the "subtle humor". Den of Geek's James Peatly wrote that Terror of the Autons was "a fantastically entertaining and incredibly confident slice of macabre fun". He was positive toward the family tone, Jo, and the Master but felt that it "lacks some of the narrative cohesion" of Spearhead from Space and "the Autons are reduced to playing the role of foot soldiers to the Master". In 2009, SFX named the cliffhanger to Episode Two, in which the policeman is revealed to be an Auton, as the 20th scariest moment in Doctor Who. Commercial releases In print A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in May 1975. The cover art by Achilleos depicts what is supposed to be a fully developed Nestene, though this was never actually seen in the serial itself. The novelisation was reissued in 1979 with a new cover by Alan Hood. The novelisation introduces Jo Grant, although Malcolm Hulke's Colony in Space novelisation (titled Doctor Who and The Doomsday Weapon) had already done so – albeit in contradiction to the television programme. The Master and the Doctor are revealed herein (borrowing from The Making of Doctor Who by Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks, published in 1972) to have names that are mathematical formulae, and the grenade the Master uses is identified (again, contrary to the television programme) as Sontaran. An unabridged reading of the novelisation by actor Geoffrey Beevers was released on CD on 7 July 2010 by BBC Audiobooks. Home media Although the BBC wiped the serial's original 625-line videotapes for reuse, they kept 16mm b/w telerecording film prints. In 1993, these prints were combined with the colour signal from an off-air 525-line NTSC domestic videotape recording, resulting in relatively high-quality colour masters for a VHS release. A short clip from Episode One, depicting the Doctor's first meeting with Jo Grant, still survives in its original 625-line format, on a clip reel prepared for a 1973 edition of the news show Nationwide. The short Nationwide clip is presented on the DVD of The Aztecs, in a featurette discussing the VidFIRE restoration process. As of 5 August 2008, this serial has been included for sale on iTunes. It was released on DVD in 2011 in a boxset entitled Mannequin Mania with the special edition of Spearhead from Space. The Nationwide clip is incorporated into Episode one; the rest of the