Claws of Axos

Review: Psychedelic spaghetti attacks Earth on DVD.

Claws of Axos hurts my eyes. No, it really does. It's an enjoyable romp that teaches us that pretty people in leotards can be evil spaghetti monsters underneath and that the Master can be a handy guy to have around in a crisis (even if he caused it).

But oh, the colours. The Axon spaceship seems to made entirely of nasty orange rocks and leftover bits of bouncy castle. You'll notice too that the Axons must have had a recent washing matching accident – there's white foam oozing everywhere.

Interviewed for a special feature, director Michael Fergusson admits that the design people went overboard trying out new techniques. It seems they attempted to try them all in the same story, often in the same scene. Bill Filer, America's uncoolest secret agent, is pretty hard on the eyes too.

Highlights of the DVD include a wealth of deleted scenes and studio footage, including one where Richard Franklin and John Levine accidentally hijack someone else's scene entirely, and a moment where Jon Pertwee gets tetchy with a crewmember distracting him.

An amusing commentary from Franklin, Katy Manning and Barry Letts reveals, amongst other things, that Jon Pertwee used to learn his technobabble by setting it to music and that actors were always pinning back their wild Seventies hair to make themselves vaguely believable as soldiers.

It's all great fun – just be sure to turn down the colour on your TV or wear dark glasses if it all gets too much.

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Send us your comment now. We'll publish the best on this page.

hazza p
a very good help to me thanks a lot hope you dont stop thinking of doctor who . My teacher Mr powell loves doctor who! from Harriet partington aged:10

angela banks
the unit era is the golden age of dr who. will we ever see such chemistry again? Jon Pertwee is and always will be the number one doc!

Cyberspagghetti
This is so cool, ecspacially the giant frog part. the extras are greats too! Get The Sea Devils on DVD!

matthew
My first classic adventure ive seen on DVD. some excellent and effective monsters and villains, a good story and An EXCELLENT cast!

James
finaly Roger Delgado on DVD so lets see him next year for his first adventure TERROR OF THE AUTONS OR THE SEA DEVILS BUT PLEASE NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!

Jan Janse
Hardly a great Jon Pertwee story. Why not " The mind of evil" on DVD? I know it only survives in black and white, but it's one of the strongest Pertwee stories. Much better than this lame duck.

Robotdoll
Roger Delgado's greatest line in the series. If the plan goes wrong, the members of UNIT should prepare using the standard proactices of surviving nuclear armageddon: "sticky tape on the windows...that sort of thing." My we lost something great with Roger.

Gareth Stafford
I'm always a little biased towards stories featuring Jon as he is my favourite Doctor, and I had the pleasure of meeting him, but Axos is a little cracker - full of things to see in new light on DVD, particulary in the Behind the Scenes special plus lots of action and humour (Derek Ware - superb as the tramp Pigbin Josh!). Essential viewing.

michael cope
i agree more jon pertwee and roger delgado. and when are we going to get the planet of the spiders?

Scott Clements
A Dr Who episode at its best with John Pertwee in full flow with Roger at his Original Master BEST!!! Bring on the SEA DEVILS AND DAEMONS SOON!!!!!

Nathan Davis
I agree with David, this is a great story (if you try and ignore the effects!) and highlights perhaps a darker side of the 3rd Doctor. It's a credit to the Doctor Who Restoration Team that this was released. More Jon Pretwee DVD's please!

Andrea Corker
It was good to see a little bit of the real Roger Delgado in the Delete Scenes extra. How well he seemed to slip back into character. Excellant stuff

Gregory Shanley
I was well inmpressed by the picture quality of this DVD,the conversion back to Pal of episodes 2and 3 a wonder. Not my favourite Pertwee story but it is a good story,Delgado and Pertwee in great form.

steven askew
The restoration work on this disc seems unremarkable until a viewing of the R.S.C. featurette - then it becomes apparent how fantastic the efforts of the restoration team are... Well done. More please!

