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Post by mark687 on May 6, 2024 14:35:46 GMT
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?
Cast
The Doctor Ncuti Gatwa
Ruby Sunday Millie Gibson
Jocelyn Sancerre Golda Rosheuvel
Carla Sunday Michelle Greenidge
Cherry Sunday Angela Wynter
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
Rico Trieste Jesus Reyes Ortiz
Lucia Colasanto Yasmine Bouabid
Bogeyman Robert Strange
Regards
mark687
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2024 14:45:46 GMT
I don't think some people know how big a get Golda Rosheuvel is. She's not only a Bridgerton star but got her own spinoff, Queen Charlotte (she's the title character) so really a biggie that RTD has pulled there.
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Post by Whovitt on May 11, 2024 1:08:48 GMT
As an Aussie, it feels weird to be here right at the beginning of ep discussions, but it's also kind of cool ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/6343532/images/mW7FMmAyG_vqxkNOJyyh.gif) On the whole, I'd say this episode is fine. Given the whole "start of a new era" thing, we did have to go through the whole Doctor Who set up at the beginning (last of the Time Lords, time/space travel, etc.) which is pretty dull for long-time fans, but I think they got through it fairly quickly. The plot itself wasn't exactly incredible, but it was an enjoyable watch. The CGI on the babies mouths was extremely distracting though, especially with Eric. The baby never seemed to have a happy expression on his face, yet he'd be speaking happy words. The eyes were communicating too much discomfort for the words and it was just really difficult to look at. Otherwise, I'd say this ep was... yeah, fine. Nothing particularly exciting or exceptional. But a lot of RTD premieres were like that in his original run, so it's not overly surprising. The Devil's Chord on the other hand... well, that's for that thread ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/6343532/images/ZBDvOFPmQgNwxFXLpuoD.gif)
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on May 11, 2024 1:30:34 GMT
As an Aussie, it feels weird to be here right at the beginning of ep discussions, but it's also kind of cool ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/6343532/images/mW7FMmAyG_vqxkNOJyyh.gif)
Yes.. Historically since the Chris Eccleston season it's on "live" around 3-7am our time on a Sunday.. This feels so different ..!
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Post by dasmaniac on May 11, 2024 1:55:24 GMT
Gorgeous production values can not save this stinker. This episode is obviously intended for a young audience.
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Post by ollychops on May 11, 2024 9:05:25 GMT
I actually quite liked it - nothing amazing but it was fun and the babies were adorable. It’s probably my second favourite RTD premiere (although, that’s not saying much because I find most of his premieres to be pretty average 😂). Still not totally sold on Ruby as her own character but I do love the Fifteen/Ruby dynamic.
I did roll my eyes at the Doctor sonicking Ruby’s phone so she could phone Carla. I don’t know whether he meant it as an intentional callback to The End of the World but much like The Giggle it felt like rehashing his greatest hits from his first era.
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Post by nardolespinoffwhen on May 11, 2024 9:08:43 GMT
Anyone else thinks it's crazy that this was the first episode that hasn't been a special or part of a multi part story since Can You Hear Me?? That was over 4 years ago...
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Post by sherlock on May 11, 2024 9:09:54 GMT
I liked it too. Sure it’s opening is rapid fire of all the expected beats of any RTD companion, and even pretty much redos the view of Earth scene from The End of the World complete with comment on humanity surviving, and sure the plot is far from the most complex thing Who has ever done, but it’s entertaining nonetheless.
The talking babies I just found hard to hear at times; their voices were oddly quiet.
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on May 11, 2024 9:48:33 GMT
Just finished watching this episode with our son. He enjoyed it.. He thought it was funny what the "bogyeman" was made of.. My son is turning 8 in 5 weeks time.. The 3 of us actually didn't mind it- he had a couple questions which mum answered for him. (Nice homage to Aliens with the sucking of the monster out into the vacuum of space..) EDIT: In the scene where the Doctor and Ruby go into the "baby room", there's a bit where wife and I both thought we saw someone standing behind them, right before the babies entered the room..
Anyone else see this?
