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In this episode the Doctor and Donna travel to the Ood Sphere - the home planet of the Ood - last seen in The Satan Pit. The Doctor hears singing, but Donna can't, and they find a dying Ood. The Doctor feels he owes them one, so they investigate. And we discover the horrible secret behind why they are a slave race.

They are in the 42^nd century. Donna is almost surprised to find that humanity is still alive. All the doom and gloom of the 21^st century - global warming, bees going missing, etc. - suggests to her they'll be lucky to make it. The Doctor makes an odd comment - funny thing about the bees - why not focus on global warming, surely far more serious?

The Ood Sphere is where the Ood are shipped from as slaves and the malevolent sales manager keeps things running. Eventually the Doctor discovers some captured Ood holding a second brain in their hands. It is the removal of this brain that turns them into slaves. Further, they discover a massive Ood brain, trapped and prevented from communicating telepathically.

Ood Sigma has slowly been transforming the sales manager. Eventually he turns into an Ood. The third brain is freed and the Ood are free and their song is heard around the Universe.

The Ood offer the Doctor a place in their song. When the Doctor declines, saying he has a song of his own, Ood Sigma replies that his song must end soon. This seems ominous, but Sigma then says all songs must end. Still, it could be a hint, that the Doctor may regenerate at the end of this series?

There were a couple of popular references in this episode. One of the Ood emits a Homer Simpson-like "D'oh". And when an Ood refers to Donna as Miss, she questions why, asking whether the Ood thinks she looks single. Classic Catherine Tate I would have thought.