Terror of the Autons (TV story)

Terror of the Autons was the first story of Season 8. It was notable for being a "gentle reboot" of the Pertwee era, offering a number of elements which would remain prevalent for the next three seasons. It marked the debut of three new recurring characters, Jo Grant, Mike Yates and the Master. Furthermore, it was the first story in which Sgt. Benton's portrayer, John Levene, was given an annual contract, rather than employment as a day player. It also introduced what became UNIT's standard, green uniforms — the replacements for what Barry Letts disparagingly called the "chocolates" of Season 7 — and a new UNIT laboratory which would be used by the Third Doctor until the end of his exile.

It also featured the first return of the Autons since their debut in Season 7, and the first direct contact between the Doctor and his people since the end of Season 6. It was one of very few stories — and the first since The Tomb of the Cybermen — in which each new episode drew more viewers than the one that had preceded it. Finally, it was also the only televised Doctor Who story to be at least partially adapted as a non-parodic comic strip.

Synopsis
The Master arrives on Earth at a circus run by a man named Rossini and steals a dormant Nestene energy unit from a museum. He reactivates it using a radio telescope and uses his hypnotic abilities to take control of a small plastics firm run by the Farrel family, where he organises the production of deadly Auton dolls, chairs and daffodils.

Humanoid Auton dummies distribute the daffodils - designed to spray a suffocating plastic film over their victim's mouth and nose - by giving them away free to members of the public in a fake promotional campaign.

The Master plans to activate the flowers with a signal from the radio telescope, which he will then use to bring the main Nestene Consciousness to Earth. The Doctor manages to persuade the Master that the Nestenes will have no further use for him once they arrive. The two Time Lords then work together to send the Consciousness back into space.

Episode One
Circus manager Rossini sees a horsebox materialize in the field near the circus tent. Out steps the Master, who quickly overpowers him via hypnosis. He enlists Rossini into helping him steal a Nestene meteorite (leftover from Spearhead from Space) from a nearby museum.

Liz Shaw having returned to Cambridge, the Brigadier assigns UNIT trainee Josephine Grant to be the Doctor’s new assistant. She immediately makes a bad first impression when she extinguishes a small fire on the Doctor’s lab bench, destroying the Doctor’s dematerialization circuit. Dismayed at her lack of qualifications, he attempts to fire her but cannot bring himself to do so.

The Master appears at a deep space radio telescope, overpowering Professor Phillips and his assistant Goodge. He connects the Nestene meteorite to the telescope and transmits a signal.

Investigating the theft of the meteorite and the disappearance of the scientists, the Doctor arrives at the radio telescope. Outside the control tower, a Time Lord arrives to warn the Doctor of the arrival of the Master to Earth, and alerts him to a booby trap inside. Disarming it, he discovers the shrunken body of Goodge in a lunchbox.

At a small plastics firm, production manager McDermott confronts the owner, young Rex Farrel, about the mysterious Colonel Masters (the Master, of course) and the new line of products he has commissioned them into producing. The Master invites McDermott to sit in one of their new products, a self-inflating plastic chair, which comes alive and smothers him. The Master is impressed with its effectiveness, but realizes that they should explore smaller products.

The Doctor correctly surmises that the Master is in league with the Nestenes, and obtains a list of nearby plastic factories. Jo, against the Doctor’s will, goes off to investigate, and arrives at Farrel’s factory. She is quickly discovered by the Master and hypnotized. She returns to UNIT, carrying a crate that apparently contains the Nestene meteorite, but the Doctor quickly realizes it’s a bomb…

Episode Two
The Doctor grabs the crate and tosses it out the window before it explodes.

Rex’s father, the retired founder of the factory, is very upset over McDermott’s death and the arrival of “Colonel Masters.” After his attempt at hypnotizing Mr Farrel fails, the Master gives him a new sample product, a demonic looking plastic doll. He takes it home, where it comes to life and kills him.

