Terror of the Autons [3.9]

The appearance in a circus of a mysterious man with a goatee spells danger and disaster to the people of Earth. The Master has arrived, and as always, he has a dastardly plan. Stealing the last remaining Nestene sphere, he summons the Autons to earth, intending to employ them as his army in taking over the world.

Quite naturally, Autons need plastic forms to inhabit, and so the Master takes over a plastics factory to create killer armchairs, killer daffodils and of course killer mannequins. Warned by an emissary from the Time Lords, the Doctor is able to fight back. He tracks down the Master, disables his TARDIS and convinces him to abort the plan. But with the Master now trapped on Earth, the Doctor knows he will be back.

The Majesty

“Terror of the Autons” kicks off the second season of Jon Pertwee's Doctor with a brilliant new companion (in the charming Jo Grant) and a 'masterful' new villain (see what I did there?) who will go on to appear in every story of the season. Roger Delgado's acting is brilliantly compelling, and even if he only had the one story, he'd still be one of the best villains of the era. As it is, the debut outing of the Master sees him hit the ground running: his cynical humour, aristocratic manner and ruthless determination make him the perfect enduring nemesis for the Doctor down through the generations.

The Misery

The Autons were a top class villain, and it's nice to see them return, but there is something a little flat about having them coming back so soon after their first outing. They have some cool new features, but seem a lot less scary and sinister than in the original story. The climax is decidedly anticlimactic, as the Nestene never appear as more than a random shimmer in the air, and the Master's abrupt change of heart is very unconvincing.

Magical Moments

• I am usually referred to as “The Master” - it's such a magnificent entrance for Roger Delgado as he leaps out of his TARDIS and into the world of Doctor Who.
• The Doctor gets an equally good opening moment. He sings “I don't want to set the world on fire” then proceeds to do exactly that as he blows up his TARDIS
• “You ham-fisted bun-vendor!” Jo also gets a great entrance – setting up her character perfectly in a single scene. “This place is out of bounds to everyone except the tea lady”
• “What you need is someone to pass you your test-tubes and tell you how brilliant you are.” It's a shame we don't get to see Liz making her farewell, but at least she gets the chance for one last stinging put-down in absentia.
• There are a few excellent supporting characters, including the blustering Northern Irish factory manager Mr McDermott. His response to the inflatable armchair is a brilliant example of Belfast humour (“It looks like a black pudding!”) but doesn't in any way detract from the horror of his death by suffocation seconds later.
• There is again a definite black humour in discovering the miniaturised corpse of the radio scientist inside his own lunchbox next to a half eaten sandwich and a boiled egg
• The doll made by the Master is supposed to be a new line, but we actually only see one example of it – an ugly goblin creature that is a cross between Chucky and Monty Python's 'Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog'. With a bad greenscreen technique, and it's waddling gait it's rather comical but the reactions from the characters make it quite a memorable, creepy addition to the story.
• The circus scenes add a little bit of flavour to the story, without ever properly integrating with the plot. We have elephants, a strong man and a few clowns, and of course the ringmaster.
• “Gentlemen never talk about money!” he says. “Money?” replies the Doctor. “Gentlemen never talk about anything else!”
• The reveal of the Auton policeman at the end of episode 2 is a brilliant cliffhanger.
• In the opening scene of episode 3, Mike Yates rams into an Auton in his car. It tumbles over a cliff in a quite remarkable stunt.
• “What's wrong with being childish?” grumbles the Doctor, childishly. “I like being childish”
• The whole idea of making cocoa in the lab like naughty schoolchildren (and then the Doctor being all angry about it) is both fun and a little silly.

In Summary

"Terror of the Autons" feels like the start of a distinct new season for Doctor Who. Previously, William Hartnell's and Patrick Troughton's series had pretty much run into one another without distinction. Here, Liz has gone, Jo has arrived, the Master has landed on Earth and we even get a warning from the Time Lords that he is a particularly dastardly guy. By this point, we have fully settled into the UNIT era of the show, and the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton and Mike Yates are established characters and friends of the Doctor. It's a particularly special time in the Doctor Who series as it's the only time the Doctor has a home and a family.

As a story in itself, "Terror of the Autons" itself is generally pretty strong, but the Autons themselves are diminished with the Master in charge, and the threat level always seems a bit lower than "Spearhead from Space". The Master's sudden change of heart at the end of the show is a bit unjustified and leads to an anti-climactic finish. As a result, this story is better as a tone-setter for the series than as a self-contained adventure.