THE CLAWS OF AXOS is one of them.
A simple "alien invasion of earth" but the
onion layers hide a challenging plot of greed, scientific supremacy and revenge.
And the Doctor gets to slap Jo Grant across her face.
The DVD Extras are varied as ever. All of which have an anorak factor of at
least eight.
The commentary from Producer, Barry Letts
and Actors, Katy Manning & Richard
Franklin is clear and concise, adding to the visuals.
All of then concur that the story looks
a fresh as it did in 1971, and, at times, was quite frightening (even the BBFC
states that the story does contain "very
mild horror").
- Katy Manning even remembers that the film, EDUCATING RITA ,
contains a DOCTOR WHO legacy (a line about her Professor telling
Rita that she speaks like a Dalek).
- Barry Letts affirms that the special effects
were "bloody good". Language,
Barry.
- Richard Franklin, in his first commentary,
boasts that all the military jargon was "second nature" to him.
The feature on the technical aspects of video restoration, REVERSE
STANDARDS CONVERSION - THE AXON LEGACY , could be easily overlooked
for being a geek-fest of gobble-de-gook. Is it a spoof, in the same vein as the
Mark Gatiss documentary pastiche attached to THE GREEN DEATH release,
or a serious explanation of the concepts and advancements behind video? With
a scientist called Dr Axos, it is easy to question its validity.
Thankfully, it is bona fide. Sit back, have a cup of tea and a custard cream.
A fascinating assessment of a technical development that we now take for granted.
Katy Manning's narrated view of NOW AND THEN , revisiting
the locations for the story is an oddity, really.
Look, there's a ditch that a stunt man falls into.
Look, a pile of gravel.
Look, a power complex stairwell.
It is difficult to make the featurette sexy and more than it is (a mix of
image between the 1971 and 2004), apart from taking the original actors back
on location.
Director, Michael Ferguson discusses the perils and pleasures of filming DOCTOR
WHO back in the days when new technology (including the introduction
of colour television recoding) was as fresh as a new daisy.
Probably, THE CLAWS OF AXOS is
the clearest example of "if-it-can-go-wrong-it-will".
Across four days of location filming Ferguson had to contend with snow & freezing
temperatures, dense fog, heavy rain and unbridled sunshine. And the nature of
filming 'out of sequence' meant that all weather conditions could have appeared
in one single episode. Thankfully, this is DOCTOR WHO and the
climatic aberration were swiftly dismissed and integrated within the plotline
("freak weather conditions right across the south east coast").
Ferguson discusses the level of 'plug-and-play' in creating the special effects,
including the limitations of CSO. In today's technological advancements of CGI,
it seems bewildering that some of the 'psychedelic' effects were created by simply
pointing the camera at a tray of coloured water being agitated. Very experimental,
and the level of creativity can be seen throughout episode four.
Another interesting fact is that DOCTOR WHO became
one of the first BBC programmes to adopt 'rehearse and record' (as opposed to
rehearsing in the morning and then filming throughout the evening in one block).
If you are looking for an introduction into the true essence (pre-Christopher
Eccleston) then THE CLAWS OF AXOS has everything. Wonderful
monsters invading Earth, the adversarial confrontation between the Doctor and
his arch enemy of the Master, an appearance of UNIT, and disturbing visual effects.
