- 10 minutes ago
Star Trek, Aliens... and Wall-E? Doctor Who's in sci-fi heaven. Here’s our breakdown of Season 1's first episode - Space Babies!
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Hello everybody, Ellie here for Who Culture and I hope everybody has recovered from the double dose
00:05of Doctor Who that we got this weekend. I think I've just about calmed down, but no rest for the
00:09wicked because we've got plenty more to discuss with regards to these two episodes. So this video
00:15is going to focus only on Space Babies and there will be another one coming for The Devil's Chord.
00:20But we're going to discuss the easter eggs that we have spotted in this episode, episode one of
00:25season one. Now since the 2005 revival, most Doctor Who episodes have a cold open, which typically
00:32kind of sets the tone, maybe introduces the villain, then we go into the title sequence. Space Babies
00:38doesn't have this, it starts directly with the title sequence and this actually mirrors the very first
00:43episode of Russell T Davies' first series as showrunner, Rose, also started from the beginning
00:49with the title sequence. So there's a nice synergy here between series one and season one. The
00:55Doctor's finger snap to close the TARDIS doors. Obviously this was first introduced in the episode
01:00Forest of the Dead, you know, the one with River where she literally says that he can open the doors
01:05with the snap of his fingers and he's like, no I can't and then what? Oh my god I can!
01:10And this has
01:10been shown in various other episodes since then. We saw it in The Eleventh Hour, Day of the Moon and
01:16plenty of other episodes as well. In this particular episode it seems that it does more than just shut the
01:21door because the lights changed and all sorts of other things happened. So I think maybe the
01:25Doctor's learning that he can control the TARDIS in other ways with the snap of his fingers
01:29apparently. While they're in the TARDIS the Doctor explains that on Gallifrey the Time Lords tended to
01:35use titles like the Doctor rather than people's names. One of the names that was mentioned was
01:41the Rani. So the Rani is a renegade Time Lord who was a big villain for the 6th and 7th
01:47Doctors in the
01:47classic era of Doctor Who. She was last seen in 1987's Time and the Rani unless you want to count
01:54them
01:541993 charity Doctor Who EastEnders crossover Dimensions in Time. But I'll let you decide
02:00if that counts or not. Every single time there's a mysterious new character in Doctor Who, especially
02:04if they are a Time Lord, the Rani's name is thrown into the mix and there's speculation that the Rani
02:10will be returning. So I have no doubt that the mention of the Rani again here will just reignite
02:15those theories and all the speculation that the Rani will be returning at some point soon.
02:21But the Rani is not the only title mentioned here. We also have mention of the Bishop and the
02:26Conquisitor. Bishop was actually mentioned twice in this episode. It's mentioned here in this scene
02:31at the beginning. It's also mentioned again at the very end. So as it stands there is not an existing
02:36Doctor Who character, especially a Time Lord character, that's known as the Bishop. But this
02:40feels like maybe it's a hint, especially because it was mentioned twice, that maybe we will be
02:45introduced to a new Time Lord character at some point and maybe it will be the Bishop. Now the
02:49Conquisitor actually is an existing character to a degree. The Conquisitor is actually a
02:54Gallifreyan character from the expanded universe. And this character was featured in The Book of the
03:00Enemy, which is a novel in the Faction Paradox series, which in itself is a spin-off of the 1997
03:078th Doctor novel Alien Bodies. It's all very complicated, it's very niche, very deep, but we do know that
03:13Russell T Davies is a big old nerd. So it wouldn't be surprising if he would go this deep cut
03:19with the
03:20references that he makes. The Doctor then goes on to explain that Gallifrey and the Time Lords are all
03:24gone and that there was a genocide. And I would presume that this is in reference to the Master's
03:29destruction of Gallifrey and then the subsequent explosion using the death particle shortly after
03:35that kind of destroyed all organic matter on Gallifrey. Also in this moment, there's a slight musical
03:41motif to This Is Gallifrey, which is music that was very prominent, particularly in series three of
03:47Doctor Who. So there's a little just motif from Murray Gold in reference to Gallifrey and that
03:51musical reference as well.
