Auton 2: Sentinel (home video)

 was the second story in the Auton Trilogy of video dramas produced by BBV Productions in the late 90s, and a sequel to the first, Auton. Like most video dramas of this era, it featured characters and concepts from Doctor Who but did not include any main characters from the series.

Synopsis
"We have been colonising other planets for a thousand million years..."

Two years have passed since the Nestene creature vanished from UNIT's top secret Warehouse...

Suddenly and without warning the Nestene strikes, once again using Autons as its deadly foot soldiers. As mysterious UNIT operative Lockwood struggles to unearth the Nestene plan, he finds himself drawn to remote Sentinel Island. There, the population have been caught up in a bizarre frenzy of religious activity.

Lockwood is joined by Natasha Alexander, a new scientific advisor with her own, sinister agenda. To defeat the Nestene menace, they must face the terrifying power of a creature from before the dawn of Mankind...

Plot
Two UNIT operatives, Mike and Dave, are travelling to dispose of some Autons; they stop. Dave gets out and investigates a noise, which turns out to be a Nestene sphere unit. This activates the Autons, which kill the men and drive off. Lockwood is shown to witness this in a dream.

Cast

 * Lockwood - Michael Wade
 * Winslet - George Telfer
 * Natasha Alexander - Jo Castleton
 * Sergeant Ramsay - Andrew Fettes
 * Colonel Wilson - John Wadmore
 * Dr Sally Arnold - Bryonie Pritchard
 * Daron - Warren Howard
 * Charlotte - Patricia Merrick
 * Dave - David Rowston
 * Mike - Nicholas Briggs
 * Hardgraves - John Hawkins
 * Davis - John Hansell
 * UNIT soldiers - Jayson Bridges, Keith Brooks, Stephen Bradshaw, Vaughan Groves, Mark Moore, Gabriel Mykaj, Richard Smith, Blaine Coughlan
 * Villagers - Steven Friel, Peter Trapani, Pete Cox, Rod Horne, Alexander Wylie, John Walker, Mark Jende, Matthew Bradford, Ian Taylor, Philip Clarke, Randalph Edwards, Loraine Malby, Peter Frankum, Keith Burton, Robert Dunlop, Caroline O'Sullivan, Thomas O'Sullivan, Andrew Hasley

Crew

 * Directed by - Nicholas Briggs
 * Written by - Nicholas Briggs
 * Auton and Nestene concepts created by - Robert Holmes
 * UNIT concept created by - Derrick Sherwin
 * Produced by - Bill Baggs
 * Original Music by - Alistair Lock
 * Makeup Artists - Claire Fisher and Kelly Jones
 * First Assistant Director - Blane Coughlan
 * Second Assistant Directors - Patricia Merrick and David Rowston
 * Sound Designer - Alistair Lock
 * Sound - Darko Mocilnikar and Raymond Turner
 * Special Effects by - Benjamin Smith
 * Assistant Camera - Michael Baggs and David Haynes
 * Lighting Technician - Martyn Welch
 * Armourer - Mike Parry
 * Special Thanks - Elisabeth Mykaj, Michael Read of Broad Mead Farm, Reverend Geoffrey Rowston of St. Mary's Church, Rob Denning and the Crew of Light, New Forest District Council, Pamela and Jimmy Briggs, Marian Baggs

Story notes

 * The working title for the story was Auton 2: Rapture.
 * This story features some impressive CGI work of the Nestene Consciousness.
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's call sign, Greyhound Leader, previously used by Lockwood in Auton, is used here by Colonel Wilson.
 * The transportation docket bearing Lockwood's signature, as shown to Lockwood and Dr Sally Arnold by Colonel Wilson, bears the line "Operative 8954B, Codename Lockwood" — indicating that Lockwood is actually a code name for the UNIT operative, and not his real name after all.

Myths
to be added

Filming locations
to be added

Continuity

 * The Autons first appeared in TV: Spearhead from Space. The Autons appear again in HOMEVID: Auton 3: Awakening. Following this their next on-screen appearance is in TV: Rose.

DVD and video releases

 * First released direct-to video in 1998, with a Making Of (previously aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, per the cover)
 * Reissued in 2007 with a number of bonus features:
 * Picture Gallery
 * Auton Diaries - a skit produced specifically for this release, about an unemployed Auton actor who attempts to land a role in the new series
 * The Green Man, a 2002 audio spin-off about the Krynoids from the television story The Seeds of Doom by Zoltán Déry