Episode #197 : Planet of the Ood

Ood Sigma: Will you stay? There is room in the song for you.

The Doctor: Oh, I've, I've... sort of got a song of my own, thanks.

Ood Sigma: I think your song must end soon.

The Doctor: [unnerved by this] Meaning?

Ood Sigma: Every song must end.

Episode #197:         Planet of the Ood.
Companions:           10th Doctor and Donna Noble.
Air Date:                 19th April 2008.

The Doctor takes Donna to her very first alien planet: the Ood Sphere. There, the Doctor encounters the Ood once more, and red-eye strikes again. But what is causing it this time? He and Donna soon learn horrible secrets kept by Ood Operations, and they discover just what humanity is capable of. Elsewhere, what is the secret that Warehouse 15 holds within its walls? The Doctor arrives and everything will change. The revolution has begun.

Planet of the Ood is a story that gives us a background to the Ood race encountered previously in The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit. The Doctor and Donna arrive on a planet where the Ood are altered and sold into slavery among the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire. They take it upon themselves to see them freed but meanwhile something is turning the Ood into savage killers. 

The Ood are revealed to be a peaceful species originally until they were found two hundred years earlier. We learn that they have a second brain that is external to the body and that the corporation replaces with the the communication orb. They also have a great brain being held prisoner which, when not isolated, allows the Ood to communicate with one another telepathically.

Just as in The Fires of Pompeii we see another side to Donna Noble here. The reaction she shows when it is revealed how the Ood are treated makes her seem far more Human than she did previously. Travelling with the Doctor seems to be having a good effect on her already and she isn't the same woman she was when we first met her in The Runaway Bride.

It's an interesting story but again one where humanity is shown to be just as bad a villain as anything the Doctor normally faces down. It is mainly there as a set up for the end of the 10th Doctors era on the show, as it sets up a recurring phrase that the Doctor's song is ending. Overall it isn't a bad story. Very fitting with modern Who.

Episode #187 : 42

"The wonderful world of space travel... The prettier it looks, the more likely it is to kill you."

Episode #187:  42.
Companions:   The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date:         19th May 2007.

The Tenth Doctor and Martha follow a distress signal, only to be trapped on a spaceship hurtling towards a sun and cut off from the TARDIS. With only forty-two minutes left till impact, can they save the day? Also, something else is on the ship and it wants everyone to burn.

As the blurb says, the Doctor and Martha find themselves trapped on a starship falling into a star with very little time left to save everyone as something not human begins to stalk the crew and burning them with a gaze. It is good classic Doctor Who again with our heroes fighting against the clock, running down corridors and trying to outsmart whatever monster is on board the ship with them. Add to that a subplot where the Jones family are being manipulated by the strange men and women in black to find out where the Doctor is and what he is up to, all in preparation for later this season, and you have a spot on adventure.

You can see now that Martha has become a companion. She started out only a few stories ago as someone the Doctor picked up and whisked through time and space as a thank you for her help on the moon. She has since been properly brought on board with this story. Martha is a companion that I can take or leave usually but in 42 when it appears that she is going to die in the grasp of an alien sun I find a side to her that makes me take her in a bit more. 

If it is a good episode why am I giving it an average rating? It is difficult to put my finger on it if I am honest. Something about this doesn't look right. I don't know if it is because the production played with the colours or it was filmed in a different way but something niggles at the back of my brain. To be fair I have noticed this a lot with the David Tennant era episodes as I've been re-watching them and it applies to a lot of them especially in this current season. But also in fairness, it is a good episode but it isn't up there as a four star rating as it is basically the show at the level that I expect of it. Harsh? Maybe but a fair point.

Episode #177 : The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit

"I am the rage, and the bile, and the ferocity! I am the Prince, and the fool, and the agony! I am the sin, and the fire, and the darkness! I shall never die! The thought of me is forever: in the bleeding hearts of men, in their vanity, obsession, and lust! Nothing shall ever destroy me! Nothing!"

Episode 177:   The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit.
Companions:   10th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         3rd to 10th June 2006.

The Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler lose the TARDIS down a deep chasm, leaving themselves stranded on a space base positioned on a planet in the orbit of a black hole. Meanwhile, an entity who identifies as Satan himself, is awakening and beginning to cause chaos amongst the crew.

This is a really good adventure for our time travellers. Here we have a story that combines elements of Alien/s, the Omen, and so many other loved films. Stranded upon an impossible planet in the mouth of a black hole, the Doctor and Rose encounter scientists from the Torchwood Archives, the Ood and an ancient force of absolute evil. Slowly things go from bad to worse as the entity calling itself the Beast begins to possess the collective thoughts of the Ood and one of the scientists. Being a fan of the Alien series of films I always get a bit of giddy feeling when our heroes have to flee through air ducts to escape, and that scene seems well copied from those movies.

The Beast says that it came from a time before this universe existed making it one of the Great Old Ones, assuming it is telling the truth. Through out it's existence it has been the source of all forms of evil through the universe from Satan on Earth to the Kaled god of war. The appearance of the Beast and the possessed voice really make this story a cut above the recent ones. The question comes up however, who trapped him in there? Since the Great Old Ones are a take on the entities from the Cthulhu Mythos, are there a race of "elder gods" who imprisoned them?

This is the sort of story I would have loved to see as a three part story which would allow us some more back story, both for the Beast and the crew of the sanctuary base. The Beast seems to know of their dark flaws, weakness and so forth, and perhaps with more time that could have been expanded upon. However, one thing we get from the Beast is a revelation that Rose will die in battle setting up a not too distant episode.

If there is one thing that hinders this story it is the constant love interest elements. We get it. They both love one another but can't say it for whatever reason. When they think they have lost the TARDIS we get a few minutes of them planning their future "together". I am in the camp of fans who feels that there shouldn't be a love interest between the Doctor and his companions. It is there for modern audiences I suppose.