Planet of the Ood

"The circle must be broken."

Writer: Keith Temple

Format: TV 

Broadcast: 19th April 2008

Series: 4.03

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Donna

Synopsis 

The Tenth Doctor takes Donna to her first alien world - but the Ood Sphere reveals some terrible truths about the human race. 

Verdict 

Planet of the Ood is a great episode to continue along the fourth series and Donna's official tenure in the TARDIS! It gave us a loose origin story of the Ood and it's good that an original revival enemy (well, when they're possessed!) returned and I like how it's also with the same incarnation of the Doctor. It was good how the Doctor referenced the events of The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit and how he had to watch the Ood die after they were possessed by the Devil. I liked how he felt they owed the species one, that was quite nice. The arrival to the Ood Sphere was quite humorous and I love the fact that the Doctor set the TARDIS controls to random! It must have been a nice flashback for him to his early travelling days when he never knew where the hell he was going! The TARDIS actually brought him to a solar system he'd visited before, some time ago. The reference to The Sensorites and the Sense Sphere was wonderful as I really do love Classic story references in revival era stories. The Doctor telling Donna how lucky she was to be on a planet such as this and seeing what she was able to whilst she was actually getting a coat was brilliant. The relationship between the Tenth Doctor and Donna is fantastic and definitely rivals the comedy of any past TARDIS duo. The Fourth Doctor and Leela may just top that specific chart though! The opening scene was extremely intriguing with the Ood being advertised for sale. We knew from their previous appearance that they weren't naturally evil and here it was quite horrific what the human race were subjecting the Ood to on the complex. I liked the hints of how the Ood, despite saying they welcomed serving, weren't at all happy with being basically slaves. Solana was a wonderful character and I really liked how she was pretty much the sales rep for the Ood. The Doctor and Donna discovering the injured Ood was a sad moment but I really liked Donna talking to the Ood when on death's doorstep. The red eye 'infection' was good and I like the mystery that shrouded it. Upon first hearing that "the circle must be broken" and seeing the red eye, the Doctor knew something wasn't right at all and would invariably put a stop to it. Mr Halpen wasn't a nice chap at all and sadly he was only an average villainous character and despite scoring highly, that's where this story fell slightly short for me. He was lacking that aggressiveness required for the guy running a slave complex. The use of the rabid Oods was brilliant and I quite liked the action scene we got with the Doctor being chased by the crane claw, even if it seemed quite unnecessary. The Doctor and Donna discovering the natural Ood was quite a shock and it just showed us the true horrific scale of what the human race was doing to these helpless creatures. The fact that the brains of the Ood were actually secondary and literally in their own hands was quite a shock! The 4126 setting was good and I liked the continuation from The Long Game with a reference to this time the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire. The climax was entertaining with the action packed rebellion bordering a revolution. The 'DoctorDonna' being friends of the Ood was nice and I loved how they reached out to their processed counterparts. The reveal of the giant Ood brain was quite a shock. The way the circle was broken was great and I thought Halpen's transformation into an Ood was pretty graphic! I was surprised to read that it was supposed to be even more graphic than what we actually saw! The closing scene was a nice touch and I liked the foreshadowing of the events of Journey's End and The End of Time. Overall, a very good episode! 

Rating: 8/10