"Doctor Who" Terror of the Autons: Episode 2 (1971)

Note Générale:

7,5/10   

Scénariste:

Robert Holmes (written by)

Série TV:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Date de diffusion originale:

9 janvier 1971 (Saison 8, Episode 2)

Genre:

Aventure | Drame | Science-Fiction

Intrigue:

Plot Keywords:

Reverse The Polarity Of The Neutron Flow | Military Officer | Master | Dandy | Second Part

Avis des utilisateurs:

"Excuse me officer, could I see your warrant card?" Good second episode.

Ensemble

Jon Pertwee	...	Doctor Who
Nicholas Courtney	...	Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Roger Delgado	...	The Master
Katy Manning	...	Jo Grant
Richard Franklin	...	Captain Mike Yates
John Levene	...	Sergeant John Benton
Michael Wisher	...	Rex Farrel
Harry Towb	...	McDermott
Stephen Jack	...	Farrel Sr.
Barbara Leake	...	Mrs. Farrel
John Baskcomb	...	Rossini
Christopher Burgess	...	Professor George Phillips
Roy Stewart	...	Tony the Strong Man

Durée:

UK:25 min

Pays:

UK

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur

Son:

Mono

Anecdotes:

This episode was watched by 8 million viewers on its original transmission.

"Excuse me officer, could I see your warrant card?" Good second episode.

*** Ce commentaire peut contenir des spoilers ***

Doctor Who: Terror of the Autons: Part 2 (shown as 'Episode Two' on screen during the opening credits) starts as the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) decides to follow up on a lead about a travelling circus in the hope that he might find the missing Professor Phillips (George Burgess), instead he finds a lot of trouble as he tied up & threatened. Meanwhile the Master (Roger Delgado) reveals to the hypnotised Rex Farrel (Michael Wisher) that it is all part of his plan to eliminate the Doctor so he can continue his plan to destroy the human race...

Episode 2 from season 8 this Doctor Who adventure originally aired here in the UK during January 1971, produced & directed by Barry Letts this is a classic story that's pretty good. The script by Robert Holmes contains some creepy moments & ideas, the evil & ugly looking living plastic doll which comes to life & kills Farrel Sr. is a particularly memorable highlight in this episode. Then there's the famous scene in which the black inflatable plastic chair smoothers McDermott to death & the cool cliffhanger to this episode as the Doctor removes the policeman's face mask to reveal a blank mannequin face. Of course this is when Doctor Who wasn't a comedy pantomime & actually tried to be creepy, scary & frightening, I could definitely understand the evil doll giving a few kids some nightmares! This story is moving along at a nice pace but there are also scenes which let it down a bit, how did the Doctor know there was a bomb in the box that Jo was trying to open? Hell, he was upstairs & out of sight when he yelled out for her not to open it so how did he know? Even if he did realise she was under the Master's hypnotic control why would he automatically think there's a bomb in the box? Then there's the scene when Jo cracks what looks like a red vase over a guy's head at point blank range & knocks him out cold, yeah right because a little tap on the head from a few millimetre's distance with a vase would knock a man out wouldn't it? It's still good scary fun that's enjoyable to watch though.

Here we get more poor CSO effects, the shot of Jo in the telephone or Mrs. Farrel 'standing' in a kitchen for instance with a clearly super imposed backgrounds just look terrible & is so distracting it's untrue, in fact they look sort of surreal & unfortunately it's a process the show would use a lot over the following few years. Still the evil doll thing is great, very ugly & pretty creepy as well & he actually gets to murder someone, that's right cold blooded murder in Doctor Who. The scene as someone is smothered by a living black plastic chair is sort of odd, it feels a bit daft but is in itself still a bit eerie. The Doctor gets to visit the circus in this one, complete with big top & performing elephants!

Terror of the Autons: Part 2 is slightly better than Part 1 as more happens & it's got killer plastic chairs & evil dolls in it, what more do you want?