Doctor Who - Terror of the Autons Review (Revisited) "I am usually referred to as the Master!"

Right, OK! Its hold my hands up time as I yet again delve into a previous post, which I have already done a revisit of but as I have recently re-watched the content of the post in question, I figured I would still add a few extra details to my previous review. And the review in question is the classic Doctor Who story, Terror of the Autons from the Jon Pertwee era.

So, after almost 50 years how does this story hold up??? Well, let's take yet another look and find out...

And the usual is coming up....

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY 

So, the story begins with the renegade Time Lord, the Master (Roger Delgado) landing on Earth where he steals the only existing Nestene energy unit and uses it to transmit a signal into space from a radio telescope.  The Doctor and his new assistant Jo Grant (Katy Manning) investigate the theft of the energy unit and soon arrive at the radio telescope where the Doctor receives a warning from a Time Lord (David Garth) that the Master has arrived on Earth.  The Time Lord also tells the Doctor about a bomb that the Master has planted inside the operation room of the radio telescope centre, which the Doctor manages to diffuse.   

The Master meanwhile has taken over a plastics factory, run by Rex Farrel (Michael Wisher) who he uses his powers of hypnosis to control him, and creates Autons at the factory.  The Master makes several attempts to kill the Doctor and Jo all of which fail, firstly by hypnotising Jo into carrying a bomb back to UNIT HQ, and then also by trying to strangle him by using a radio controlled signal to cause the telephone flex wrap around the Doctor's neck.

The Doctor also dedcues that the Master who has been using the Autons to distribute plastic daffodils around the country, plans to set off a radio signal, one of which shoots out a plastic cover which nearly suffocates Jo but he saves her, and there are reports of deaths around the country.  The Doctor then travels back to the radio telescope where the Master is intent on re-opening the signal to let the Auton invasion through, and its up to the Doctor to stop him and put an end to the Nestene threat once and for all..... 

THOUGHTS 

Terror of the Autons it has to be said remains something of a landmark in the show's history on two counts in that it for one introduced the "UNIT family" with the newly introduced Jo Grant and Captain Mike Yates, and also one of the Doctor's most memorable enemies, the Master.  The Master is of course one of the best enemies to come out of the series in quite some time as he is a charismatic villain who is every bit as clever as the Doctor.

Terrence Dicks the series script editor also alluded to the Master being the Doctor's equivalent of Sherlock Holmes's arch enemy, Moriarty and there are definitely similarities to be found for sure between these characters.  The story was also quite important as it saw the show make changes for the better as it needed a revamp after the Quartermass style doom and gloom of Pertwee's first season, although it was a very good season in its own right, the show needed to lighten the tone and pace of what went before and Barry Letts and Terrence Dicks both made the right choice in doing so.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers also!)

Performance wise the story is also pretty good and Jon Pertwee by this time has started to begin to grow into his role and he even makes the Doctor a bit more light-hearted than before.  Jon's take on the Doctor here is however a bit more arrogant than what went before but he does have some fun with it as well and he has plenty of good moments in the story.

And as for a few examples there is the scene where the Doctor first meets Jo Grant and he dismisses her at first mistaking her to be the tea lady by saying without looking at her "No tea today, thank you!".  But after Jo accidentally ruins the Doctor's experiment when it catches fire she uses a fire extinguisher to put it out and the Doctor berates her by saying "Three months of delicate work and now look at it, you ham-fisted bun vendor!".

Then there is the scene where the Doctor is visited by one of the Time Lords who warns him that the Master has arrived on Earth and the Doctor arrogantly says "I refuse to be worried by a renegade like the Master!  He's... he's an unimaginative plodder!".  But then the Doctor shortly afterward has to diffuse a bomb planted by the Master in the radio telescope centre and Captain Yates walks in as the Doc attempts diffuse it.  And Yates say to the Doctor "What's that?" and the Doctor says "A bomb" and Yates asks "A bomb?  Is it diffused?" and the Doctor removes the bomb from its casing and looks up at Yates and says "It is now!".   

