Living statue

Living statues were performers who earned a living by dressing up in costume and standing perfectly still, waiting for people to give them money. (PROSE: Revenge of the Nestene ^[+]Loading...["Revenge of the Nestene (short story)"]) Jackie Tyler used to complain about them, calling them "creepy" and suggesting that people who wanted to make a living "doing nothing all day" consider jobs at BT. (PROSE: Rose ^[+]Loading...["Rose (novelisation)"]) The Nestene Consciousness considered living statues to be "strange" humans. (PROSE: Revenge of the Nestene ^[+]Loading...["Revenge of the Nestene (short story)"])

In the days before its planned invasion of Earth in early 2005, the Consciousness posted Auton sentries disguised as living statues on the Embankment to guard its lair underneath the London Eye. Forms taken by the Autons included a Charlie Chaplin-style tramp, a knight, a ballerina, a robot, a pixie, a gladiator, a golden monk, a businessman in a bowler hat, and a pierrot. On 5 March, when the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler encountered the sentries while searching for the Consciousness, some violence broke out as various people enjoying the evening were angry about the living statues visibly moving, as several Autons began following the two. (PROSE: Rose ^[+]Loading...["Rose (novelisation)"], Revenge of the Nestene ^[+]Loading...["Revenge of the Nestene (short story)"])

When the Consciousness was gravely wounded after being struck by a vial of anti-plastic during its confrontation with the Doctor and Rose, all of its plastic guards dissolved save for the Half-Head Pierrot, which was left deformed while serving as a host for the single surviving "nugget" of the Consciousness. On the brink of dissolving completely, the clown merged with a human politician to form a new, stable Auton, successfully preserving the Nestene Consciousness. (PROSE: Revenge of the Nestene ^[+]Loading...["Revenge of the Nestene (short story)"])