To say that Doctor Who has had some really weird episodes over it's tenure on the airs would be a huge understatement. The thing is tho is that those more weirder episodes barring one or two episodes are usually saved for the shows Christmas specials where as the same thing cannot be said for this episode as this episode despite having a plot that would be right at home with a Christmas special was instead the first episode of the new series and so then join me as I review the episode that really should have been a Christmas special episode with the episode in question being called simply just "Space Babies" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is The Doctor and Ruby find themselves stuck on a spaceship that's piloted entirely by babies and have to help the babies to defeat a monster that's attacking their ship. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty rather on the weak side of things as it was pretty hard to tell what the plot of the episode even was for alot of the episodes running time and while that is something that you kind of expect for a Christmas special episode of the show for the first shows first episode of the new series you want to have an episode that has a much more stronger plot line and not one that could be seen as being a throwaway episode which is very sadly the case here and while the episode is a out there and strange as you'd expect given it's title and premise the plot isn't something that does work for an episode of the episode of the main series as while it's a good and fun filled plot in it's own right it's also a plot that feels alot more at home as the plot of a Christmas special as this plot is alot more goofy and lighthearted which are things that work better in a Christmas special and not necessarily as a plot for an episode of the main series with the plot of this episode also being really entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor , Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday and Golda Rosheuvel as Jocelyn Sancerre. Also starring in this episode is Michelle Greenidge as Carla Sunday , Angela Wynter as Cherry Sunday , Mason McCumskey as Eric , Sami Amber as The Voice Of Eric , Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps as Poppy , Shola Olaitan-Ajiboye as The Voice Of Poppy , Cadence Williams as The Voice Of Sandra , Param Patel as The Voice Of Marcel , Lonnee Archibong as The Voice Of Adjani , Jesus Reyes Ortiz as Rico Trieste , Yasmine Bouabid as Lucia Colasanto , Robert Strange as The Bogeyman and Susan Twist as Comms Officer Gina Scalzi.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With both Ncuti and Millie turning some really good performances which is not only due to the fact that they both some really good actors in there own right but it;s also due to the fact that this episode was apart pf the series third block of filming which means that it was around the half point of filming the series overall and as a result of that it does mean that there performances are going to be better as they would have had some time to really work on there character with the voice acting from the kids also being really good as well with all of them sounding really natural in their roles and being really well cast as well with even the episodes guest adult characters even turning in some pretty decent performances and while some performances really could have been alot more better in parts like Golda Rosheuvel does have a few scenes that aren't acted that well the acting on the whole in this episode is really good with this episode not really being helped by this episodes script as this episodes script really doesn't give this episodes actors a whole lot to work with interms of what it is that there respective characters are even meant to be in the first place which s something that does really effect the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is Goodbye Kansas and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Real SFX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with the babies mouths being the best CGI effect in this episode as there done really well which is due to the fact that those mouths are actually the mouths of the voice actors saying the lines with them being added onto a 3D model of the actual babies heads and it's an effect that does work as pulling of CGI mouth on it's own is very hard to do as there alot of muscles that move when you open and close your mouth and so it is something that can be very distracting if it's done wrong but here while it is obvious that it's a CGI mouth it's an effect that does work really well with the only really bad looking effect in this episode being the outside of the ship which just looks a little bit to fake as this is a ship that should have some dirt and grime on it's outside as this is a ship that's been abandoned so it wouldn't have anybody there to clean the outside of it and yet it looks really clean on the outside which is something that does make the ship just look a little to fake looking and is something that could have done with being rendered a few more times just to make it look alot more better then what it actually already does.
One of this episodes biggest strengths is also it's greatest flaw as it is a very campy episode that is also very light in tone. Which is something that again works well for a Christmas episode and even some episodes of the main series as well but for the first episode of a new series where you still have a new Doctor and Companion neither of which have had alot of time to really get across just who there characters are that much having a more lighter episode this early on really doesn't make sense if anything this is an episode that if it was to be apart of the main series should have been at the very least placed inbetween 73 Yards and Boom as then you wouldn't have two Doctor-Lite episodes airing back to back and you can sort break up those episodes by having a more lighter episode airing inbetween each other with The Devils Chord being the perfect candidate for being the actual series fourteen opener as that episode not only has the much more stronger plot line but also has the tone that is more in line with the rest of the show as a whole where as here because of the fact that there more focused on having The Doctor and Ruby pretty much confirm that Star Trek may or may not exist in the same time line as Doctor Who then they are in trying to tell a really good story which is something that really should have been the main vocal point of this episode and not having the characters crack jokes every few minuets and even have a shot in this episode that is strikingly familiar to a now really infamous shot from Zoey 101.