Another fun moment comes when the Doctor lays into an official from the Ministry, Brownrose and he angrily says to him "Who's in charge of you pen pushers these days?!  Old Tubby Rowlands, is it?!" and Brownrose says "Lord Rowlands is the head of our department".  And the Doctor says "I was saying to him in the club only the other day.  Wrong sort of chap is creeping into your club, Tubby, I said!".

Another good scene comes when the Doctor and the Brigadier enter Farrell's factory office and find it is deserted and the Doctor notices a safe at the end of the room and tries to open it and when he does he finds an Auton in there and yells to the Brigadier "LOOK OUT!!! AUTON!!" as it fires a shot from its handgun, the Brig ducks and the Doctor quickly kicks the safe shut and locks it.  And the Doctor then turns to the Brig and almost smiles and says "They're remarkably persistent aren't they?!".

Then there is the scene where the Doctor is confronted by the Master who turns up at his lab and the Doctor holds the Master's TARDIS dematerialisation circuit.  And the Doctor warns him "If you fire that thing, you will never be able to leave this planet!" and as the Master threatens to kill Jo if he doesn't hand it over, the Doctor thinks about it and says "Touche!" and readies himself to hand it over but is stopped by Jo, who tells the Master the Brig will bomb the quarry.            

WARNING: THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IS A BIT OF A SPOILER!

And last of all is the final scene of the story where after the Master evades capture and Jo mentions how the Doctor had stolen the Master's dematerialisation circuit. So, Jo says of the Master "And now he's stuck on Earth" and the Doctor says "Yes, I'm afraid so" and the Brigadier asks "Do you think he'll turn up again?" and the Doctor says "Bound to" and Jo says "You don't sound very worried" and the Doctor says with a smile "I'm not. As a matter of fact, I'm rather looking forward to it!".

And then we have Roger Delgado, who is terrific as the Doctor's arch enemy, the Master.  Delgado brought a great deal of sly and sinster charm to the character while at the same time effortlessly conveying the Master's evil and ruthless nature.

Delgado has plenty of highlights of his own in the story such as his first one where the Master arrives on Earth in his TARDIS (taking the form of a horsebox) and he confronts a circus master, Rossini.  And Rossini asks the Master "Who the heck are you?" and the Master says "I am usually referred to as the Master" and Rossini says "Oh, is that so?!" and the Master says "Universally!". 

Then there is the scene where one of Rex's father's business partners, McDermott (Harry Towb) meets with the Master at the factory and the Master insists that McDermott sit in a big black plastic chair.  And the Master barks at McDermott to "Sit down, man!" and as McDermott does the chair engulfs and kills him and the Master stops Rex from doing anything and says "No!  I will not tolerate his insolence!".  And the Master then tells Rex "The human body has a basic weakness.  One which I will exploit to assist in the destruction of humanity!".

And further to this scene Delgado has an amusing moment when Rex's father, Farrel Sr (Stephen Jack) shows up and the Master explains to Farrel about how McDermott died and says "Yes he just sat down in this chair and... slipped away".  And later after Farrel leaves the factory, the Master puts one of his plastic dolls in Farrel's car and he says to Farrel "I insist.  I'm simply trying out a new product!" only later it comes to life and kills Farrel.

And lastly there is the scene where the Master finally confronts the Doctor in person in the last episode of the story and the Master delights in mocking the Doctor by saying "You see, Doctor, you're my intellectual equal.  Almost!  I have so few worthy opponents.  When they've gone, I always miss them".  And as the Doctor tells the Master that he has his dematerialisation circuit for his TARDIS and if the Master kills him he will never leave Earth.  

However the Master threatens the Doctor saying "You underestimate me, Doctor. Let me be quite plain. Either you hand that unit over to me now, or I kill Miss Grant!" so the Doctor gives in and is ready hand over the circuit and says "Touche!".  However Jo says that the Master is beaten as the Brigadier is going to bomb the caravan much to the Doctor's disapproval, who shouts "JO!!" and the Master grins and says "Oh. There's been a slight change of plan, Doctor. I've decided to let you live, for a little while!". 