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shutupbanks
Castellan
![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png)
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,875
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Post by shutupbanks on May 11, 2024 9:59:27 GMT
This did very little for me: it was a rehash and homage to RTD’s and others greatest hits. Something that I dislike about Who is how, when the story requires it, it pays only the barest lip service to the science it wants to portray. The scene with the Boogeyman being sucked out of the airlock should have been gripping and not made me think of the climaxes of the first two Alien movies, but the slow and measured countdown of how much oxygen was left in the airlock when it should have been devoid of anything in the first couple of seconds really took me out of the story. Which is quite common in RTD’s writing. I love the character work, and the nods to EOTW - I even didn’t mind the throwback to the absolute worst of the 10/Rose scenes in Season -12 (or Series 2 or Season 28, depending on which version of UNIT dating you use) because Ncuti and Millie were having so much fun, especially in that opening sequence with the butterfly which I was hoping against hope was going to be the story rather than the throwaway gag it was.
But it looked great. It threw a ton of ideas at the screen and used them far too briefly. Honestly, rather than a literal monster, I think I would have rather had the space station beginning to fail in its orbit and the excess nappies being a solution to kickstarting its engine - because space stations do need engines to shift and maintain orbits. There are problems with pacing and exposition that are problems I have had with the series since it returned in 2005 with its 45-50 minute format. The babies were not aimed at my age bracket and I can deal with that. I'm hoping that this series has just started with a whimper and gets better.
I’m out to dinner for my wife’s birthday tonight so I’ll watch The Devil’s Chord tomorrow.
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Kestrel
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,693
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Post by Kestrel on May 11, 2024 11:16:33 GMT
Hm... I'm sorry to say that this one didn't do much for me. I'd rank it at the bottom of the RTD2 era, and honestly... probably near the bottom of the RTD1 era, too. It certainly reminded me a lot of my least favorite moments from that era, with the space station shaped like a giant butt (to end the episode on a fart joke, no more amusing this time than it was with the Slitheen); the parade of babies with creepy CGI-lips; and the somewhat underwhelming "twist" that the big scary monster was actually... a big scary monster, specifically constructed to be a big scary monster.
That said, it did have some great individual moments -- especially the short speech about no one being born wrong (certainly something I could've used someone telling me as a kid). The revelation about the mucus everywhere being, well, snot? Pretty well-handled and got a genuine laugh from me. And that moment where 14 calls himself "the last of the Time Lords" and you hear, only slightly, those familiar Murray Gold notes in the background... beautiful.
But ultimately I was just left wondering... who is this for? If this story is aimed at adults, well, there just aren't enough interesting ideas or characters to grab onto. And there was never much chance for that happening, because is any script going to wring engaging characterization out of an actor who's a literal infant, whose dialog has to be animated with digital lips and dubbed in with what are clearly adult voices mimicking children? And is it for children? Well, in that case, I can very distinctly remembering a recurring though I, myself, had as a young child: "Do adults forget what it's like to be a kid?" And I remember what repeatedly triggered that thought, too: this assumption that so much media had that I, as a child, would care -- at all -- about babies or infants. Maybe I was the odd one out in that respect? I don't know. It certainly wouldn't be the only case of aberrant behavior in my youth. But, just from my own experiences, I can't imagine a premise I'd've cared less about than talking babies at age 8, or 10, or 12, or whatever. I suppose their may be some inherent appeal there to much younger children, closer in age to those on-screen babies.... I don't konw.
Suffice it to say, this one never grabbed me, and I doubt I'll ever queue it up for a rewatch. It's especially sad to see when all of the RTD2 episodes have been, IMO, pretty excellent -- and doubly so considering the very short episode count for this series. Space Babies winds up taking up more than 10% of Series 14!
So put me down for... I dunno, 3 stars? Let's go with that. With a margin of error of, say... 0.5.
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Post by elkawho on May 11, 2024 15:21:53 GMT
It was...ok. The babies were adoreable, but yeah, the CGI of them talking should have been better. And they lost me as soon as they decided to save the booger monster, comparing it's existence to The Doctor's. (Can you imagine that being done in the Robert Holmes era?) IT'S SNOT! GET RID OF IT! And the fart joke at the end just made me groan.
But I do agree with everyone regarding the 15/Ruby dynamic. It's fantastic. Let's see how this era develops.
