YMMV / Doctor Who S8 E1 "Terror of the Autons"

• Ass Pull: The plot is resolved at the end by... the Master at the last minute coming to the conclusion that the Nestenes might turn on him too, so he makes an abrupt decision to help the Doctor. At least later incarnations of the Doctor's Arch-Nemesis had the excuse of being insane. Many fans (including Paul Cornell) believe this was handeled better in the novelisation, where the Brigadier simply pulls a gun on the Master and forces him to co-operate.
• Ethnic Scrappy: The Doctor is threatened by a Scary Black Man strongman in a leopard-print loincloth who speaks only in grunts. For added baggage, he's played by the exact same actor as Toberman, the Happiness in Slavery-endorsing Scary Black Man strongman from "The Tomb of the Cybermen".
• Harsher in Hindsight: Years later, the Doctor and the Master would have another confrontation on a radio tower, with fatal consequences.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Doctor sings, "I don't want to set the world on fire." In "The Poison Sky", a much later version of the Doctor actually would "set the world on fire" - or, at the very least, ignite the toxic gas in the atmosphere, leading to the arresting, if ultimately harmless, image of the Earth as a ball of flame.
• Ho Yay:
  • The Master isn't at all surprised that the Doctor survived his first two attempts to kill him, and refers to them as the opening salvos in their "game". This begins a trend apparent all throughout Roger Delgado's tenure, with the Master treating their constant battling as more of a friendly rivalry.
  • At the end of the final episode, despite all the death and destruction the Doctor says he's "rather looking forward to" their next encounter, showing that the Master isn't the only one to enjoy it.
• Narm Charm:
  • The Master feeds a man to a plastic chair and tries to take over the world with plastic daffodils. It's widely regarded as Roger Delgado's best performance in the role, and one of the best stories from Jon Pertwee's era. It also works because of Paranoia Fuel; see below.
  • The use of unnecessary, unconvincing, ugly CSO is occasionally praised (including by Robert Shearman) for contributing to the "synthetic, plasticy" feel of the story about homicidal plastic crap. Note particularly the scene with the doll - the whole sequence is so poorly composited, with blurry backdrops and everything glowing peculiarly, it looks like a horrible acid dream.
• One-Scene Wonder: The Time Lord who informs the Doctor that the Master is on Earth.
• Paranoia Fuel: Plastic-based objects come to life, including killer plastic daffodils, a plastic chair suffocates a man, a plastic-coated telephone line strangles the Doctor and, of course, the truly infamous "troll doll" that, when it gets warm, comes to life and kills people.
• Retroactive Recognition: Early in the first episode, we can hear The Doctor singing "I Don't Want to Set The World On Fire" before it was cool.
• Special Effect Failure: The serial is known for its use of unnecessary, unconvincing, ugly CSO. The scene with the doll in particular is poorly composited, with blurry backdrops and everything glowing peculiarly.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Rex Farrel. He has an overbearing dad who insists everything be done his way and refuses to listen to his son, then he falls in with the Master and ultimately gets betrayed and killed.

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