THE CLAWS OF AXOS

Written by Bob Baker & Dave Martin.

Directed by Michael Ferguson.

Transmitted originally: 13 March 1971 to 3 April 1971.

"The claws of Axos are already deeply buried in the Earth's carcass." - The Doctor

THE STORY

An approaching alien spaceship is detected on monitroring equipment at UNIT HQ, where the Brigadier has two visitors - Chinn, a civil servant making a security inspection, and Bill Filer, an American agent sent to discuss the threat of the Master. The ship lands in England and the UNIT team, joined by Hardiman and Winser from the nearby Nuton power station, meets its occupents: beautiful golden-skinned humanoids called Axons. The Axons claim that their ship, Axos, is damaged and that they need time in which to repair it. In reurn, they offer Axonite, a substance that can cause animals to grow to enormous sizes and thus end food shortages.

The Doctor is suspicious, and his doubts are proved right: Axos, Axonite and the Axons - whose true appearance is hideous - are all part of a single parasitic entity brought to Earth by the Master to feed on the energy of the planet. The Doctor manges to materialise his TARDIS, with the Master on board, at the centre of Axos. He offers to link the two craft together to create a giant machine, on the condition that Axos helps him to take revenge on the Time Lords for his exile to Earth. This is merely a trick, and Axos is locked in a time loop from which it can never escape. The Doctor returns to Earth in the TARDIS, while the Master also manages to escape.

CAST:

The Doctor (Jon Pertwee), Jo Grant (Katy Manning), The Master (Roger Delgado), Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), Captain Mike Yates (Richard Franklin), Sergeant Benton (John Levene), Chinn (Peter Bathurst), Filer (Paul Grist), Hardiman (Donald Hewlett), Winser (David Saville), Pigbin Josh (Derek Ware), Axon Man (Bernard Holley), 1st Radio Operator (Michael Walker), 2nd Radio Operator (David G. March), Corporal Bell (Fernanda Marlowe), Axon Woman (Patricia Gordino), Axon Boy (John Hicks), Axon Girl (Debbie Lee London), Captain Harker (Tim Piggot-Smith), The Minister (Kenneth Benda), Technician (Royston Farrell).

FACTS:

The interior of the TARDIS is seen for the first time since 'The War Games'.

The line descibing how Axos's arrival has caused freak weather effects was inserted after the unpredictable weather experienced during filming.

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