Classic Moment: Raston Warrior Robot

In the name of charity and nostalgia, Doctor Who celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a very special episode on Children In Need night in November 1983. Reuniting 'The Five Doctors', with the help of a stand-in and stock footage for two of the Time Lords, the story is also notable for a particularly graphic and relentless set piece in which a Cyberman army is massacred by a Raston Warrior Robot.

The Context

The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith are negotiating the Death Zone - a rocky part of the Gallifreyan landscape - in a bid to make it to the Dark Tower and founding Time Lord Rassilon's tomb. A number of monsters have been mysteriously summoned to the planet too, including a Dalek, a Yeti and the Cybermen. It's the latter creatures' encounter with a very new foe that has gone down in fandom folklore.

The Moment

Near the entrance to a cave, The Doctor and Sarah Jane suddenly observe the faceless Raston Warrior Robot, described by the Time Lord as "the most perfect killing machine ever devised". It has the ability to vanish in mid air and reappear in another location. The Doctor and Sarah Jane hide behind a large rock and witness a troop of Cybermen lumber into view. The Raston Warrior Robot draws first blood by decapitating one of their number with a metallic spear fired from its hand. Then the real carnage commences, as the Cybermen are picked off one by one and totally baffled by the whole vanishing act. Such is their suffering, one Cyberman even pukes up some yucky white goo as he falls to his death. One expects regeneration, not regurgitation, on Doctor Who.

The Aftermath

The Doctor and Sarah Jane manage to bypass the robot with little difficulty and make it to the Dark Tower. Sadly, the Raston Warrior Robot has, to date, never made another reappearance in Doctor Who despite its legendary status within fandom. Could this have had anything to do with the gloriously dated Spandex attire? Come on Russell T Davies - if four Daleks can perform 'pest control' duties on hordes of Cybermen, how many Raston Warrior Robots will it take to wipe out the exterminators?

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