Terror of the Autons - Episode 4

So the final episode starts with the rather silly ending from the previous episode. The only thing that makes it justifiable is when Courtney makes a rather bad joke about cutting the Doctor’s connection. That’s about the funniest part of the episode and pretty soon he is rather gung-ho in this story and no sooner does he end his comedy routine than he starts to get the RAF involved in blowing up the coach that have the Autons on. It was inevitable that this wasn’t going to happen as just before the RAF were about to attack they call it off.

There is another moment in this which did affect me and even today it’s quite shocking and it’s the moment when the daffodil sprayed something over Jo’s face. The first time I saw it I was quite taken aback by it and in context it still works but that that brief two second moment still remains as one of the best moments in Doctor Who.

I can’t believe that it’s taken until episode four for the Doctor and Master to meet face to face. It’s often been said that the Doctor and the Master are the Sherlock Holmes and Moriaty of the sci-fi world and it’s a fair comment. It was a very good scene and went by too quickly before Jo comes in. Jon Pertwee and Roger Delgado are both performing at their best and it was great to watch. Delgado has been brilliant in this four part story because even though the plan goes a bit wonky towards the end, the execution of it was quite good and remains cool calm and collected throughout.The only thing that slightly spoils this story is the Master spends three and a half episodes working on his plan and then the Doctor makes one comment about whether the Nestene would tell the difference between him and the others and this changes the Master’s mind and they work to try and stop it. No sooner has it been thought of than the Nestene’s plan is stopped but that’s not the end of things as the Master manages to get away. This is the season where the Master appears in every single story of this season and I think that this was a mistake really but hopefully as time progresses this will change but I doubt it.

It’s a good story and it’s a good final episode which is slightly ruined by the Master sudden change of heart. I thought that overall the plot was good and the supporting characters all did well and I thought that Farrel Junior was a good character in the end and it was probably the best thing that he ended up being shot by mistake because that pretty much sums up his involvement in this story. It has become noticeable that the shift of stories has definelty changed and it feels like even after the previous season that the show is trying to grow and become better which considering how much I enjoyed the previous season was going to be a tough ask. This was another good opening story and I am looking forward to this season.