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JON PERTWEE 1970-74
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THIRD DOCTOR | TERROR OF THE AUTONS

 
"...The human body has a basic weakness.
One which I shall exploit to assist in
the destruction of humanity..."

STORY PLOTLINE

The Master arrives on Earth at a circus run by a man named Rossini and steals a dormant Nestene energy unit from a museum. He reactivates it using a radio telescope and uses his hypnotic abilities to take control of a small plastics firm run by the Farrel family, where he organises the production of deadly Auton dolls, chairs and daffodils.

Humanoid Auton dummies distribute the daffodils - designed to spray a suffocating plastic film over their victim's mouth and nose - by giving them away free to members of the public in a fake promotional campaign.

DVD EXTRAS

"I have come to destroy you Doctor, once and for all!" The Earth is in terrible danger: the Master is back with an evil scheme to destroy humanity and silence the Doctor forever. His plan: to awaken the awesome power of the Nestene, a ruthlessly aggressive alien life form. Once mixed with plastic, they will form into faceless automatons, a willing army of destruction easily controlled by the evil Time Lord himself. This is the terrible threat now facing the Earth: the terror of the Autons!

Aided by the Brigadier and his enthusiastic new assistant, Jo Grant, only the Doctor can combat their evil power...but first he must defeat the Master!

  • Audio Commentary
  • Life on Earth (33' 40")
  • The Doctor's Moriarty (18' 53")
  • Plastic Fantastic (11' 01")
  • Photo Gallery (6' 30")
  • PDF materials: Radio Times Listings, promotional material from Sugar Smacks, Nestle
  • Production Notes Subtitle Option

COMMENT 

Recorded in 2001, the studio commentary is wonderfully reminiscent, witty, informative and heart-warming, with Courtney, Letts and Manning on the best of form. Listen to it and then re-watch the beautifully restored print of TERROR OF THE AUTONS armed with a glass of wine and packet of Tortilla Chips.

The clarity of the restoration is superb, with the stitched detail of the Doctor’s shirt probably clearer and more define than the original 1972 broadcast. This is exceptional work from BBC DVD.

On TERROR OF THE AUTONS, Barry Letts: A very important story to me in many ways. I put my own stamp on it as I had inherited everything from my first season, and I directed it.

ANECDOTE: Barry Letts recalls that with the launch of the Master he had secured the cover of the RADIO TIMES. Such was the prominence of Roger Delgado’s image on the cover the public thought he was the next Doctor. “Jon was very angry”.

On wildly using the fire extinguisher, Katy Manning: Jo began like this and ended like this, and it was second job ever as an actress.
Barry Letts: For Jo Grant, I interviewed about 100 girls, got it to four girls and then gave each of them extended two hour auditions. And then you came in…

(Laughter)

Barry Letts: Serendipity.
Nicholas Courtney: I don’t think Jon was displeased.

On the Brigadier’s penchant for facial expressions, Nicholas Courtney: Lift and eyebrow. I can’t lift to order.
Katy Manning: It speaks volumes.

FACT: In several scenes a “stand-in” actor was used due to Nicholas Courtney’s daylong illness. You can see this “stand-in” in the front seat of Bessie.

On taking DOCTOR WHO seriously, Barry Letts: You cannot play it like a pantomime. You have to play it straight.
Nicholas Courtney: Quite right.

FACT: The murder of Goodge (Radio Telescope Technician) was so complicated that studio-recording time was reduced by two hours. Barry Letts did not like the original CSO and, finally, the effect of the actor lying within the lunch-tin was enhanced by having the actor laying on a “shaped piece of brown paper” representing his shadow.

On the Doctor toying with his chin lost in thought, Barry Letts: He loved that gesture. Rubbing his chin when he’s thinking.

On the variations of the UNIT Laboratory, Barry Letts: The UNIT headquarters moved around when the story demanded it. By a canal, next to a field…
Nicholas Courtney: But we never got to Geneva.

On Delgado’s hypnotic stare, Katy Manning: His eyes were mesmerising.

On the death of McDermott in the “autonic chair”, Nicholas Courtney: What a way to go.
Barry Letts: It was shot backwards and then we reversed the shot to get the effects.

On Farrell’s costume, Katy Manning: Could that tie be any wider, Michael (Wisher)!

On remembering the recording at the Circus, Katy Manning: This very much upsets me. Appalling. I was so unhappy about how the animals were kept.

On seeing the “autonic troll doll activating on the radiator shelf, Nicholas Courtney: That’s how I get out of the bed in the morning.

On THE MIND OF EVIL story, Katy Manning: One of my favourites.

On seeing the Doctor smacking Jo Grant on the “rear”, Nicholas Courtney: I love that smack on the bum.

On the use of non-military vehicles for UNIT, Barry Letts: At the time, it was a very cheap show and we couldn’t afford a proper car for the Brig.

ANECDOTE: Barry Letts recalls the letter he received from the Metropolitan Police asking DOCTOR WO to be more careful in depicting Police Officers after the show had shown the Doctor ripping off an Officer’s face (to reveal an Auton).

