Ood Shenanigans on an Icy Planet Reveal Horrific Truths: PLANET OF THE OOD

The Doctor and Donna arrive on the Ood-Sphere where multiple Ood are succumbing to red-eye or going insane. Why are these horrible transformations occurring and what other agendas do Ood Operations have up their sleeves? What do the Ood mean when they say, ‘the circle must be broken’ and are the Ood really meant to serve humanity, or are they a race destroyed by corporate greed?

A vibrant garden showcasing diverse plant life.

Cast

David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Tim McInnerny (Mr Halpen)

Ayesha Dharker (Solana Mercurio), Adrian Rawlins (Dr Ryder), Roger Griffiths (Commander Kess)

Paul Clayton (Mr Bartle), Ood Sigma (Paul Kasey), Tariq Jordan (Rep), Silas Carson (Voice of the Ood)

UNCREDITED CAST: Dennis Gregory, Richard Harris (H Guards), Ruari Mears, Jon Davey, Andy Jones

Richard Tunesi, Adam Sweet, Scott Baker, Ian Hilditch, Iestyn Bryn Jones, Claudio Laurini, Joe White

Sean Saye, Mat Doman, Kevin Hudson, Jeremy Harvey, David Stock, Peter Symonds (Ood)

Tony Gibbons (Sales Rep 2), John Walker, John Cummingham, Ian Cummingham, Kwabena Amponsa

Rhys Thomas Oxenham, David Ulett, Shelby Williams, David Cordingley (Male Sales Reps). Emma Rogers

The Doctor and Donna depart the Ood-Sphere, but The Doctor has been warned his song is ending

Jayne Lytwyche, Kenesha Brown, Helen Roberts (Female Sales Reps), Mike Freeman, Carl Watson

Andrew Mitchell, Geraint Jones, Eddy Martin

Mike Kelly (A Guards), Gerard Morgan (Guard)

Marcus Hobbs, Nigel Hobbs, Jason Ingram

Luke Postians (K Guards), Ruari Mears (Rabid Ood)

Ruari Mears, Claudio Laurini, Richard Tunesi

Adam Sweet, Kevin Hudson, Jon Davey, Sean Saye

Peter Symonds, Matt Doman, Scott Baker

Jeremy Harvey (Natural Ood)

Crew

Keith Temple (Writer), Susie Liggat (Producer), Graeme Harper (Director), Lindsay Alford (Script Editor)

Abbi Collins (Stunt Co-ordinator), Andy Pryor PDG (Casting Director) Louise Page (Costume Designer)

Barbara Southcott (Make-Up Designer), Murray Gold (Music), Will Oswald (Editor)

Edward Thomas (Production Designer), Rory Taylor (Director of Photography), Debbi Slater (Production Manager) Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner (Executive Producers)

Broadcast

EPISODE	DATE	TIME	VIEWING FIGURE	CHART POSITION	APPRECIAITON INDEX
1	19/04/2008	6:20-7:05pm	7.50M	12th	87

Connections in the Who-Niverse

Paul Clayton previously played Meregrass for the animated special The Infinite Quest. Regular monster actor Paul Kasey played a whole ensemble of monsters between Rose to The Well - checkout tardiswiki.com for a full list of his Doctor Who credits. Silas Carson provided alien voices for The End of the World. Plenty of the Ood extra were regular monster actors through the David Tennant and Matt Smith eras.

Death the Constant Companion

Mr. Bartle falls victim to Ood Delta 50. Ood Delta 50 after fleeing from Ood Operations is crudely shot down and left to die in the wilderness of the Ood-Sphere. Many Ood are crudely shot down in the crossfire between humans and Ood. Many of the Guards are also killed in the crossfire. The entire group of Male and Female Sales Reps are also killed by the Ood. Solana Mercurio is killed by a lone Ood. Kess is gassed to death. Dr Ryder is sucked into the Ood Brain and is presumably suffocated to death.

Fun Facts

(1) The Ood were originally slated to feature in series three during the episode 42. An idea was tossed around where the SS Icarus (later Pentallian) held a cargo of black-market Ood; (2) Apparently, Russell T Davies wanted to do an icy planet episode since the show came back. Since The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit was set in the 42nd Century, the new episode was going to be set within the same time zone; (3) The episode itself was actually was drawn-up by two people: Russell T Davies drew up the storyline, whilst Keith Temple wrote the script. Specific requirements were asked of Keith Temple to include in the narrative; (4) Some concept art was drawn up by Peter

The Ood are coming and they are angry!

