291 The Claws of Axos: Episode Three

EPISODE: The Claws of Axos: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 291
STORY NUMBER: 057
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 27 March 1971
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Michael Ferguson
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 6.4 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - the Claws of Axos - Special Edition
EPISODE FORMAT: 525 video RSC

"Axonite is simply bait for human greed. Because of this greed, Axonite will soon spread across the entire planet and then the nutrition cycle will begin. Slowly we will consume every particle of energy, every last cell of living matter. Earth will be sucked dry!"

The Axons take the Doctor & Jo back to Axos. The Brigadier and his men are released on the Ministry's orders. The Master has leaked news of Axonite's existence and use to the UN who want worldwide distribution immediately. Axos interrogates the Doctor for the secret of Time Travel. The Master, having infiltrated the Nuton complex disguised a high ranking army officer, attempts to repair the Doctor's Tardis, intending to escape Earth. Trying to harness the reactor's power he is captured by the Brigadier. The Axons seize control of the reactor, but the Master comes up with a way of turning the Axonite's power against Axos destroying it. Unfortunately that will also kill the captive Doctor & Jo....

The Doctor & Jo spend this episode captured & interrogated by Axos so the supporting cast get some screen time with the Master & the Brigadier getting to spend some screen time together.

There's a notably first in this episode: We finally see the inside of the Tardis for the first time since Jon Pertwee became the Third Doctor! For something that was a constant during the early years of the program it's been thirty seven episodes since we last saw it!

It's in a bit of a mess too: we know the Doctor had been tinkering with it, trying to get it working, and we saw the console removed in Ambassadors of Death and Inferno.

It's returned to it's proper place here but looks a mess with cables strewn everywhere!

Unfortunately The Master has leaked the existence of Axonite to the World and now Chinn's in some trouble with his superior:

MINISTER: Chinn?
CHINN: Sir?
MINISTER: Perhaps you can tell me why the sole result of the special powers I granted you, has been this catastrophic security leak?
CHINN: Catastrophic security leak? Which catastrophic security leak, sir?
MINISTER: The United Nations are demanding the immediate free world-wide distribution of Axonite. The whole thing has blown up in our faces, Chinn.
CHINN: Yes, sir. In our faces, sir.
MINISTER: Distribution is to take place immediately.
CHINN: Yes, sir. Just as soon as I can
MINISTER: Yes, sir. Not as soon as, immediately. Arrange air transport.
CHINN: You can depend upon me, sir.
MINISTER: Hmm? What? Yes, well, just in case we can't. Your resignation, Chinn. All ready for signature. Goodbye, Chinn.

The videolink between Chinn and his Minister at the start of the episode confirms what we've known all along that Chinn is an idiot and shows that his superior knows it too. The thinly veiled threat of Chinn's unsigned resignation waiting for him if he gets it wrong says everything.... but unwittingly his incompetence and narrow mindedness has, as the Doctor points out, crucially delayed Axos' plans.

DOCTOR: You know, Jo, I think our friend Chinn, has done the right thing for once. For the wrong reasons, of course.
JO: What do you mean?
DOCTOR: Well, fortunately, he intends to confine the entire supply of Axonite to Britain.

Chinn's Minister is played by Kenneth Benda. He played Sir James in A Vintage Year for Scoundrels and A Slight Case of Reincarnation, the opening episodes of both series of Adam Adamant Lives!. He appeared in The Prisoner as the Supervisor in Free for All and is in the missing third season Doomwatch episode Without the Bomb as Clive Hughes.

The location used for the Nuton Power Complex is Dungeness Power Station in Kent, close to the locations used in episodes 1 & 2. Filming took place there on 8th January 1971.

Dungeness Power Station has briefly appeared in Doctor Who before where an exterior shot serves as the Kanowa research centre.

Claws of Axos is the Doctor who writing debut for Bob Baker & Dave Martin, known as the Bristol Boys. They came to script editor Terrance Dick's notice when a script they'd written landed on his desk by accident instead of it's intended recipient. They were commissioned to produce a script at the start of May 1969 and over the next few years it evolved under various titles as "The Gift", "The Friendly Invasion" & "The Vampire from Space", the last of which it was still being called when it was filmed. Indeed there were even title slides for the story under that name produced. Baker & Martin, along with Robert Holmes, would form the backbone of the Doctor Who writing team for the rest of the seventies before their partnership broke up in 1978. Bob Baker would later script the Wallace & Gromit series. Dave Martin died in 2007.

