Josh: Doctor Who Classic: Terror of the Autons

After his contribution to my Inferno review, Josh a series with some of his views on Classic Who. So, without any ado, here's Josh's review of Terror of the Autons. Archie.

Farrel surrenders to UNIT as the Master

 Doctor Who - Season 8, Story One - Terror of the Autons

The serial that opened Season 8 and Jon Pertwee's second as the Doctor saw the introduction of three new characters. Mike Yates, a UNIT Captain, Jo Grant, the Doctor's new assistant and the Master his Time-Lord adversary. The latter would become the Doctor's main arch-nemesis who would become a recurring villain in the Classic era and still be one of the show's staples in the present day. For his introductory story the hypnotic psychopath tries to use the Nestene and the Autons for his own use.
     With the help from a hypnotised circus owner Rossini the Master is able to steal the sole surviving Nestene energy unit from the National Space Museum. As the Doctor forcibly is made to accept Jo Grant as his new assistant, the Master then hooks up the unit to a radio telescope after killing the technician and taking the professor in charge under his control. With news of the missing men from the telescope facility the Brigadier, the Doctor and Jo investigate where the Doctor's warned by another Time-Lord that the Master is there to try and kill him. In the meantime the Master posing as 'Colonel Masters' hypnotises Rex Farrel the young owner of a plastics factory to make Autons, his father is suspicious of the Colonel. Jo who is investigating the factory  is caught, the Master wipes her mind of him and hypnotises her to open up a bomb pretending to be the found energy unit in order to kill the Doctor at UNIT. The Doctor throws the bomb away and gets Jo out of her hypnotic state and she's unable to remember the Master's whereabouts. The Master at the same time kills a suspicious Mr McDermott with an inflatable chair and later sends home the elder Farrel with an ugly plastic doll that strangles him to death at his home.
     The Doctor goes looking for Professor Phillips at Rossini's circus, both Rossini and Phillips under the Master's control. Jo, against orders, has followed the Doctor and both are temporarily imprisoned by Rossini who captures them, when free Phillips tries to kill them with a grenade. Appealing to his better nature the Doctor manages to get Phillips to try and rid of the grenade but it kills him. The Doctor and Jo are then attacked by Rossini's circus to be saved by two Autons posing as policeman shortly followed by the Brigadier and Yates. The Doctor and Jo escape the car they're in to witness a firefight between UNIT and the Autons, UNIT win and all return back to base. There the Doctor reveals he's managed to steal the dematerialisation circuit from the Master's TARDIS but it isn't compatible with his and so realises both him and the Master are stuck on Earth. Autons then disguise themselves in carnival outfits handing out plastic daffodils to the public which start to kill people. Investigating the elder Farrel's death the Doctor figures out which company the Master has been working at to produce the Autons and takes back the ugly doll that kill elder Farrel to UNIT. In that time the Master, disguised, has installed a new telephone wire and Jo is then attacked by the doll before its killed by Yates. The Doctor believes heat causes the 'alive' plastic to become sinister but is soon proven wrong. UNIT find out the Autons have chartered a bus with young Farrel and plan an air-strike as the Doctor is nearly killed by the plastic phone wire activated by the Master. It appears radio signals activate the plastic and a plastic film that dissolves in CO2 has been killing people.

Who said telephones weren't dangerous?

     Coming to retrieve his dematerialisation circuit the Master takes the Doctor and Jo hostage when he finds out about the airstrike which is called off. Farrel coming back to normal diverts the Auton bus and the Master sets off to the radio tower to activate the Nestene invasion force. The Doctor and Brigadier follow as the Autons and UNIT battle, the Master then helps the Doctor stop the invasion realises he'd die with the human race too. In the hubbub the Master escapes later to be shot dead by Yates but it turns out it's Farrel in a mask and the Master is somewhere on Earth for the next adventure.
     'Terror of the Autons' is slow and rather mildly entertaining during it's first two parts. Episode three's beginning sequence suddenly picks up the pace of the story. The serial is more or less a parallel and more camp version of Spearhead from Space but with the Master at the helm. There are some brilliant action sequences and very interesting plastic based deaths but characterisation following such events is short-lived. The story in perspective is your generic end-of-ther-world-by-invasion plot but still an interesting concept. The best part of the serial is our introduction to Delgado's magnificent Master who's true nature develops over time but when his character is formed we understand him in a way. TOTA leaves the audience speculating what's next for the Doctor and the Master and leaves things very open-ended about their history and relationship. It's a new dynamic to the mythology of Who at the time and was the inventive thing to do to keep it going strong in it's eighth season. Beginning as a slow-burner season opener radically changes and things become more exciting with a repetitive yet insightful musical score. The special effects and stunts are surprisingly good but the constant bickering between the Doctor and the Brigadier becomes predictable and sometimes time-wasting.
     Still, Terror of the Autons gradually becomes a well-written action romp with only few Autons and an interesting insight to the Doctor's mysterious past. A particularly effective season-opener but with a lot more potential in certain areas. It's a shame more screen-time wasn't available for Pertwee and Delgado's characters to talk or that Katy Manning's performance is a little empty. Still, the Pertwee-Era remains strong.

Thanks, Josh.
P.S. As Archie mentioned; I'm back. And I'm here every week to review Season 8 and onwards through the Seventies era.