‘Doctor Who’ season premiere review: Yep, this is ‘Doctor Who’

The Doctor Who season premiere has put the series back in its own state of normal, for better or worse. It now makes perfect sense why it was decided to lead with two episodes instead of one. One of these episodes is very good. The other is a middling nothingburger. We are so back, Whovians! Nothing says Doctor Who quite like a bunch of swings with wildly different results. 

The Doctor Who season premiere leads with babies in space

The first of these episodes, “Space Babies,” is the nothingburger of the two. Picking up immediately from where “The Church on Ruby Road” left off, the episode is about getting new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) settled in. On that metric, “Space Babies” succeeds, but only in the most literal sense. It is always fun to get to see a companion see the universe, and The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) agrees. Slipping in the more tragic aspects of his history while explaining why he loves bringing someone along is a good way to get the baggage taken care of. 

That’s about all “Space Babies” really has to offer, though. Once The Doctor and Ruby find their way onto a space station built for human population growth, things stop being interesting. The station is run by very smart babies — “space babies” as The Doctor keeps correcting — and there’s a monster on board. Pretty standard Doctor Who fare, and the talking infants don’t make it particularly novel. The attempts to make things noteworthy don’t help but hinder further. 

Later it’s revealed the station was abandoned due to a recession on the planet below. Because of the planet’s laws, they couldn’t shut off the station, and it’s so on the nose you can’t not see Russell T. Davies yelling “Get it, get the message?” to everyone. I’m never going to begrudge Doctor Who making a statement, but just as it was during the anniversary specials, there’s a difference between making a statement and making an observation with no point. The show has demonstrated it can do the former, and I’d prefer that every time. 

Playing “The Devil’s Chord”

On that note, “The Devil’s Chord” also has a message. It’s a far less political one, but far more fitting for Doctor Who. The Doctor and Ruby go to watch The Beatles record but discover that the passion of music is being stolen by some force. Sure, the idea ultimately comes down to “music is good,” but celebrating that is hardly a bad thing. Honestly, outside the canonical mess that is sending The Doctor back to when Doctor Who started (which the episode handles well), it’s kind of amazing we hadn’t done a Beatles episode yet. 

“The Devil’s Chord” gets a ton of help from special guest Jinkx Monsoon as The Maestro. I’m at best a very casual RuPaul’s Drag Race watcher, but if this is the kind of talent there I have been missing out. Monsoon is instantly an iconic presence, purposely calling back to other wacky and vicious Davies-era baddies, but with an even larger performance. Monsoon’s specific skills are perfect for The Maestro as they switch between genuinely impressive singing chops to harsh screaming without missing a beat. I don’t know what lit a fire under the casting department’s ass for this season, but keep it burning. 

Sure enough, it was weird companion stuff again

Unfortunately, The Maestro is also a building block in the least interesting part of the Doctor Who premiere. As expected, the seeds planted across the anniversary and Christmas specials serve as the season’s overarching plot. Sure enough, we’re once again playing the hits: we’ve got a special girl traveling with The Doctor. Ruby seems directly tied to The Maestro and The Celestial Toymaker, the two being members of “The Pantheon.” The Pantheon as a concept might be fun, especially since Davies keeps hammering home that the Timeless Child reveal isn’t getting a retcon. However, sticking Ruby herself into the mess of it doesn’t make that less interesting. We have Bad Wolf and DoctorDonna and River Song’s identity and The Impossible Girl — do we need another one of these?

Putting this burden on Ruby is a real shame because she’s plenty interesting without all this stuff. Millie Gibson is a bright light as Ruby, showing off a lot of depth in these two episodes. Except she has to stop halfway through to stand (or float) around while The Doctor talks past her about whatever the last two episodes of the season will be about. I might just be a whiner about this, after all it’s not like all the aforementioned reveals were necessarily bad. It just also really comes at the cost of letting Ncuti Gatwa and Gibson do what they’ve been really good at so far. 

Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson are still killing it

The chemistry between the two is still the strongest part of this incarnation of Doctor Who. Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor remains fun and cool in a way the character hasn’t been able to before. What’s more, now that we’re in the proper series again he’s been able to show more layers to that and even the requisite burdened Doctor is very different from, say, the Eleventh. The glee he takes in participating with Ruby in her enjoyment of their adventures comes away very different than other incarnations as well. There’s less of a sense that he’s leading her around. Instead, The Doctor is having just as much fun!

That’s why the musical number at the end of “The Devil’s Chord” is such a treat. There’s no real need for it (save for making sure a future writer can use The Maestro) but it’s so uniquely enjoyable for this Doctor. Murray Gold even has a cameo in it! I’ve had “There’s Always a Twist at the End” stuck in my head, it’s a bop. It’s also silly, which Doctor Who could stand to remember more often.  

So yeah, Doctor Who is back. It’s a show that is often silly, sometimes sentimental, sometimes downright bad, and always carried by performers and crew that put in far more than they need to. “Space Babies” is a dud, but following up with the excellent “The Devil’s Chord” is the kind of stunt only a genre show like Doctor Who can pull off. 

Doctor Who “Season 1” is available on Disney+.

Featured images via BBC/Disney