The Claws of Axos

Dear Gary—

“The claws of Axos are already deeply embedded in the Earth’s carcass.”

It is the imagery of Axos that really brings The Claws of Axos to life. As the Doctor says, “Before you start annihilating the thing why don’t we just take a look at it?”

Axos is an organically grown ship that has landed on Earth, and it looks rather remarkable given the budget constraints of Doctor Who at the time. From the outside it looks vaguely like a sea anemone sticking up out of the land; inside is a psychedelic world of soft membranes, dripping ganglia, and lobster claws grabbing out at you from the walls (the only cheap looking aspect of Axos). At times the inside of Axos is rather like being in a fun house while on an acid trip.

In fact there are several hallucinogenic type moments inside Axos that are simply stunning. The kaleidoscope of colors and the disembodied revolving heads create some dizzying visuals. And then the talking eye stalk that hangs down from the ceiling is a trip in itself.

The Axons, too, are impressive in their humanoid form with their golden skin, masses of molded curls, and smooth pupil less eyes.  (The one flaw is the obvious zipper down the back.) The true Axon form is also striking as hulking blobs of deadly tentacles, although they are more effective in close up rather than shown lumbering along from a distance. I am a bit confused by the one rather bizarre mummenshanz like globule that appears inexplicably on the lab floor, but then we do learn that everything Axos is all a singular organism so I guess it’s just a pimple that erupts.

But beware Axons bearing Axonite. All that glitters is not gold. Axonite “can absorb, convert, transmit, and program all forms of energy.” This might seem like manna from heaven, but as the Doctor points out, “I doubt if even Axonite can increase the growth of human common sense.”

There seems to be a worldwide shortage of common sense in The Claws of Axos; so much so that I find it rather implausible.  Call me naïve, but I just don’t believe a person like Chinn could exist, and if he did exist I just don’t believe he would ever be put in such a position of power. This type of hard headed stupidity makes me mad—not the stupidity itself but the use of this as a character device to advance a plot when it is so astonishingly far-fetched that anyone would really act this way.

And then there is the rest of the world. If alien beings landed with some sort of miracle substance it would not immediately be shipped to every major city and government. It would be quarantined; it would be studied; it would be debated; it would be held up in red tape.

But then our story would be held up and we wouldn’t have this cancerous growth enveloping the world and we wouldn’t have the Doctor teaming up with the Master yet again to defeat the enemy.

It is an interesting plot twist, Gary, when the Doctor seemingly turns on his beloved Earth and decides to abandon it to its fate; and then in a double twist he apparently cooperates with the Axons to give them time travel so that they can feed on the entirety of time and space in return for exacting revenge on the Time Lords. If this were not Doctor Who I could almost believe this third Doctor of such betrayal; but not quite. Although I think it would have made a most entertaining show having the Doctor and the Master traveling about together as a dynamic cosmic duo.

Instead the Doctor seizes the opportunity to trick the Master into fixing his TARDIS and to trap Axos (and he hopes the Master) in a time loop from which they can never escape. Of course the Doctor can escape simply by boosting his power, so I wonder why the Master who has his own TARDIS available to him, or Axos with its thinking molecule, can’t escape just as easily.

The Doctor himself rather amusingly stumbles a bit over his explanations once back in the company of the Brigadier and Jo as he tries to illustrate the concept of a time loop. And then he admits that he is 90% certain . . . “well pretty certain” that the Master remains locked in that loop of time.

The Doctor also remains trapped. Despite the Master having fixed his TARDIS, the Time Lords have programmed it to always return to Earth. “It seems that I’m some kind of a galactic yoyo,” the Doctor exclaims.

And so I end on that inspired imagery courtesy of The Claws of Axos and hope that somewhere in that galactic yoyo of a time swirl these echoes will be heard.