To be fair to this episode having the upper floors of the babies ship being just like a nursery even with "nanny" was a really good. With the episode making as best use as it really could have done with those upper floors the issue is tho is that the episode really doesn't explore much of the ship with the characters only going to a few locations which oddly enough make the ship feel alot more smaller then what it actually is and it would have been fun to see how the babies had transformed most of the ship much like the bridge so that they could use it as seeing what they had done to the bridge of the ship was a really fun and creative idea as they just used what babies would actually use that being there toys and that's really it and yet we don't get to see more of that creativeness in the rest of the ship with the very extra locations that we do actually see in this episode feeling like that they could have come from any other science fiction based show as they all just look so generic like how great would it have been to see Jocelyn's room actually was a mess which is something that would have made sense as realistically she wouldn't have had the time to look after the ship and the babies and still keep her room tidy and how much fun would it have been to see what the babies have done to other parts of the ship so that they can not only get around the ship alot more easier but also operate the ship as well while these are yes very small things they also make the ship feel alot more bigger then what is it the final cut of the episode.
Again to give this episode some form of credit it's main villain The Bogeyman is a really creepy looking villain. While the episode does make some really good use out of the character the episode also really doesn't give him any scares in the episode which is something that the makers of this episode really could ave done not only given how the creature looks but also the fact that there own space ship miles away from the nearest planet and yet all they do is have him stick to the lower levels of the ship and that's really it but it was cool about the character is the fact that the ship that the babies are on created him for them as the ship wanted them to live out there own story with the character literally being made out of the babies snot which was a fun idea and to the episodes credit it does explain it in away that makes sense by actually showing us what happens to one of the babies tissues when it's been used which is a really good way of showing us the audience just how this creature was made without bogging the episode down with alot of exposition but at the same time tho it would have been nice if the The Bogeyman was being presented as an actual threat to the characters instead of being something that gets redeemed at the end as just having it lurk around the lowers decks doesn't really make him that threatening of a villain and wile yes he was solely created to scare the babies the second that more adults where onboard he should have been modified to scare them as well as that is something that would have allowed him to seem more like an actual threat to the characters.
Now then while I cannot for the absolutely life of me remember whatever this episodes running time even was I do that for a fact that this episode has / had an exact grand total running of exactly forty six minuets and twenty for seconds. Which is a really solid running time for this episode to have as while this episode is very light on plot and really doesn't require that long of a running time in order to tell it's story if this episode was shorter it would oddly be doing a disservice to the episode as one of this episodes biggest strengths is it's characters and having a lesser running time would mean that those character would either get smaller screen time or be cut out of the final cut of the episode but this is where it gets tricky as making this episode longer would also be doing a disservice to the episode due to the fact that the episode doesn't have alot of plot to really cover it's running time as it is and with a longer running time it would mean that what is already a really thinly drawn out plot would be getting stretched out even thinner and the episode would suffer even more because of it with the only thing that could save this episode and allow it to be the best that it could be was to a page one rewrite and start the whole thing over again as then the episode can have a much more stronger plot and the episode can also have more then enough plot to really cover it's running time as well and as well as fix several issues that are in the episode as well but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally tought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us n this very episode was in all honesty really good. As while this episode doesn't have any fight scenes what it does have is some really tense chase scenes and it's those scenes that not only show of the really creepy looking design for The Bogeyman but it's also something that shows of the fact that this incarnation of The Doctor is one that isn't really the action man type of Doctor that we've gotten in the past rather he's the kind that loves everything and will do anything to make sure that the people around him stay happy as this is something that we see all throughout this episodes chase scenes with The Doctor always cracking really bad jokes just to break the tension which is something that does undercut the tension of the scene as well but it's also something is in keeping with this version of the character and while the chase scenes could have been as all they are are the characters running down what looks to be the same corridor just reused over and over again there's also no build up and n feeling of escalation either with the pace of those scenes staying the exact same when things should be getting more and more tense but to be fair when the chase scenes in this episode are good they can be some really good scenes in this episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall where Wikipedia got the idea that this episode received alot of praise from is beyond me as not only is that mostly a lie it's also something that makes this episode out to be a perfect episode and that's just simply not the case as while this episode would have made for a really good Christmas Special it doesn't make for a good episode of the main series in anyway shape or form whatsoever in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good ans as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Doctor Who fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.