On the “hit-and-fall” stunt of AN Auton tumbling down a ravine, Barry Letts: Incredible stunt. Terry Walsh always used to double for Jon so he was in every show.
Katy Manning: I love the Brig.

On the “autonic salesmen”, Nicholas Courtney: I don’t like the big red lips.
Katy Manning: Too much collagen.

On the character Brownrose, Nicholas Courtney: It’s not “Brownnose”.

On the comforting of Mrs Farrell by Jo Grant, Nicholas Courtney: Katy doing her Florence Nightingale.

On his “telephone acting”, Nicholas Courtney: I was always very good at phone acting, always reacting to the other person at the other end who is not there. I was always on the phone.

ANECDOTE: Barry Letts recalls actor Tommy Reynolds (the “autonic troll doll”) becoming to hot and stifled in the troll doll costume that he collapsed due to the heat and could not complete the scene when it attempts to attack Jo Grant.

On the Auton in the safe, Barry Letts: Why is there a chap in the safe? Utter rubbish. A bit daft.

FACT: In this newly restored version, you will notice that as the daffodil is about to spray a plastic film across Jo’s mouth that the clear plastic “cover” is seen on the laboratory bench (ready for Katy Manning to grab it and place it over her mouth).

On seeing the Master’s tissue compression device, Katy Manning: I thought he was a to smoke a cigar.
Nicholas Courtney: An odd shaped gun.
Katy Manning: Very (Noel) Coward.
Nicholas Courtney: He’s going to take a puff.

On remembering Roger Delgado’s funeral, Nicholas Courtney to Katy Manning: I remember your shaking shoulders in the church.

On the ending of TERROR OF THE AUTONS in the Control Room, Barry Letts: We failed. It all happened in a split-second. But we accepted it and hope people didn’t worry about it.

And the visual effects used during the ending, Katy Manning: How did you do this one?
Barry Letts: God knows.

(Laughter)

On Roger Delgado, Katy Manning: He’ll never be forgotten. The best adversary on television.
Barry Letts: I quite agree.

Admittedly, the "Value Added Material" (VAM) is limited to three main featurettes but the quality is, once again, exceptional, informative and entertaining.

LIFE ON EARTH (complete with thoughtful graphics) is, in effect, “The Making of…TERROR OF THE AUTONS” with contributions from its director/producer, Barry Letts, script editor, Terrance Dicks, and cast members Katy Manning, Richard Franklin and, courtesy of archive material, Jon Pertwee.

However, handily, the featurette is sliced in to easily digestible chunks for the viewer. It’s neat, as it the inclusion of the archive material featuring Pertwee.

Pertwee describes Katy Manning as “lunatic. Irrepressible. Terribly funny. Moments of awfulness and an astonishing attractive woman. Completely spontaneous actress”, whilst Richard Franklin recalls that Jon Pertwee was the “Father of the family” and that he was “respected as a senior figure” with “charisma”, and Katy Manning champions the story’s director, Barry Letts as a “very smart man”

NEW SERIES Executive Producer, Phil Collinson discusses how the 2005 launch episode, ROSE, chose the genius of Robert Holmes’ creation, Auton, as its foundation, which Barry Letts considered as “so gratifying”, whilst Terrance Dicks only criticism is that the writer’s scripts were frequently late, and always short. Dicks’ criticism continued as he considered the NEW SERIES writer, Russell T Davies to have a background of a “very superior soap”.

In the surprising “sub-title” of “No sex please, it’s 1971” Barry Letts assessed that social ethos about sexual freedom had changed since but during the Pertwee era there was no sexual hinting (Jon Pertwee: “Fondness is a very different thing to desire”).

However, whilst there was no sexuality displayed there was “teatime terror” and, at time, TERROR OF THE AUTONS pushed the limits leading to a Parliamentary Question being asked.

In THE DOCTOR’S MORIARTY is predictable and covers a lot of ground this covered in both previous documentaries and in the (excellent) commentary track.

An analysis of how plastic has become an integral part of modern life and how something so bland could be portrayed as something so deadly may not be everyone’s cup of tea but PLASTIC FANTASTIC this is an highly informative, funny and entertaining documentary. Recommended. It reveals that an episode of ADAM ADAMANT used deadly plastic flowers as a cornerstone plot device, and NEW SERIES writer Robert Shearman sums up TERROR OF THE AUTONS as a “synthetic story – gaudy and colourful”.

DOCTOR WHO – TERROR OF THE AUTONS is one of the classic CLASSIC SERIES stories and it is not hard to see why. You know the story, the characters and the wonderfully restrained & honest actor of the core team, and with this DVD release – yes, I will say it again; it is gloriously restored – you will want to repeatedly watch it.

You could lend you copy to a friend but be warned; you may never see it again.


EOH CONTRIBUTOR
MATTHEW WALTER
EOH RATING

eyeofhorus BBC DVD rating: 10/10

INFORMATION

Jon Pertwee is the Third Doctor



DVD Release 09.05.2011

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