McKinstry which showed Ood being bound and chained up in manacles. Two different designs were drawn up during the pre-production process; (5) One character who was slated to return was Ida Scott from The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. Ida was going to investigate the treatment of the Ood on the Ood-Sphere. Ida would have bumped into her father, who was mentioned in the two-parter narrative from series 2; (6) The number of Ood who were set to appear in the episode, was going to be a lot bigger compared to their first appearance. Regular choreographer, Ailsa Berk held a workshop on Friday 17 August 2007 to drill and train actors; (7) Production for the episode took place during the heigh of a very hot summer in 2007. The chosen location was created with a snowy landscape. Two business: Snow Business and Any Effects. Also during the location shoot, several crew members suffered from sunburn

Recording Days

Planet of the Ood was recorded in production block 2 for series 4, it was the third episode to be completed for the series. Recording took 15 days to complete. Production started off with two days at Upper Boat Studios between Tuesday 21 - Wednesday 22 August 2007. covering the Sales Reception Room scenes. Recording took the team on an extensive location shoot. Work on Thursday 23 August took the team to Trefil Quarry, Gwent for scenes on the Ice Plain. Two days were spent at the Twin Peaks Hangar, Barry on Friday 24 and Monday 27 August, which covered the Container Warehouse scenes. Attention was then spent at the Aberthaw Cement Works, Barry for four days of recording: Tuesday 28 - Friday 31 August. Two more days saw the team return to Upper Boats on Saturday 1 and Monday 3 September. The production team then turned their attention to even more location filming: Hynix Building, Newport on Tuesday 4 September, Johnsey Estates on Wednesday 5 September, and then Hensol Castle (a frequent chosen location for the production office) on Friday 16 September. One final day occurred two months later was carried out at Upper Boat Studios on Friday 16 November.

Verdict

A beautiful production incorporating themes and issues of slavery and the oppression over a lesser species, and the corruption that the species faced over centuries of corporate greed. This is almost what Warriors’ Gate should have been about, its deals with the topic of slavery straight on, never hiding from the truth, never dumbing it down to the point of insult, and setting up some really profound questions that are still relevant in a present-day context. It is another strong script from a one-off writer for the show who has sadly never returned to the show. It is also an episode that could have been so many things - even a companion departure story. Donna continues to grow to be a strong companion character, but she’s hit with some hard truths about travelling with The Doctor. She makes the comment ‘I want to go home’ because she thought travelling with The Doctor would be wonderful, and not terrible, as she finds out on the Ood-Sphere. It could have followed on from departures like Victoria’s in Fury from the Deep and Tegan’s in Resurrection of the Daleks. She does change her mind though which shows how much she has changed in attitude and wisdom.

Solana parades the Ood to potential buyers. Doesn't number 2 look lovely?

The script is also brilliantly constructed where every secondary character represents a different side to the world of slavery. Mr Halpen is the greedy businessman who is only interested in status, money, reputation and the exploitation of slaves; Kess is the brutal overseer who enjoys torturing, executing, humiliating, and hunting down slaves on the run’; Solana is the delusional ‘face of the company’ who acts like everything is in working order, who really knows the truth, but does nothing to change the problems; the Sales Rep is the naïve hungry consumer who wants things cheaply and quickly without thinking about where his consumables have come from. It is also interesting that each of the characters also has a redemption moment where they could have changed sides and saved their lives. Each do not and as a consequence they all meet their demise at the hands of the Ood in a fitting way; Mr Halpen (becomes an Ood), Kess (dies in torture and agony), Solana and the Sales Reps (they are killed by the very things they sell and buy). There is the moment when Mr Halpen tells Ood Sigma to join his people. In most circumstances this would have been his moment of heroism where he realised the error of his ways and helped to bring about the downfall of the Ood slavery. Of course, little does anyone know, it’s already too late. There are also these subtexts about mental illness being seen as a disease, the cutting of the hindbrain and the subsequent processing the Ood go through can be seen as a metaphor for castration. The three stages of the Ood – anger, revenge and patience are cleverly interwoven throughout the plot. These moments are continually inserted into the plot, first as cutaway gags, but then as serious plot developments. There is this great moment when Solana gives the textbook speech about how the Ood are equal to humans, but it continually cuts to an Ood being hunted down. First the Ood is scared, then terrified, then helpless, and then angry. The cutting back and forth is a stroke of genius that wouldn’t have worked if a montage of shots were used showing various Ood being mistreated across the planet. It is just so carefully constructed, as is the rest of the episode.

Donna hears the song of the Ood. Time travelling with The Doctor is not always wonderful as she discovers.

Wonderful CGI work creates some gorgeous wintery alien landscapes which clash with the darker tone the episode takes further down the line. The direction is also unique in its own right as it is often muddled and clumsy. The battle sequences in particular are not that well-choreographed and seem a little rushed. The tracking shot later on is riddled with mistakes, background errors, questionable antics from the Ood (one seems to be parading a firearm), and there are other similar moments. But that’s the whole point. Everything is like this because revolutions occur without warning or second sight. In almost every scene the Ood descend in their hundreds without mercy or pity on their captors, there’s no discrimination in a war when it does all come down to discrimination in a sense. This episode was crafted perfectly on so many levels. This is a great episode with many great qualities – especially the soundtrack and backing vocals. Except for that horrible Andy Warhol art, what on Ood-Sphere is up with it? *****