Day 280: Terror of the Autons Episode 2

OK, let's try something different for the rest of this serial. Each entry will be focussed on the old things that are featured in this, as well as the new. Each will be paired up with something that acts as a natural accompaniment to it. So first, we're going to look at the Doctor's allies.

His old allies are UNIT. They return in force, and it's interesting to note how there's already been an off screen development with respect to their relationship with the Doctor since we last saw them. Before, they were the Doctor's reluctant allies, but now he seems fairly benevolent towards working with them. In a way, it's disappointing as one of the highlights of Series 7 was that the relationship between the Doctor and UNIT was fractured, and that you were never completely sure of either's motives. But now it would appear that they're both on the same side, and they act as if they have been for years. It's good to see that developments have been made, but in a way I'm going to miss the tension that made up much of Series 7.

On the side of the new, we have the Doctor's new assistant: Jo Grant. She instantly makes herself different from Liz in one very large way, in that she's not actually that clever. Jo is able to be the audience, and require everything to be explained to her in the simplest terms possible. Which is annoying, as this comes across to me as looking down on the audience and not thinking them of being clever enough to figure things out for themselves. But, she's not completely irredeemable. In fact, she comes across quite well because of pluck. She's able to jump right into adventures, even if she isn't completely sure of what's going on. It's this sort of thing that makes the character instantly likeable, and I'm interested to see how the character will continue as we see her develop over the coming series.