03:56So the one that was adopted was the only one left.
03:59So once we're back in the TARDIS, the Doctor throws his coat over the TARDIS railing. And this is
04:04something that David Tennant's Tenth Doctor did a lot. He was famous for doing this. And even when
04:08David Tennant returned as the Fourteenth Doctor, he did the same thing in the Starbeast. Now in my
04:14mind, it's kind of like a rolling up the sleeves, things are getting serious thing. But it does very
04:18much instill this idea that all of those memories and habits of all the previous incarnations still
04:24exist within the next incarnation. So the Doctor asks Ruby to give him some random numbers to create
04:30a year to travel to. And she says 21506. Now we've been talking a lot about Susan Foreman on this
04:37channel, and actually we're going to do a little bit more discussion about Susan in the Devil's
04:41Chord breakdown. But for now, let's talk about another slight intentional connection that there
04:46might be here. So 2150 is the year that Earth was invaded by the Daleks in the Peter Cushing Doctor
04:52Who movie, Daleks Invasion Earth, 2150 AD. Now that's actually non-canon, but it is great and
04:59you should definitely go and watch it if you haven't. It's got Bernard Cribbins in it, so if
05:02that's not a selling point, I don't know what is. So the movie was an adaptation of the Doctor Who
05:07serial, The Daleks Invasion of Earth, which is the serial where Susan Foreman, who is the Doctor's
05:13original companion, the Doctor's granddaughter, was left behind on Earth. Now granted, Ruby obviously adds
05:18the number six onto the end here, but maybe there is a connection. A slight nod towards the year 2150
05:25and the Dalek Invasion and Susan being left behind. At the very least, it could have been a nod to
05:30the
05:30Peter Cushing movies. The one you've all been waiting for, folks, Star Trek name drop. Ruby literally
05:36says when she realises that the TARDIS has gone through the walls, it's like the matter transporter
05:40in Star Trek, and the Doctor says, we gotta visit them one day. It's pretty much confirmation that the
05:45Star Trek universe and the Who-niverse are one and the same. Now the thing is, Star Trek has been
05:50referenced in Doctor Who before. Rose kept wanting the Doctor to be more Spock-like. There also was a
05:57crossover in a comic book where the 11th Doctor met Captain Picard, but every reference to Star Trek
06:03that we've seen so far has been in reference to it as a fictional thing, as opposed to a reality.
06:09Now we know that Russell T. Davis is a Trekkie, and he even commented on this inclusion of the Star
06:14Trek
06:14reference in an interview with Collider, and this is what he said. The interesting thing about that
06:18reference is it's not the first time Doctor Who's referenced Star Trek, but it is the first time
06:22Doctor Who's referenced Star Trek as if it's real. He says, let's go visit them, so I think that should
06:27just cause excited ripples around the world. We see the Doctor and the Companion standing in front of
06:33a giant space window. Now this is a common sight for Doctor Who, and surely in this particular
06:38instance was a good nod towards Russell T. Davis' episode from his first era, The End of the World.
06:44This was also the second episode between the Doctor and a new companion, in this case it was Nine and
06:50Rose, and if you include the church on Ruby Road, this too, Space Babies 2, is the second episode
06:55between a Doctor and their new companion. Now the concept was also used in The Beast Below, where the
07:0011th Doctor and Amy Pond had a very similar situation, and again this was their second episode
07:05together, so it seems like a common theme for the second episode to show this similar shot.
07:10Also in the scene, the Doctor Sonics Ruby's phone so she can phone Carla. This is like a direct copy
07:16and paste of the scene in The End of the World, so again it's nice to see these kind of
07:20repeated
07:21instances, these common themes that have come over from Russell T. Davis' first era into his second era.
07:27Mavity! Mavity is on the screen! Obviously we know from Wild Blue Yonder, Doctor and Donna
07:34interfered a little bit with history and influenced Isaac Newton to form the word Mavity instead of
07:40Gravity, and since then Mavity has been the new Gravity in any Doctor Who episode. We had all the
07:46mass and density and Mavity exists in the glove, which was a line directly from the church on Ruby
07:50Road. Here on the screen it says Mavity not Gravity, so it's clearly a running gag at this point. History
07:56has been altered and they're sticking with it. Mavity, what is Gravity?
