Doctor Who: 10 Cleverest Classic Who References In NuWho

6. The Ood And The Sensorites

The Ood are one of New Who€™s most memorable creations. Few other creatures in the show€™s history have been written with such complexity. We€™ve seen them develop from the possessed fiends of The Satan Pit to peaceful mystics in The End of Time. They€™re a welcome reminder that Doctor Who has, at heart, a strongly moral message about tolerance and understanding. In the occasionally overblown Russell T Davies years, that level of nuance was welcome. Davies can€™t take all of the credit though. As we€™ve already seen, he€™s astute at borrowing from the forgotten corners of Who history. In this case, he€™s stated that the Ood were partially derived from the Sensorites, an alien race from the very first series of Doctor Who. In their self-titled story, initial expectations that the creatures are purely evil are subverted early on. Compared to The Daleks- the serial that established the Who tradition of malevolent alien beings- The Sensorites are portrayed in more ambiguous terms, with good Sensorites and bad Sensorites interacting with the Doctor and his companions. Besides certain visual similarities, the Ood share telepathic abilities and their basically gentle nature with the Sensorites. Information in the episode Planet of the Ood, as well as tie-in material, also reveals that the Ood€™s home world is in the same system as the Sensorites€™. It€™s a nice piece of universe building in a series that can seem made up as it goes along.