The Claws of Axos - Episode 1

The third story of the season is the first one of the Pertwee era where I feel that the standard has slipped somewhat. The story sees something head towards the earth and the early part of this episode is trying to deal with it. After trying to deal with the peace conference in the previous story it seems that the Brigadier has something and someone more troubling, Mr Chinn. Mr Chinn seems to be the typical 1970’s bureaucrat who seems to want to act the big guy. He’s talking about being given the power of authority and stuff like that and the more he talks the more I just find him to be rather flimsy and boring. It’s clear that he’s suppose to there to rile the Doctor and the Brigadier but whether he’s suppose to have that effect on the viewer isn’t so clear.

The bit where the tramp is pulled into the UFO is quite grim. Another grim bit was the effect used for the dead hobo and his face falling into itself. It’s made somewhat better or worse when the screen goes white and we don’t see the end of it. It says in the information text that there was a line about strange weather to cover the fact that one minute it was fine on location and the next it was under an inch of snow.

Bill Filer is someone who starts the episode like the nice guy but very quickly becomes something quite different. Paul Grist is someone who looks like he’s just come off the set of ‘The Avengers’ or ‘The Champions’ or some other ITV show. I know that it was 1971 but the hair was hilarious and every time I think of the character I can’t help think of the hair. When the axons are testing him, they are probably wondering if all humans have ridiculous hair. I like that David Savile makes a return to the show after playing Carstairs in ‘The War Games’. I recognised him instantly and think that the character of Winser is very different to Carstairs.

It’s 20 minutes before the Master make an appearance and its just a brief shot. We don’t get very much from him in this story. The only thing that I can take from this is that its quite curious as to how the Master has found himself in that situation. The problem with having the Master in every story is that it does stretch credibility a bit. I know its mad talking about credibility in a show which is about a man who can travel in time and space and change his appearance but in drama terms it would be nice if (in the words of the eleventh doctor) let someone else try first.

The Axons are quite good if you start from the head but when you look downwards it starts to just look less impressive. It seems like most of the budget went on the head gear and the set but then realised that they had to do something with the rest of the costume but didn’t have enough money. The set is ok. Most of it is real but some of it is the dreaded CSO which I’m still not convinced on.

I like how the Doctor is sceptical of the Axons and their story whilst everyone is getting very excited at what the Axons are showing and telling them. You would expect the Doctor to be the voice of reason and he shows it here.

The opening episode isn’t to bad but I cant say that I am bowled over with certain aspects of the story. The cliffhanger is a little bit of a let down to be honest though the effect of the weird creature appearing out of nowhere is done rather well but it’s not the greatest cliffhanger that there has ever been. Hopefully the rest of the story will pick up and I can say that I’m wrong about being so down on this story.