Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Planet of the Ood

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This page is for discussing the ways in which Planet of the Ood doesn't fit well with other DWU narratives. You can also talk about the plot holes that render its own, internal narrative confusing.

Remember, this is a forum, so civil discussion is encouraged. However, please do not sign your posts. Also, keep all posts about the same continuity error under the same bullet point. You can add a new point by typing:

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::This is a counter-argument to point one.
:::This is a counter-argument to the counter-argument above
* This is point two.
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• The Doctor does not seem affected by the Ood Sphere's cold weather, but in The Abominable Snowmen, he felt it necessary to don a fur coat while travelling in the mountains of Tibet.

If the Doctor had a more frail body, he would have felt to cold more.

Necessary could mean as a fashion accessory.

• When Halpen and Ryder first go to Warehouse 15, Halpen pours his "hair tonic" onto the Ood Brain. When he retreats from the edge of the containment area, there is still tonic in his glass which he drinks and then leaves.

Ood Sigma passes him another glass. You can just about see his arm lowering as Halpen begins to lift the glass.

• The Ood Brain has a bad reaction to the hair tonic, why don't Ood suffer from it?

Technically, it wasn't a bad reaction. Since the 'hair tonic' was actually to turn Halpen into an Ood, it is likely that the liquid helped the Ood Brain to strengthen.

Of course, I'm pretty sure pouring an energy drink on your brain wouldn't feel too good either.

• As the Ood begin to turn bad, the Ood behind Solana briefly stops panicking.

This belongs in the production errors section, it's likely this is a production error, as opposed to a discontinuity one.

• Ood fighting against the armed guards are seen not to be suffering from Red Eye.

Some of the Ood may have become more aware due to the Ood brain's barrier being weakened, so perhaps they were fighting back against the guards just from their own free will as opposed to from possession.

It's also more likely that this is a production error too.

• When the Doctor and Donna are escaping Warehouse 15, Solona Mercurio joins out of nowhere.

Solana can be seen coming around the corner of the container just after the first security guard is killed by the Ood.

• The Doctor criticises Donna's apparent hypocrisy, pointing out that her clothes were made by, effectively, slave labour. However, in Gridlock, he says that Janis Joplin gave him his coat, implying that it is a coat which was made on Earth and would therefore have been made in similar conditions.

Not necessarily, as Janis Joplin was a folk singer from the Hippie culture of the 1960's and not likely to have owned much in the way of mass produced clothing from sweatshops.

The Doctor, however, wasn't being hypocritical.

The Doctor also wears Converse trainers, which are made by Nike, also under sweatshop conditions.

This could be exactly why Donna calls it a "cheap shot"

• Why wasn't Ood Sigma affected by Red Eye?

As the Doctor explained, the Ood Brain had different feelings. One of them was rage and anger, which most of the Ood felt, giving them red eye. Ood Sigma, however, received the intelligence and patience of the Brain, which helped to turn Halpen into an Ood over a long period of time.

• In Blood of the Cybermen, the Doctor tells Amy that she is protected from the cold by the TARDIS. Donna, however, feels the cold.

The Doctor could have upgraded the TARDIS since then, given his increasing number of adventures in the cold and lack of a heavier jacket.

In fact, it's not hard to imagine that Donna, immediately after this story, asked the Doctor whether he can do anything about the cold, and then he did.

Also, if there were a discontinuity, it would be with the later story, not this one.

• If Solana made mention about alcohol being banned on the base, why were some being served to the buyers?

The no alcohol rule may only apply to the workers of the base.

• How is it that the Ood are freed here, when it is dated to before their first appearance, in which they were still enslaved?