08:02Mavity!
08:03The Doctor says that the TARDIS has got a perception filter that translates the on-screen text for Ruby
08:09to be able to read. Now perception filters have been used throughout Doctor Who, especially New Who,
08:15to disguise people and objects. For example, you've got the Doctor's fob watch in Human Nature and the
08:20Family of Blood, and then obviously the Master has the same thing. You've got the top of Craig's house
08:24in the Lodger. Now as far as I can tell, this is the first time they've used a perception filter
08:29as a
08:30translation device. Usually the explanation for why a companion can understand all languages
08:36is the TARDIS translation matrix, as opposed to a perception filter. The translation matrix basically
08:42means that anyone who travels in the TARDIS has this kind of automatically applied thing in their brains
08:48where they can read and understand all languages that they come across as like a little bonus of
08:53travelling in the TARDIS. But this seems to give a different explanation for that.
08:58Another Star Trek reference! Captain Poppy's command chair. Pretty reminiscent of Captain Kirk's command
09:04chair in the original series on the Enterprise, especially the buttons on the sides and the shape
09:10of it from behind. So Ruby is going through the names of the different babies and one of the babies
09:14is called Boo. Now this wouldn't be the first Disney baby with the name Boo. Of course there is
09:20young little Boo from Monsters Inc. And I know that some of you are going to go,
09:25oh you just referred to Doctor Who as Disney, but kind of is at this point.
09:29Now Ruby also says that one of the babies is called Tasha. And considering all of the other
09:33Star Trek references throughout this episode, it's possible that this could be in reference to the
09:38next generation character Tasha Yar, who was a bridge officer on the Enterprise D. And this is a
09:44baby bridge officer on the Space Baby Station. Even more Star Trek references! So we see the
09:51original Space Station crew on the little screens at one point. The uniforms they're wearing very much
09:56look like they were inspired by Star Trek uniforms, all the way down to the colours. You've got the
10:01captain wearing red, you've got the chief engineer wearing yellow, and you've got the comms officer
10:05wearing blue. Usually the comms officer will be seen in Star Trek wearing yellow or red, but it's not
10:11impossible for them to be wearing blue. And before anyone comes to me, I asked my resident Trek
10:16encyclopedia, Sean Ferrick, if that was possible. He said it was. So as we've said, Russell T. Davis is a
10:22big fan of Star Trek, so I don't believe for a second that this wasn't done on purpose. While we're
10:27on
10:27the topic of those original Space Station officers, one of them is Chief Engineer Lucia Colasanto. Now this
10:34is extremely deep cut, but this is not the first member of the Colasanto family to have appeared in the
10:40Hooniverse. All the way back in series four's turn left, when Donna has her own little parallel world
10:46created around her, there is a moment where she and her family are put into a house in Leeds with
10:52many other refugees, and one of those refugees is Rocco Colasanto. He's a brilliant character,
10:59he's part of one of the most poignant scenes in the entire episode, so refresh your memories on that
11:03if you haven't, if you've forgotten it. The fourth series of Torchwood, Miracle Day, there's a character
11:13called Olivia Colasanto, played by Nanar Visitor, just another Star Trek reference there. Olivia's
11:19grandfather was Angelo Colasanto, who had a very close relationship with Captain Jack Harkness in
11:25New York in the 1920s. Now obviously it's not been explicitly stated that all of these Colasantos
11:31are part of the same lineage, but we like to think that they are, especially when you think about the
11:36fact that Angelo and Rocco are both Italian, and it would seem that Lucia is also Italian, especially
11:43when you look at the actress who played her made a post on Instagram and said that she was playing
11:48an Italian astronaut, so I think it's supposed to be that all of these Colasantos are from the same
11:54family. Another one of those crew members on the screen was of course Susan Twist. Now I think I
12:01just need to just remind everyone, because I have fallen into this trap as well. Susan Twist is the
12:06name of the actress, not the character, but because there's so many different characters, we all just
