N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
Terror of the Autons kicks off the eighth season of Doctor Who with much the same blend of violence and mordant wit that characterised the previous run, whilst at the same time ringing in the changes.
There’s a new UNIT member in the form of Captain Mike Yates and, with relative short shrift, we learn that Liz Shaw has returned to Cambridge and Jo Grant has arrived to pass the Doctor his test tubes and to tell him how brilliant he is.
Despite the Doctor’s initially patronising attitude towards her, Jo is not to be rattled and it’s clear from the outset that the pair will form an excellent partnership – one that sets the formula for pretty much the rest of the decade: the Doctor and a lone female companion having (mis)adventures. Let it be said here though – because it’s not said often enough – Liz Shaw was an excellent character who was an important part of season seven’s considerable strengths.
“Doctor, you’re my intellectual equal. Almost.”
The Master, Terror of the Autons: Episode Four
Of course it’s in Terror of the Autons that we are introduced to the Doctor’s Moriarty – the Master – who comes cued with his own excellent musical motif. Clearly the Doctor and the Master relish the challenge the other presents. Indeed, the Master remarks that he would kill the Doctor ‘but not without considerable regret’.
Like its Auton invasion predecessor, the story comes packed with memorable, dare I say iconic, moments, from the cute/hideous troll doll to the reveal of the Auton policemen and the acid-spraying killer plastic daffodils.
As with much of season seven, it has an edge too. The slow asphyxiation of McDermott is chilling, the camera lingering on him long enough for us to see his last breath. It’s not something I think we’d see in the twenty-first century incarnation of the show and is perhaps all the more powerful for that fact.
The Autons get everywhere in this story; there’s the aforementioned policemen, they’re in oversized carnival mascot form – there’s even one in a safe! (I like to think of him as Terry the Auton, for whom the story is named.) And once again the Doctor gets to gurn as the result of a Nestene attack – as the flex of the telephone tries to strangle him. It wouldn’t be an Auton story without a bit of comedy face-pulling.
But not surprisingly it’s the Master who steals the show. ‘Vicious, complicated and inefficient’, the Doctor describes him. Masterfully played by Roger Delgado, it’s not an inaccurate description, but he’s also damnably charming with it!
"This is the very first episode of Doctor Who with The Master in – if you didn't know. I think he is sneaky."
"At one point someone sits down in a plastic chair and it kills him. The Master says 'he just slipped away'."
"One thing I don't like about this story is that Liz is gone!"
