C08S03 The claws of Axos

Synopsis

A mysterious object approaches Earth, alerting the Doctor and UNIT that they face another possible threat from outer space.  Are the gold-skinned aliens who claim to bring great gifts to humanity as peaceful and benevolent as they first appear?  And why is the Doctor's arch-enemy the Master on board their spaceship...?

Cover notes

Doctor Who during Jon Pertwee's tenure in the lead role is remembered mainly for the succession of alien nasties who tried to invade Earth week-in and week-out (and for 'Earth', read 'home counties England').  Other ingredients in the mix usually involved arch baddy the Master, the token good guys, UNIT; some manner of pompus, self important official; and dad's favourite Jo Grant in a mini skirt.  The Claws of Axos is about as typical an adventure as Doctor Who produced in the early 1970s.

Perhaps because of the glut of by-the-numbers ingredients, it is sometimes easy to dismiss The Claws of Axos as a run-of-the-mill story.  In reality, there is much to recommend it above its bedfellows.  Although colour had come to Doctor Who the previous year, this story is made in COLOUR!  Every costume, every set draws attention to the screen, in a psychedelic explosion of creativity.  Jon Pertwee and Roger Delgado have, by now, eased into their roles of hero and arch-nemesis when on screen together, while Katy Manning is the epitome of the cute, screamy Doctor Who girl.  And who can resist the lumbering red spaghetti monsters?

The story marks the first involvement of writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin with Doctor Who, and the next few years would see them become a mainstay of the writing team for the programme.  The Claws of Axos underwent many revisions before it went into production, starting life as a seven-part story, with a lurid title The Vampire from Space, before all parties were happy with the story, and the camera began rolling.  Their original storyline, called The Gift, was writen for Patrick Troughton's Doctor; it involved an alien invasion in London's Hyde Park, a giant skull for a spaceship, Battersea Power station, and a cliffhanger featuring a giant carrot.

While the production team liked many of the basic ideas, it was apparent that the story would go way over budget.  A new scaled back script featuring the Third Doctor, UNIT and the Master (but unfortunately minus the carrot) became The Claws of Axos.  Now set outside London, location filming took place against the eerie beauty of Dungeness in Kent where, despite the awful, inconsistent weather the production team had to contend with on location, the end result offers a nice spin on the aliens-invade-Earth scenario that the series so often produced in this era.

The Axons are a memorable and iconic Doctor Who monster but would never return to fight the Doctor again.  However, a resprayed and modified Axon monster suit would appear a few years later - when it became the Krynoid for The Seeds of Doom.

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