selenak

This one reminds me of Genesis of the Daleks in that Doctor and companion(s) are actually peripheral to the story being told; you could take them out of it without much change. (Which is why the Doctor's big dilemma scene in Genesis of the Daleks always seemed pasteded on to me, though of course it has major relevance in hindsight, but Genesis of the Daleks is really about the Kaled and the Thal, and Davros, of course.) For a story like this, I think it was the right choice; you can't tell the story of a people freeing themselves of the oppression of slavery and make this all due to an external benefactor. Actually, you can, Hollywood has done it lots of times, but I'm glad DW didn't this time. The Ood themselves are the ones who free each other after two hundred years of oppression. And while the ending might be overly optimistic, it does work for me. It's neither "everyone lives" nor "everyone dies"; it's "some live, some die, but freedom has been won".

Planet of the Ood pulls no punches with the depiction of slavery, with the cargo scenes clearly paralleling the way African slaves were shipped while the scenes with the Ood being driven there echo more recent events like the camps. It also captures the psychology; the way the humans treat the Ood as animals and talk of them as a mixture of cattle and fashionable accessoire is again exactly how slaves were talked of. (Details such as the female and comedy soundtrack voices are in their way as revolting as the later "obvious" things like the guard using a whip.) And with Ood Sigma, we get a twist and turnaround of the Uncle Tom idea; I thought that the Ood who eternally turns the other cheek and is submissive would at some point turn against his owner, but like the man himself, I thought there had to be poison in the drink, I hadn't expected what Sigma actually did, which was basically pulling an X1 Magneto on him.

By and large, this is an episode where the "aliens" (I'm using quotation marks as the Oods are the natives and the humans are actually the aliens on their planet) are the good guys and the humans the villains, which is a reverse from the majority (but not all) stories; the picture painted of humanity isn't too flattering, though obviously with the (other) doctor and with the "friends of the Ood" that were mentioned in Impossible Planet two seasons ago there are human activists who don't go along with the injustice and work against it. Still, the idea that the majority will look away and go along with having their obedient servants is sadly all too plausible, given history.

Other details: I have a soft spot for stories in which telepathy plays a role, so I loved that the concept of Ood telepathy was used in a way different from Impossible Planet's "Ood get possessed by evil force" and developed further; as a means of natural communication for them, it makes sense, as does bringing up Gallifreyan telepathy again in this episode by letting the Doctor hear them (when they manage to break through the lobotomized stage).

Maybe it's the Star Trek fan in me, but I loved the concept of the song.

On the other hand: "All songs must end", hm? Hard to see this not foreshadowing either the Doctor's or Donna's demise, which makes me worried. I mean, I think were not due for another regeneration yet, given that DT has signed on for the Christmas Specials (but on the other hand, maybe that's a cunning lie so there won't be a repeat of the Eccleston event where everyone knew he'd leave after one season before the first episode was broadcast?), which endangers Donna even more. DO NOT WANT DEAD COMPANION. Then again, that particular implication is so obvious that it could mean the reverse, i.e. the "song ending" will come true in another way.

Next week: Martha! Sontarans! UNIT! (And there better be some explanation for a certain TW episode.)