Se 4 x 03 - Planet of the Ood

BuffyBot

Well that was a pretty well paced job. Felt a little empty in the end, like they were forcing their points through. Enjoyable, but it still left me a little "meh" (then again, I've never been an Ood fan). Bit more Donna development which shows some character growth.

pixelburp

I thought it very good & a marked contrast with the first episode. It was quite bleak in fact, certainly one of New Who's bleaker & more gritty. I think the Doctor / Donna partnership is looking like it could be quite a good one - it's nice to see someone stand up and talk back to the Doctor.

I'd give it 3, 4 out of 5.

Also, how gross was the badguy's demise? :eek:

Jack B. Badd

Thought it was a good bit better than it could have been. The heavy references to Nazi concentration camp got a bit annoying by the end but meh, what can you do? Also, when did the doctor learn to do a Vulcan mind meld?

ixoy

Quite enjoyed it. It was heavy-handed but the show has never known the meaning of subtle.

The Ood are relatively interesting. The brain-in-the-hand is a bit of a daft concept but I shouldn't really expect too much realism from a show with dancing bits of fat. Their honouring the Doctor is all well and good - did it take place before "The Satan Pit" - but he didn't actually do that much. In fact he was a passive observer for much of this episode.

I'm quite relieved at Donna so far - she was fine in this episode too. She pulls the Doctor up more (a quality I always liked with Sarah Jane too) and in some ways seems more human - someone noted her instinctive revulsion on first seeing the Ood which is quite natural for someone from our timeline.

A bit too much obvious fore-shadowing in this - with the Ood mentioning the Doctor's song ending and the over mention of the bees but it was a pretty decent episode. It also looked quite well, making a relatively decent alien world.

Next week has great potential:

Sontarans AND UNIT! Always quite enjoyed that old clone race. Now they need to throw in the Rutans too for it to be a proper homage!

iguana

Jack B. Badd wrote: »

Also, when did the doctor learn to do a Vulcan mind meld?

Didn't he do it in Girl in the Fireplace?

Jack B. Badd

Yeah, that sounds right. I didn't think this was the first time he'd done it.

pixelburp

iguana wrote: »

Didn't he do it in Girl in the Fireplace?

Yup; he did it on Madame de Pompadeur (sp); he looked into her mind to find out what was going on with the robots et al. She turned the tables when she realised you could look into his mind back.

BlitzKrieg

Donna is actually becoming an interesting companion, alot of this series seems to be revisiting previous themes in the series and Donna is (unlike Martha and Rose) pulling the doctor up on them and is for the most part quite critical of him.

looks to continue with the next episode

a sound blurb in the preview has Donna saying the Doctor turned Martha into a soldier, revisitng her *hero* status from the series 3 finale in a mor critical light i hope

I am actually surprised at the Bee reference, I thought that was a joke comment in the first episode (there is actually meant to be some phenomena happenng where bee's are disapearing.)

I wouldnt be too concerned with the ood's warning, their last appearance had the warning about Rose *dying* and that didnt materialize as expected.

pixelburp

Yes, there's an actual problem with bees suddenly disappearing almost overnight from hives. It's called Colony Collapse Disorder & no one's quite sure what is causing it. The symptoms are quite spooky!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder

thusspakeblixa

By far my favourite episode this series. It was kinda predictable, but fun anyway!
Really looking forward to next week's episode now... been prepping myself watching ''the time warrior'' today...

popebenny16

I liked it. CT is good, isn't she? Loved the part where she asked to have the song blocked off again and when she said she wanted to go home.

He did sort of free the Ood, I suppose. I liked Tim McInerny's line that it's been an unusual day. I have days like them

Yes, her caustic comment about Martha is pure her. Sort of like Gwen in Torchwood she is voicing the thoughts of a certain element of the viewers. She'll hopefully chew up and spit out the girl guide, sorry, Rose... but then again, wont be the first time a well developed character falls asunder for no reason if she dosn't..........

pixelburp

I still think CT is prown to a bit of her sketchshow style delivery with some of the more caustic lines. But she's learning & finding a middle ground for sure. But anyone I have spoken to echoes the same sentiment - she's not as bad as people thought she'd be!

iguana

I don't particularly like her. She doesn't make me want to punch the screen, as I thought she would. But I don't rate her acting too highly, it seems very by the numbers and she isn't bring the same depth to the character as the writing is.

BlitzKrieg

she feels like a character brought in to develope something in the doctor rather then develop themselves (unlike previous companions.)

which makes her interesting for me.

deman

pixelburp wrote: »

Also, how gross was the badguy's demise? :eek:

Hehe...

Lord Percy lost his head.

Doctor DooM

Just saw it, enjoyed it.

Man they are shovelling the arc with a trowel though. I wonder where it's going?


Donna's starting to work well. Ood were good too.