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Claws of Axos is very much an historical record of attitudes of its time – 1971. The controversies beginning to arise around nuclear power are particularly obvious. There is also the issue of civilian control of the military, and even the role of the military in Britain and British relations with America. Even the reactions to the Axons reflect British attitudes to immigration as reflected by the clearly racist Mr Chinn. The story of an alien invader arriving on Earth and offering a ‘gift’ that turns out not to be so palatable after all, is actually an idea taken up several years later in the American miniseries, ‘V’. Dw got there first! 9/10
Commentary Commentary is by Barry Letts, producer, Katy Manning, Jo, and Richard Franklyn, Mike Yates. Barry does tend to be a bit of an old fogey in his attitudes towards his classic episodes, but not quite so bad as when he is with Terrence Dicks. He knows his stuff as a producer and introduces several useful discussions about the locations, effects and other issues involved in making special effects and costume based drama in the early years of colour. Since Barry is no longer with us, it stands as a tribute to his work on the programme. Katy is frankly annoying. She giggles like a twelve year old and acts as if being cute and endearing is a substitute for intelligence. Richard Franklyn, speaks quite well when he did speak, but could have done with putting himself forward a bit more considering he claims to be a politician in real life. 9/10
Extras
9/10 Now and Then is narrated by Katy Manning, whose cadence seems a bit too much like she is reading a story on Jackanory. That apart what it mostly proves is that the countryside around Dungeness nuclear power station, to say nothing of the power station itself, hasn’t changed except in very minor details over the thirty odd years since Claws of Axos was filmed. Even a pile of shingle moved by the BBC crew is still there! Anyone who has ever been to Romney Marsh would probably expect nothing less. 10/10
Ironically, an early pioneer of the conversion processes was a Dr. Peter Axon, and there is an amusing epilogue where it is suggested that the Axons of Claws of Axos might have infiltrated the BBC long ago! There’s a lot of technical stuff in here. If you don’t have a-level physics it’s hard going, but Jack Pizzey does a nice job of trying to present it coherently to the average viewer. 10/10
10/10 Photo gallery is a little disappointing. Too many of the screen shots are black and white, while almost all the promotional pictures are just the Axons in different poses. It is redeemed slightly by including pictures taken at the DVD commentary session with Katy Manning, the late Barry Letts and Richard Franklyn all looking happy and relaxed. 8/10 Overall, this isn’t a bad package. The extras are worth seeing at least once. The commentary is informative. 9 out of 10
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Behind
The Scenes is a reel of original recordings of the studio based scenes
– given that much of this story was shot on location. The floor
manager can be heard and clapper board shots are seen, which reveal
that the story was originally called Vampire from Space. If you are
interested in how TV episodes are filmed this is fascinating stuff.
If you are a total Doctor Who anorak, it’s a must see. For the
casual viewer, perhaps less so.
Reverse
Standards Conversion is an odd little documentary. It begins with
a very staid commentary that screams 1970s. A man called Jack Pizzey
explains about 525 line Pal colour being transferred to 625 line NTSC
colour for broadcasting in the USA and Canada. Jack Pizzey, now with
white hair, comes back to explain the history of colour broadcasting
in Britain and the USA. The documentary then goes on to discuss the
process of reversing the process in order to restore Canadian copies
of Claws of Axos in order to produce the high quality colour DVD copy
that we have been watching.
Director,
Michael Ferguson, is the focus of the fifteen minute documentary.
He speaks very well about the problems of filming four episodes mostly
on location in erratic weather which eventually had to be written
into the plot as ‘freak weather conditions’. He also talks
about filming one of the earliest programmes to use CSO to any great
extent and other problems. He pays compliments to Barry Letts as producer
and to the camera crew who coped with many location filming problems.
His voice is very soft and easy on the ear, which is important since
he is talking for almost all of the fifteen minutes. It also helps
that he wasn’t on the commentary and so there isn’t the
repeated information that so often happens.
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