May 26: The Claws of Axos Episodes Two & Three

It's a bit odd; other than a couple moments where Axos scans humans to find out about them, and the indication that they're lying about their sales pitch to the humans, there's no real indication that Axos is in fact malicious -- but episode two just assumes that of course they're bad and trying to take over/drain the planet.  But the only thing preventing worldwide distribution of axonite is that Chinn has taken charge, hoarding the supply for Britain and locking up all the UNIT people and anyone who might disagree or spill the beans.  He really is easy to dislike, isn't he?  And note that it's not just the audience that feels this way; even his superiors seem rather annoyed with him, warning him that it's his "head on the block" if things go wrong.

We also learn that it was the Master who told the Axons to come to Earth, that it would be a planet perfect for their needs.  Of course, now they're holding him hostage to make sure everything works the way he said it would -- only things aren't going their way, so they have to release him so that he can tell the rest of the world about axonite.  Apparently there's a "best by" date on axonite, and it needs to be as widespread as possible.

But the main thrust of this episode is the Doctor's effort to learn more about axonite, which he ultimately does (after a number of arguments with Winser about the best way to go about it, which leads into some guff about time travel) by sticking it into a light accelerator and having it analyze itself -- only this apparently causes the axonite to activate early, which means that the Axons have to shut it down before it's too late.  But this causes the Doctor to realize that axonite is the same stuff as Axos which is the same stuff as the Axons -- they're all the same: "Don't you see we're dealing with one single living creature?  Axonite was just the dormant state until I activated it...  This stuff could endanger the entire world!"

An Axon attacks two UNIT soldiers. (The Claws of Axos
Episode Three) ©BBC

Episode three might be the best one so far, even though the Doctor and Jo spend most of it captured inside Axos, where the Doctor is interrogated about the secrets of time travel.  It seems Axos wants to have all of time to feed on, and that's why they've been holding the Master prisoner. But he's free and, having told the world about axonite (via a hypnotized UNIT radio operator), he's now waiting inside the Doctor's TARDIS.  Which means we get our first look inside the TARDIS since The War Games -- and our first look at the redesigned TARDIS console.  Only, bravely, they've shown it in a state of disrepair, as the Doctor has clearly been tinkering with it trying to make it work.  "But what does he think he's doing?" the Master despairs, looking at all the loose wiring on the console.  "What a botch-up!"  (And even when he's made some repairs, he's still unhappy with the results: "Oh, hopeless!  Overweight, under-powered old museum piece!... You may as well try to fly a second-hand gas stove!")

But Axos has determined, meanwhile, that if they absorb the output of the main nuclear reactor at Nuton, they'll have enough energy to achieve time travel.  And since all of Axos is connected, they send an Axon into the heart of the reactor to absorb that power.  Once the Master realizes what's happening (and that he can't escape from Earth), he decides to work with UNIT to stop Axos before it's too late -- and with the Doctor gone, they have no choice but to go along with it.   His plan is to store the nuclear energy in the Doctor's TARDIS and then send it all to Axos in one go, overloading it.  "What else can we do?" asks Hardiman, the director of the complex.  "Oh, nothing very much.  Oh, I suppose you can take the normal precautions against nuclear blast, like sticky tape on the windows and that sort of thing," the Master replies marvelously.  There's just one problem with this plan: as the Doctor and Jo are still being held inside Axos, when it goes up they go up with it.  But as the Master says, "Either we destroy Axos or Axos destroys the world."  And so the Brigadier has no choice but to let the Master proceed...