N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!

Slavery is bad, mkay.

Now I’m not suggesting that Planet of the Ood is as unsubtle as South Park‘s Mr Mackey, nor of course am I suggesting that slavery isn’t bad. But there is a sledgehammer-like quality about the visit to the Ood Sphere that almost distracts you from what you really want to talk about regarding the episode: namely, the Doctor and Donna’s truly magnificent hair.

Tennant’s coiffure is at the most squiffy quiffiness it’s been since The Idiot’s Lantern (and in that one it was deliberately styled into a quiff for its 50’s setting), whereas Donna’s hair is swept into the voluminous red waves of a comic book heroine.

“I think hair loss is the least of my problems right now.”

Halpen, Planet of the Ood

On first viewing, back in 2008, I thought it must have been that the hair stylist was just having a particularly good day. This time around, I feel it must have been deliberate, what with Halpen’s self-consciousness about his balding pate and the constant sipping of the supposed hair tonic. Not much is said by either in the script (other than the Doctor asking Halpen how the hair loss is going), but, set against such insecurities, the Doctor and Donna’s marvellous barnets provide for a wonderful visual contrast.

Other than that, it’s nice to see Doctor Who confirming that the Ood are from a part of the universe not too distant from the Sensorites. With the Doctor discussing the events that led to Rome’s burning in The Fires of Pompeii, that makes for two references to First Doctor stories in a row. Talk about deep cuts for the fans!

And the portents of doom continue, with Ood Sigma telling the Doctor his ‘song must end soon’. What must that mean?