Time of the Ood

"Liberator becomes torturer."

Writer: James Peaty
Format: Comic Strip
Released: May 2017
Printed in: The Eleventh Doctor #3.05

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Alice

Synopsis

Long ago, the Doctor freed every single Ood! So why are there still over a dozen working as slaves on a pleasure spaceship orbiting around a black hole? There's only one way to find out...

Verdict

Time of the Ood was a very good little comic strip and a great continuation of the Eleventh Doctor's third year of adventures. Sadly, my days of collecting Doctor Who Comic's Tales from the TARDIS appear to be over and that's simply down to the three month gap between issues. It's just far too long and I have to turn my attentions to the graphic novels now. It's a shame but it can't be helped. Now, onto the comic strip and it was fantastic to see the Eleventh Doctor get an outing with the Ood. They're a great species to appear and I liked how this followed on from the events of Planet of the Ood. The Doctor's initial shock and horror at seeing the Ood was fantastic and he just seemed gutted because he believed that they had all been saved. The Sapling didn't feature much at all in this story and I was actually quite glad to get a little relaxation from the overall story arc. It spent most of the adventure inside the TARDIS but its link to the Ood was intriguing with the mention of the song. The Doctor was concerned that the Ood-song hadn't called the fifteen Ood home from the Devil's Eye surrounding. There seemed something a little reminiscent of The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit with the Eye holding the Ood back and somewhat blocking the song that would take them home. The Doctor seeing Ood suffering again must have been horrifying but what Jonni was doing was truly awful. Her method of liberating the Ood was to barbarically turn them against their masters. It was classless and just horrendous and the Doctor let his feelings known. He had noticed what she hadn't though and that was that three Ood were in hiding. He didn't even seem to mind when they emerged and killed Jonni. That shows you what he thought of her. The story was quite a simple one but it was fun and great to see the Ood back in a Doctor Who story. The return to the Ood Sphere was terrific and I loved that we got to see the Doctor reunited with Ood Sigma, even if it was somewhat brief. The reference to The End of Time was very good and I do get the sense that this adventure will be something to come back to in the future. Alice's relationship with the Sapling at the end was lovely too. Overall, a very decent story!

Rating: 8/10