Katy Manning also makes a good impression in her debut as Jo Grant even if she does have some cheesy moments in her performance and it also clear from the get go that Katy and Jon shared a nice chemistry with one another on screen.

Katy still has some good moments such as her first scene where she corrects the Doctor who mistakes her for the tea lady "I'm not the tea lady.  I'm your new assistant!" and the Doctor looks on disbelief and says "Oh, no!". Jo continues undeterred and tells the Doctor "The brigadier asked me to come along and introduce myself, Doctor. Josephine Grant" and the Doctor says "How do you, Miss Grant? I don't really think you're suitable" but Jo tells him "I'm a fully qualified agent. Cryptology, safe breaking, explosives..." and the Doctor interrupts and says "Fire fighting?!". The Doctor then tries to let her down gently and says "I'm sorry, my dear, but what I need is a scientist" and Jo cheerily says "I took general science at A-level" and the Doctor says to her "Yes, I'm sure you did, but even so" and Jo apologetically tells him "I'm sorry I ruined your experiment" and the Doctor gives her a smile and says "That's all right". 

Then we have the scene where asks the Doctor about the Nestenes and she asks "What is a Nestene?" and the Doctor tells her "Ask Captain Yates. He had the job of clearing up the mess last time" but Yates struggles to tell Jo "Its a bit difficult to explain really". So, the Doctor tells Jo "The Nestenes are a ruthless intelligent alien lifeform" and Jo asks "Well, what did they look like?" and the Doctor says "Well I expect myself they are analogous to a cepholapod" and Jo asks "What's a cepholapod?" and the Doctor tells her "An octopus. I thought you said you took an A-level in science" and Jo admits "I didn't say I passed!". 

Then there is the scene where Jo complains to Mike about how she has messed things up by nearly blowing up the Doctor and the others with the bomb that the Master had given her after he hypnotised her.

So, in the scene Jo says to Mike "Life's just wonderful!" and Yates says to her "Easy, love" but Jo continues "I've really got off to a terrific start, haven't I? I find the man everybody's looking for, I forget where he is and I end up by trying to blow you all sky high!".  And Yates tries to appease her by saying "No one's blaming you" but Jo continues "Oh no! You all just tell me to keep out of the way. I'm not a child, you know!" and Yates snaps at her "Well, you're acting like one!".  And as Yates reassures to try and not force herself to remember where the Master is located (due to her hypnosis she can't remember) he says "Just do as the Brigadier says" and Jo smiles "Yes, of course, you're quite right" but by her expression we can see she has something else in mind.  

And lastly there is the scene where the Doctor and Jo are trying to figure what sets off the plastic daffodils to potentially kill its victims. So, in the scene the Doctor asks Jo to stall the Brigadier's airstrike on the Master's tour bus that has the Autons and Farrel onboard. So, Jo get's on the radio to the Brig and says "Hello, Greyhound. This is Trap One. Do you read me, over?" but at that point the daffodil starts to turn and the Doctor says to her "Jo, look!" and he deduces that the short wave radio triggered it off.

So, as it moves, the Doctor paces around trying to suss out how the signal will be sent to trigger them all off and Jo moves closer to the daffodil and she says "It seems to be looking for something" and the Doctor warns Jo "Jo, be careful" but Jo get's closer and the Doctor warns her louder "Jo!!". However, the daffodil suddenly shoots out a liquid that covers Jo's nose and mouth and quickly hardens into a plastic film, so the Doctor quickly sprays an aeorsol on in and manages to pull it off Jo, who gasps for breath. The Doctor grabs her and asks "You all right?" and Jo gasps for air and says "Just a bit short of breath! What happened?" and the Doctor shows her the film and says how it covered her nose and mouth and she would have been dead in under 10 minutes. The Doctor then asks Jo to check with the minister, Brownrose to see if any daffodils were at the scenes of the victims and he asks "You all right?" and Jo says "Fine, Doctor and thank you".

