Raston Warrior Robot
Raston Warrior Robots were, according to the Third Doctor, the most perfect killing machines ever devised. (TV: The Five Doctors) They were silver androids and among the deadliest players of the Game of Rassilon in the Death Zone.
Abilities
The robots hunted by detecting movement and could move at fast speeds. They would move by jumping in the air and disappearing, then reappearing at their destination — the Third Doctor remarked they "moved like lightning", which might mean the robots did not actually teleport, but rather moved too fast to be seen. They had built-in weapons and could fire disks and arrows from their hands. They enjoyed toying with their prey. The robots were incredibly powerful and could kill a squad of Cybermen in less than a minute. Cyber-guns had little to no effect on them. (TV: The Five Doctors)
They were capable of feeding on atomic radiation in the atmosphere. This meant their power never ran down. The loss of their heads did not diminish their efficiency, as they could just simply reattach them. They were also programmed to consider anyone except their makers as their enemy. If blown up, they could simply reform. (PROSE: World Game)
They attacked by locking onto the electrical activity of the target's brain (with two people possessing the same pattern causing the robot to jam). The javelins they extruded were generated by the Raston warrior robot, whose entire weapon system was inbuilt. They could repair themselves from severe damage such as decapitation. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)
History
A legend stated that the Raston Warrior Robots were the product of a race who were old when the Time Lords were young. This race was devoted to the creation of super weapons. It vanished without a trace. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors) However, one account states that this legend was actually a marketing ploy on the part of the Raston Hardware Company, who produced the warrior robots (along with cybernetic lap-dancers) in a warehouse on Tersurus Luna. The dancers were considerably less indestructible, particularly by the Krotons. (PROSE: Alien Bodies)
A renegade Time Lord attempted to kill the Second Doctor and Serena by sending a Raston Warrior Robot to a warehouse they were visiting during a trip to France in 1805, but the Doctor was able to disable the robot with a torpedo from a prototype submarine long enough to convince the Countess — an ally of the renegade Time Lord in question — that it would be best to send the robot away before it slaughtered everyone in the area. (PROSE: World Game)
When the Death Zone was reactivated and four of the Doctor's incarnations were trapped there, the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith encountered a Raston Warrior Robot by a cave entrance and had to remain still to avoid detection. A patrol of Cybermen appeared and the robot attacked them instead, firing a barrage of arrows into their chest-plates and destroying them all, allowing the Doctor and Sarah to sneak past while it was occupied. (TV: The Five Doctors)
Ryoth used the Time Scoop to send this same robot to the Eye of Orion, where it attacked the Fifth Doctor, Tegan Jovanka and Vislor Turlough. The Eighth Doctor joined them. By using the paradox known as Buridan's ass, the two Doctors approached it at the same pace so that both were equidistant from it. Unable to decide upon a target, as the Doctors' identical brain patterns meant that it was sensing the same target in two different places, the Raston Warrior Robot deactivated. It was reactivated when a Sontaran trooper kicked it. It killed the entire regiment but was itself defeated by Commander Vrag who, in his death throes, ripped its head off. However, it repaired itself after the Doctors had departed, and resumed guarding the area. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)
The Raston Warrior Robot was confronted by Leela in a clean up of the Death Zone. Regarding it as a "worthy opponent", Leela ultimately terminated the robot and mounted its head on the wall of her kitchen. (AUDIO: Time in Office)
The Master once used a Raston Warrior Robot to attack the Graak inside the Fourth Doctor's mind. (GAME: Destiny of the Doctors)
UNIT once had to deal with a Raston Warrior Robot as part of a crisis known as "the Death of Yesterday". (PROSE: The King of Terror)
During the War, Raston Warrior Robots in the Death Zone were used for combat training. (PROSE: The Taking of Planet 5)
Sebastiene once defeated a Raston Warrior Robot and added it to his collection of trophies. (PROSE: The Doctor Trap)
Behind the scenes
- Autons were originally planned to appear in The Five Doctors instead of the Raston Warrior Robot but, for unknown reasons, did not (possibly budget reasons).
- Russell T Davies in the DWM 393 expressed some interest in bringing back the Raston Warrior Robot in the new series of Doctor Who, citing The Five Doctors as the finest episode in the series. This did not occur during his tenure.
- The Raston Warrior Robot was played by Keith Hodiak, who was an actor, but is more famous as a professional ballet dancer and instructor.
- A Raston Warrior Robot had a cameo in Robert Webb's Great Movie Mistakes III: Not in 3D. It appears in the background in one of the "mistakes" when the show makes up something that happened in the show itself. Here, it is referred to as a "Silver Warrior Robot".
