Planet of the Ood

191 – "Planet of the Ood"
Doctor Who episode
An "uncultivated" Ood shows his hindbrain to the Doctor. The Ood are born with external hindbrains which are removed during processing to become subservient slaves.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
Others Tim McInnerny – Klineman Halpen Ayesha Dharker – Solana Mercurio Adrian Rawlins – Dr Ryder Roger Griffiths – Commander Kess Paul Clayton – Mr Bartle Paul Kasey – Ood Sigma Tariq Jorden – Rep Silas Carson – Voice of the Ood
Production
Directed by	Graeme Harper
Written by	Keith Temple
Script editor	Lindsey Alford
Produced by	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies Julie Gardner
Incidental music composer	Murray Gold
Production code	4.2
Series	Series 4
Length	45 minutes
Originally broadcast	19 April 2008
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "The Fires of Pompeii" "The Sontaran Stratagem"
List of Doctor Who serials

"Planet of the Ood" is the third episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 19 April 2008. It features the return of the Ood, who appeared in the second series episodes "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit".

The episode takes place in the year 4126 on the Ood-Sphere, the titular planet of the episode. The Doctor (David Tennant) and his companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) investigate Ood Operations, a company that is selling the Ood as a servant race, to discover the reason the Ood are happy to serve. When they find a group of unprocessed Ood, they become horrified at the alterations performed and resolve to free the Ood. The episode was well-received for its central theme of slavery.

The Doctor sets the TARDIS controls to random and materialises on a snowy alien planet. Outside, he and Donna find an injured Ood lying in the snow. Just before he dies, the Ood's eyes turn red and it makes a lunge for the Doctor and startles him with his ferocity. The Doctor surmises that the Ood was being influenced by a being near them. They find a nearby industrial complex called Ood Operations, a company that has been harvesting and selling the Ood as servants. The Doctor discovers that they are on the Ood-Sphere in the year 4126, close to the Sense-Sphere of the Sensorites. The "Red Eye" phenomenon begins affecting other Ood on the planet and several people are killed in the weeks before the Doctor arrived. The possessed Ood keep stating that "the circle must be broken". Ood Operations consider the phenomenon to be a disease similar to foot-and-mouth disease. The CEO of Ood Operations, Klineman Halpen, tells the Doctor the method of killing each time is identical: the victims are electrocuted by the Ood's translation spheres.