{"id":416,"date":"2008-04-25T18:36:37","date_gmt":"2008-04-25T05:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/?p=416"},"modified":"2008-04-27T13:54:58","modified_gmt":"2008-04-27T00:54:58","slug":"sphere-of-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/?p=416","title":{"rendered":"Sphere of Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Slaves to the Music <\/span><\/span><\/strong>or <\/span>Bad Things Happen to Ood People<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Spoilers follow…<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was about 8 I remember talking my Dad into letting me watch the first episode of Blake\u2019s 7<\/em> because it was \u201csort of like Doctor Who<\/em>\u201d. <\/span>When I was 16 I remember staying up past midnight weekly to watch The Prisoner<\/em>. <\/span>The first two were subversive shows about dark futures, corruption, tyranny and the darker elements of humanity. <\/span>While watching them didn\u2019t turn me into a revolutionary I think they did warp my fragile little mind and the way I thought about concepts like authority, freedom, politics, and society. <\/span>I can\u2019t think of any Doctor Who<\/em> stories as direct as these, but I\u2019ve always considered our favourite Time Lord\u2019s adventures as a primer for the younger viewer.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Which is why Planet of the Ood<\/em> is a bit of an oddball. <\/span>The series has always had elements a morality tale, but it has been relatively well couched in the plot, with some subtlety and metaphor, but here the servitude\/slavery aspect seems to be laid on thick (not unlike the cyber prejudice sub-plot of Voyage on the Damned<\/em> (which Peter will be commenting on in an upcoming RTP!<\/em> \u2013 shameless plug). <\/span>On one hand we have a breakneck revolution story, on the other we have the Doctor\u2019s rather cutting observations on current day commercial manufacturing. <\/span>I have to admit my response was pretty much like Donna\u2019s. <\/span>I\u2019m all for teaching kids social responsibility, but this just seems to be lacking finesse. Like Fires of Pompeii<\/em> I got the feeling that what was good about the story was being rushed passed as the production team tried to cram as much as they could in the 45-odd minutes of the episode. <\/span>In the old days of television labyrinthine layers of mystery and suspense would be built up to various revolutions, betrayals and revelations, here it just feels like painting by numbers. <\/span>I have no qualms about the claw chase as it added a bit of action into the mix, but other parts were just a bit daft.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I can imagine the scene in the production office:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOK \u2013 we\u2019ve got the Ood carrying a secret\u2026.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow about their brains, extra brains they carry in their hands, bit of an evolutionary cockup on an iceworld but it\u2019ll look cool.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBrilliant \u2013 and we\u2019ve got this big secret thing locked in the cellar\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow about their brains, an extra brain\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHaven\u2019t we already done that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cErr.. OK\u2026 let just make it a giant one, bit of an evolutionary cockup on an iceworld but it\u2019ll look cool.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDouble bluff \u2013 Brilliant. <\/span>Now how do we deal with the villain?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we turn him into an Ood, then we get this brain, an extra brain\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

No, I don\u2019t get the transformation thing either, and the hindbrains don\u2019t actually seem to do much (Ood Sigma seems to function relatively well without one). <\/span>But really the most superfluous parts of the story were the Doctor and Donna themselves. <\/span>The whole story could\u2019ve taken place without them. <\/span>I have to admit that Catherine Tate is growing on me, and I keep on thinking how similar to Barbara she is. <\/span>Mature, straight talking and (oddly) practical, the only real difference is her comedy pratfalls, that sadly don\u2019t ring true against the better elements of her character.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Love the Dan Dare<\/em> style spaceship, but really the final word belongs to my wife: \u201cYou can tell the new Doctor Who<\/em> is made in Wales \u2013 even the monsters are into singing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(Dang, those slave caricatures sure got natural rhythm\u2026) <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

DR<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Slaves to the Music or Bad Things Happen to Ood People Spoilers follow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-series-4-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zeusblog.tetrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}