As for the supporting cast members, Nicholas Courtney is great again as the Brigadier and he enjoys some good bantering moments with the Doctor.

And to mention a few of his scene there is the one when the Brigadier tries to persuade the Doctor to give Jo a chance as his new assistant.  And the Brigadier tells the Doctor "What you need, Doctor, as Miss Shaw herself so often remarked, is someone to pass you your test tubes and to tell you how brilliant you are!  Miss Grant will fulfill that function admirably".

Then there is the scene where the Brigadier has a staff meeting and goes over what their plan of action will be to find the Master and the Doctor clearly isn't interested.  And the Brigadier sums by saying "I therefore propose that we redouble our security here and concentrate on finding the Master's headquarters" and the Doctor mockingly says "Well on that brilliant conclusion why don't you get on with it!".  And the Brig then says "Any further comments, Doctor?!" and the Doctor says as he walks off "I'll let you know as soon as I think of any!".

Another good scene from Nick is where the Brigadier insists that he and the Doctor visit Farrel's factory together but the Doctor complains about the lack of lab equipment to the Brigadier that would help him analyse the plastic doll further.

So, the Doctor complains to the Brigadier and says "You should keep this place better supplied! I cannot work without proper equipment!" and the Brigadier says "I'm very sorrry, Doctor". So, the Doctor relents a little and says "Just as well. It will give me more time to look at Mr Farrel's plastic factory". So, as the Doctor makes to go, the Brigadier stops him and says "Now just a moment, Doctor. I'm aware for your preference for acting as a one-man band, but this does happen to be a UNIT operation!". However the Doctor begins to argue with the Brigadier and says "Lethbridge Stewart, I can assure you..." and Yates interrupts and says "He's right you know, Doctor. I better come with you". But then the Brig interrupts Yates and says "No! I shall accompany the Doctor. I'm not entirely deskbound yet, you know!" and as Yates tries to protest, the Brig shouts at him "That will do, Captain Yates! May I remind you that you are duty officer today!".

And lastly there is the scene where the Brigadier saves the Doctor from being strangled by the telephone cable that wraps around him as it is activated by the Master over the phone.  And as the Brigadier pulls out the telephone line, it makes the cable go limp and the Brig asks the Doctor "You all right, Doctor?" and the Doctor wearily says "More or less" and the Brigadier says "I'm afraid I cut your connection!" and the Doctor says "Oh, very amusing!".The Brigadier then asks the Doctor "What happened?" and the Doctor says "Remember what I told you, Brigadier. The Nestenes can put life into anything plastic" and he brings up the phone's flex to prove his point and says "Anything at all!" and the Brigadier tells the Doctor "I see. And there's a lot of plastic around".

Richard Franklin also does very well in his debut appearance as Captain Mike Yates, who would become a regular of the UNIT days and he too has some good moments.

And I will mention a couple such as the one where Mike tries to comfort Jo when she is frustrated she cannot remember anything after her being hypnotised by the Master and trying to blow them up as a result with a bomb.

So, Jo sighs and says "Oh, everything is just wonderful!" and Yates says to her "Easy, love" and Jo continues on ranting "I've really got off a terrific start. I find the man everyone is looking for, I forget where he is and I end up trying to blow you all sky high!". Yates then says "No one's blaming you" and Jo says "Oh, no! You all just keep telling me to keep out of the way! I'm not a child you know!" and Yates firmly says "But you're acting like one!". Jo, then stops and says apologetically "I'm sorry. But only if I could show them" and Yates reassuringly says to her "Don't try. Just do as the Brigadier says" and Jo suddenly gives him a coy grin and says "Yes, of course. You're quite right".

And lastly there is the scene where Yates attempts to make some cocoa with the Doctor's bunsen burner. So, Yates says to Jo "Until you've had a mug of army cocoa, you just haven't lived" and Jo says to Yates "You know, I don't think the Doctor would approve of that" and Yates asks "What?" and Jo tells him  "Making free with his bunsen burner!". So, Yates tells Jo "Then he shouldn't go off gallavanting leave me stuck here" and Jo says "I'm stuck here too" and Yates patronisingly says "Oh, well that's different, isn't it? I'll just go and fetch the gubbins!".

