Doctor Who: Space Babies Review - 7 Ups & 3 Downs
6. UP - The Doctor Scaring The Space Babies
It's insane to say this about a Doctor Who story that's all about farts and bogies, but there's some deeper themes at play here. We'll get to Space Babies' political statement in a moment, but this is also a story about the importance of being scared.
Throughout the classic era, Doctor Who was criticised for being too horrific for a young audience by the puritanical Mary Whitehouse and others of her ilk. Space Babies rejects this, by delighting in terrifying its intergalactic infants.
The scene where the Doctor joyously shows the Space Babies footage of the Bogeyman and delights in their screaming is a pretty obvious reflection of Doctor Who itself.
When it's later revealed that the Bogeyman was created to scare the Space Babies it makes perfect sense. For all of human history, parents have created scary monsters to keep their children in line, so it stands to reason that an intergalactic baby farm would do the same thing for its tiny crew.
It's a fun idea that helps to lift Space Babies above its baser instincts.