The Claws Of Axos
daveyboy7472
Posts: 16,404 Forum Member
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I like this story for several reasons. The most obvious is the fact that after a year and half stuck on earth, we get not only to see the TARDIS back in action but we see the Console Room as well. Watching this story almost makes it feel like old Who again and I think it was great that Letts and Dicks took this decision to mix it up a bit and not have exclusively every single thing set on Earth. Though this is technically an Earthbound story it at least had a spaceship in it and a little bit of space travel if only for a few minutes.
As for the story itself, it's a good one. I think this another one where the UNIT team work well together and the guest soldiers are a bonus as well. Having The Master in every story by this point could easily have grated but at least they tried to do something different with the character and have him on the good side temporarily. It's also one of the few stories where he has some direct contact with The Brigadier which is good as well.
Other aspects of the story I like are Mr Chinn who's attempts to be all pompous are undermined by not only those around him but his boss at the ministry as well. Filer is another good character, he so should have got it on with Jo!
The Axons and the voices/special effects are quite effective. But special praise has to go to one Rogan Josh, the tramp on the bicycle.
Ahhheeeaargghhhhhhh.
As for the story itself, it's a good one. I think this another one where the UNIT team work well together and the guest soldiers are a bonus as well. Having The Master in every story by this point could easily have grated but at least they tried to do something different with the character and have him on the good side temporarily. It's also one of the few stories where he has some direct contact with The Brigadier which is good as well.
Other aspects of the story I like are Mr Chinn who's attempts to be all pompous are undermined by not only those around him but his boss at the ministry as well. Filer is another good character, he so should have got it on with Jo!
The Axons and the voices/special effects are quite effective. But special praise has to go to one Rogan Josh, the tramp on the bicycle.
Ahhheeeaargghhhhhhh.
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I also like it when the Doctor and the Master are forced to work together.
'You fool! Why did you think they would destroy everyone on Earth and spare you?'
'You're right, I never thought of that!'
Again.
:rolleyes:
:yawn:
So it was good to see the Tardis back in action, albeit briefly. They had a strange 'Porch' of some kind through the main inner-doors.....full of roundels again! Bit odd! I think they did a similar thing in Pat Troughtons era - the exterior outside the main doors being like a Mirror-effect (can't remember which episode....but it's on DVD!)
Good story, loved the fact that they got over that weird weather they were having at the time. (That got them out of continuity issues
The monsters were pretty gruesome - from a distance. This was more like 'Doctor Who' as it should be.
It was getting closer to the mark!
What always make me chuckle is that the very next story they used a completely different TARDIS set to the one used here. Even the scanner was in a different place! I think they changed that console round more times than any other in the Pertwee Era!
The Master feels shoehorned in here and really doesn't add anything to the story.
The production values of the seventies stories are usually pretty good but this always looks a bit cheap and badly done to me.
Quite like parts of the first episode, it's just one I never have time for and can't even bring myself to watch. Don't know if it is badly acted, I just think the dialogue is a bit bland, so have sympathy for the actors here.
I know there are a couple of other posters doing a rewatch at the moment and are watching Pertwee as well. Doublefour is covering the Troughton Era at the moment so will let him revisit those threads as he needs too, but thought as I go along I'll revisit my old threads but not on a daily basis as before. It may also give some new posters to comment on them who weren't on the forum first time round.
I'm onto The Claws Of Axos at the moment. Haven't got mega amounts to add to what I've put already but is something I've noticed so far that makes me chuckle.
In the first episode The Brigadier clearly states that Jo is to stay in his Mobile HQ as they visit the Axon Spaceship. Jo then ignores this instruction and heads towards the ship, but she doesn't exactly do it discreetly, but in front of several UNIT Troops who just stand and watch and let her go in inside. You would have thought they would of tried to stop her and the Brig would have given commands to stop her or anyone else going in , but no, they just stand there! Maybe they just liked the view.....;-)
Plus there's the small matter of the TARDIS still in the background in the control room in the last episode when it wasn't actually supposed to be there.....:D
These are all trivial things but sometimes these little slip ups in Classic Who are what make it so endearing. It's still a cracking good story though and as I said in a thread a few weeks ago, this story and the following one are for me the reason Season 8 is so much better than Season 7, as it has more variety and just not every single friggin story is set on Earth.