12:11keep referring to this one overall mystery as Susan Twist. So as of Space Baby, Susan Twist has had
12:17three separate, seemingly unrelated appearances in Doctor Who. Mrs Meridue in Wild Blue Yonder, there
12:24was a woman in a pub in the church on Ruby Road, and now the comms officer here in Space
12:28Babies. Now
12:29she also has a small role in The Devil's Chord as well, and we've seen in the trailers for season
12:34one
12:34that she's going to appear in at least the finale, but who she is, what her motives are, how she's
12:40appearing as all these various different people does remain to be seen at this point, but arguably this
12:45is one of the most fascinating mysteries of the show so far. I would go as far as to say
12:50I'm more
12:50intrigued by who this random person is than I am about who Ruby is at this point. So Jocelyn mentions
12:57the nanny filter, basically translates whatever the person is saying into a nicer way of saying it,
13:03you know, so we all know what waste products was supposed to be, or what an illegitimate child was
13:09supposed to be. Nanny is spelt N-A-N-E. Now I have no doubt that again this is another
13:16nod to a Disney
13:17Pixar character, Wally, and when you actually look at that film with the idea of the humans that are
13:23kind of sat in their high-tech chairs and they're moving around, it actually is quite similar to the
13:28image we have of the Space Babies zooming around in their little robot prams. Jocelyn blasts the
13:35bogeyman out of an airlock into space, or at least she tries to blast the bogeyman out of an airlock
13:40into space. This is almost definitely a direct nod to the film Aliens, when Ripley does pretty much
13:47the exact same thing, blasts the alien queen out of an airlock. Obviously Ripley has a little bit
13:53more success than Jocelyn does, but it does make you wonder that if the Doctor was there when Ripley
13:58was doing that, whether he would feel sorry for the alien queen, as he did for the bogeyman, or whether
14:03he would agree that that one needs to be spaced. The Doctor says to Ruby, as he is leaving the
14:07TARDIS
14:07to go and see Carla, tell your mum not to slap me. Now this is a trope for Russell T.
14:12Davis's
14:13Doctor Who, for the Doctor to be slapped by the companion's mother. The 9th Doctor was slapped
14:17by Jackie Tyler because she thought that he had kidnapped her. The 10th Doctor was slapped by
14:21Martha's mother, Francine, because she's trying to warn Martha to stay away from the Doctor. And then
14:27the 14th Doctor was slapped by Sylvia, which is Donna's mum, because she was trying to protect
14:32Donna from her mind exploding in the Star Beast. So it seems that 15 probably has a little bit of
14:37PTSD when it comes to mothers of his companions. Now to be fair, Carla actually has very good reason
14:43to slap the Doctor when you look at the damage he has just caused to her kitchen ceiling.
14:48We have the Doctor performing a scan on Ruby inside the TARDIS, because like us, he is very confused
14:55about who the hell she is and where the hell she's come from. Now the scan didn't actually reveal
14:59anything that we didn't already know, but it did feel like a direct repeat of a moment that we had
15:05in Series 6. So we have the 11th Doctor scanning Amy Pond to check whether she was or wasn't pregnant,
15:11because at one moment she said she was, and then all of a sudden she wasn't. And the TARDIS couldn't
15:15make up its mind, it just kept flittering between pregnant, not pregnant, it couldn't decide.
15:20This is because Amy was actually in two places at once, we had the ganger version and the real
15:23version. To cut a very long, complicated story short, things were not as they seemed. So is this
15:29a little bit of an indication that things are not as they seem with Ruby? I mean, we kind of
15:33already
15:33know that things are not as they seem with Ruby, but it definitely indicates that there's something
15:40more to this character that remains to be seen at this point. Especially when you filter in the fact
15:45that there was snow in the TARDIS while this scan was going on. As I mentioned at the beginning,
15:49we will have an easter egg video for The Devil's Chord coming out very soon as well, so keep your
15:53eyes
15:54peeled for that, and go check out our ups and downs reviews for both episodes if you haven't already.
15:59In the meantime, I've been Ellie for WhoCulture, and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye sweeties.
Comments