Michael Wisher also provides a very good performance as the weak willed factory owner, Rex Farrel who falls under the Master's control and he conveys Farrel's emotional conflict very well.

And Wisher has a few scenes worth mention such as the one where Farrel's business partner, McDermott (Harry Towb) visits the factory to find out what is going on.

So, in the scene Farrel tells McDermott of the Master "He's taking over our entire production at the moment" and McDermott asks Farrel to look through a file of orders to say if the Master is there. So, Farrel does so but cannot find a card and he looks puzzled and says "I don't understand. There should be a card for him!" and he touches his head in frustration. McDermott then suggests that Farrel take a few days off as he looks stressed and he will call Farrel's dad to come back in to run the business. However, Farrel takes offence of this and angrily tells McDermott "May I remind,  Mr McDermott that my father is retired! I'm running this place now".

McDermott however tries to appease Farrel by reminding him that he remembered Farrel as a child, which makes Farrel become snappy and he shouts "Alright! There's no need to go over THAT again!". McDermott then says to Farrel "Sorry, Rex. But I made a promise to your father I would" but Farrel shouts "There's no need to bring father into it!". Farrel then calms down and says to McDermott "Look, I'll go fetch him. He's only down in the lab" and McDermott asks "Who?" and Farrel smiles and says "Colonel Masters, of course! He'll explain everything" and then leaves. 

Then there is the scene where after McDermott meets a sticky end after his discussion with the Master by sitting in a plastic inflatible chair that suffocates him to death. So, after McDermott is bumped off, Farrel calmly flicks a switch on his intercom and asks his secretary outside "Sylvia, will you check Mr McDermott entitlement to termination of employment please?". The Master then says "Its a very clumsy product this. You can see now why this while product has to be changed" and Farrel calmly says "Oh, I don't know. It seems very effective to me".

John Baskcomb is also very good in his role as the sleazy circus ringmaster, Rossini who falls under the control of the Master, who he uses as a heavy.

And I will mention just one of his scenes and its the one where the Doctor is captured by Rossini's strongarm man, Tony (Roy Stewart). So, in the scene, the Doctor is tied to a chair in Rossini's caravan and Rossini asks the Doctor "What's your name?" and the Doctor says "Smith" and Rossini sharply says "Smith?! You've got no imagination! Try again, Mr Smith!". Rossini then asks the Doctor "Why were you so interested in my friend's horsebox?" and the Doctor asks "What's your friends name?" and Rossini tells him "His name is none of your business!" and the Doctor sarcily says "Strange name!".

Rossini then has Tony twist the Doctor's arm to force him to talk and Rossini tells the Doctor "He'll snap your arm like a twig! Tony don't talk much but he's strong!" so the Doctor gives in and says "Its alright, old chap! I'm perfectly prepared to answer your questions!" and Rossini signals Tony to release the Doctor. So, the Doctor asks "And what was the question?" and Rossini asks him again "My friend's horsebox. Why were you so interested in it?" and the Doctor tells him "I was listening for certain vibrations" and Rossini says "Hmmm, I don't think my friend is going to like you" and the Doctor says "I'm sure of it!".

So, Rossini has Tony search the Doctor's pockets and he brings out a photo of the missing research scientist Phillips and Rossini looks at it closely. So, the Doctor asks "Do you recognise that man?" and Rossini tells him "Maybe" and the Doctor warns Rossini "That photo is of a missing government scientist. If you have had anything to do with concealing him then you are in very serious trouble" and Rossini steps up to the Doctor and tells him "Someone's in trouble all right, Doctor, but it isn't me!".  

Stephen Jack also does pretty well in his role as Farrel Sr, who is brought in on hearing the trouble at his factory and he confronts the Master.

