| Autons | |
|---|---|
[[File: |250px]] | |
| Auton | |
| Type of | Living plastic automata |
| Affiliated with | Nestene Consciousness |
| Home Planet | Unknown (possibly Polymos) |
| First appearance | Spearhead from Space (1970) |
The Autons are an artificial life form from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and adversaries of the Doctor. First appearing in Jon Pertwee's first serial as the Doctor, Spearhead from Space in 1970, they were the first monsters on the show to be presented in colour. Autons are essentially life sized plastic dummies, animated by the Nestene Consciousness, an extraterrestrial, disembodied gestalt intelligence which first arrived on Earth in hollow plastic meteorites. The name comes from "Auto Plastics", the company that was infiltrated by the Nestenes and subsequently manufactured their Auton shells in Spearhead. Autons conceal deadly weapons within their hands, which can kill or vaporize their targets. The typical Auton does not look particularly realistic, resembling a mannequin, being robotic in its movements and mute. However, more sophisticated Autons can be created, which look and act human except for a slight sheen to the skin and a flat sounding voice.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
The Nestenes' first attempt to invade the Earth, using these more human-looking Autons to replace key government figures, was thwarted by UNIT with the help of the Doctor, who also destroyed their invasion form, a multi-tentacled cephalopod.
The Nestenes subsequently returned in the first serial of Pertwee's second year as the Doctor, Terror of the Autons, which also featured the introduction of the Master. In this attempt, the Nestenes also made use of more mundane objects, animating plastic toys, inflatable chairs and artificial flowers in addition to their Auton servants. The Doctor convinced the Master that the Nestenes were too dangerous to be reliable allies, and they reversed the radio beam the invasion force was coming in on, sending it back into space.
A third appearance was planned for the aborted 1985 season during Colin Baker's tenure as the Doctor, but never materialized. Titled Yellow Fever and How to Cure It, it was supposed to be set in Singapore, with appearances by the Rani and the Master. The story, which was to be written by veteran scribe Robert Holmes, only exists in outline form.
The Nestenes infiltrated Earth once more, using warp shunt technology, in the opening episode of the 2005 series. In Rose, it was revealed that the Nestenes lost their food supply in a war when their protein planets rotted. Their intent was to overthrow and destroy the human race, as Earth was ideal for their consumption needs, being filled with smoke, oil and various pollutants. Rose also showed Auton facsimiles that could change the shape of their features and limbs, and established that the Nestenes animate the Autons by means of telepathic projection. When duplicated, the originals are kept alive to maintain the copy. It is not yet clear if the war was also the motivation behind their earlier invasions or a recent development, but it is likely the same war that is mentioned in subsequent episodes of the 2005 series. The Nestenes have also appeared in the BBC spin off novels. In the Sixth Doctor novel Business Unusual by Gary Russell (which gave Melanie Bush a belated introduction story), the Nestenes are using computer games and plastic toys in another bid for world conquest. In Synthespians™ by Craig Hinton, a far-future television station's artificial actors are not what they seem. A trilogy of made-for-video films in the late 1990s produced by BBV entitled Auton, Auton 2: Sentinel and Auton 3 featured UNIT battling the Consciousness. As with all spin-off productions, the canonicity of these films is unclear.
When the series was revived in 2005, producer and writer Russell T Davies chose the Autons as the first monster to be featured. The Nestenes infiltrated Earth once more, using warp shunt technology, in the opening episode of the 2005 series. In "Rose", it was revealed that the Nestenes lost their food supply in a war when their protein planets rotted. Their intent was to overthrow and destroy the human race, as Earth was ideal for their consumption needs, being filled with smoke, oil and various pollutants. They were eventually destroyed when Rose spilled a vial of the Doctor's "anti-plastic" solution into the vat of molten plastic which housed the main bulk of the Consciousness, causing it to explode. (The episode never mentioned "Autons" by name other than in the credits, but the Nestene Consciousness was specifically identified.)
"Rose" also featured an Auton facsimile that could change the shape of its features and limbs, and established that the Nestenes animate the Autons by means of telepathic projection. When duplicated, the originals are kept alive to maintain the copy (this is also seen in Spearhead from Space). It is not yet clear if the war mentioned was also the motivation behind their earlier invasions or a recent development, but it is likely to be the Time War that is featured in subsequent episodes of the series.
The Autons appeared in a segment of the 2006 series episode "Love & Monsters". The sequence, specifically filmed for the episode, was a flashback to the climactic events of "Rose".
The Autons returned in the 2010 episode "The Pandorica Opens", allying with the Atraxi, Blowfish, Chelonians, Daleks, Drahvins, Draconians, Sontarans, Cybermen, Haemogoth, Judoon, Slitheen, Silurians, Sycorax, Terileptils, Hoix, Roboforms, Uvodni, Zygons and Weevils to trap the Eleventh Doctor. The Autons in this episode were programmed to believe they were the soldiers of a Roman legion, among them Rory Williams, using the memories of Amy Pond. They were very realistic and far more sophisticated than the average Auton, and their hands contained futuristic laser guns rather than projectile weapons. As in the 2005 appearance, the name "Auton" was not used in dialogue; the phrase "Nestene duplicate" was introduced here to describe the copy of Rory. Due to the influences of the cracks in time, the Rory copy possessed the personality of the real Rory and helped save the universe. The Rory duplicate survived on Earth from A.D. 102 to 1996, demonstrating that Autons can have a long lifespan.
Appearances[]
- Spearhead from Space - January 3 - January 24, 1970
- Terror of the Autons - January 2 - January 23, 1971
- Rose - March 26, 2005
External links[]
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