The League of Axons
This is a wonderful story. All the actors give charged performances and the location work is excellent. The DVD is very good as are the special features, and it has been digitally remastered to an excellent standard seeing as 2 episodes only exist as NTSC recordings. A real treat! Would recommend to any one.

David
Pertwee is the man...A classic story...Please more Pertwee stories on DVD as soon as possible!

John A Collins
For me, this is an underrated story - a little Quatermass in style. And it's good to see outtakes & deleted scenes from such an old serial. But more importantly, now that NTCS conversion has been so succesful, can we expect to see The Daemons; The Silurians; and Terror of the Autons, please?

Bad Wolf
Delgado is brilliant in this one. Glad it's finally been released on DVD.

Crugsy
Awful story but the xtras are interesting and the Reverse Standard Conversion is excellent!

John - Tyne & Wear
Excellent story. I've compared the DVD with the video release. The quality of the picture is much sharper. Well worth the money !

William Wyke
This is an enjoyable story, where all of the regular characters come off well, but please,PLEASE somebody overdub a new voice for Bill Filer. His accent is downright insulting.

steve bryant
another excellent pertwee adventure and slice of 70s tv nostalgia. i,m a newcomer to who on dvd and its nice to see it treated with so much respect and care in this format.i always liked the master especially when played by roger delgado.heres hoping the frontier in space or sea devils are released soon.

Devon Daleks(& Northern Bloke!)
Pertwee was great in this tale,which really kicks in the 4th part!!!

Aidan Brack
A fantastic DVD. Franklin was a bit overshadowed on the commentary but when he spoke he was funny and insightful. The Ferguson and RSC featurettes were both excellent and I've now come to see the story in a new light. And the picture? Simply fabulous.

Dqvid C
I hadn't seen this story for some time so I had no real preconceived ideas about wether it would be god, bad or even ugly. Turns out it was all three. In true Pertwee fashion we are thrown right into the thick of things as political beurocrats (did I spell that right?) quibble over wether to destroy an impending alien threat. Well, the good Doctor reminds us that we shouldn't always use the brig's directive of shoot first, shoot some more and when everybody's dead ask some questions (OK its from a movie but I like the sound of it) and that we should sit down and talk to the aliens over a hot cup of cocoa and an iced bun. He has such a short memory! The aliens always want to ahnialate all life on earth for their own malevolant means. Anyways... I liked this DVD a lot. I was entertained through all of the episodes which at the end of the day is what good TV is all about. The special features were better than average and I have to admit to finding the reverse formatting feature very interesting. It goes to show how much trouble goes into making sure that the DVDs that are put out for sale are of the highest standard. I must agree with the main review, that the colours are VERY bright so when you watch it, do what your parents told you and don't sit too close to the TV screen. Enjoy.

Phil Allely
This is what a Doctor Who dvd should be, who among the shows fans will want to miss such a psychadelic show, it's great to see that where other companies just stick the show on a disc, the beeb are still putting as much effort into their classic who releases. A dvd release featuring the Master and Pertwee's Who makes for some superb retro viewing whilst we enjoy the new series on tv.

Samuel Shannon
rruuuuuuuubbbbbbbiishhh

georgina ledger
Well, its great to see another great Pertwee story released on DVD.

Visceral Slice
An absolute 70s TV classic, & one of the best Who adventures ever. A lot of Pertwee stories got lost amongst the padding of over-long 6 or 7 parters, so its great to see a tight 4 episode tale, filled with memorable monsters, cool fx and some great, psychedelic visuals that add to the 'alien' feel of Axos (the ship) and the Axon creatures themselves. Great to see it finally out in a crisp DVD presentation with loads of extra goodies! Marvellous!

Sarah Tarrant
Marvellous to finally see Roger Delgado as the original Master appearing on DVD. Not one of my favourite Pertwee stories, the incidental music is pretty terrible especially towards the end but its excellent to have another third Doctor story on DVD. Personally I'm still hoping that 'The Sea Devils' may come out at some point in the near future.-

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