"I am usually referred to as The Master!"
Episode 55: Terror of the Autons.
Companions: The 3rd Doctor and Jo Grant.
Air Date: Four episodes. 2nd to 23rd January 1971.
The Earth is in terrible danger when an evil renegade Time Lord known as the Master arrives at a circus run by a man named Luigi 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.
This story features the return of the Autons and the introduction of a villainous time lord calling himself The Master! The Autons are more of a secondary villain in this tale as it focuses more on the introduction of the Master as a major recurring bad guy for this season of the show. The Master is played exceedingly well by the actor Roger Delgardo. His appearance with goatee, mad staring eyes and his voice immediately make the character a hit.
Elements of this story, mainly an Auton plastic troll doll and a killer inflatable plastic chair, were part of a campaign by Mary Whitehouse and others, who claimed that the show was too frightening for children. Of course the hype only served to make the show more popular. The show would get many such complaints in the 70s and early 80s.
We get an introduction of two new characters starting with this story; Mike Yates - a new addition to the UNIT team, and Jo Grant, a rather ditzy young girl would replaces Liz Shaw as the Doctor's companion. Although Jo and the Doctor don't hit it off immediately, the two of them have great chemistry. Jo will go on to be one of the memorable companions of the classic show.
Terror of the Autons isn't a bad story but it could have been better I feel. It mainly serves to introduce the Master and Jo Grant.
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