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| The Axons come to Earth, bearing gifts... |
4 episodes. Running Time: Approx. 97 minutes. Written by: Bob Baker, Dave Martin. Directed by: Michael Ferguson. Produced by: Barry Letts.
THE PLOT:
When an alien spaceship lands near a nuclear power plant, UNIT scrambles to contain the area. They receive a distress call from the ship, identifying it as Axos and begging for immediate assistance. The Doctor, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and ministry official Horatio Chinn (Peter Bathurst) enter the ship and encounter the Axons.
The Axons offer a simple exchange. If the humans allow them to stay long enough to replenish their fuel supplies, then they will share Axonite, a "thinking molecule" that will greatly expand whatever it is applied to. It can alleviate the world's hunger problems, providing unlimited food - and, as both the Doctor and Chinn recognize with sharply different reactions, also unlimited power.
Suspicious of this gift, the Doctor attempts to study the molecule. Meanwhile, the Axons strike a deal with a prisoner they seized in deep space. This man offered them the planet Earth, and he is more than willing to help them to destroy all life in exchange for his freedom. The Master has come for his revenge...
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: He disdains Chinn's initial "shoot first, think later" approach to the Axons' arrival, and he feels vindicated when the aliens' distress call is received. Even so, he does not blindly accept their word. Even as Chinn salivates over the power Axonite promises, the Doctor starts poking holes in the aliens' story, asking how they could possibly have had a fuel problem with such a miracle molecule on board. The final episode sees him forced into an alliance with the Master, whereupon he feigns a selfishness to match the Master's own. Pertwee plays these scenes of a petty, self-interested Doctor particularly well, and there's a sense that the Doctor is giving voice to legitimate frustrations with both the humans and the Time Lords who exiled him.
The Master: With the final episode seeing the Third Doctor playing at being a baddie, it's only fair that Roger Delgado's Master gets a moment to play hero. The back half of Episode Three puts him in the Doctor's usual role, forging an alliance with the Brigadier to stop the Axons. It's like a glimpse of an alternate reality where Delgado was cast as the Doctor, and he fills the role well, with authority, intelligence, and no small amount of snark. The story as a whole shows a different side to the character. Instead of being in control, he is a prisoner, trying to scheme his way back to freedom. As a result, even though it's the third Master story in a row, his presence has yet to start feeling repetitive.
Jo Grant: When the Doctor and the Brigadier first enter the Axon ship, they both tell Jo to stay behind. She agrees... only to almost immediately follow them. When she hears cries for help inside the ship, the Axons claim that it's an auditory hallucination. She is upset when the Doctor seems to accept this, and genuinely relieved when the Doctor later tells her that he believed her but didn't want the Axons to know that he did. Her absolute faith in the Doctor is evident in the final episode, when she dismisses even the thought that he might have turned on UNIT.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: He instantly takes the measure of ministry official Chinn, and he treats him with almost as little patience as the Doctor does. He reacts to Chinn as a minor annoyance, even making him leave the UNIT operations room to use a telephone. Even so, when crisis hits, he puts the politics aside to focus on the more important matter. Though he's reluctant to make any deal with the Master, he bows to the inevitable when the situation becomes hopeless - though he remains wary even after making the agreement.
Pompous Bureaucrat of the Week: Horatio Chinn (Peter Bathurst) is so idiotically, counterproductively self-important that there must be a life sized brass-and-turpentine plated statue of him in the Idiot Bureaucrats' Hall of Fame. His communications with his superiors make it clear that he is poorly regarded within the ministry, with his job hanging by a thread. Chinn is given all the authority he requests - but it's a case of him being given the rope to hang himself, with it made explicit that he will take the fall if (and when) things go wrong.
THOUGHTS:
The Claws of Axos is about as close to a live action comic book as Doctor Who ever got. It's a particularly colorful story, from the Axons' ship to the aliens' outfits to even the monsters. Scenes are short, the action cutting back and forth with the regularity of comic panels. One can almost see the "Whoosh!" that would be added as the Master jumps onto the back of a UNIT truck, while Mr. Chinn is so over-the-top that it's impossible to take him seriously. It all adds up to a story with a decidedly campy, old style comic book tone.
This was the first story from Bob Baker and Dave Martin, who would be regular writers for Doctor Who throughout the rest of the 1970s. It is fair to say that I find them to be hit-and-miss. For every story of theirs that I like, there's another that's... well, haphazard at best. But their debut effort is consistently enjoyable, while at the same time spotlighting their strengths as writers and some of their weaknesses.
A consistent Baker/Martin strength is imagination, and that is evident. While the Axons' plot against Earth isn't anything unusual for the series, their nature is: the ship is organic, grown not built, with the Axons actually a part of their own vessel.
Also evident, however, is the duo's lack of discipline. After scheming against Earth for more than half the story, the Axons suddenly switch goals midway through Episode Three to demanding the secrets of time travel from the Doctor... something they could already have gotten from the Master, who has been their prisoner for an undisclosed period of time. The subplot with Chinn gets a lot of screen time in the story's first half... only for the character to be demoted to "glorified extra" in the second half, his subplot vanishing all but entirely after a last telephone call with the ministry. Also, one of the most enjoyable story beats is the Master's partnership with UNIT at the end of Episode Three. This is a fun change-up that should have been reached sooner and held longer.
All of that acknowledged, The Claws of Axos is never dull, something that can't be said of many stories that I'd otherwise rank as much better. The pace is fast, with short scenes that cut in, get to the point, and move on. The regular cast is well used. Finally, though the tone may be silly and over-the-top, this does not come at the expense of the main characters. Both the Brigadier and his team remain competent throughout, and the Doctor is treating the situation with absolute seriousness.
Finally, while the limited budget shows (two words: shower curtains), I'm a big fan of the set design for the Axos. I won't say it looks convincing, but the production does its job of giving the ship an organic look that matches the cues of the script, along with a brightly colorful aesthetic that matches the comic book sensibilities.
OVERALL:
The Claws of Axos is not a great story. It lacks the layered themes of Dr. Who & the Silurians, the meticulous structure of Inferno, or the urgency of either of those titles. But sometimes you don't want a "great" story; sometimes you just want to turn your brain off and enjoy the ride.
On that level, The Claws of Axos is a success. It may be silly, but it's also fast and colorful. It will never crack my Who Top Ten, or even my Top Twenty... but that it will ever fail to entertain me.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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