This story exists as 625 line PAL video for episodes 1 & 4 and 525 line video for episode 2 & 3 which was subjected to the Reverse Standards Conversion Process to bring it back close to the original look of the episode on it's UK broadcast for the original DVD. However The Claws of Axos Special Edition DVD takes the colour off RSC'd version and marries it to the black & white film copy to produce a better picture, as described in The Claws of Axos article on the Restoration Team Website. Claws of Axos is the first story to use this technique which was later applied to the Inferno Special Edition DVD.

290 The Claws of Axos: Episode Two

EPISODE: The Claws of Axos: Episode Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 290
STORY NUMBER: 057
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 20 March 1971
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Michael Ferguson
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 8 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - the Claws of Axos - Special Edition
EPISODE FORMAT: 525 video RSC

"All over, Brigadier. No further concern of yours. Agreement has been reached. Britain has the world rights to Axonite!"

The Axons attempt to convince Jo she suffered a hallucination due to being near their power source. Chinn negotiates with Axos for worldwide distribution rights for Axonite and then, using emergency powers granted to him by the minister, has all Unit staff arrested. The Doctor is released to aid Windsor in his testing of the Axonite. The Axons duplicate Bill Filer and send him to fetch the Doctor. The Master negotiates his release, but Axos retains his Tardis. He journeys to London to bring the Doctor's Tardis back with him. Filer escapes and saves the Doctor from the fake Filer but in doing so is arrested and locked up with Unit. The Doctor runs an experiment on the Axonite which Windsor interferes with and is killed, setting off an alarm that allows the Brigadier, Jo & Filer to escape. The Doctor realises Axos, the Axons & Axonite are all one being. The Axonite sample is absorbing all the energy from the nuclear power plant and duplicating itself. The Doctor & Jo are surrounded by tentacled Axon monsters.

Must resist urge to punch Chinn..... Deary me one self seeking idiot seemingly fouling everything up.

There's every indication his superiors think the same thing of him too:

CHINN: Minister? Will you scramble, or shall I, sir?
MINISTER: Just your report, Chinn. I'm sure that will be quite garbled enough.
CHINN: Yes, sir. Well, as I anticipated, we are having a certain amount of trouble with these UNIT people, sir.
MINISTER: We, Chinn? We?
CHINN: Well, I am, sir.
MINISTER: Are you quite sure you can handle this matter, Chinn?
CHINN: Oh, yes, sir, yes, of course! Er, about the special powers, sir?
MINISTER: Because if you are not, just remember, it's your head on the block, Chinn, not mine. CHINN: Er, about my request, sir?
MINISTER: Special powers have already been granted. Do your best to keep me informed, old chap. After all, you are our man on the spot, Chinn, in more ways than one!

Chinn then tries to keep as much as the pie as possible for Britain:

CHINN: All we ask is your guarantee that the sole distribution right to all Axonite materials be vested in the British government.
AXON MAN: To bring the greatest possible benefit to all Earth peoples, Axonite distribution must be worldwide.
CHINN: I think I can give you that assurance.
AXON MAN: In that case, all that remains is for me to hand over samples of Axonite for your investigation to begin.
CHINN: Thank you.

And, having been annoyed by the Brigadier last episode looks to sideline him, initially with little effect:

BRIGADIER: Mister Chinn? What's been going on here? I warn you, you have no authority.
CHINN: All over, Brigadier. No further concern of yours. Agreement has been reached. Britain has the world rights to Axonite.
BRIGADIER: Not as far as I'm concerned.
CHINN: I'm warning you, Brigadier.
BRIGADIER: I'll take that, please. Thank you. Right, shall we go? Doctor, Miss Grant. After you, Mister Chinn.

Unfortunately Chinn's taken very drastic measure to ensure UNIT is put out the picture here:

BRIGADIER: What's going on here, Yates?