So, I will mention two of his scenes, one being where the Farrel Sr confronts the Master and he demands to know what is going on. So, Farrel Sr says to his son "You'll carry on on the lines I laid down, or I'll come out of retirement and do the job myself. I'm not past it, you know!". The Master then interrupts and says "Allow me to explain, Mr Farrel" and Farrel Sr says "I'd very much be obliged if you would". So, the Master "The changes that I have suggested are for the good of the factory. Now you must trust me, there's nothing to worry about..." and he tries to hypnotise Farrel Sr. However, Farrel Sr manages to resist the Master's attempt and he says irritably "There's a great deal to worry about, sir! And frankly, the thing that worries me most is your presence here!". So, as the Master almost hits Farrel Sr, Farrel stops him and the Master instead congratulates Farrel Sr on resisting him and walks out.

So, after the Master leaves, Farrel Sr says to his son "Damned impertinence! Rex, you better go home. I'll see to things here" but Farrel says "No, please! I can manage things" and Farrel Sr then says "All right. I'll give you till tomorrow. And by then I want this Masters fellow out of here and production back to normal". 

And lastly there is the scene where Farrel returns to his home and tells his wife, Mrs Farrel about the Master and Farrel's irrational behaviour. So, Mrs Farrel in the scene says to Farrel Sr "Poor McDermott. Rex must have been in terrible shock" and Farrel Sr tells her "On the contrary. When I walked in he was just carrying on with his work as if nothing happened!". Mrs Farrel then responds in surprise "Oh, John no!" and Farrel tells her "And this Colonel Masters was just as unconcerned. Frankly, they both seemed quite inhuman!". Mrs Farrel then insistantly says "You will have Rex get rid of that man!" and Farrel Sr firmly tells her "I most certainly will! Frankly, I just didn't take the chap or his repulsive toy. Now look at that!" and he shows her the ugly plastic doll the Master gave him.

And not long after just before the doll springs to life and makes its move to kill Farrel Sr, he says to his wife "Its the boy's attitude I can't understand" and Mrs Farrel says "It certainly doesn't sound like my Rex. Oh, well I'll go and make the coffee" and she heads into the kitchen. So, Farrel then sits back with his newspaper and he says to himself of his son's attitude "Its beyond me!" just before that creepy little doll heads for him...

And last of all John Levene provides his usual solid turn as the ever trusty Sergeant Benton although his role at this point is still pretty small but he would go on to get more screen time as the season went on, particularly in this season's finale, The Daemons.

However with that said I will mention one of John's scenes and that's the one where the Doctor narrowly avoids the UNIT team all being blown up by a bomb brought to them by a hypnotised Jo.

So, the Doctor grabs the bomb just in time and chucks it out the window just before we hear a loud explosion. So, Benton tells the Doctor "Strewth! There's going to be some complaints about that, you know, Doctor" and the Doctor sharply tells Benton "My dear, Sergeant. If that box hadn't been tied, you wouldn't be here to receive any complaints!" and Benton says "Yes, sir. I mean no, sir!". 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC     

Getting onto the producer/director, Barry Letts does a good job here with the story as he once again takes on the dual mantle of producting and directing the story (although only crew were allowed only one credit at a time back then on screen).

Letts again provides the story with a good mix of fun and drama and he also allows for some memorable scenes such as the fight scene in the quarry where the UNIT soldiers fight the two Autons dressed as policemen.  And Mike Yates get's into their car and knocks one of them off the top of the quarry cliff and it falls way down but it soon get's up again like nothing happened.

As for the score, it was by the regular series composer back then, Dudley Simpson and he provides a score which is done all on synthesizers, and the Master's theme itself is very effective, memorable and spooky sounding.  In fact the whole of the 8th season of the show was done using synthesizers, all scored by Dudley Simpson, who later complained to Barry Letts that he founded it exhausting having to perform the music that way.  So in future seasons, Simpson resorted to using other musicians and more traditional instruments as well as combination of synthesizers.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain some spoilers!) 

As for Terror of the Autons flaws..... well it has to be said there are a few niggles to be found here.

