Why are these dumb lumps of plastic so LEGENDARY?
They kicked-started our Golden Age. They debuted TWO Doctors. AND the entire colour era. As well as appearing in Old AND New Who, they've got numerous novels (Autonomy in the new series, Synthespians and Business Unusual in the PDAs, even an Auton spatula in the NAs' Return of the Living Dad) and audios (Brave New Town). Plus their own BBV TRILOGY of rubbish spin-off videos.
And that's not even MENTIONING (cos it's a really rubbish idea) all that stuff in the MAs/NAs about the Nestene Consciousness being one of the Great Old Ones from the universe before this one (or something).
Oh, and apparently Autons were originally planned to appear in Five Doctors AND Colin Baker's cancelled season.
So are they incredibly brilliant? Or are they just wheeled out whenever there's a new Doctor and/or Companion to be introduced, as they aren't quite good enough to distract attention from the new star(s)...?
Not just debuted two Doctors, but two companions and the Master.
I think they could have been better redesigned for the new series though. They were basically the same as the 70s except slightly streamlined. I would have liked to seen some headless ones, or the kind with overly cute faces, both of which could have been more terrifying, along with the ones they used.
Not just debuted two Doctors, but two companions and the Master.
Blimey. No, wait, THREE Companions - Liz, Jo, and Rose.
No, wait, FIVE Companions - Liz, Jo, Rose, Mickey AND Jackie!
I don't suppose Spearhead or Terror was our first sight of some of that UNIT lot? When did Mike Yates materialise?
I think they could have been better redesigned for the new series though. They were basically the same as the 70s except slightly streamlined. I would have liked to seen some headless ones
Well, the Doctor pulled Auton-Mickey's head off - what MORE could you ask for!
Spot on, Emily! I had to check Wikipedia, but sure 'nuff, Mike Yates first appeared in Terror.
For an enemy that appeared in only three televised stories, the Autons sure have an impressive track record.
It helps that they were thought up by Robert Holmes.
A great man in the panthion of Who writers.
sure 'nuff, Mike Yates first appeared in Terror.
OK, so that makes two Doctors, the Master, SIX Companions (!) and, of course, the two greatest watersheds in Who history: the move to glorious technicolour, and the WAY more glorious move to the New Series...
A great man in the panthion of Who writers.
True, true, but I can't help remembering the Krotons, Kroll, and Magma-Beast as well as Sontarans and Autons...
Ah.
Didn't see THAT coming.
Add another achievement to the Auton scoreboard.
SPOILERS FOR THE PANDORICA OPENS:
AND I MEAN BIG SPOILERS!
The Doctor's Companion's a bloody Auton!
OK, come to think of it that's already happened.
TWO Auton Companions! TWO!!!!!!!!!!!
Auton-Mickey was MUCH funnier.
Does this mean Rory has always been an Auton?
SPOILERS FOR PANDORICA OPENS:
Certainly not. That would be silly.
Just since he died and came back as a Roman.
SPOILERS FOR PANDORICA OPENS: Everything that has ever hated the Doctor is here to put him in a box. But WHO gets the pleasure of dragging him in there...? Yes! It's those Autons again! Honestly, there should have been an intergalactic WAR over who got THAT particular honour.
Why the allergy to the word 'Auton'? Do new series viewers even KNOW they're Autons? Even when River's talking about shagging one, she calls it, with odd formality, a 'Nestene duplicate'.
So does the Doctor when Rory asks him what he is now. Did they use the word Auton in "Rose"?
Nope.
'The Nestene Consciousness lost all of its planets, and found itself mutating under temporal stress' - RTG in the 2006 Annual. Oh, what nonsense! It only lost its PROTEIN planets, not its original homeworld! And - unlike all the other constantly-coming-back-looking-completely-different monsters, it certainly doesn't need an EXCUSE for losing the multiple arms of Spearhead and/or Terror, you know. They build themselves out of plastic in vats, they're SUPPOSED to look different every time.
And as for the Nestenes being 'a race of ruthless invaders' - these days 'a race of ruthless REFUGEES' would be a more apposite epithet.
(Er, sorry, don't think I've quite got my Mark of the Rani rewatching out of my system yet.)
'It's got a cold clammy feel to it' - the verdict on the Auton Chair. Oh dear. What WAS the Doctor's WIFE doing, sleeping with Autons...?
RTG on choosing the Autons: 'We weren't starting with men in monster suits, we didn't have boggle-eyed birdmen walking down the street, because we were still being careful to introduce a new audience to primetime sci-fi. We forget how long ago this was and what a vast amount of sci-fi has become commonplace since 2005...I showed Rose...to my mate John the Electrician, who was only in his 20s...And when the first dummy started to move, he looked at me like I was mad. He wasn't scared , or interested, he just thought it was ridiculous. Never watched again. The point is, the grammar for this stuff barely existed, and certainly not on Saturday night primetime BBC One. So I was being careful...the simplicity and familiarity of the Autons worked a treat.'
Someone on rec.arts.drwho once had the hots for the Auton chair that ate that person that dared to be insolent to the Master. Just saying...
It was not the most attractive-looking of chairs even BEFORE it suffocated poor whatshisface, but *gazes adoringly at Gomez* one CAN get surprisingly attached to the Master...
Some people are sick.
Rose novelisation:
'It's eyed up the Earth once or twice before' - well, SOMEONE certainly isn't counting the novels and audios.
'This was a filthy, stinking war that changed reality itself. Corrupting everything it touched. Ripping life inside out and making it obscene...The Nestene was flesh and blood, once upon a time, it just had an affinity with plastic, it could resonate organic polymers. But then the war came. And rewrote its DNA. Like a cruel joke. The Nestene Consciousness became living plastic, an actual living plastic creature' - oh-kay, are we all just very thick or did that drastic alteration to what-it-means-to-be-Nestene maybe not come across entirely clearly on-screen...?
Autons don't blink? Someone rewatch every Auton story immediately! Especially all those Romans.
Hey, as I've said before--NO ONE SHOULD EVER COUNT THE NOVELS OR THE AUDIOS(it'll make you look foolish every time!!!).
It certainly does, but when you're nitpicking a novelisation you can't really refuse to take books into account...
About Time: 'The sound of the dying Nestene Consciousness was recycled from "Fury From the Deep", and was made by multi-tracking the squeak of a rubber-soled shoe on lino' - *sigh* well I s'pose it beats the Yeti's flushing-loo noise...
The Taliban are beheading shop dummies. I thought for a blissful moment some of 'em had accidentally watched Doctor Who and were doing their duty in the war against Autons but nope, it's just some nonsense about idols...
And that's not even MENTIONING (cos it's a really rubbish idea) all that stuff in the MAs/NAs about the Nestene Consciousness being one of the Great Old Ones from the universe before this one (or something).
Not just THAT universe *sigh* '">>We have existed in this universe since it was born from out of the former >> We existed in that universe since it was born from the former >> We existed in that - <<" "Enough already, I get the idea."' - Business Unusual.