Written by Keith Temple
Directed by Graeme Harper
“The Ood aren’t born like this, can’t be…a species born to serve could never evolve in the first place. What does the company do to make them obey?”
That was quite the acid flashback. The Doctor Who of my 1980s golden age returned with a vengeance, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I knew it was gone.
(1) This is the kind of Doctor Who that 1980s script editor & writer Eric Saward specialized in: industrial, gloomy settings (the cargo area scenes are very Earthshock), psychopathic characters, the evils of big business (positively Thatcherite), a Doctor & companion who are observers, struggling to survive & understand their surroundings, rather than pro-actively push the story…even the soundtrack is very 1980s, with Murray Gold channeling the Radiophonic Workshop to produce a score that alternates between pulse-pounding and moody.
Hell, there’s even a giant BRAIN that 1987’s Time and the Rani would have killed to have on its BBC TV Centre sound stage! :D
(2) None of the above should be much of a surprise, as Planet of the Ood was helmed by the greatest Doctor Who director of the 1980s: Graeme Harper. Once again, he manages to take violence, carnage, brutality, a cast of grotesqueries…and turn them into art. The pace and style of Planet of the Ood is very much in keeping with Harper’s 80s classics The Caves of Androzani & Revelation of the Daleks. That’s company that is very much worth keeping…
(3) This is also a homage to the classic 1970s Philip Hinchliffe-produced era of the show, when Tom Baker’s 4th Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith ruled the Doctor Who universe. That relationship is mirrored by David Tennant and Catherine Tate - they might have their own dynamic, but it’s on par with that earlier, classic combo. They argue, they share fears & worries, and they cling to each other as only friends do. In short, there are absolutely wonderful, and if there are still critics of Catherine Tate’s astonishing performance, they should take a flying leap. The moment where she hears the Ood song of captivity is a powerful scene that neither Billie Piper or Freema Agyeman could have carried off with such aplomb.
(4) The 70s links also include a swarm of aliens, with a single, more articulate spokes-creature, a strong moral message (delivered with a bit of a sledgehammer, but that in itself is classic Doctor Who), and a climactic come-uppance for the chief villain of the story. There’s even a flunkie who has a chance for redemption, and doesn’t take it, which brings to mind all sorts of similar characters from the Hinchliffe era.
This was unexpected, exciting, and extremely fun. It hits all the right buttons, and makes the episode the most satisfying classic Doctor Who episode in years…perhaps since the reboot in 2005. It appealed to the childhood Doctor Who fan in me, as well as the modern-day fan…and I can’t ask for more than that. Not very deep, but it has breadth that stretches for miles…and the Ood song is still in my head. :-)
8.5
