Doctor Who (1963) 8.03.03

The Claws of Axos - Part Three

The Doctor and Jo are taken prisoner and Bill Filer is knocked unconscious by the Axons. The Axons interrogate the Doctor about time travel. They torture first him and then Jo before he finally gives them what they need to allow them travel through time.

The Brigadier reasserts control of the situation and gets the Ministry of Defense to let UNIT take charge, instead of Mr. Chinn. 

The Master, wearing a disguise, tricks Sgt Benton into letting him into the TARDIS, which is in very bad shape. He's very disappointed by what he finds but he does his best to get it back in working order.

The Axons use the information they get from the Doctor and the power of the Nuton Power Complex to allow them to travel through time. If they are successful it could blow up the Nuton Power Complex and possibly the Earth. The Brigadier reluctantly teams up with the Master to try and stop the Axons from succeeding.

The Master runs cables into the TARDIS to try and steal the power that the Axons are trying to siphon away for their time travel plans. The Master throws a switch in the TARDIS which releases all the power it had been giving to the Axons in the hopes that it will overload their systems and destroy them but the Doctor and Jo are still in the Axon ship when he does that.

Thoughts

There are more inconsistencies and things that go unexplained in this episode. One minute no one seems to know what happened to the Doctor and Jo but then towards the end of the episode the Brigadier and the Master seem to have figured out that they are with the Axons.

I couldn't figure out how the TARDIS arrived at the Nuton Power Complex so I went back and watched the previous episode. It was the Master who ordered one of the soldiers (whom he had hypnotized) to bring it in on a truck.

It was fun to see the Master working with UNIT to try and stop the Axons. It was also good to see the Brigadier and UNIT functioning as something other than assistants to the Doctor. On the whole it was nice to see someone other than the Doctor in the spotlight.

Everything is still moving way too fast in this episode but I enjoyed it more than I did the previous two. I'm not feeling as down on this story as I was after the previous episode.