Terror of the Autons: Episode One

Nobody can accuse the television series "Doctor Who" of being environmentally unfriendly; they were always happy to recycle used material. "Terror of the Autons", the first serial of the eighth season, is essentially a remake of "Spearhead from Space, the first serial of the seventh season. Once again the Nestene Consciousness, an "incorporeal intelligence", is trying to conquer the Earth, starting with Britain, by using "autons", remotely controlled plastic robots. The autons were brought back because they had proved popular when "Spearhead from Space" was broadcast the previous year, but someone at the BBC clearly realised that incorporeal intelligences do not make very satisfactory villains and that the Doctor needed a more corporeal enemy to fight.

Enter the Master. This serial was the first to feature the evil renegade Time Lord, a sinister figure dressed in black, who was to be a regular villain in the next three seasons (and doubtless would have been a regular fixture for much longer but for the tragic death of actor Roger Delgado in a road accident). His role in this particular adventure is not always easy to understand, because it is never really explained why he is assisting the Nestene Consciousness or how its planned conquest of the Earth is likely to benefit him. Nevertheless, the Master was a welcome addition to the series. Moriarty to the Doctor's Holmes, his appeal to the viewer was that he was one of the Doctor's own people, with a similar intellect and a similar level of technology at his disposal. He presented a greater threat than any human adversary ever could.

I was less happy with another new characters introduced in this serial, the Doctor's new companion, Jo Grant. His previous companion Liz Shaw had been a brilliant scientist and as close to the Doctor's intellectual equal as it was possible for a human to be. She had not, however, proved popular with the viewers and had been written out, and someone decided that her replacement should be as unlike her as possible. Katy Manning's Jo is capable of loyalty and courage, but comes across as a stereotypical dumb blonde bimbo. (She failed science at A-level and only got a job with UNIT because her uncle pulled strings on her behalf). I must admit that in 1971, when I was only a child, I probably did not fully appreciate the differences between Liz and Jo and did not understand their implications, but now that I am rewatching the programme as an adult the substitution of an intelligent woman by an unintelligent one seems like an unnecessary backward step.

"Terror of the Autons" is not really my favourite "Doctor Who" adventure. It is too similar to "Spearhead from Space", and as in that serial many of the details (killer daffodils!) struck me as more surreal than scary. The scene where one character is killed off by a weird little plastic doll struck me as particularly bizarre. It is, however, worth watching as the first appearance of Delgado's masterly Master.

This might have had a touch more menace to it, had the eponymous creatures bent on Earth's conquest not looked like the famous yellow-coats at a seaside holiday camp. Anyway, they are the chosen implements of the malevolent "Master" (Roger Delgado). He has returned to assist the powerful "Nestene" with their dastardly plans but hasn't counted on the intervention of the "Doctor" (Jon Pertwee) and his UNIT ally the "Brigadier" (Nicholas Courtney) who are intrigued when a secret power unit is stolen; then a radio telescope is put out of action and bodies start popping up all over Britain seemingly the victims of suffocation. Now it's up to our intrepid Time Lord to piece together the pieces of this puzzle before humanity is cling-filmed to death. It's good to have "Capt. Yates" (Richard Franklin) back to complete the military team and this story gives "Jo" (Katy Manning) a little more of a role as she proves invaluable helping the "Doctor" work to thwart their antagonists. Thing is, though, despite the best efforts of Delgado - and his penetrating stare - as the megalomaniacal mastermind of evil, this is just another rather cheap and cheerful drama that comes across as vaguely comical at times, and has way too much script. There's just not enough happening, and though the premiss that the world might regret being quite so dependent on plastic one day has some resonance, there's just no peril here and the flat denouement rather sums it all up. I'm sure budgets were an issue, even in 1971, but I think the "Doctor" needs to get back into space and give us some baddies we can get to grips with rather than yet another series of episodes that focus too much on saving our own planet - again, and again whilst facing the endless red-tape of the British government.

For me this four part Doctor Who serial, is not one of the worst Doctor Who's made but its certainly is not one of the best.

Everything that I myself saw in this four part serial, which was made in the autumn of 1970 looks artificial. There is no style in it whatsoever.

The way it was directed by Barry Letts, with the help of his production team, makes this serial look like it was made by a bunch of amateurs.

The story written by Robert Holmes is good, and it is a good sequel to Spearhead From Space. Unfortunately it falls apart visually by both the actors and the production team.

On the acting side there is only one good performance, and that comes from Roger Delgado making his debut as The Master. His introduction in episode one is excellent.

The rest of the cast are so overconfident with their performances, it makes there characters look artificial.

Having parts of the story centre around a circus, a radio telescope at a research centre, a space museum, a plastics factory, UNIT HQ and the debut of Jo Grant, it sadly falls apart at every level of the story.

Unfortunately there is no realism in it.

The Doctor receives a warning from a Timelord, The Master is at large on Earth, and has stolen a vital part of The Nestene consciousness.

It's a brilliant first part to this four part story, not only has one legend joined, in the form of Roger Delgado, but a second also has, Jo Grant, wonderfully portrayed by Katy Manning. The Master would become a huge part of the show, we've had him and her in various incarnations, but there's nothing quite like the original.

It feels very different to the previous series, there's more of a horror vibe, some very nasty acts, with plenty more to follow. It is very grainy in quality, it doesn't look so sharp as say Inferno.

Pertwee is now very much installed as an ambassador and saviour of Earth, he would battle The Master many times with the help of UNIT, just a shame he couldn't travel to other world's.

An excellent start. 9/10

I love Robert Holmes, I love the Autons, I love The Master, I like Jo Grant, and I quite like this story, though it really could have been a lot better. "Terror of the Autons" is a very good story but not a flawless one, this is a story which suffers from a rushed ending, silly plot devices, and even some inexcusable Scooby Doo-like moments in which masks are pulled off to reveal the *yawn* unexpected.

The best part of this story, which is surprisingly light on any of the Auton-induced terror which its title promises (nothing here even comes close to the Autons attacking London in "Spearhead from Space", other than maybe that doll *shudder*), is undoubtedly the first appearance of The Master. Now, The Master may have been remembered by much of the mainstream as a pantomime villain (and apparently Russel T. Davies, who wrote John Simm as an annoyingly flamboyant and silly villain), but that is due to future interpretations of the character. Roger Delgado is nothing short of BRILLIANT as The Master. Cold, menacing, charming, deceptive, and intelligent, this is a proper VILLAIN. Delgado's death was a major loss for Doctor Who.

The Autons and Nestenes are fairly disappointing in this story as they are not really the villains. It would be their last appearance in Doctor Who right until the first story of the revived series "Rose". "Terror of the Autons" is well-written overall although not among Holmes' absolute best. The direction by the uncredited Barry Letts is okay. Katy Manning gets a good start in this story playing Jo Grant, an underrated companion in my opinion.

Episode Ratings:

Episode 1: 8/10 Episode 2: 9/10 Episode 3: 8/10 Episode 4: 7/10

Overall: Average rating amounts to 8/10 and I will stick with that rating for this story across its four episodes