Who Reviews The Claws of Axos by Matt Rabjohns

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.

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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.

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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!

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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. ​

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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.

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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?! ​

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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. ​

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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.

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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. ​

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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!

Who Reviews Target Zone The Claws of Axos by "Green Tentacles of Death"

ISBN 0 426 11703 4

‘Axos calling Earth, Axos calling Earth...’

The creatures stood before them, beautiful golden humanoids, offering friendship and their priceless Axonite, in return for - what?

Only Doctor Who remains suspicious.  What is the real reason for the Axons’ sudden arrival on Earth?  And why is the evil master a passenger on their spaceship?  He very soon finds out...

Welcome to Target Zone this month, currently writing this in between times at dimensions.  So who is for another lesson from the minds of Dicks and Letts, originally written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, a team that wrote a lot of good stories but were never fully thanked.  The Target book is put into novel form by Terrance Dicks who was the script editor at the time of the original show, and as usual he seamlessly combines the air of the original script with a few tweaks to bump it along for the reader.

Now how many of you would accept a gift from somebody you don’t know, who says that it is free and has no strings?  Well this story takes up this idea and expands it to government and international level.  If an alien race came to earth saying free energy to all and please share, wouldn’t you be suspicious, you would wouldn’t you.  As normal the governments involved all seem to run to par, yes please thank you and how much can I charge the others for it.  Baker and Martin seem to have observed various governmental organisations and have written a lesson to us all.  Greed is bad; sharing can also be bad if given items by a golden smiling humanoid.

Okay I hear you say, they might be good, well there is an old saying never judge a book by its cover, and this story seems to give valid reasons why not.  As normal the Doctor smells a trap, though has a little quake in his goodness this story.  The Master is evil as ever, and damn smooth and charming (people wonder why I love this character, this story is one of the reasons why), Jo is ever resourceful in her own way and acts as a sort of conciseness for the story.  The Brigadier is his normal lovable self, with the ever loyal and hard working Sargent Benton, as well a raft of totally believable government figures.

So I suggest to one and all buy this book, as if you get it free the Axons will get you.

Now special mention, for this story goes to the ever great and modesty Bernard Holley, who I had the good fortune to meet at one of the Dimensions.  He takes a monster character and transforms him/it into a creature that will stick into your memory for ever.  Also a lovely appearance by Tim Piggot-Smith and Donald Hewlett, two great actors and one of the reasons why this story works.  An extra special mention has to go to Richard Franklin, for playing Yates so well and a certain Derek Ware for the amazing performance as the tramp.

So read the book and then watch the story.