For starters the Autons themselves are a bit disappointing here and their facial masks are a pretty crap in comparison to the classic, creepy mannequin masks they had in Spearhead from Space.  So when it comes to the scene where the Doctor pulls one of the Auton's human masks off whilst he and Jo are in the car, it is replaced by a pretty poor looking marble like mask with hollows for the eyes and you can obviously still see the actor's real face behind it!

Another flaw comes in the form of the Master's sudden change of allegiances (PLOT SPOILER HERE!!!!) when he agrees to help the Doctor prevent the Nestenes from invading Earth simply by the Doctor saying to him "do you really think that thing will distinguish between you and us?!" yet he had spent all that time ensuring they would make it to Earth!  And in this moment its almost like the Master all of a sudden had to admit to it like "Oh wait I hadn't thought of it like that!" which in a way quickly negates all the Master had been up to on Earth up to that point and its pretty much a cop-out way for the story to finish off the Nestene menace.      

Another niggle of the story is of course the overuse of CSO (Colour Separartion Overlay) which was heavily used in the 1970s to superimpose backgrounds or to create background effects with people in shot and its safe to say that in Doctor Who they overused it to the hilt!  And yeah its OK to use it for certain background shots such as the Master climbing up the research centre tower, but he even goes as far as to use it to create a CSO kitchen!

And regarding the CSO kitchen, it makes its appearance in the scene when Farrel's wife suddenly turns around as she hears something, which turns out to be ugly plastic doll springing to life which goes on to kill off Farrel.  However at this point you have to ask: why didn't they simply use a kitchen set?!  Surely it wouldn't have cost as much as that to build one even back then!  But nope instead we get treated to the single worst piece of CSO ever used on TV!

And another thing that bothered me about this story was to do with the Master's weapon, the tissue compression eliminator gun he uses to shrink the scientist, Goodge (played by Andrew Staines) as it is simply never explaind what the gun is.  So instead all we get is that one scene where the Master uses it on Goodge and then later we see the Doctor open the lunchbox to find Goodge's miniaturised dead body inside it and no follow up to explain anything about what happened.  In fact I don't think there was any mention made of the Master's weapon and its effects until the Tom Baker story, "The Deadly Assassin" where the Doctor refers to the effect as "matter condensation". 

And last of all I felt at times in this story the Doctor does occassionally verge on being a bit obnoxious as he berates the Brigadier and others around him and even has a pop at Jo at the begining. This is especially notable in the scene where the Doctor rants on at the civil servant, Brownrose and he calls him a "pen pusher" and refers to Brownrose's boss as "Tubby Rowlands" and how the "wrong sort of chap is getting into your lot, Tubby". It also kind of highlights how the Doctor may have a tendency to bullshit people by saying that how he spoke to "Tubby" the other day at his club when he most likely has never been anywhere near Rowland's club in the first place!

And further to this there is also the moment where the Doctor berates the Brigadier for his lack of lab supplies that would help him analyse the Nestene plastic doll. And its moments like this that make the Doctor seem a bit childish and ungrateful as well as bit obnoxious and we all know the Doctor has moments like this but they really are more prevalent here in this story.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Terror of the Autons ceratinly made its mark in the show's history with the introduction of the Master and the UNIT family and as such it helps make this a very enjoyable and memorable story.  And its from here that the Pertwee era would be properly defined and it paved the way for the tone of the rest of that era of the show.

The performances are also pretty good overall with Roger Delgado providing the standout role as the Master but Katy Manning and Richard Franklin also do very well in their new respective roles as Jo Grant and Captain Yates.

And yes the story has some problems as mentioned above with the CSO, not to mention this time around the "title" enemy, the Autons, are in fact the weakest thing about the story itself as they are simply not that compelling this time round.  Although to be fair the Autons smiley masks are still quite creepy and prove to be a bit more effective than the marble-esque masks that we see them in.

So overall, "Terror of the Autons" is another strong story from the Pertwee era and one of my favourite stories of that time and if you are a fan of the original show and like the Pertwee years, this one is well worth a look.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post.

Till then its bye for now!