Terror of the Autons - Episode 3

The penultimate part of this story starts with the Auton policeman trying to capture the Doctor and Zoe. The mask effect is very good and looks just as creepy as it did at the end of the previous episode. It’s a great opening and we get a great moment when Yates drives a car into the policeman auton and the camera follows him almost without a cut to the bottom of the hill before it shows him coming back up. You can tell that this story is directed by Barry Letts as this whole opening bit seemed very much in the same vein as the opening part of episode one from ‘Enemy of the World’ and it has quite an action movie feel to it. Sadly its over too quickly.

I like the moment where the Doctor tries to take off in the TARDIS and after failing, acts childish and when told not to act childish says that he likes acting childish. He throws another strop when reading a report and finds that nothing has been found. It’s good to see that the Doctor can still get worked up from time to time. This episode is where the Auton’s plan takes a significant step. They have been on the road handing out daffodils to the public but after reports of deaths come in it becomes clear that they are involved. It is also the first time since the story started that Autons seem to be more than passengers in this story. The way they spoke to Farrel is quite forceful and it was good because I was starting to worry about them.

There comes the first instance of something that becomes a trademark of the Master and that is pretending to be someone else via the means of a disguise. In this episode he plays some maintenance man with quite a funny cockney accent. The initial scene does seem like anything important but by the end of the episode it is quite important. It works until the very last shot when Roger Delgado takes off the mask and it looks like a mask. It’s a little bit naughty but I think that overall it’s a good idea.

The whole section about the troll coming back to life as it was by the Bunsen burner which Yates had turned on to make some coco was quite funny. When the Doctor and the Brigadier get back I love the rather sheepish look on Yates’ face. It does lead to a possible theory what causes them but that’s done at the very end of the episode. I love the bit when the Doctor opens the safe in Farrel’s office and there is an auton hiding inside. This was one of the few moments in Doctor Who that actually made me jump and it not often that this happens in classic Who but it’s a credit to everyone involved because its rather well done.

The cliffhanger is perhaps the only thing that is slightly weak because despite being set up early in the episode. It just doesn’t grab me as much as the previous cliffhanger. Despite this rather below par ending, I still think that this is a very good episode and the performances are all sound and it’s a good start to the eighth season.