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varos

episode guide

the claws of axos

story 57 : season 8 : serial GGG : 4 episodes

Producer: Barry Letts
Director: Michael Ferguson
Writer: Bob Baker
Writer: Dave Martin
Script Editor: Terrance Dicks
Designer: Kenneth Sharp

cast information

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

crew information

HAVOC (Action / Stuntwork); Roselyn Parker (Assistant Floor Manager); Barbara Lane (Costumes); A A Englander (Film Cameraman); Bob Rymer (Film Editor); Dudley Simpson (Incidental Music); Jan Harrison (Make-Up); Rhian Davies (Make-Up); Marion McDougall (Production Assistant); Brian Hodgson (Special Sounds); Ralph Walton (Studio Lighting); Dave Kitchen (Studio Sound); Ron Grainer (Title Music); John Horton (Visual Effects); Delia Derbyshire (Theme Arrangement);

episode information

  Title First UK Transmission Duration Ratings Archive Status
1 Episode One 13 March 1971 at 17:15 23'51" 7.3mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
NTSC 2 inch colour videotape
16mm b/w telerecording
2 Episode Two 20 March 1971 at 17:15 24'00" 8.0mil NTSC 2 inch colour videotape
PAL conversion
16mm b/w telerecording
3 Episode Three 27 March 1971 at 17:15 24'05" 6.4mil NTSC 2 inch colour videotape
PAL conversion
16mm b/w telerecording
4 Episode Four 3 April 1971 at 17:15 25'19" 7.8mil PAL 2 inch colour videotape
16mm b/w telerecording
  1. Episode One
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978
    » Recovered from Canada c.1979
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
  2. Episode Two
    » Recovered from Canada c.1979
    » Conversion from NTSC 2 inch broadcast tapes
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
  3. Episode Three
    » Recovered from Canada c.1979
    » Conversion from NTSC 2 inch broadcast tapes
    » Film print recovered from Ents c.1978
  4. Episode Four
    » Held by the FVTL when audited in 1978

release information

In Print:
Novelised as: Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos
Written by: Terrance Dicks
Number 010 in the Target Doctor Who Library

Versions
1977 Published by Allan Wingate Ltd, UK in hardback
With cover artwork by: Chris Achilleos
21 April 1977 Published by Wyndham Publications, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: Chris Achilleos
ISBN: 0 426 11703 4
1979 Published by W. H. Allen, UK in paperback
With cover artwork by: John Geary
ISBN: 0 426 11703 4

plot synopsis

The organic Axon spaceship, with its beautiful gold-skinned crew, lands near a power station and asks for help to restore its depleted power supply. It offers Axonite, which has the properties to make living matter grow, as an exchange for energy. The Master is trapped on the ship and has lead the creatures to Earth, because behind the facade, they are really a power absorbing parasitic organism and they plan to drain the planet dry. The Doctor has to join forces with the Master to try and trap Axos in a time loop, but can their combined efforts succeed?

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