Doctor Who - The Television Stories

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Planet of the Ood

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Synopsis

The Ood Attack

The Doctor takes Donna to her first alien world - but the Ood-Sphere reveals some terrible truths about the Human Race.

Source: BBC DVD

General Information

Season:	Thirty (New Series 4)
Production Code:	4-2
Story Number:	191 (New Series: 35)
Episode Number:	741 (New Series: 45)
Number of Episodes:	1
Percentage of Episodes Held:	100%
Production Dates:	August - November 2007
Broadcast Date:	19 April 2008
Colour Status:	Colour
Studio:	BBC Wales (Upper Boat, Pontypridd)
Location:	Trefil Quarry (Gwent), RAF St Athan (Barry), Aberthaw Cement Works, Hynix Building (Newport), Johnsey Estates (Pontypool) and Hensol Castle.

Writer:

Keith Temple

Director:

Graeme Harper

Producer:

Susie Liggat

Executive Producers:

Julie Gardner, Phil Collinson and Russell T Davies

Script Editor:

Lindsey Alford

Editor:

William Oswald

Production Executive:

Julie Scott

Production Manager:

Debbi Slater

Production Designer:

Edward Thomas

Director of Photography:

Rory Taylor

Casting Director:

Andy Pryor CDG

Costume Designer:

Louise Page

Make-Up Designer:

Barbara Southcott

Cameramen:

Jon Vidgen (Assistant) and Steven Hall (Operator)

Visual Effects:

The Mill

Special Effects:

Any Effects

Prosthetics:

Millennium FX

Stunt Co-ordinator:

Abbi Collins

Incidental Music:

Murray Gold

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Paul Jefferies

Sound Recordist:

Julian Howarth

Sound Supervisor:

Paul McFadden

Music Performed By:

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor)

Number of Companions: 1The Companion: Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) Guest Cast: Tim McInnerny (Mr Halpen) Additional Cast: Ayesha Dharker (Solana Mercurio), Adrian Rawlins (Dr Ryder), Roger Griffiths (Commander Kess), Paul Clayton (Mr Bartle), Paul Kasey (Ood Sigma), Tariq Jordan (Rep), Silas Carson (Voice of the Ood)Setting: Ood Sphere, Horsehead Nebula (4126) Villains:Mr Halpen and Ood

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
741	The Planet of the Ood	19 April 2008	43'35"	7.5	Yes

Total Duration

44 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

7.5

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2008)	75.24% (Position = 8 out of 11)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	72.48% (Position = 79 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	70.83% (Position = 125 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 18 out of 36

Archives

This story exists and is held in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library.

Notes

Guest star Tim McInnerny is best known for playing Percy and Captain Darling in the Blackadder comedy series. He also appeared in the 2006 film Severance, which was written by Doctor Who and Torchwood writer James Moran.

The "red eye" phenomenon is explained as an effect of being possessed. In the first Ood story "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit" they were under The Beast's control.

In this story The Doctor gives a possible time frame for both Ood stories as being in the 42nd century, during the Earth's second intergalactic empire.

It is also revealed that the Ood-Sphere is in the same solar system as the Sense-Sphere, the location for the 1964 First Doctor story "The Sensorites". Which could explain the similarities between the Ood and The Sensorites.

Donna Noble's role in this story was a deliberate attempt to further humanise The Doctor, and her opinion changing from visual disgust to empathy was an important element.

As mentioned previously in "Partners in Crime", Donna mentions the bees disappearing again. There is a real unexplained phenomenon relating to disappearing bees - Colony Collapse Disorder. Theories from viruses to mobile phone radiation have been put forward as the reason for increasingly deserted Honey Bee hives across the world.

The snow scenes were shot in a boiling hot week in August 2007, using fake snow. Previous frosty locations visited by The Doctor include Antarctica ("The Tenth Planet" (1966) and "The Seeds of Doom" (1976)), The Roof of the World in Tibet ("Marco Polo" (1964)), Necros ("Revelation of the Daleks" (1985)), Ribos ("The Ribos Operation" (1978)) Ice World ("Dragonfire (1987")), an icecano full of Daleks on Spiridon ("Planet of the Daleks" (1973)), the Ice Tombs of Telos ("The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967)) and a glacier between Britain and the rest of Europe ("The Ice Warriors" (1967)).

