KOOL TV REVIEW: 'DOCTOR WHO - THE CLAWS OF AXOS' SPECIAL EDITION DVD - 2 DISCS

Golden Armageddon! The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo Grant (Kate Manning) face a new threat from The Master (Roger Delgado) and the Axons in the latest Classic DOCTOR WHO Special Edition release: The Claws of Axos. Images: BBC

DOCTOR WHO – THE CLAWS OF AXOS: SPECIAL EDITION DVD (2 DISCS)

Starring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant

Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin

Directed by Michael Ferguson

Available from BBC CONSUMER PRODUCTS

Reviewed by Scott Weller

Beware Greeks bearing gifts. Or rather charismatic “we come in peace” golden skinned alien humanoids happy to provide us with a miracle new energy source! Earth falls for the ultimate intergalactic Trojan Horse as the alien infestation known as Axos quickly embeds itself into the crust of the planet, its chilling tentacles ready to drain the world of its life and power, and only the heroic Third Doctor, unwillingly joining forces with his sworn enemy, The Master, can defeat them in this splendidly colourful action packed romp from 1971, now available in a glorious and restored new 2 disc Special Edition DVD: THE CLAWS OF AXOS!

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w3lPEf2pko

Originally known as THE FRIENDLY INVASION followed by the jazzy B-movie sounding THE VAMPIRE FROM SPACE, Bristol boys Bob Baker and Dave Martin premiere script for WHO, is brimming with action, characters and big ideas, trimmed down to just the right compactful four-parter length from its original, way to big seven episodes form.

All that glitters...the friendly Axons...

Aptly referred to as “sensible silliness” by its innovative director, Michael Ferguson, returning to the series after his fine work on the previous seasons The Ambassadors of Death, the story is a certainly a visual treat alongside the big concept, splendidly using the emergent technology of CSO colour separation overlay (or the television version of Blue Screen) which dominates its realization most effectively, almost capturing us at times with an arresting psychedelic but dangerous-a triumph from designer Kenneth Sharp. On the practical built side of things, the Axon ship’s organic miasma interior and orifice exterior (the latter scenes filmed in the worst, and most varied, conditions in the shows behind the scenes history) is packed with swishing tendrils, other strange protrusions and a weirdly effective background sound effect, backed up with an alien electronic heartbeat, from WHO stalwart Brian Hodgson.

...and their real personas!

The adventures of the Doctor and his UNIT family, originally warmly ensconced on Saturday evening TV screens of yesteryear are back in full highly entertaining nostalgia mode with this release- contained nuclear explosions, time travel loops and conundrums, UNIT once again overwhelmed by a superior alien force and the Doctor and his sworn enemy, The Master, at first locking heads but then both ending up completely over their heads when the situation gets out of hand, are the kind of repetitively warm and wonderful ingredients that would make WHO’s eighth season such a notable success with audiences and critics, and be a comfortable and exciting presence on a BBC 1 in the prime of it’s new youthful early seventies vigour-all pioneering and bold in its storytelling techniques.

The Doctor and Jo outsider the Axon spaceship.

Pertwee is as adventuresome and welcomely on-screen dominant as ever, whilst companion Katy Manning’s charms, and mini-skirts, continue to delight. The late great Roger Delgado is once again on cracking form as the debonair diabolic Time Lord enemy, oozing charm and menace along with those fiery and all- consuming eyes of his, whilst his scenes opposing and conferring with Pertwee’s Doctor and the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) are always great fun and have now become classic.

The Master returns to cause trouble...

Along for the ride, and its alien invasion antics, are a bumbling political idiot (the kind that the shows producers liked to make fun of in their early seventies era-justifiably so, too!), Chin (played by Peter Bathurst), out to make a name for himself against UNIT and win acclaim from his superiors with the Axons and Bill Filer, a stereotyped Yankee action man spy (played by husky voiced Paul Grist) who, later in the story, has a fun fight scene with himself playing an alien doppelganger! Plus, scientists running about the local nuclear plant threatened by Axon interference- Don’t panic! Don’t panic! - include David Savile and a pre-IT AIN”T HALF HOT MUM’s Donald Hewlett.

Having looked at various stills of the episodes growing up as a kid, it was the Axons of the title, and the actions by UNIT against them (courtesy of those fine stuntmen talents of HAVOC), that intrigued me the most with this story, especially seeing the beasties in the flesh, so to speak, when a prop of one of the tentacled metamorphosing creature caught my real-life attention when it held court for a time in the far corner of the FORBIDDEN PLANET 2 book store back in the early eighties. Luckily, I was happily surprised how, on first viewing of THE CLAWS OF AXOS a few years later, the tale actually lived up to my expectations as both a monster tale and a UNIT showcase within the Pertwee era.

With repeat viewings to come years on, I continue to be very fond of it.

An Axon takes out two UNIT soldiers.

Its fuzzy transatlantic episodes 2 and 3 restored to better quality alongside the original UK PAL colour masters for 1 and 4, CLAWS is colourful and exciting, of which I’m sure younger viewers will particularly enjoy it, whilst older WHO fans in general can sit back and enjoy the warm feelings in their hearts remembering this classic era. They recently came back to fight the Doctor in a Big Finishaudio adventure, but I think the time is now right for the Axons to make an actual big screen return to the Modern WHO series.