UNIT scouts spot the missing telescope scientist, Professor Philips, at Rossini’s circus. The Doctor goes to investigate but leaves Jo behind. The Doctor is quickly captured, as the Master left Philips at the circus to lure the Doctor there. The circus’s strongman Toby is menacing him in a trailer, but Jo, who followed the Doctor, knocks Toby out and unties him. Philips enters with a grenade in his hand, but the Doctor manages to work through his hypnosis. Philips detonates the grenade outside, killing himself. The Doctor and Jo find the Master’s TARDIS (the Horse box) and are confronted by an angry mob of circus employees, led by Rossini. They are rescued from the mob by an arriving police car, but instead of being taken back to UNIT, they arrive in a remote quarry. The Doctor discovers that the policemen are actually Autons.

Episode Three
The Doctor struggles with the two Autons, causing the car to veer, and he and Jo escape from the car. The Brigadier and Captain Yates arrive and rescue them.

They meet Mr Farrel’s grieving widow and take the doll for examination. While the Doctor and Brigadier investigate the plastics factory, Yates and Jo accidentally discover that the doll is activated by heat when Yates uses the Doctor’s Bunsen burner to make cocoa. A mysterious repairman replaces the cord on the Doctor’s lab phone.

The Autons drive around the countryside in a coach bus, donning giant plastic heads, and distribute the latest product of Farrel’s factory, innocent-looking plastic daffodils, to the public, and wait with Rex Farrel in the quarry for further instructions. The repairman arrives, who turns out to be the Master in disguise.

The Brigadier is alerted to a rash of unexplained deaths all over England. The Doctor wonders if the deaths are connected to the daffodils, and takes one for analysis. The Master telephones the Doctor at his lab to say goodbye. He activates a signal and the Doctor’s phone cord comes to life, wraps itself around him, and begins to choke him.

Episode Four
The Brigadier disconnects the phone, cutting off the signal. The Doctor and Jo accidentally discover that the plastic daffodils, which are activated by radio waves, emit an asphyxiating film over peoples’ noses and mouths. The Master arrives at the Doctor’s lab, armed with his shrinking device, ready to kill him. The Doctor shows that he is holding the Master’s dematerialization circuit, which would be destroyed if he used it. Jo breaks the stalemate when she blurts out that UNIT has discovered the location of the coach bus and is planning an airstrike. The Master then alters his plan, kidnapping them and leaving them tied up in the coach bus to be killed in the strike. The Brigadier and Benton see this and cancel the airstrike just in time. Jo proves her mettle by communicating the Master’s plan to UNIT by tapping out Morse Code on the coach’s brake pedals and escaping her bonds.

While the Autons hold off a UNIT force led by Yates and Benton, the Doctor confronts the Master at the radio telescope as he opens the signal for the Nestene invasion force. The Doctor convinces him that he’ll be expendable once the Nestenes arrive, and the Master helps him reverse the radio signal, expelling the force into deep space. The Autons drop dead, their signal cut off. The Master manages to escape, ostensibly with his TARDIS's dematerialization circuit, but the Doctor had switched it with his own. The Doctor admits that since they are now both stranded on Earth, he looks forward to their next meeting.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Jon Pertwee
 * Jo Grant - Katy Manning
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
 * Sergeant Benton - John Levene
 * Captain Mike Yates - Richard Franklin
 * The Master - Roger Delgado
 * Rossini - John Baskcomb
 * Professor George Philips - Christopher Burgess
 * Museum Attendant - Dave Carter
 * Time Lord - David Garth
 * Auton Leader - Pat Gorman
 * Farrel Senior - Stephen Jack
 * Auton Voice - Hayden Jones
 * Mrs. Farrel - Barbara Leake
 * Policeman - Bill McGuirk
 * Radio Telescope Director - Frank Mills
 * Goodge - Andrew Staines
 * Telephone Mechanic - Norman Stanley
 * Strong Man - Roy Stewart
 * McDermott - Harry Towb
 * Brownrose - Dermot Tuohy
 * Auton Policeman - Terry Walsh
 * Rex Farrel - Michael Wisher