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Post by bethhigdon on May 11, 2024 18:30:43 GMT
Meh... nothing too horrible but also nothing special. I get why they went with this premise given the story arc they are going with but it did feel heavy handed and over explained too much. I still don't appreciate having to rehash the last of the time lords arc, even an added adoption twist doesn't do much to change the fact that this story has already been told.
However I actually do like the twist of the scary monster not being really evil just misunderstood, and this episode did do the job of selling Ruby's character far better than the last story.
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Post by ollychops on May 11, 2024 18:46:37 GMT
I forgot to say earlier that I was happy that we had a bit of a fake-out with the Bogeyman in that it was more based in “reality” than being a fantastical element because the salt business. I know RTD is going for the more fantasy elements with this new era but I think having fantasy elements every episode will make it a little less special so I was glad that they didn’t do it for this episode to help keep it fresh.
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Post by agentten on May 11, 2024 19:38:00 GMT
The episode had very high highs for me and very low lows. The Doctor had several great moments such as his "Nobody is born wrong" speech and his realization that the monster was the only one of its kind. I also think The Doctor and Ruby are gelling very well. They have great chemistry and the scene of them laughing in the corridor was genuine and wholesome. The production values, the score, and the acting are all top notch for me. On the low side, the space babies was just not something I ever wanted from Who. I see the show taking big swings with both this concept and some of the other efforts to try new things such as what we got in "Wild Blue Yonder", however talking, intelligent babies are something I associate with bad movies such as Baby Geniuses and a monster made of baby snot sort of reeks of the Slitheen farting their way through series one's early half; a bad idea that shouldn't be revisited. In that way, this season seems to mirror Nine's first season. We got a lot of call backs that mirror those early episodes of RTD's first era such as Ruby's first view from space and the Doctor fixing her phone so she can call her mum. That stuff is all fine with me given that they're soft relaunching this in the hopes of gathering new viewers, but the talking babies and snot monster were just not for me. However, there were other parts of the episode that were very much my cup of tea. The mystery surrounding Ruby Sunday had some wonderfully unexpected questions pop up in the episode and I was fascinated by what's going on with her and look forward to learning more.
In all, I like this new Tardis team a lot and want more of them, but hopefully future episodes will steer clear of concepts and ideas that don't work as well or are just plain gross just as the show left behind the Slitheen after it's first series.
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Post by agentten on May 11, 2024 19:39:16 GMT
EDIT: In the scene where the Doctor and Ruby go into the "baby room", there's a bit where wife and I both thought we saw someone standing behind them, right before the babies entered the room..
Anyone else see this?
This happened to me, too! I haven't had a chance to rewind through the scene yet to see if I make anything out, but I absolutely had this same experience.
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Post by Tim Bradley on May 11, 2024 20:09:48 GMT
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Post by dasmaniac on May 11, 2024 21:05:31 GMT
RTD introduced another Time Lord we've not seen before called The Bishop. Presumably The Monk and The Bishop are different individuals.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2024 21:10:38 GMT
Awful episode, were is the drama & suspense?
2/5
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Post by timleschild on May 11, 2024 21:58:28 GMT
My god that was poor. Starting with the excruciatingly clunky ‘let's explain everything to new viewers’ dialogue to the silly Saturday morning cartoon vibe this was the worst opening episode of Who I can recall watching. Of course it looks good, apart from the talking baby fx, & Ncuti is ok as the Doctor he’s charismatic but doesn’t feel very Doctory to me maybe it will take time. Ruby is just a poor imitation of Rose, we even had a repeat of that scene in The End of the World with a view of space & phone call to her mum. Being adopted seems to be her only characteristic, although the callback to the bigger mystery & linking it to the Doctor’s personal history was interesting. But even that feels like RTD repeating himself with the last of the timelords stuff but having said that I do prefer it that way, most stories dealing with Timelords & Gallifrey are boring. Obviously the moment the Doctor says he can’t take her back to the Church on Ruby Road we all know its gonna end up there. The duo have some of that annoying smugness that crept into the 10 & Rose era. This may have been more enjoyable further into the season as it seems an odd choice for an opening episode & the shortcomings vastly outweigh the few positives. I kept thinking about the episode Rose & how that introduced the show to a new audience. I can’t remember who wrote that one, surely it can’t be the same person who wrote this?
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