When this first aired there was a lot of expectation riding on it as the first proper episode of SeAsOn oNe. I know I felt sort of deflated when it was over, but on rewatching it I actually really like the weird vibe of a space station run by babies, with a nanny tucked away in the walls (very Gothic!) and a snot monster below decks.
My main problem with this whole season is that there isn't much room for the story to breathe, everything proceeds at such a breakneck speed. "Space babies" is not one of the notable exceptions, unfortunately, but once you see past that, it's just infantile, poop joke fun. Nothing groundbreaking, just... fun.
It doesn't help the episode that Gatwa and Gibson are saddled with an initial "Time Lord 101" aimed at new viewers, but we did get that lovely butterfly effect moment in the bargain. Rubathon Blue, we hardly knew you!
I still fail to see where all that much-debated Disney money went. The deepfaked talking babies were as dodgy, comparatively, as the CGI Slitheen in the last season 1, nineteen years ago. Everything else looked okay, just not quite like a million dollars or however much an episode of Who costs these days?
My thesis remains that they should have aimed for making a 12 episode season with the same total budget; I think fans would have been more forgiving of the less successful episodes. With only eight-and-a-special per year, there is no room for clunkers, and barely any for a season arc...