History Recap / DoctorWhoS30E3PlanetOfTheOod

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[ArcWords The circle must be broken...]]'']]

%%

'''Original air date:''' April 19, 2008

'''Production code:''' 4.2

Written by Keith Temple.

They save the Ood when Ood Operations head Mr. Halpen tries to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani blowing the giant brain up]], shut down the restraining field, hear their Song of Freedom, and receive in return a cryptic message about the Doctor's song ending soon.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The Ood were already established as bald humanoids with dozens of thin dangling tendrils in place of mouths. This episode reveals they also have a secondary brain which hangs outside the body on a slightly thicker fleshy cord. Somehow their natural habitat is a SlippySlideyIceWorld. How do they not all freeze to death?

* BodyHorror: Halpen's "hair tonic" turning him into an Ood. His hair and scalp peel away revealing an Ood head, and tentacles spill out of his mouth, followed by a brain. And this was after they ''toned it down'' — the original scene was going to be a lot more graphic.

* SupportingProtagonist: The Doctor and Donna are mainly here to witness the revolution and call out the CorruptCorporateExecutive[=s=] for their brutalization of the Ood, who (alongside their Friends of the Ood ally) do the rising-up on their own.

* CruelMercy: Halpen's punishment for lobotomizing and enslaving the Ood is...to become one himself. Ood Sigma even says that they will take care of him.

* ShutUpHannibal: Mr. Halpen tries to justify enslaving the Ood by saying that they didn't put up a fight when his company found them. Donna interrupts his gloating with a cutting speech:
-->'''Donna''': You ''idiot.'' They're born with their ''brains'' in their ''hands'', don't you see that makes them PEACEFUL! They've got to be, because a creature like that would have to trust anyone it meets!

JustForFun/TheOneWith AnAesop about the value of brains, both big and small (literally)...\\
and a PortentOfDoom.

* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: "Pleased to meet you, Doctor Noble, Mrs. Noble." The response here is "not ever".

The one with AnAesop about the value of brains, both big and small (literally)...\\

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: A deleted scene has it mentioned that Bartle has a wife and two kids. Halpen cuts off their insurance payouts after seeing Bartle call him an idiot on the video of his death.

They save the Ood [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani using the tried and trusted method of blowing things up]], hear their Song of Freedom, and receive in return a cryptic message about the Doctor's song ending soon.

* LostAesop: The title species deal with the villain, Mr. Halpen, who enslaved them, by [[KarmicTransformation forcibly turning him into another Ood]] and promising he'll be cared for as [[HiveMind one of their own]]. Donna doesn't quite know how to feel about this and comments that she doesn't feel she knows right from wrong anymore. The Doctor replies, "It's better that way. People who know for certain tend to end up like (Dr. Ryder)," although the story had spent very little time reviewing the impact of Ryder's pro-Ood sabatoge and whether it made him a KnightTemplar.

* PinballProtagonist: An unusual case for ''Doctor Who''. The Doctor and Donna have minimal effect on the plot, the Ood effectively free themselves thanks to the natural born Ood and Ood Sigma.

* ForgottenFallenFriend: Nobody seems to care much about Dr. Ryder, or the fact it was the Ood Brain, the thing he was trying to ''help'', that kills him.

* NonActionBigBad: Mr. Halpen.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The Doctor's psychic paper fails, not because, as has previously happened, the person in question was resistant to it, but because they bother to run a background check on the suspicious people who weren't on the guest list at the earliest possible opportunity and discover their credentials are entirely fabricated. It gets him into the complex, but doesn't do much more good than that before he and Donna are outed as frauds.[[note]]The reason why the background check happened? Well, in a deleted scene, Halpen appears during the presentation, and the Doctor asks him a lot of questions about the death of Delta Fifty. He tries to blame Delta Fifty's death on space pirates, but the Doctor doesn't believe him.[[/note]]

* PetTheDog: Despite his attitude towards the Ood at large and his general asshattery, Halpen seems to be genuinely quite fond of Ood Sigma for most of the episode, and even tells him to "join [his] people while [he] still can" when the Ood revolution begins.

* PetTheDog: Despite his attitude towards the Ood at large and his general asshattery, Halpen seems to be genuinely quite fond of Ood Sigma for most of the episode and tells him to "join your people" while he still can.

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1660783624054523800
%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.