Prisoner of the Ood

Jenny #1.2

Released: 5 June 2018

Listened: 5/16/23

If you’re going to use Jenny, it makes sense that one would also use some new-series monsters, in this case, the Ood. What doesn’t make sense is Jenny spontaneously turning up in 21st-century Essex, and yet, here we are. The Ood aren’t known for being terribly aggressive, but running a prison to keep a warlord trapped for eternity, that they can do. However, Jenny’s doing the time-travel-scrambled-memory thing, so she has to work out what’s going on as the story goes. As stories go, it’s a bit silly. The cliche of suburban residents facing an alien invasion and getting irritated by it is actually getting a bit stale within Doctor Who, but there’s a hidden twist in this one. There’s also an unusually high body count for a 21st-century story. It’s possible John Dorney was feeling grumpy about his neighbors. Silas Carson plays the Ood, as he did on TV, so they sound appropriately creepy, even when they’re being aggressive, which is a nice touch. A decent runaround with a twist.