Doctor Who:
Terror of the Autons
By Robert Holmes
“You are incorrigibly
meddlesome, Doctor, but we've always felt that your hearts are in the right
places. But be careful. The Master has learnt a great deal since you last met
him.”
There is a new threat for
The Doctor. The renegade Time Lord The
Master has made his way to Earth to cause havoc and to take it over. This time his allies are the Nestene and
their plastic servants the Autons. In exchange for the power he craves The
Master helps to hatch the Nestenes plan to take over Earth. The Master has taken up residency in the
plastics factory owned by the Farrel family.
The Doctor is warned about the Master coming to Earth by a pompous Time
Lord who says The Master is not the same push over as before.
The Doctor also has a new assistant
in Jo Grant who does not have the best of first days as she ruins the Doctor’s dematerialization
circuit with a fire extinguisher and gets caught by The Master and hypnotized
into killing The Doctor. All this and
killer daffodils that the Autons are handing out the public to help in the
invasion plans as The Master sets things in motion for the Nestenes arrival.
Terror of the Autons
starts off that love hate relationship fans have with The Master. I for one like The Master in all of his
incarnations but we all have to agree that Roger Delgado was the best of them
all. It was his presence and the way he
conducted himself in the part that made you believe that he was evil. He also had a charm also that made you like
him and that is pretty devious also.
Roger Delgado was so perfect in the part and was really successful as
The Master is the main reason that he has endured to present day as the main adversary
for The Doctor.
Robert Holmes crafts
another gem for Doctor Who with this entry.
His story The Terror of the Autons has so many chilling moments. Like the guy being eaten by the plastic sofa
and the plastic doll killing Farrel.
Those scenes were pretty creepy and chilling that it made you think
twice about certain things made from plastic.
What was also creepy was the doll type faces the Autons masks looked
like. When they were handing out those
daffodils they looked really freaky and evil.
Terror of the Autons
introduces us to a new companion Jo Grant played by Katy Manning. Jo would end up being the main companion for
the Third Doctor. Jo doesn’t have a
very good day but does come out in the end by being able to help The Doctor
escape from the trailer. Mike Yates made
his debut also and UNIT has changed to their all green uniforms replacing the
tan ones they wore last season.
There wasn’t much that I
did not enjoy in Terror of the Autons as I thought the story was pretty good
and the performances were really good. Sure
the effects look dated but if you watch a show for the effects and not for a
good story then well that is your loss. The
Terror of the Autons is a good start to season 8 and to The Master themed
season and it sure picks up on the action that was surely lacking in season 7.
Grade B+
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