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Translation spheres, also known as translator balls and translator spheres, were special translation devices carried by Ood who were enslaved by the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Donna thought that they resembled a Persil ball. In order to use it, an Ood pressed a button on the sphere, and spoke into the tube, which had to be in their mouths for the sphere to work. (TV: Planet of the Ood [+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (TV story)"])
A sphere remained permanently fixed in the mouth of its owner via this tube. The tube was linked to its owner's body in the same way as their smaller hindbrain once was, since only enslaved Ood had translation spheres. (TV: Planet of the Ood [+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (TV story)"]) These translation spheres could be clipped on the Ood's shirt when they were not holding them. (TV: The Impossible Planet [+]Loading...["The Impossible Planet (TV story)"], Planet of the Ood [+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (TV story)"])
The translation spheres were created by Dr Odysseus Scott, who lent them his voice, as part of a communication network for his team whilst on a project. Afterwards, the team sold the spheres without changing his voice and paid him off, which he did not see as suitable recompense for the humiliation of Ood speaking with his voice. (AUDIO: Odyssey [+]Loading...["Odyssey (audio story)"])
Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor acquired an Ood translation sphere at some point and kept it in the drawing room of his TARDIS. (GAME: TARDIS [+]Loading...["TARDIS (video game)"])
When the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory arrived in the bubble universe, they met an Ood called Nephew with a broken translator sphere. When the Doctor opened it up and repaired it, the translator picked up the recorded messages of the murdered Time Lords from their Hypercubes. (TV: The Doctor's Wife [+]Loading...["The Doctor's Wife (TV story)"])
Brian the Ood was bought by the Lesser Order of Oberon before the time where his hindbrain would typically be removed. They cut his off hindbrain themselves in a dark basement, quickly and roughly, which made Brian obedient, but not docile. (AUDIO: The Minds of Magnox [+]Loading...["The Minds of Magnox (audio story)"]) However, he developed a split personality, as his delusions imbued his translation sphere with all the malevolent aspects of his psyche under the name of "Mr Ball". (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead [+]Loading...["The Knight, The Fool and The Dead (novel)"], AUDIO: He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not [+]Loading...["He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not (audio story)"])
Use as a weapon[[edit] | [edit source]]
Rebellious Ood turned the spheres into deadly weapons by using their innate psychic powers to amplify the power of the spheres' battery packs. (PROSE: Planet of the Ood [+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (novelisation)"]) Ood Operations had no idea how this was done, and indeed did not initially notice it, attributing deaths to heart attacks and industrial accidents.
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There were two ways the Ood were seen using the sphere as a weapon. Either they threw it at the victim and let it spring back and caught it, or they could simply place it on someone's forehead. The effect would be the touched area lighting up and crackling with electricity, and the victim would drop to the floor, dead. (TV: The Impossible Planet [+]Loading...["The Impossible Planet (TV story)"], Planet of the Ood [+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (TV story)"])
While assisting the Ood in freeing themselves from the control of Ood Operations, the Tenth Doctor used translation spheres stored in Ood Conversion to blow up the entire building by finding the psychic frequency the Ood were using to amplify the batteries. (PROSE: Planet of the Ood [+]Loading...["Planet of the Ood (novelisation)"])