The Claws of Axos - Episode 4

As I have now reached the final episode of the story I was worried that it wasn’t going to work as it needed to tie up the loose ends and do it in just 25 minutes. The cliffhanger at the end of the previous episode was better than some that we have had in this story and it was resolved well. The way that they try and avoid the mind influences of the axons is by doing math questions and it’s quite a clever way.

In this section of the review that I am now calling CSO Corner, I have to say that most of the time it didn’t work particularly well because in some shots you could still see a blue line around things. The model work as particularly good with the shot of the axos ship rising from the ground to look very solid.

The Doctor needs the Master’s help to defeat Axos which is the mirror opposite of what happened in the previous story where the Master needed the Doctor’s help to control the mind parasite. Both Pertwee and Delgado were good in this episode and have worked well so far this season. I quite like the fact that Chinn pops up from the canteen and is his usual self thinking that he’s doing the brigadier’s job. In his first scene, Chinn is munching on a chicken leg and it seems that when the world is in chaos he will be found in the queue at McDonalds. I like the doubt that Filer has when he thinks that the Doctor is up to something and he has a point because the Doctor is willing to work with the Master to get off earth. It would have been nice if this doubt were introduced earlier in the story as it could have produced some much needed tension but it is what it is and Filer has been another solid character in this story.

The viewer must have thought that the Doctor wouldn’t do that but they were in for a shock when he uses the Master’s gun and points it at Jo, the Brigadier and Bill Filer. What makes this scene particularly emotional is Jo’s reaction which is one of disbelief. The look of relief when the Doctor returns is very nice to see and shows how much the two characters have gelled during the course of this season.

The directing was particularly good and the highlight came during the scene where Benton and Yates are fighting off the axon tentacle versions and it ended up with the land rover they were driving in going up in flames.

The episode on its own was rather good and managed to finish the story off with enough time and didn’t feel rushed. There was a little bit about the fact that the Master may have gotten away. Of course it wouldn’t be too long before we would see Roger Delgado and viewers in 1971 would have figured this out to bearing in mind this is the third story in a row that the Master has appeared I think that this season isn’t as strong as the previous one as the adage of having too much of a good thing is showing itself to be true.  As a four part adventure I think that its better than I remember it being and thought that some of the more psycadelic elements were actually quite fun. Not the greatest story of the season but still better than I though.