Ood Sigma stands out as the only Ood to be identified by a logo - the greek letter 'sigma' - on his jacket.

The transformation of Halpen into an Ood was originally far more graphic, but after viewing the footage it was re-edited to be less horrific for a family audience.

When Ood Sigma mentions that The Doctor's song may soon end, several seconds are played of the music featured during the scene in which Rose Tyler was ultimately separated from The Doctor in "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday".

The end of this story contains a trailer for the first episode of the next story "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky".

Following on immediately after this story, on BBC3, was the third chapter of the fourth series of Doctor Who Confidential, "Oods and Ends" presented by Anthony Head.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first Doctor Who story to be written by Keith Temple.

Story Images

Show Text

A Snowy Arrival

The Doctor

A 'Red-Eye' Ood

Ood Operations Company

Donna and an Ood

Dr. Ryder

Mr Halpen & Ood Sigma

Donna Behind Bars

Ready for Shipment

The Ood Attack

The Ood Brain

The 'Ood' Mr Halpen

Quote of the Story

'The Ood aren't born like this, they can't be - a species born to serve could never evolve in the first place. What does the company do to make them obey?'

The Doctor

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
DVD	Partners in Crime - The Fires of Pompeii - Planet of the Ood	June 2008	BBCDVD 2605	Photo-montage
DVD	The Complete Fourth Series	November 2008	BBCDVD 2609	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 11 stories
CD	Original Television Soundtrack - Series 4	October 2008	SILCD1275	Photo-montage	Music by Murray Gold
DVD	Series 1 - 4 Box Set	October 2009	BBCDVD 3058		Boxed set containing all 43 stories on 23 Discs
Blu-Ray	The Complete Series 1-7 Box Set (Limited Edition)	December 2013	BBCBD 0242	Photo-montage	Limited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all Series 1-7 stories at full 1080p high definition
DVD	The Complete Fourth Series (2014 Re-release)	August 2014	BBCDVD 3968	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 11 stories
DVD	The Complete David Tennant Years Box Set	November 2014	BBCDVD 4000	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all 37 stories on 26 Discs
Blu-Ray	The Complete Fourth Series Box Set	August 2015	BBCBD 0264	Photo-montage	Blu-Ray boxed set containing 11 stories
Blu-Ray	The Complete Fourth Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)	August 2019	BBCBD 0467	Photo-montage	Limited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing 11 stories
Blu-Ray	Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection	November 2023	BBCBD 0582	Photo-montage	Boxed set containing all Ninth and Tenth Doctor stories upscaled to high definition

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	Planet of the Ood	July 2023	BBC Books	Keith Temple		Target Collection. ISBN: 978-1-78594-826-8
CD	Planet of the Ood	July 2023	BBC Audio	Keith Temple		Audio version of the BBC Books Target Novel read by Silas Carsen.

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview	Issue 394 (Released: April 2008)
Doctor Who Magazine - Article	Issue 395 (Released: May 2008)
Doctor Who Magazine - Review	Issue 396 (Released: June 2008)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 472 (Released: May 2014)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 542 (Released: October 2019)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 23 (Released: November 2009)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companion

The Tenth Doctor

Donna Noble

On Release

DVD Cover

VIDEO

Complete Series DVD Box Set

VIDEO

Original Television Soundtrack Cover

AUDIO

Series 1-4 DVD Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series 1-7 Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series DVD Box Set<BR>(2014 Re-release)

Complete Series DVD Box Set
(2014 Re-release)

VIDEO

Complete David Tennant Years DVD Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set

VIDEO

Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

VIDEO

Series 1 - 4 & Specials Blu-Ray Collection Cover

VIDEO

In Print

BBC Books Target Collection Cover

NOVEL

BBC Audio CD Cover

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 394

Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 395

Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 396

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 472

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 542

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 23

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Tenth Doctor

Season 30 (New Series 4)

References

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