Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor Who Era Almost Brought Back 1 Classic Villain: “Which Is A Shame”
Doctor Who almost brought back a classic villain in a season 12 episode to face Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor. Doctor Who season 12 saw the Thirteenth Doctor and her group of companions face Judoon, Cybermen, the return of The Master (Sacha Dhawan), and mysteries about the Doctor’s ties to Gallifrey’s hidden past. McTighe has written a number of stories for Doctor Who, including the Thirteenth Doctor’s television adventures “Kerblam!” and “Praxeus” that aired in seasons 11 and 12, respectively.
Ahead of the release of his novelization of “Kerblam!”, McTighe opened up to RadioTimes.com about his other contribution to the main television series during Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who era. The writer revealed that the season 12 story “Praxeus,” which saw the Doctor race to fight a virus spread through microplastic pollutants in the environment, was originally considered to see the return of the Autons, a foe who first appeared during the 1970s. Ultimately, the Autons were removed from the story due to Chibnall wanting to avoid relying on too many familiar elements and budget concerns. Check out McTighe’s full explanation below:
“With Praxeus, I really wanted to do a plastics story, a story about the impact of plastic on the planet. And I also wanted to do an Auton story. Originally, that was going to be an Auton story, that will not surprise you to know. It didn’t become that, which is a shame, but I’m pleased – it was weirdly kind of prescient because it was about a pandemic two years before it happened, so that was kind of scary.
What did happen with the Auton side of it? I think at that time, we were looking at the series as a whole and Chris [Chibnall] was deciding whether there were too many old elements so it went out the window quite early on. And I think the things we wanted to do with it, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve on the budget, which was also a problem I had… I think you need a bigger budget to do that.”
Who Are The Autons, The Plastic Servants of the Nestene Consciousness?
The Autons first made their debut as the foes of Third Doctor Jon Pertwee’s first Doctor Who story, “Spearhead from Space,” as plastic dummies controlled by the Nestene Consciousness that tried to infiltrate key influential institutions before returning in The Master’s (then played by Roger Delgado) first appearance, “Terror of the Autons.” The Autons would also be the first villains of the revived show’s season 1 in 2005, where the Nestene attempted to overthrow humanity following the loss of their world in the Time War. Their last appearance would be in the two-part season 5 finale, “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang,” as part of an alliance made to trap the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith).
Following season 5’s events, the Autons have not made a television appearance in Doctor Who outside of a mention in “Praxeus.” Instead, the Autons have featured across numerous Big Finish audio dramas in recent years, facing other incarnations of the Doctor, Jemma Redgrave’s UNIT leader Kate Stewart, and time traveler River Song (Alex Kingston). McTighe would eventually write an on-screen Auton story for The Collection boxset release of the classic show’s season 8, where Katy Manning’s Jo Grant fought the Autons alongside her husband Cliff (Stewart Bevan).
With the combination of the Master, Cybermen. and Judoon returning for Doctor Who season 12, it is understandable why the Autons were removed from “Praxeus.” While the season built upon what came before, the start of Whittaker’s era was less reliant on what came before, making it more accessible for newcomers to the sci-fi show. While the Auton’s omission from Whittaker’s era may be understandable, viewers may still be eager to see where the Doctor’s devious plastic foes may infiltrate next in the show’s future.
Source: RadioTimes.com
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