Doctor Who 4X03: "Planet of the Ood"

[alexiscartwheel]

I’m going to start out with the shallowest of my comments about Planet of the Ood, just to get it out of the way: I think I may actually have liked the Blue Suit of Doom™ in this episode. Maybe it’s the scruffy tie-less look with the unbuttoned shirt and t-shirt?

Um, yes, like I said. Shallow. Moving right along. (I promise this get serious later on!) I thought Planet of the Ood was a good episode. Not as ohmigodwow! as the previous episodes, but quite strong nonetheless. The Doctor-Donna banter was top-notch as usual. I love the bit about high-quality handcuffs. :D The Ood were good too. I’m happy that there return expanded on what we knew about them before. (You know, instead of, “Oh, look! Ood!”) I never realized that the Doctor didn’t know the Ood were really slaves, but looking back, I suppose he was busy talking to the devil while Rose dealt with stuff on the surface. Ten admits that he has weaknesses and makes mistakes this season! Character development ftw!

The scene with the caged Ood is simply amazing. I’m just going to keep saying this throughout the season, but Catherine Tate was wonderful here. Donna expected the danger and excitement of traveling the universe with the Doctor, but she never anticipated suffering. If I were less lazy, there’d be a screencap of Donna below. Since I’m not, I’ll just tell you that the shot of Donna looking through the bars and crying is my favorite of the episode. (ETA: Obviously, I've gone back and added it.) Kudos to Catherine and to Graeme Harper.

Donna: But you can still hear it?
Doctor: All the time.

Why “All the time” rather than “Yes”? Maybe I’m reading into things to much, but I feel like there’s a pretty significant difference between, yes, he still hears it and he hears it all the time. If it’s literally all the time, every moment, then it’s not just the Ood-song either. It could be that the Doctor is always aware of any suffering (because, as he said in “Rose”, he’s aware of all of time) or it could be his personal suffering (or guilt) that he’s referring to. It might be important somehow in the overall or story arc, or maybe it’s another reminder of the Doctor’s alien-ness.

And about the end of the song…

So I’ve read a bunch of reviews of Planet of the Ood, many of which included some sort of analysis of Ood Sigma’s parting words. The theory that the Doctor will die and regenerate seems pretty popular, but David Tennant’s contract kinda gets in the way of that. Also, word on the street is that he’s started filming for the Christmas special already. So Ten’s death = not an imminent threat. From the Doctor/Rose camp I’ve seen mostly theories pertaining somehow to Rose (i.e. the end of the song means that he’ll finally have some closure/stop being so emo all the time). That, to me, seems more plausible than Ten’s death, but I still think it misses an important detail. To highlight, here’s the complete exchange:

Sigma: We thank you DoctorDonna, friends of Ood-kind. And what of you now? Will you stay? There is room in the song for you.
Doctor: Oh, I’ve, I’ve... sort of got a song of my own, thanks.
Sigma: I think your song must end soon.
Doctor: Meaning?
Sigma: Every song must end.

And then we get the “Doomsday” vocals and the Doctor’s “Dude, I’m so f-ing confused” face.

Here’s the key, as I see it at least: DoctorDonna. The Ood think collectively, and they view the Doctor and Donna as a collective as well. In this scene, Sigma is speaking for the Ood and the Doctor is speaking for DoctorDonna. The song that “must end soon” isn’t the Doctor’s song, exclusively, it’s the Doctor and Donna’s song. When I first saw the scene, I immediately thought it was significant that Sigma addressed both of them. It seemed so obvious to me, so I was surprised not to find anyone else thinking along the same lines.

This makes me much, much more concerned for Donna than for the Doctor. After this week, I’m more convinced than ever that Donna might die at the end of this series. And again, we have a music cue connected to Rose, suggesting that she will have something to do with Donna’s fate. (Maybe she tries to prevent it, maybe she brings it about? I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s going to be an altogether happy reunion for the Doctor and Rose.)

I’m really rubbish at predictions, which is why I’ve pretty much just listed some new puzzle pieces but not made much of an attempt to put them together. But we are only three weeks in, so there's plenty of time.

Next week: Martha!

Comments

[the-lucky-stars.livejournal.com]

I think I may actually have liked the Blue Suit of Doom™

Oh wow same. This was a complete first for me, but maybe it was complimented by the snow and his hair, which was looking particularly unruly this week.

[alexiscartwheel.livejournal.com]

Perhaps from now it should only be worn in episodes with snow. (Which means they'd probably have to put it away until the next Christmas special!)

[d4ni.livejournal.com]

I think the blue suit just fit better with the snow and awesome giant sky.

And nooo! Donna can't die! ::sob::

[alexiscartwheel.livejournal.com]

Well I don't want her to die! Obviously. But, dude, signs and portents. This all happened before and... Whoops, wrong show.