Planet of the Ood [TV/2008.4.19]

★★★☆☆

  The first 'journeyman' episode of Series 4, but even that isn't really a dig. I mean, it can't be a cutting dig or anything because of the overall high quality of that series... but I enjoy it less than the first two episodes, that's for sure. Then again, those first two episodes being Partners in Crime and The Fires of Pompeii, any better-than-average episode would struggle to fare in comparison. Planet of the Ood is still a heap of fun, an action adventure giving us a glimpse of humanity's cruelty in the form of commercialised slavery. As I'd expect from the new series up to this point, the script doesn't really delve into the nastier side of this exploitative business (I mean, Saturday teatime and all that), but what it lacks for in subtlety and thoughtful ruminations, it makes up for in bombast and well-directed action. I remember being wowed by the warehouse chase sequences, and who should the director be but Graeme Harper? Goldfinger himself, I'm telling you.

  The biggest selling point of Planet of the Ood is that it has plenty of heart for the Ood, Murray Gold lands upon a fantastic countertenor and concocts a lovely song for the captive race, and its sense of scale is truly something to admire. By just one factory setting (quite liteally), you get a sense of the larger scale of the Ood market; the Human empire is not as rose-coloured as one might be led to think. It's the perfect popcorn episode! Don't think on anything too much, relax and watch 45 minutes of nonstop adrenaline and earnest cries for equality, an end to slavery. Considering that equating fictional concepts to real-life injustices is still a highly risky move, maybe it was for the better that Keith Temple decided not to veer too much into introspection-about-slavery territory in such a condensed runtime. I'm just gutted that they dialed back the graphic nature of the Halpen transformation scene -- what we get from the final version is still wildly imaginative. Wonder why I hardly mentioned the Doctor and Donna here? It's because their influence in the overall narrative is so minimal... and sometimes, that's okay. They need their downtime too, and it's a good callback to how historicals used to work with the Doctor and co. trying not to interfere. The only difference here is that the Doctor and Donna try their best to interfere, but this still works as a cool future historical episode. The Ood revolution was always meant to happen, and the two time travellers are simply along for the ride.