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The Ood |
Reviews
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The Ood |
Really, really monstrous creatures... by Nathan Mullins 26/7/10
The reason I am writing this review is because, on looking in on the reviews for the enemies section, there aren't that many, and there are well over one hundred or so monsters and villains on the show.
The next thing I have to add is that: on reviewing the Ood, I'd like to say that there are two facets to the characters themselves. In the The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit story arc, they were possessed by the devil. Their eyes were glowing a bright shade of red and they were now being controlled by the beast. They were no longer the 'catering staff' and became a tool of the devil. The Ood here are first seen as hostile towards both the Doctor and Rose. When they chant "We must feed" before the credits role, we presume the Doctor has no escape from the creatures who, yes, are a whole new race, never before seen on Doctor Who. I'm making this sound rather flavoursome, aren't I? After the buildup, and after sighting some of the ugliest creatures, closing in for the kill, backing the Doctor and Rose up against a brick wall, their communicators suddenly begin to kick in, and what they were really meant to have said something like 'We must feed you.'
What I like about these strange beings is that they are unlike a lot of the aliens we have seen on the show. They're easily distinguished from any other monster, by way of their ugliness and their tendrils hanging from their lower lip. However, they're supposedly on board the ship the Doctor and Rose have landed on to serve the human staff. They are in effect slaves of the human race. They aren't treated harshly by the humans but are made to serve up the grub and cook the meals and mine for something deep underground. Something that has been left to slowly decay under the earth. The Ood are very hospitable and generous, but in these two episodes, we aren't given a lot of background on them. However, when they are being controlled, their eyes light up red. Of course, red is often the colour that best describes evil. This is one of the very references made in Planet of the Ood, the Episode that almost directly follows on from The Satan Pit.
What I'd like to do is make a contrast between this and The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit: the Ood are aggressive towards the Doctor and Rose just as they open the door to find them, before the story's already gotten under way. In Planet of the Ood, they are still being sold as slaves by Mr Halpen but are being tortured and killed as 'Red Eye' hits their planet. When the Doctor and Donna find one Ood, left dying in the snow, and see that it has Red Eye, the Doctor presumes the Devil has traced him. The Ood, in this episode, are rather more sickening than when we last saw them in the two-parter. When the Ood are done with Mr Halpen, as they await his transformation from human form into an everyday Ood, the transformation is horrific and not far from making the viewer want to throw up. But I wonder whether every Ood has been given the same transformation from human to Ood, or whether Mr Halpen was a 'special' case.
The Ood are one species that have what it takes to rival both the Daleks and the Cybermen. Only, well, they couldn't be used all the time could they, otherwise every story thereafter would be samey and boring, and there would be nothing new to tell. Already, we know where they're from, why some have communicators and why some don't, and how high a note each can sing.
Is there anything else we really need to know about them? I'm not saying that they shouldn't bring them back, but if they did, they'd need a really good reason to do so. The costumes, needless to say, are fantastic and every bit as realistic as the wigs I see on people in the street. I feel the Ood get 9.5 out of 10, and that covers their background and the stories they have been in.