For me, this story is when the show very gradually started getting back to how it should be, whizzing around in the TARDIS in space, albeit very briefly. It was almost a setup for the next story where The Doctor really did get away from Earth for a few episodes. It took a few years and a change of Doctor to get there, but for me, The Claws Of Axos is the first tentative step back to normality in the show's format.
But he's actually credited as Pigbin Josh, which is almost as good. Great dialogue though - Fnnnrrrr, wwwwrrrgggllll, oooorrraaaarrrrr.
Correction Noted!
Yep, he should have had a bigger....role in the story.
Fwarrrrr......Arrggghhh....whaoooaaaaaa!
Perhaps Jo out ranked them. I believe she was originally intended to be given the rank of Lieutenant although this never materialized on screen. Anyway The Doctor could come and go wherever he likes so I wouldn't be surprised if this extended to his assistant.
It may have been wise of The Brigadier to assume she wouldn't listen to him and give specific instructions to the troops but then we would not have had a story.
Out of every monster that could possibly return, the Axos are always at the top of the list for me, and I honestly think they would look great with today's make-up and prosthetics. Their golden forms could could be something beautiful, yet alien, while their true form would be incredibly gruesome, and maybe with a big of CGI mixed in there.
I've seen some very good fanart of what they could look like, and it all looked doable.
Interesting point, but Mike and Benton have been known to give her instructions as well. Still think it was a bit odd no-one said anything to her but there again, as you say we wouldn't have had a story if she'd been refused entry to the ship.
Can't remember Benton ever giving her orders, at least not orders that haven't been passed down from The Brigadier. He was always a bit wet with the ladies, with Benton it was always "I'm sorry Miss Grant the Brigadier has order me to...blah blah blah". Sarah on the other hand could do what she wanted with him, like go off with Kettlewell in Robot because she wasn't an official member of UNIT and he even gave Zoe and Isobel (and Jamie) a lift in The Invasion.
Going back to Sarah she was even giving troops orders herself in Terror of the Zygons so who knows.
The whole story overall, is entertaining, with great looking villains.
My favourite part is at the end of Episode 1, when Jo sees an Axon as he really looks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1iclhFq1Mtc#t=696
Also, the scene in the Tardis console room, between the Doctor and the Master. That was good too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJElEdnMXuQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=138
I prefer stories that have a lot of action in them, and this does have a fair bit. :cool:
(I can imagine the director saying - "Oh the viewers wont notice that!")
Well we DID !!
Fairly blatant isn't it but a lot of us are now watching on a nice big telly, back in the day the majority were still watching on relatively small black and white tv's and would have missed it. Think we can file this in the same category as the hand on Sutekh's cushion etc.
Ok firstly the stuff I didnt like so much though which made it an average adventure overall was that Jo really seemed to revert to the damel in distress screaming quite a lot and the Axon ship looked really cheap so they must have run out of money. I liked the tentacled Axons but there is one bit when the axon( ite ? ) is really just a man rolling around in a bag which Is focused on just too long by the director which Is unforgiveable
There are lots of things to like though. The mystery of the first episode and a half where we are finding out about the Axons ( the way they look with all the gold paint is actually good) and the body sucking of the tramp ( I did laugh at him ooo-arr, oooh- arring though). Again Delgado brings out different sides of the Master and I am seriously liking that : helping the Doctor but also plotting against him. The doctor then tricking the Master. I like the Master helping UNIT too and then escaping.
... Oh almost forgot we saw the Tardis interior for the first time which is good.