YATES: Regulars suddenly took over, sir.
BRIGADIER: Took over?
YATES: We couldn't very well open fire on them, could we, sir?
BRIGADIER: What about the rest of the men?
CHINN: They've all been arrested, and so, Brigadier, have you. If you will excuse me.
(Chinn takes back the Axonite from the Brigadier.)
BRIGADIER: You have no right.
CHINN: On the contrary, I have every right. You're all under security arrest under the Emergency Powers Act.
BRIGADIER: Captain, this is an illegal act.
HARKER: I have my orders, Brigadier.
BRIGADIER: I must tell you, Mister Chinn, I shall make every possible attempt to warn the UN.
CHINN: Captain, I want all these men put under twenty four hour armed guard. They are to see no one, no one at all. Do you understand? If you need me, I shall be with Sir George.

The real irony, as we'll see, is that in the overall scheme of things Chinn's actions probably help save the world!

Windsor's a bit of an idiot too for someone who's supposedly the chief scientist at a power point as the manner of his death demonstrates!

We liked the Axon eye on a stem that talks to the Master, a decent effect unfortunately flawed by some dodgy CSO that causes the background to be seen through it occasionally.

Lots of the cast in this story are familiar to us from Doctor Who and other television programs. Donald Hewlett,playing Hardiman, becomes a regular player in David Croft & Jimmy Perry sitcoms appearing as Colonel Charles Reynolds in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Lord Meldrum in You Rang, M'Lord? However he also has a regular role in the David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd sitcom Come Back Mrs. Noah, which isn't so fondly remembered, where he plays Carstairs.

David Savile previously played Lt Carstairs in The War Games: of all the guest cast in that story he's in the most episodes of this story appearing in the first nine. He later returns as Colonel Charles Crichton in The Five Doctors. Before Doctor Who he's had some experience with science fiction appearing in the first season Out of the Unknown episode The Counterfeit Man as Gerry. This episode survives and can be seen as part of the Out of the Unknown DVD Set. He also appeared in the film version of Quatermass and the Pit as an Army Officer and plays a hospital doctor in the UFO episode The Man Who Came Back.

This is the television debut for Tim Piggott-Smith, playing Captain Harker, who'll return as Marco in The Masque of Mandragora. He's been in a large number of prominent TV and film productions.

Bill Filer is played by Paul Grist who's also been in genre shows such as Blake's 7: Gambit as Cevedic and Survivors. An online acquaintance of mine believes they've spotted him in Space 1999 as an Eagle Pilot.

Actually what function is Filer playing in this story that couldn't have been filled by giving his part to Captain Yates?

Easy to spot a couple of the show's regular stuntmen in this episode: the UNIT Soldier guarding Axos, and falling foul of the master is Stuart Fell.

Meanwhile the driver that fall's under the Master's influence is Nick Hobbs.

The Master hijacks the UNIT lorry at St Martins Plains Camp, an MOD site near Folkstone. The bridge he jumps from onto the truck carries the railway into Folkstone.

A quick bit of prop spotting: In Windsor's lab is our friend a the panel from the ICT 1300.

We've previously seen it this season in the Satellite Dish Control Room in Terror of the Autons, controlling the Keller Machine in Mind of Evil and then as part of the control system for the Thunderbolt missile later in that story!

289 The Claws of Axos: Episode One

EPISODE: The Claws of Axos: Episode One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 289
STORY NUMBER: 057
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 13 March 1971
WRITER: Bob Baker & Dave Martin
DIRECTOR: Michael Ferguson
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 7.3 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - the Claws of Axos - Special Edition
EPISODE FORMAT: 625 video

"Axos calling Earth. Fuel systems exhausted. Request immediate assistance. Immediate assistance. Axos calling Earth, Axos calling Earth!"

UNIT has been joined by Horatio Chinn, MP, who is conducting an enquiry into the organisation, and Bill Filer, an American agent pursuing the Master. A spacecraft is sighted entering Earth's atmosphere, which Chinn orders destroyed. The Spacecraft teleports itself out of harm's way and buries itself in a beach close to the Nuton power complex. A local tramp is passing by the ship and investigates, being seized by it and drawn in. Chinn takes charge of the situation, sending Filer away. However he drives to Nuton and investigates, being captured by the ship and imprisoned with the Master. Unit arrives, and joined by Sir George Hardiman and Professor Winser from Nuton they investigate entering the ship and encountering the gold skinned Axons who wish to trade their miracle replicating Axonite for fuel. The Doctor is suspicious that they didn't use the Axonite to make more fuel. Benton & Yates find the rapidly decomposing body of the tramp near the spaceship. Jo, who has entered the ship by herself, is confronted by a tentacled alien emerging from a wall.

