Ood Days And Bad Days...

Well...

Cripes, where to start? I'd better say hello: Hello! Where I'm sure you were all expecting a deep insightful reflection on my life, I'm afraid you've come across something far worse: That's right, it's the Who Review!! Yes, the Great Doctor Who Famine is now officially over, with the Waters of Mars airing... literally, just now! And boy, do we have a lot to talk about!!
Okay, first things first.... plot. Internally, as a stand-alone story, I must admit the plot is not that great - The alien virus doesn't even have a name, we never find out what they're up to with the ice, not to mention the fact that a robot covered in Martian water has just been left lying around in the street! I mean, I loved the premise, I loved the ideas, but given that it was predicted to be the scariest episode ever, I wasn't really that satisfied. Nevertheless, it was almost worth it just for that feel-good, grin-spreading glorious moment when the Doctor springs back into action! Even if it was a bit short-lived.
This brings me smoothly on to the "contextual" plot. Namely, the Doctor going through his grumpy teenager phase. No, wait, that's clearly an understatement. I think what surprised me most is the Doctor's arrogance - He's never been so overtly full of himself. I mean, he's been mischeivously so sometimes (quote: "I'm very good!"), but never as extreme as "The Time Lord victorious" before! I mean, that's Master talk! Or worse!! Just because he knows he can't die until he meets the Master again, and because there's no-one else to keep him under control, he suddenly thinks he can go around changing time willy-nilly. Isn't that going against everything else you've already said? Isn't that contradicting five years of well-established ethos? Rose would be ashamed of you! But maybe that's just it: He doesn't have a companion any more, there's no-one to be his conscience. I mean, if any of us were in his position, I'm sure we would do the same, but his whole belief is that certain events can never be contradicted. He ought to know better! Y'know... just for once, I don't like the Doctor. The Final word is "No." But it's the kind of "No" that sends shivers down your spine...
Okay, boring bit now. Non-Lit students skip this paragraph. But I couldn't help making comparisons, especially towards the end, between Who and Oedipus. The idea that no matter what you do, fate always catches up with you. Nobody outwits the Oooood... It's not just that, it's the whole idea that the higher you climb, the greater your fall. They spent five years establishing that the Doctor has this code of what you can and can't do in Time, and the whole "aren't-I-good-I-follow-the-rules" concept, and the moment he realises that, actually, there shouldn't be anyone to care if he does break the rules, everything goes completely wrong. I guess you're supposed to feel sorry for him, but like Oedipus, I really don't. Does that make me a bad viewer? Possibly. C'mon Doctor Who, I dare you to make me cry again!
Anyway, Oedipus analogies over, Setting! Honestly, how amazing was that Mars base?! I know maybe it wasn't as 'tangible' as the desert of the last one, but all the same - The fact that you can go from barren rubble one moment, to lush rainforest the next, to grimy maintenance corridors, to pristine labs and computers, and the middle of it all, the TARDIS... actually, thinking about it, the TARDIS hasn't had a proper look in for aeons, it seems. I mean, it was vaguely important in this one, I guess, but considering the Doctor is pretty useless if he can't actually do any travelling, you'd expect it to be more important. I dunno, maybe they're preparing it for some massively pivotal role in the final story. It deserves that much. But yeah, back to what I was saying, just the sheer contrast in settings was beautiful, even if the glacier room was just Warehouse 15 from Series 4... hehehe... Good use of the Eden project though, or wherever it was they filmed.
This brings me on to the graphics and effects. Um... actually, not convinced. I mean, at face value, they were okay, but little things annoyed me. Like, the monsters, when they squirted water out of their mouths, it was clearly just some squeezy pouch that forced water out a tiny hole when they bit down, or something. That's why they couldn't talk! And the external shots of the base weren't quite as refined as, say, the Ood planet, or the Library for instance. Matte paintings, that's the key! Also, when Gadget was doing his turbo-charged thing - Great for little kids, and quite funny, but when the rest of the episode is trying to be professional and deal with actually quite serious deep thoughts, the idea of a cute robot whizzing cheesily across the desert kind of undermines the whole effect.
So, cast. Remember that darker side of the Doctor I was craving after last episode? I should never have doubted them. A bad day for the Doctor is a good day for David Tennant, and he played his role amazingly. Even the last lines - You might worry that, having been the character for four years, he would turn around and say, "hang on a minute, the Doc would never say this! Ever!" But instead he launches himself into every second, cramming the emotion in there. It's almost a pantomime: The fear, the mourning, the arrogance, the... control-freak-ness. The others were... alright. I mean, clearly, the spotlight was on the Doctor, but even then, the others maybe didn't get as much exposure as they should have. I think the most poignant thing about Adelaide was her suicide at the end; to have come through all that, to have been told you're "supposed" to die, and then to have been told, "actually, don't die, otherwise the Doctor won't like it." It's almost as though she understood Time better than he does.
Okay... it's time to talk... MUSIC! And, well, once again, Murray Gold has done what only he can do - made us feel every emotion on the scale. Everything from the militaristic drumbeat of them running down the corridor the first time, to the haunting choral numbers which foreshadow death - the crew's and his own. Yes, that's right, note similarities between the score of TWoM and the Ood Songs of Captivity and Freedom. And there at the head of it all, that iconic action tune, undoubtedly stolen from Pirates but every bit as recognisable as the theme tune itself. When that comes on, no matter how big-headed the Doctor may seem, you can't resist grinning and thinking "Yay, he's saving the day again!". Mr Gold, I salute you.
Now, let's get down to the serious part. What can all this mean for the future? The Ood are... back? Ish? Maybe? Or maybe the Doc's just hallucinating. Darn it, I said I wouldn't talk about the trailer, but YES, they are back! and sporting a nice enlarged cranium there, if I may say so myself. And purple. Definitely their colour. I have a hunch there's a connection between the Ood and the Time Lords. I think the Ood have summoned the Doctor to bring him to justice regarding his time manipulation. Not just that, I think the Ood ARE Time Lords in hiding... maybe that's stretching it too far. But the Ood clearly have some control over the strands of Fate. What if they manipulated (somehow) the Master to come back because only another Time Lord could make the Doctor recognise what's wrong with him. After all, there's been a recurring theme of people who are "almost" the Doctor. But maybe they brought the master back with that intention, only once he's achieved his goal, he starts wreaking havoc, and it's up to the Doctor to go back and stop him. Or something. So yeah, what I'm saying is that maybe the Master is initially the good guy, but the Doctor doesn't recognise that until it's too late... just trying to be dramatic here.
And Catherine Tate's back. Groan. I mean, come on! Doesn't she burst into flames if she remembers, or something? Or maybe the whole idea is she doesn't recognise the Master, and they become friends, which essentially makes him invulnerable, because the Doctor can't do anything when she's around. I dunno, my head is far too full of ideas. Maybe I should just wait and see what happens. That's never successfully happened before, but still! Anyway, leave a comment or somesuch if this has piqued your interest, and if not, well, I'm happy to have wasted your time yet again! To misquote Panic at the Disco, "Things are shaping up to be pretty Ood!"

See ya 'round!

Jack