Crew

 * Film Cameraman - John Baker
 * Assistant Floor Manager - Bruce Best
 * Film Editor - Geoffrey Botterill
 * Circus Sequences provided by Robert Brothers
 * Script Editor - Terrance Dicks
 * Studio Sound - Colin Dixon
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, arranged by Delia Derbyshire
 * Stunts - HAVOC stunt group
 * Visual Effects - Michealjohn Harris
 * Make-Up - Jan Harrison
 * Special Sounds - Brian Hodgson
 * Writer - Robert Holmes
 * Production Assistant - Nicholas John
 * Producer - Barry Letts
 * Director - Barry Letts (not credited)
 * Studio Lighting - Eric Monk
 * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
 * Costumes - Ken Trew
 * Designer - Ian Watson

Story Notes

 * This story had a working title of; The Spray of Death.
 * Although credited, Bill McGuirk (Policeman) does not actually appear in the story; his scenes having been cut prior to broadcast.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 7.3 million viewers
 * Episode 2 - 8.0 million viewers
 * Episode 3 - 8.1 million viewers
 * Episode 4 - 8.4 million viewers

Myths

 * The production team had initially envisioned the new regular villain for the series as a female character, possibly called the Controller, to be played by Susan Jameson. (The role was always envisioned as a male character called the Master, and Roger Delgado was the only actor considered for it.)

Filming Locations

 * St. Peter's Court, Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire
 * Hodgemoor Woods, Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire
 * Lee Valley Ice Centre, Leyton, London (Location of Rossini's circus)
 * Zouches Farm Relay Station, Caddington, Bedfordshire (Location used for exterior of Beacon Hill Research Establishment)
 * Church Lane car park, Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire
 * Queen's Wharf, Hammersmith, London (Exterior location of the Master's bomb exploding outside UNIT lab, in water)
 * Totternhoe Lime and Stone Co Ltd, Totternhoe, Dunstable (The quarry the Doctor and Jo are taken to)
 * Ecomold (formerly Thermo Plastics Ltd), Luton Road, Dunstable (Farrell's Plastics Factory)
 * BBC Television Centre (Studio 8 and 6), Shepherd's Bush, London

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * Why do the Time Lords confine themselves to simply warning the Doctor about the Master's arrival rather than arresting and trying him? Surely his actions are no less criminal in their eyes than the Doctor's.
 * All elements of CSO have a lot of flaring/fuzzing around the edges of the CSOed image (a museum, the outside of a radio telescope, a lunchbox interior, a lab, the interior of two cars and the coach, a phone box, a kitchen, a quarry and everywhere the killer doll goes). Well you cannot expected a fairly new technique to be perfect
 * In episode one the Doctor could have got to the volatizer by hopping in through the open window (which is how the Master must have got out having set the trap).
 * The ease with which the Doctor manages to convince the Master to change sides at the end of the story is a little unconvincing. The Master is supposed to be a genuis and self-preservation is one of his greatest strengths. Surely he must have already considered the possibilty of the Nestene Consciousness turning on him prior to this. Thats proberly why he got convinced so easily.

Continuity

 * This is a sequel to Spearhead from Space.
 * The Nestene Consciousness appear again in PDA: Synthespians™, Business Unusual and DW: Rose.
 * Part of the Master and the Doctor's relationship is explored in MA: The Dark Path.
 * This is the only story in which Autons speak.

VHS Release

 * Released as a recolourised edition based on black and white and colour source material in the UK April 1993 and Australia/New Zealand June 1993 (BBC catalog #4957), US/Canada June 1995 (WHV catalog #E1276) in episodic format.
 * This release was part of the 30th Anniversary celebrations releases.

Novelisation

 * Main article: Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons


 * Novelised as Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons in 1974 by Terrance Dicks.