One of the first very good
things to come from this story is actually within its first minute. The axons
are shown to us for a brief instant in their natural, ugly tentacle form, and
the score that accompanies the scene pretty much tells us these things are
lethal. But UNIT and even the Doctor don't know this at once. So we are at once
feeling anxious as to what these minging things could want with the Earth.
The second thing I love
about this story is yet again the third Doctor's stance against the political
high up big wigs. And here that big wig is Chinn. I just relish the sparring
matches the Doctor has with idiots like these in the show. It is one of my
favourite traits of the Third Doctor. His indignation and despair at the
actions of UNIT and the Brigadier always raise a grin too.
Roger Delgado is simply
fantastic again as the Master, and we are treated to a little more of the
Doctor and his history. We also are treated to a rare glimpse of the Doctor's
more conniving and devious play, when we think he may just be abandoning earth
for a moment to its fate held in the Claws of Axos. But the Doctor is an alien,
and here an alien bereft of his freedom. That we know by the end of the tale
that he has not turned a wrong un but is simply deceiving Axos is absolutely
hilarious!
The Axons themselves are
superbly realised. The first time I saw them I knew they would long be one of
my favourite alien menaces of the show. I love the idea of them fooling the
human race with their passive looking gold skinned forms, and then later
changing into frightful masses of alien writhing tentacles. They are a fearsome
foe and I can’t believe that they never returned to the TV show after this
debut story.
I'm not sure as to the
credibility of Bill Filer's accent but he's a brilliant character too. But I
find that Jo is strangely side-lined and mostly forgotten in this story, and she
doesn't really get all that much to do and that’s a bit of a shame as Katy is
so good. Although its great seeing her lose her rag at that stuck up Chinn.
The ending of the story is
a little strange too. I would have thought a nuclear power complex would have
gone off with far more than just a little bang that it does at the end. Or are
we to believe Axos had started to drain its total output and all the dangerous
particles had already gone? It’s not well explained and feels a bit
unbelievable. And if it didn’t, why is there no fallout from the explosion
either? This is a sadly weak plot point that lets down an otherwise hugely
entertaining story. Or did the Doc try something in the TARDIS to extricate the
harmful stuff before the whole complex went up? I wonder. Plot niggles
sometimes do annoy you a lot, don’t they?!
But this ending doesn't
overtly ruin the whole story. It’s still action packed and filled with superb
characterisation and acting. And one must also praise the originality of the
space ship design, its exterior and its interior. It all looks very organic and
very very plausible as an alien parasite. The design team really did well with
this story indeed.
Bernard Holley also must
be mentioned as his Axon Leader performance is stunning. He makes a real
threatening menace and there's plenty of nuance and brilliant touches to his
performance. Axos is given such a believability by his performance alone. This
is his finest performance in the show for me.
I also love the amusing
final scene and the story ends with another of my all time favourite Third
Doctor lines. He is still irate at the TARDIS not being able to properly leave
Earth and he turns his berating this time on his own people. "It seems
that I'm some kind of galactic yoyo!" is simply the best ending line of a
story ever in the history of the show in my opinion!
Michael Ferguson has a
reputation for his stories being full of great action, and he does not
disappoint here. The story is stylishly directed and we get the best from every
single character. This is yet another firm success story for him. He was a
brilliant director and directed some of the best shows of the series. The Claws
of Axos stands as a fitting tribute to just how good his stories were from his
director's chair. The Claws of Axos is also very colourful and some of the
psychedelic effects are amazing to see on screen. Definitely gives the story
its own ripe flavour.
This does not feel like a
debut story from Bob Baker and Dave Martin. It’s very very strong and overall
is extremely good indeed. It bodes well for these two chaps future in the show!
A very nearly perfect 9
out of 10 from me!
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