Oh look, it's the Master, what a surprise!

Now I've got some previous history with Claws of Axos: I never liked the book and was never grabbed by watching it on video and DVD. But watching this first episode there's a lot to like. Both aliens, the gold skinned Axons and tentacled monsters look fab, and there's some great design work inside Axos, the Axon ship, combining studio set and CSO.

No my problems with this story mainly spring from the inclusion of the most annoying character in Doctor Who - Horatio Chinn played by Peter Bathurst. Chinn's the sort of annoying and officious character that belongs more in a sitcom than in Doctor Who, I look at him and think "how did you get to such a position of power?" As a throw away character like the tramp, and I'll get onto him in a second, he might have been OK but Chinn's visible right the way through the story. I didn't realise it but I'd seen Peter Bathurst before: he was Governor Hensell in The Power of the Daleks and he's completely different here which proves he could act. In fact discovering that Bathurst was Chinn too put me right off Hensell in Power of the Daleks for a bit!

Outside of Doctor Who Bathurst had previously previously played Barnaby in the Out of the Unknown episode Andover and the Android, sadly one of the two missing episodes from the show's first season, and would appear in three episodes of Terrance Dicks & Barry Letts' Moonbase 3 as the Director General: Departure and Arrival, Achilles Heel and Castor and Pollux.

Then there's the tramp, Pigbin Josh, played by regular stunt man and leader of the HAVOC stunt team Derek Ware. Exhibit A in any "Doctor Who does bad Yokel characters" enquiry. Fortunately he's swiftly dispatched, though the initial version of his body decaying was a little longer and more graphic before a white out was used to excise the end of the effect.

The full scene can be found on the DVD along with the extended versions of many other scenes, several of which involve Ware's character.

Bernard Holley is the golden Axon Man and he was previously Peter Haydon in The Tomb of the Cybermen. He'd already been in the now missing Out of the Unknown episode 1+1=1.5 as a TV Announcer and would later appear in the second series of The Tripods as The Power Master. From my childhood I can recall him in the Children's educational series Eureka produced by former Doctor Who vision mixer Clive Doig and alongside future Doctor Who actor Sylvester McCoy. More recently you may have seen him as the Chief Constable in A Touch of Frost who has a liking for the rogue Inspector. You can hear him interviewed by Toby Hadoke in Who's Round 41.

As to the rest rest of the Axon Family, the Axon Boy, John Hicks, was a Quark in The Dominators, Patricia Gordino in the Axon Woman and Debbie Lee London the Axon Girl.

Making her second and final appearance as Corporal Bell is Fernanda Marlowe .

One of the Radar operators, Michael Walker will return as Miseus in The Time Monster.

The other David March can be seen in Survivors as Bates in Garland's War and can be heard in the Captain Zep - Space Detective episode The Lodestone of Space.

I'm pretty certain the sequence of the missiles launching shown on the monitor is the same footage used ad nauseam in the Invasion.

As with most third Doctor stories a fair amount of location work was involved. In fact there's only two Pertwee stories without any location work... Filming for this story took place in Kent near to the Dungeness Power Station. Unfortunately filming in early January proved to be subject to interference from the weather and a snow shower intervened, ruining the continuity between consecutive scenes on location, Terrance Dicks was forced to deploy for the first time a future Doctor Who staple: Episode one features the d�but of the all purpose get out "Freak Weather Conditions". Now in January you'd expect snow to be a risk. But April? Come back for The Dæmons in a month and a half to see more snow in the 1971 Doctor Who season.

The scenes of Pigbin Josh on his bike were filmed at Dengemarsh Road on 4th January 1971.

The next day the film crew were on Dungeness Beach for the scene with Josh wandering through the boats.

The day after they moved to nearby Dungeness Road for the scenes involving the entrance to the spaceship and the UNIT vehicles arriving.

Two day after this episode was broadcast Public Enemy, the 13th & final episode of Doomwatch Season Two, was shown on BBC1.