It is, Colonel Wilson, a balls-up of the most staggering magnitude.

I was initially going to continue with Christopher Eccelston's first Big Finish boxset but I felt the need to get this film out of the way first and hot damn... I was not prepared for this, clearly, the first film was just the stepping stone to bigger and better things. Nicholas Briggs, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.

Two years have passed since the Nestene creature vanished from UNIT's top-secret Warehouse... Suddenly and without warning the Nestene strikes, once again using Autons as its deadly foot soldiers. As mysterious UNIT operative Lockwood struggles to unearth the Nestene plan, he finds himself drawn to remote Sentinel Island. There, the population have been caught up in a bizarre frenzy of religious activity. Lockwood is joined by Natasha Alexander, a new scientific advisor with her own, sinister agenda. To defeat the Nestene menace, they must face the terrifying power of a creature from before the dawn of Mankind...

Originally titled, Auton 2: Rapture, which makes much more sense within the context of the finished film, in this sequel everything is bigger and better. What the original had in its tighter horror focused tone, Auton 2 swaps out for a bigger scale and excellently directed action scenes that feel like if Classic Who didn't have a budget of diddly squat. The film even goes as far as to showcase themes of blind faith and a cultish religion, it's a great angle to explore and helped all the more by some great writing and direction from Nicholas Briggs.

Alistair Lock's music is grander and broader in its scale and design complimenting the scaled-up visuals and new location work. It's some excellent stuff, almost as amazing as the special effects created by Benjamin Smith which are to a very high standard for a direct-to-video film. Michael Wade is also once again amazing as Lockwood and John Wadmore as Colonel Wilson is equally great, a brilliant cast with Nicholas Briggs even getting his own little director's cameo at the beginning.

Overall, Auton 2 is everything great about the first film, but bigger and better in every shape and form.

Peek-a-boo, you plastic bastard!

Quite a shame Sally is sidelined in this one. It does build up from the first one, but takes far too long to get going and it just isn't as intriguing/engaging as the first one. Some interesting concepts though, and the vibes are great.