Planet of the Ood

"A great big empire built on slavery!"

Writer: Keith Temple

Format: Novel

Released: July 2023

Series: Target 175

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Donna

Synopsis

"The Ood come from a distant world, they voyaged across the stars, all for one purpose... to serve."

The TARDIS lands on the Ood-Sphere in the year 4126. Here, human profiteers have subjugated the Ood: the gentle creatures are forced into servitude and sold across the galaxy as the perfect slaves. But now, some are fighting back. Their eyes turn red as they throw off their chains and kill their oppressors...

The Doctor and Donna soon learn that the planet of the Ood holds cruel and awesome secrets. As they battle for justice and survival, the fate of the entire Ood race hangs in the balance. Will the outcome be salvation – or extinction?

Verdict

Planet of the Ood was a great novelisation of the televised episode of the same name! I must admit that this wouldn't be my first choice of story from the modern era to novelise, but it was a really strong addition to the Target collection. It always feels right when the original writer of the story gets to turn it into a book and Keith Temple did a fine job in that regard for the most part. There were a few instances where the prose was a little unconventional and repeated words in sentences or used incorrect tense, but as a whole I was impressed. I thought this book in particular was heavy on expanding the version we saw on screen which is delightful and exactly what I would hope for from a Target release. For me, it's the major selling point and I thought we had it in abundance here. There was a lot of extended dialogue for example which was welcomed and I really appreciated the prologue. I think having one of those in a Target release is a no brainer really and it should include something we didn't see on screen. It just sets the tone nicely and immediately shows that this won't be a simple retelling of what we saw on screen. I thought what we got here with Ood Delta Fifty was really well done and set the tone nicely. I thought the imagery presented was also fantastic and even though there wasn't a problem with this in the televised episode, the scale presented here of the Ood-Sphere and the base was tremendous. It felt big. I really liked Donna's reaction to being in 4126 and one thing that was made clear was that this was Donna's first visit to an alien world. Her thoughts on potentially dying at the hands of the Ood were emotional, especially when she stopped to consider that her mum and grandad had been dead for two millennia. The way she transitioned in thoughts on the Ood from her initial reaction to the one in the snow to them thinking them beautiful after hearing their song and braking the circle was excellent. I thought the moment the Doctor and Donna find the Ood shot in the snow and then use that to confront Halpen as the CEO of Ood Operations was very strong. This was the Doctor at his best. The theme of Halpen's hair tonic throughout the book was amusing knowing in hindsight what was happening and it was fun to often get a little thought or look from Ood Sigma. There was clearly something bigger at play. One of my favourite chaatrcters in the book is Solana. She tries her best on the public relations front when it came to the buyers and her pitch for the Ood, and her fate when things start to go awry with the Red Eye outbreak is rather sad. She does let the Doctor and Donna know where to head to get answers, but then alerts the guards to their presence. It's a shame that just before she is killed by an Ood that she ponders on the Doctor's comment that she could help. I liked expanding on her death and getting that internal dialogue really does make a big difference. It's a powerful moment. I think getting some more information on the buyers is great too although some of their death scenes were gruesome! The moment of the refuge seeking in water and then each Ood forming a circle and electrifying them is horrific. The natural Ood don't seem to be in the book version for long but it was good to explore different types. I like how simple things become at the end in breaking the circle that's holding the Ood brain back, and Ryder's moment of revealing he was part of Friends of the Ood was terrific before he died. Halpen becoming Ood kind still seems rather strange, but it's nice that they will look after him now. The goodbye moment is presented well with the foreshadowing of The End of Time and the Tenth Doctor's end, but it was lovely that he retorted by saying he'd always have a different song. Overall, a terrific read! 

Rating: 8/10