Auton 580644 209545174 2008-05-01T20:56:42Z Tim! 203786 rv that's part of the title {{For|the Supreme Court of Canada case|Auton (Guardian ad litem of) v. British Columbia (Attorney General)}} {{Doctorwhorace| image= [[Image:Auton.jpg|200px]]| name=Autons| type=Living plastic automata| affiliation=Nestene Consciousness| planet=Unknown (possibly [[List of Doctor Who planets#P|Polymos]])| start=[[Spearhead from Space]] }} The '''Autons''' are an artificial life form from the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[science fiction on television|science fiction television]] series ''[[Doctor Who]]'', and adversaries of [[Doctor (Doctor Who)|the Doctor]]. First appearing in [[Jon Pertwee]]'s first [[List of Doctor Who serials|serial]] as the Doctor, ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'' in 1970, they were the first [[monster]]s on the show to be presented in colour. Autons are essentially life-sized [[plastic]] dummies, [[automaton]]s animated by the '''Nestene Consciousness''', an [[Extraterrestrial life in popular culture|extraterrestrial]], disembodied [[group mind (science fiction)|gestalt intelligence]] which first arrived on [[Earth]] in hollow plastic [[meteorite]]s. Their name comes from "Auto Plastics", the company that was infiltrated by the Nestenes and subsequently manufactured their Auton shells in ''Spearhead''. Autons conceal deadly [[weapon]]s 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. ==History== The Nestenes are among the oldest beings in the [[Whoniverse|''Doctor Who'' universe]], described as creatures which existed in the "Dark Times", along with the [[List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens#Racnoss|Racnoss]], [[State of Decay|Great Vampires]] and [[List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens#Carrionite|Carrionites]].<ref name="The Infinite Quest 2">{{cite episode | title = [[The Infinite Quest]] episode 2 | episodelink = | series = [[Doctor Who]] | serieslink = | credits = [[Alan Barnes (writer)|Alan Barnes]], [[Gary Russell]] | network = [[BBC]] | station = | city = | airdate = 2007-04-13 }}</ref> Eventually, they sought to invade the [[Earth]], [[Spearhead from Space]], using more human-looking Autons to replace key government figures, although these plans were thwarted by [[United Nations Intelligence Taskforce|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 (Doctor Who)|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. Early drafts of ''[[The Five Doctors]]'' (1983) featured a scene where [[Sarah Jane Smith]] encountered some Autons and is rescued by the [[Third Doctor]], but it was dropped before filming for reasons of time and expense. 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 (Doctor Who)|Rani]] and the Master. The story, which was to be scripted by veteran writer [[Robert Holmes (screenwriter)|Robert Holmes]], only exists in outline form. Although the Autons only made two appearances during the original television series run, they remain one of the more memorable monsters associated with ''Doctor Who''. The image of store mannequins coming to life in ''Spearhead'', in full colour and shooting people down in the street, is one of the series' iconic moments, and is often cited as an example of the series' ability to make everyday things terrifying. The use of even more ordinary objects in ''Terror of the Autons'' — including the unmasking of a police officer as an Auton — caused public controversy about whether the programme was too frightening for children. The story also featured in a discussion in the [[House of Lords]], where Baroness Bacon expressed worries about it being too frightening even for older children. [[Image:Nestene consciousness.jpg|right|300px|thumb|The Ninth Doctor encounters the Nestene Consciousness]] 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 [[faster-than-light|warp shunt technology]], in the opening episode of the [[List of Doctor Who serials#Series 1 (2005)|2005 series]]. In "[[Rose (Doctor Who)|Rose]]", it was revealed that the Nestenes lost their food supply in a war when their [[protein#Protein and nutrition|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 [[pollutant]]s. The Doctor eventually defeated them when a vial of his "anti-plastic" solution spilled into the vat of molten plastic which housed the main bulk of the Consciousness, causing it to explode. "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 [[telepathy|telepathic]] projection. When duplicated, the originals are kept alive to maintain the copy. 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 same war as the [[Time War (Doctor Who)|Time War]] that is mentioned in subsequent episodes of the 2005 series. The Autons appeared in a segment of the [[List of Doctor Who serials#Series 2 (2006)|2006 series]] episode "[[Love & Monsters]]". The sequence, specifically filmed for the episode, was a [[flashback (literary technique)|flashback]] to the climactic events of "Rose". ==Other appearances== The Nestenes have also appeared in the ''Doctor Who'' [[Doctor Who spin-offs|spin-off]] novels (which linked the Consciousness with the [[Great Old One]]s of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], in particular as an offspring of [[Shub-Niggurath]]). In the [[Sixth Doctor]] [[Past Doctor Adventures|novel]] ''[[Business Unusual]]'' by [[Gary Russell]] (which gave [[Melanie Bush]] a belated introduction story), the Nestenes used computer games and plastic toys in another bid for world conquest. In ''[[Synthespians™]]'' by [[Craig Hinton]], a far-future television station's artificial actors were not what they seemed. This novel also featured the [[Time Lord]]s launching an assault on the Nestene homeworld [[List of Doctor Who planets#P|Polymos]], which may or may not be connected to the war mentioned in "Rose". In the ''Doctor Who Annual 2006'', an article written by Russell T. Davies mentions the loss of the Nestene Consciousness's planets during the Time War, and states that it "found itself mutating under temporal stress". This may be a reference to the difference between the portrayal of the Consciousness in ''Spearhead from Space'' and "Rose". In the late 1990s, [[BBV]] released a trilogy of made-for-video films, titled [[Auton trilogy|''Auton'', ''Auton 2: Sentinel'' and ''Auton 3'']]. These stories featured UNIT battling the Consciousness. In the first film, a Nestene energy unit and several Autons captured by UNIT in ''Spearhead from Space'' are accidentally reactivated. In the sequels, the escaped Autons attempt to awaken several dormant Nestenes put in place since before the development of human civilization. Though BBV was licensed to use the Nestenes, Autons and UNIT by the writers who created them, as with all spin-off productions the [[canon (fiction)|canonicity]] of these films is unclear. In the first series of the televised [[Dead Ringers]], in a sketch with [[Jon Culshaw]] visiting [[The London Eye]] (calling it an ''Interstitial Time Delay Helix'') in the persona of the [[Fourth Doctor]], he humorously accused two tourists: "You are Autons from the planet Tosos!" In 2006, a [[Doctor Who spoofs|sketch]] on ''[[The Charlotte Church Show]]'' showed the Doctor examining the inner thigh of a scantily clad female mannequin; when confronted by Church (playing his companion), he claimed that he thought it was an Auton. The Autons appear in John Smith's A Journal of Impossible Things in the episode "Human Nature". They appeared in issue 15 of [[Doctor Who - Battles in Time]] in which they were the main theme of the issue. Talking Autons were featured in the 2008 [[Eighth Doctor]] audio story [[Brave New Town]]. ==Other uses== In the film ''[[Alien: Resurrection]]'' (1997) the girl Call, when being revealed for being a robot, is noted by another character to be "an Auton, a robot designed by other robots". ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Doctor Who races]] [[Category:Fictional robots]] [[Category:Fictional avatars]]