The Doctor Who Premiere's Villain Is Truly Gross - Russell T Davies Is Back, Baby!

From 2010 to 2023, when "Doctor Who" fans claimed they missed former showrunner Russell T Davies, they usually meant they missed his great character work. The original Davies' run, from season 1 through 4 of the revival series, is notable in how it clearly presents its companions not just as relatable, working-class women, but how it puts them at the center of the narrative. It's not necessarily a better approach than Davies' successor Steven Moffat (who would generally make the Doctor the point-of-view character), but it's a totally reasonable approach to be nostalgic for. 

What those fans probably weren't referring to is Davies' questionable taste in monsters. Although he occasionally gives us some classic villains, like whatever that thing was in "Midnight," his original aliens tend to be on the sillier, juvenile side of things. Davies is the guy who gave us not one, not two, but three different episodes focused on the Slitheen, creatures whose most memorable attribute is that they fart all the time. He also gave us the hideous Abzorbaloff in season 2, a creature so revolting that it almost single-handedly ruined an episode that was pretty good up until that point. (The Abzorbaloff technically wasn't Davies' fault, as it was designed by a very sweet 9-year-old fan who won a contest, but still: kick that small child to the curb next time, RTD!)

Unfortunately, a gross ugly alien is exactly what the new season premiere, "Space Babies," gives us. The so-called Bogeyman, a creature that's been terrifying the titular space babies for years by this point, is revealed to have been created by literal boogers. This leads to the episode's biggest gross-out moment, where Ruby's disgusted to learn that the slime that's gotten all up in her hair and face is pure mucus.

Although I'm on record saying that the first episode is easily the weakest of the two-part premiere, the episode's handling of this disgusting booger creature isn't that terrible. It helps that the show seems fully aware of how silly this is — the creature's origins are that it's literally designed to appease a child's imagination — and that it takes the time to properly engage with how things seem from the creature's perspective. The episode's climax revolves not around killing it, but recognizing its tragic backstory and choosing to save its life. Sure, the creature is as close as one could ever get to being objectively ugly, but that doesn't mean it's undeserving of love. 

It all ties in pretty nicely to the episode's themes of radical acceptance, as well as a fitting conclusion to the episode's criticisms of pro-life movements, which it was remarkably unsubtle about in its earlier scenes. "Space Babies" strongly critiques a futuristic space government for giving life to multiple unique space babies and then not bothering at all with taking care of them after they're born; for Americans at least, it's an approach that feels awfully familiar in a post-Roe v. Wade world. 

It's also a messy metaphor for children who are disowned or neglected by their parents for reasons outside their control. If you're not prepared to take care of your kid no matter who they turn out to be, the episode argues, then you're not prepared to be a parent. It's a heartwarming message, one that at least partially makes up for how much the alien might ruin our appetites. The return of RTD might mean the return of his ill-advised alien designs, but at least the inherent kindness of his initial run is still here too.