The episode was watched by 7.5 million viewers and received highly positive reviews, with critics praising Tate’s performance and the central theme of slavery.
The Ood have also had part of their brain, which they carry in their hands, lobotomised and replaced with the translation sphere to make them subservient.
Individual rebellions had broken out over time as the Ood brain adapted, though Ryder believed this had progressed too slowly.
The Doctor shuts down the pylons and the mines, freeing the Ood and allowing them all to sing in a telepathic collective.
Davies subsequently provided Temple with a brief for the episode which included the term "ice planet" and the storyline of a business selling the Ood as a commodity.
[5] Temple and Davies thought that the episode was not a "fun reappearance" of an old monster; instead, they felt that there was "an actual story to tell".
[6] Temple emphasised in his script that the Doctor overlooked the Ood under the shadow of the Devil, and the character had to see his shortcomings.
[6] Susie Liggat cited the writing as part of Doctor Who's importance—she thought the story about "liberating oppressed people" could be applied domestically or globally.
[1] Temple epitomised Halpen in a scene where he kills an operative for the activist group "Friends of the Ood"; Davies and Tennant felt that his "disgusting" and "gothic ... Edgar Allan Poe" fate would be undeserved otherwise.
[5] The opening and closing outdoor scenes were filmed in Trefil Quarry, on the outskirts of Tredegar, overlooking the Brecon Beacons.
He thought that "pretty much the only surprise in the way the humans who made up the Ood Corporation were presented came as PR girl Solana (Ayesha Dharker) escaped with the Doctor and Donna, only to betray their position by calling for the guards," and "the revelation that Ryder (Adrian Rawlins) has been working to infiltrate the Corporation is thrown away... as quickly as it is revealed.
"[10] However, he thought Donna was becoming "fast ... one of the strongest and most well-rounded companions in the series' history", and "there were some nice interpretations of the Ood’s natural development".
Rawson-Jones opened his review by saying "Doctor Who can occasionally transcend the properties of a mere family television show to reach out and give viewers a poignant, beautiful epiphany and greater sense of the world they inhabit," citing Donna's reaction on seeing the uncultivated Ood as the moving part of the episode.
[12] He thought the episode as a whole "exemplifies just how powerful and emotive Doctor Who can be when writing, direction and performance are all harmonious and complete their own Ood-like circle", and was appreciative of the acting.