Terror of the Autons Episode Four

The one where the Master teams up with the Doctor to defeat the terror of the Autons...

In the past three episodes alone, the Master has tried to kill the Doctor at least four times - first by rigging a volatiser trap in the radio telescope, then by hiding a bomb inside a UNIT crate, then by trying to blow him up with a grenade held by Phillips, and then by using a sentient trimphone cord. So when the Master suddenly appears in the Doctor's lab (what was he doing up the spiral staircase?), pointing a weapon right at him, you expect him to be able to see his threat through.

But oh no, like so many arch-villains in adventure fiction, he has too much to say for himself and ends up missing the easiest opportunity for killing the Doctor he's yet had. All he had to do is point and shoot, but his urgency to get back to the bus at the quarry means he loses all reason and instead orders the Doctor to drive him there in Bessie! I find it hard to believe the Master doesn't really mean to kill the Doctor, because he's tried in four pretty uncompromising ways already. If this is all just a game to the two of them (as has been suggested in some quarters of fandom), then the Master doesn't mean the game to last very long!

There's much concern about what the plastic daffodils do, and seeing as they are not activated by heat, the Doctor wonders what dastardly use the Autons have for them. Taking a step back, it's all rather silly that we're talking about killer daffodils here, but I suppose it's just as preposterous as killer mud, or sentient puddles, or a talking frog. Doctor Who has always tried to put a deadly twist on everyday objects, whether it be a wheelie bin, alien pollen or giant ants.

When the daff springs into life and sprays a plastic film over Jo's mouth and nose, cutting off her breathing, things take a very dark turn. The killer daffodil is officially called an autojet, invented by the Master using Nestene technology, and is really horrible. I'm not sure why it hasn't activated before now though, seeing as both the Doctor and Captain Yates were looking at it earlier. Maybe it's programmed to target elfin young women?

The Doctor and Jo are taken prisoner aboard the Master's bus HQ, tied up and thrown to the ground while the Autons get their shit together. Little does the Master know that the Doctor is broadcasting a Morse code message via brake pedal, one of the wackiest ideas I've seen in Doctor Who for some time! And even though they only start transcribing the message halfway through, the super-observant UNIT lads still manage to work out what the Doctor's saying and get to Beacon Hill. The fact the UNIT boys travel in a civilian Austin car is just preposterous.

It's an interesting coincidence that a radio telescope features heavily in both Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley's first stories playing the Master, and that somebody falls to their death in each story too. Both stories also feature a mysterious floating observer (the Time Lord and the Watcher), and the control rooms at the top are of very similar design.

It's at the point that the Master decides to "turn good" and help the Doctor defeat the Nestenes that this story falls apart for me. After everything he's done, all the plans and plots and schemes and traps, the Master realises that he's as vulnerable as the humans are if the Nestenes take control of Earth. So to save his own neck, he helps the Doctor "change the polarity" of something or other, and the Consciousness is zapped off back into space. Simples.

It's a huge cop-out on Robert Holmes's part that the Master teams up with the Doctor at the end. The threat is overcome too easily and suddenly, and in a way that simply doesn't wash with me - pressing a few buttons on a computer. That solution has been used so many times in Doctor Who over the years, but here it smarts slightly more because it's the supposedly evil, ruthless, merciless Master doing it.

And then he escapes, back to his bus, where he tricks UNIT into thinking he's surrendering by sending out poor Rex Farrel in his clothes and with an utterly convincing/ not convincing face mask of himself on. It's not clear why Rex doesn't try and tell them who he really is - maybe the mask prevents him talking? - but when he tries to shoot Yates, that's his downfall. It doesn't wholly make sense, especially as Farrel was showing clear signs of having slipped out of the Master's hypnosis and seen the error of his ways (he tried to crash the bus at one point). If Farrel really was a good man after all, why did he pull a weapon on Yates? Nevertheless, the fact the Master did that to Farrel is pretty cold.

The Master makes his getaway in the Auton bus, and everybody happily watches it speed away. Why don't they jump into their UNIT jeep or Austin and get after him? It can't be hard to chase down a tour bus in open countryside, even for an inept UNIT driver. They later find the bus abandoned and the Master gone, but if they'd actually pulled their fingers out right there and then they would have caught up with the Master no problem. UNIT really are useless sometimes.

We conclude with the Doctor revealing that he swapped the Master's dematerialisation circuit for his own, and so the Master is as trapped on Earth as the Doctor for the time being. Our hero says he's looking forward to meeting the Master again, as if they're two old friends on a dinner date. The Master tried to kill you, Doctor, and almost succeeded in killing your new friend, Jo Grant. He also managed to kill Goodge, both Mr Farrels, McDermott, Professor Phillips, an unsuspecting radio telescope technician, plus countless other innocent members of the public who fell victim to the deadly daffodils. This is not a jolly stroll in the park, Doctor - this guy is a psychopath! Wise up, man!

Terror of the Autons is a poorly structured story with a truly weak ending. It's got some wonderful set-pieces in it (the Auton policemen, the deadly daffodils, the phone flex, the troll doll) but as a whole, the story is baggy and poorly thought through. The Master is an interesting new addition to the Doctor's pantheon of enemies, but lacks motivation for most of what he's doing. Why does he want to destroy humanity? He can't just be evil for evil's sake, there needs to be a reason. Despite Roger Delgado's fantastic performance, I think the writers need to convince me a little more of the Master's raison d'etre. Just being the token bad guy ain't enough.

By the way, why has the Doctor got a stuffed puffer fish hanging by string from the ceiling of his laboratory?

First broadcast: January 23rd, 1971

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The asphyxiating daffodils are a truly horrible idea.
The Bad: The Master teams up with the Doctor at the drop of a hat to defeat the Nestene. Bunkum.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (story average: 6.5 out of 10)

"Now listen to me" tally: 11
Neck-rub tally: 1

NEXT TIME: The Mind of Evil...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode One; Episode Two; Episode Three

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/04/terror-of-autons.html

Terror of the Autons is available on BBC DVD as part of the Mannequin Mania box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Mannequin-Mania-Spearhead/dp/B004P9MROY