Ood
| Ood | |
|---|---|
| Doctor Who alien | |
 |
|
| Type | Squid-faced Humanoids |
| Affiliated with | Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire Sensorites |
| Home planet | Ood Sphere, Horsehead Nebula |
| First appearance | "The Impossible Planet" (2006) |
The Ood are an alien species with telepathic abilities from the long-running science fiction series Doctor Who. In the series' narrative, they live in the distant future (circa 42nd century).
The Ood are portrayed as a slave race, naturally peaceful but readily susceptible to corrupting external influence. They are later emancipated from their slavery and by The End of Time have progressed into an advanced civilization, a development which the Doctor thinks to be impossible, given the time span, 100 years, over which it has occurred.
The Ood are humanoid in appearance with tentacles on the lower portions of their faces. The Ood are a telepathic race, as such they require a "translation sphere" to communicate with non-telepathic creatures. The sphere is connected to the Ood via a tube that originally connected their external brains to their body. Humans in the future would physically remove their hind brains and fix the translator sphere where the brain used to be. There appears to be no gender differentiation among the Ood, though the Doctor seems to be able to determine their gender. When Donna refers to a dying Ood as an "it", the Doctor replies that the Ood is "a 'he', not an 'it'". The Ood say they require no names or titles as they are connected to a hive mind and function as one unit, but they do have designations given to them by humans such as "Ood 1 Alpha 1" or "Ood Sigma" to differentiate them. The Doctor suggests in Planet of the Ood that Ood individuality is a result of the Ood Hive Mind expressing itself differently within each Ood, saying "Funny thing, the subconscious. Takes all sorts of shapes. Came out in the Red-Eye as revenge, came out in the Rabid Ood as anger, and then there was patience. All that intelligence and mercy focused on Ood Sigma." The Ood are empaths, sharing among themselves a low-level telepathic communication field. When reaching out with their telepathic fields, it can be heard as singing. This ability has made them susceptible to telepathic control, and in several episodes they are shown to be controlled by a stronger telepathic force. Oods are a part of the Silence's religious order. They also know the Doctor's name as they had sung it to him in "Planet of the Ood".
The Ood debut in the Series 2 episode The Impossible Planet. They are used by humans as a slave race, performing all manner of menial tasks for the humans in the episode. They are described as offering themselves for servitude willingly, having no goals of their own except to be given orders and to serve. It is also claimed that they cannot look after themselves and that, if they do not receive orders, they pine away and die. The episode also alludes to a group called "Friends of the Ood" who oppose Ood slavery and seek to have them freed.
...
Wikipedia