THE CLAWS OF AXOS [3.1]

A passing asteroid suddenly turns around in its orbit and shoots straight towards earth. Spoiler – it's not an asteroid but a spaceship, inhabited by rubbery tentacle aliens intent on taking over Earth!

Initially, they pass themselves off as peace-loving pilgrims, who have run out of fuel and need some time to recharge before they are on their way. In return for the inconvenience, they will provide the Earth government with a stunning new technology – Axonite – that will solve all the planet's food problems. The Doctor is suspicious, but when the Ministry of Defense (led by the ultra-nationalist Mr Chin) shuts down UNIT, there's not much he can do. And then, just to really put a spanner in the works, the Master shows up.

The Majesty

The aliens in 'Axos' are a pretty good idea – a singular Hive mind that comprises not just all the monsters but the spaceship itself. The idea of beautiful humanoid aliens who can just as easily revert to tentacled monstrosities is great. Even if the cheap set design fails to live up to the premise, I admire the imagination behind it. We also get to enjoy a lot of the Doctor and the Master being very cool on screen together. Mr. Chin is a great character – perfectly obnoxious. And I do admire the way that the Doctor ridicules the “England for the English” slogan that he is so fond of. (I guess Doctor Who has always been a progressive show!)

The Misery

The set design and costume design is particularly woeful. As an audience, we have to try really really hard to suspend our disbelief when we see the shambling monsters in rubber sheets, with their trainers poking out underneath. Similarly, the Axon spaceship is a mass of plastic floors and cloth walls with random hosepipes here and there. And while it's a clever idea to imply the whole spaceship has got buried underground expect the entrance, it doesn't really work at all. For another story that was more gloriously ridiculous, I'd be on board, but this one feels a bit of a flop.

Magical Moments

• In Episode One, Mr Chin's top secret dossier is a cardboard folder with the massive words “Top Secret” written in Comic Sans.
• In an effort to explain the sudden discontinuity between the weather from one scene to the next in Episode One, we are given a line about “freak snow falls” around the spaceship. It makes no sense in the context of the story and is never referred to again. But it's sci-fi so we buy it.
• We have a random homeless guy who says “Oo-arr” a lot and is summed up by Axos as “Intelligence: Atypical”
• Nice to see a return for Lieutenant Carstairs from The War Games, even if he is playing a forgettable additional scientist.
• Mr. Chin is buzzing with his excitement: “Shall I scramble or you?” But the response from the War Office is the perfect put-down: “Just your report will be garbled enough.”
• There's a nice little action moment where the Master leaps from a bridge onto a moving truck. Very nice!
• When threatened with a nuclear blast, everyone is panicking. Turning to the Master, they ask what they should do. Utterly blasé, he raises an eyebrow: “Oh you know... sticky tape on the windows – that sort of thing”
• Benton and Yates get to blow up a jeep, which seems a very OTT way of getting rid of the alien sitting on the bonnet.

In Summary

The Claws of Axos is the first below-average story in the Jon Pertwee era. The aliens are more weird than menacing and with all the departmental politics, the plot is more than a little convoluted. While it's always fun to see the Master at work, he is very much pursuing his own low-key stakes of trying to get his TARDIS back, rather than anything more. The cheap production design fails to charm, and overall, this story is largely forgettable.

Overall: 3.1