon, the fifth planet in their solar system, can accept refugees. The Doctor proposes the TARDIS can provide transportation to Mondo Caroon, but they must get past the Bogeyman.

The Doctor and Ruby discover Eric has gone to fight the Bogeyman, and rush to save him, but discover the pram empty. They attempt to lure it to try and save Eric, and discover Eric hidden away in a compartment. The creature gives chase down the corridors while Ruby attempts to comfort a crying Eric. The creature corners them to a dead end, but are saved by Poppy, who wards it off with a flamethrower. Jocelyn directs the babies back to safety, while the Doctor and Ruby investigate the creature. Jocelyn first encountered the creature six years ago, when the babies were first born. The Doctor finds the creature left behind "spoor" and takes it to a machine to detect its contents. The Doctor uncovers that the station's parthenogenesis machine intentionally grew the creature, literally creating it out of the babies' bogeys. The creature finds them and Jocelyn leads them to an airlock, where she attempts to blast it out into space. Knowing it is still one of the children, the Doctor sends Ruby to stop Jocelyn and lets himself into the airlock to save it. He pushes a button that reverses the vacuum and closes the airlock, and saving the creature. In lieu of engines, the Doctor utilizes Hull-3-B's pressure buildup, six years of methane gas from diapers, to fly the space station to Mondo Caroon.

Returning to the TARDIS, the Doctor gives Ruby her own TARDIS key, but warns her he can never take her back to the day of her abandonment, lest it create a paradox. They return to Carla's kitchen on Christmas, but the Doctor secretly scans Ruby in the TARDIS before he exits. As the scan continues, it begins to snow in the TARDIS.

Cast[]

• The Doctor - Ncuti Gatwa
• Ruby Sunday - Millie Gibson
• Bogeyman - Robert Strange
• Carla Sunday - Michelle Greenidge
• Eric - Mason McCumskey
• Voice of Eric - Sami Amber
• Poppy - Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps
• Voice of Poppy - Shola Olaitan-Ajiboye
• Voice of Sandra - Cadence Williams
• Voice of Marcel - Param Patel
• Voice of Adjani - Lonnee Archibong
• Jocelyn Sancerre - Golda Rosheuvel
• Rico Trieste - Jesus Reyes Ortiz
• Lucia Colasanto - Yasmine Bouabid
• Cherry Sunday - Angela Wynter
• Gina Scalzi - Susan Twist

Crew[]

Worldbuilding[]

• The Doctor gives Ruby a TARDIS key and updates her mobile phone into a superphone.
• Ruby accidentally changes history by stepping on a butterfly. She becomes Rubathon Blue of the 57th Hemisphere Hatchlings. The timeline is restored as the Doctor revives the butterfly.
• Ruby mentions Star Trek. The Doctor wants "to visit them someday".
• In 21506, the English language no longer exists. Instead, humans all speak one language that is close to Cantonese.
• On Pacifico date 56-56-22, about 6 years before 21506, Captain Rico Trieste, Chief Engineer Lucia Colasanto and Comms Officer Gina Scalzi resigned under protest.
• Jocelyn Sancerre was the on-site accountant.

The TARDIS[]

• The TARDIS controls are still new to the Doctor, as he forgets to turn on the butterfly compensation switch.
• Ruby likes the TARDIS jukebox.

Time Lords[]

• The Doctor reveals that Gallifrey used multiple addressing titles such as the Bishop, the Pedant, and Sagi-Shi.
• When giving example of the sort of titles Time Lords use, the Doctor gives "the Rani" and "the Conquistador" as examples.

Locations[]

• The Doctor and Ruby travel 150 million years in the past to a place that is going to be a little town called Green River, Wyoming, North America.
• Pacifico Del Rio goes through recession.
• The fifth planet in the solar system, Mondo Caroon, is a DuBarryDuPlessy world
• Other planets that can be seen on the diagram are Flamehome, Calcanmico Potresh, T.B.C., Green Shire and Chame

Baby Station Beta[]

• The Baby Station Beta is stationed on the orbit of the planet Pacifico Del Rio.
• Locations of the station include Birth Zone 6, Portal 3-5-7 on upper levels and Hull 3-B on lower levels.
• A baby farm or a parthenogenesis machine is used to boost the population.
• Jocelyn communicates with children via Nanomatrix Electroform or NAN-E.
• The education software ran out of control.

Story notes[]

• When the Doctor confirms Gallifrey is gone, the soundtrack piece "This is Gallifrey" is briefly heard.

Comparison between BBC and Disney+ versions[]

To be added...

Myths[]

To be added...

Filming Locations[]

To be added...

Ratings[]

• BBC UK ratings: 4.01 million^[1]

Production errors[]

• The scene with Ruby first entering the TARDIS has been altered compared to the previous episode. (TV: The Church on Ruby Road ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2023 (BBC One and Disney+, 2023).)

Continuity[]

• The Doctor can click his fingers to control the TARDIS, this time to change lights, as seen in TV: Forest of the Dead ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)..
• The Doctor confirms that he was adopted and that because of this his "real name" is "tricky", recalling the complex events of TV: The Timeless Children ^[+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020)..
• The Doctor confirms the TARDIS landed in 1963 once, as shown in TV: An Unearthly Child ^[+]Anthony Coburn, adapted from The Pilot Episode (Anthony Coburn), Doctor Who season 1 (BBC tv, 1963)., and it still looks like a police box because the Chameleon circuit is still broken, first referenced in TV: Logopolis ^[+]Christopher H. Bidmead, Doctor Who season 18 (BBC1, 1981)..
• Ruby worries about stepping on a butterfly and changing the course of history. Martha once voiced a similar worry in TV: The Shakespeare Code ^[+]Gareth Roberts, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007). as did Bill in TV: Thin Ice ^[+]Sarah Dollard, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017)..
• When Ruby refers to the TV show Star Trek, the Doctor remarks about visiting the characters from that continuity, which he had previously done in his fourth and eleventh incarnations during COMIC: Assimilation².
• The Doctor reveals that the TARDIS translates foreign languages to Ruby when she asked about everything being in English. This mirrors similar conversations the Doctor had with prior companions on their first adventure, such as Rose Tyler in The End of the World ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005). and Donna Noble in The Fires of Pompeii ^[+]James Moran, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)..
• The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to enable Ruby to phone her mother across time, which was previously demonstrated in TV: The End of the World ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005). and 42 ^[+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007)..
• The Doctor asks Ruby to tell her mother not to slap him. He has been slapped by previous companions' mothers on multiple occasions, notably TV: Aliens of London ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., The Lazarus Experiment ^[+]Stephen Greenhorn, Doctor Who series 3 (BBC One, 2007). and The Star Beast ^[+]Russell T Davies, adapted from Doctor Who and the Star Beast (Pat Mills and John Wagner), Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (BBC One and Disney+, 2023)..
• The Doctor confirms twice that Gallifrey, his home planet, is gone because of a genocide, recalling the events of TV: Spyfall ^[+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020). and The Timeless Children ^[+]Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who series 12 (BBC One, 2020)..
• The Doctor secretly uses the TARDIS scanner to check if Ruby is human or not. He previously secretly used it to check if Amy Pond was pregnant or not, as shown in TV: Day of the Moon ^[+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)..

External links[]

• Official Space Babies page on the Doctor Who website

Footnotes[]