The Axons bring out a test subject.

Out of the starting gate with the new Special Edition features is Axon Stations! A glistening documentary to compliment the tale, as co-writer Bob Baker, Ferguson, a very giggly Katy Manning, stuntman Derek Ware, and seventies script editor Terrance Dicks talk about the show and its sometimes difficult location filming. One of the best contributors here has to Baker, more known these days as the co-creator/writer of WALLACE AND GROMIT, who reminisces about his partnership with the late Dave Martin, the genesis of CLAWS and its original bonkers ideas pitch to script editor Dicks. There are also further notable contributions from supporting actors Paul Grist and Bernard Holley, the latter away from the golden face of his controlled monster performance.

Another major new documentary premiering on the disc concentrates itself on one of the key supporting stars of the Pertwee UNIT era, as the controversial and seemingly eccentric figure of John Levene, who played Saergent Benton in the show on and off for ten years, comes under the investigative microscope of WHO super fan Toby Hadoke, going all Louis Theroux on us, turning up in Bristol on a mission Living with Levene, determined to discover the true person behind the larger than life smile and personality. To be honest, I was fearful of watching this, worried about what might be dredged up and used as part of a potential character assassination piece against the actor, back on UK shores after years away in Los Angeles. But, I’m happy to say, this documentary, again from the reliable hands of Chris Chapman, though indeed quirky, is fun and a highlight of the BBC DVD extras range of Classic Who. In conversation with a quietly probing Hadoke, Levene comes across well: spirited and likable, and, whilst offering some intriguing anecdotes of his life and period spent on WHO, willingly, talks without any façade, wearing his heart on his sleeve with a what you see is what you get personality. Living with Levene is well worth a look.

Pertwee, Delgado and an Axon pose for a special publicity photo for the story.

Along with the standard info text and PDFs, the material from the previously deleted DVD release of CLAWS adds fine completism, including an audio commentary from a once again cheeky and endearing Katy Manning, Richard Franklin (who played UNIT man Mike Yates) and late producer Barry Letts, deleted and extended scenes (mostly from Episodes 1 and 2), this time in their entirety rather than edited highlights (which give us a wonderful rare look into the way the series was made), Now and Then looks at the various exterior filming locations (see an unchanged nuclear power station forty plus years on!), and Then and Now, where a younger Michael Ferguson talks about the process of making the story back in the seventies compared to the 2000’s. There’s also some great colour and black and white stills photography showing the detail and thought behind the design realisation of the golden Axons facades and their true alien spaghetti bolognaise monster forms. Finally, as a mouth watering taster of what will surely be some fine collectible goodies on the shows 50^th Anniversary next year, there’s a Coming Soon preview of next January’s DVD combo of the unfinished Tom Baker 1979 classic Shada, and the affectionate 1993 documentary Thirty Years of a Time Lord.

KOOL TV RATING: Another WHO classic gets the DVD treatment it deserves. Axos is calling Earth. Make sure you answer it! 4.5 out of 5

Get hold of the adventure here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Claws-Axos-Special/dp/B008KZVNKS/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1350481243&sr=1-1

KOOL TV REVIEW: 'DOCTOR WHO - THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH' DVD

Martian menace? The Doctor (Jon Pertwee) must discover the truth in the new Classic DOCTOR WHO DVD release: The Ambassadors of Death. Images: BBC.

DOCTOR WHO: THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH

Written by David Whitaker

Directed by Michael Ferguson

Starring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Caroline John as Liz Shaw

Now available on DVD from BBC CONSUMER PRODUCTS

Reviewed by Scott Weller

"I don't know what we brought down in Mars Probe Seven, but it certainly wasn't human"

The Doctor

There's traitors, gunfights, hijacks, and kidnapped aliens galore in this spirited and often thrilling third adventure for beaky nosed “light bulb” Jon Pertwee’s serious Time Lord incarnation, now trapped in exile on seventies Earth, in and encounter with The Ambassadors of Death, the latest highly entertaining release of the Classic DOCTOR WHO range from BBC CONSUMER PRODUCTS.

The mystery of Mars Probe 7 and it's astronauts returned to Earth after months far away on the infamous Red Planet soon prove the stuff of nightmares, with potential ramifications for an all-out interplanetary war, as the Doctor and his army comrades at UNIT face a deadly earthbound foe whom seemingly know their moves before they make them, manipulating events towards likely Armageddon. And as violence and skulduggery grow, just who can be trusted, as our heroes ponder the very possible likelihood that a hidden enemy might be at work within their own organisation!

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg02eRHleEU

A solid and intriguing sci-fi plot with tense moments and good characters from David Whitaker, one of the very first script editors/genesis makers of the William Hartnell era, emerges from its heavily revised pre-production phase, courtesy of Script Editor Terrance Dicks and his buddy Malcolm Hulke. Some quite adult themes and violence in an epic, genre-crossing story of its time, make the most of the realism and scientific marvels of the modern space programme around them, linked to a complex British-based conspiracy involving an opportunist mercenary and a deranged and xenophobic former astronaut now general.

Amidst the warehouse fights, helicopter attacks and wandering aliens with the killer touch, there’s a wonderful romanticism to this particular story with its mix of science fiction and fact- the lovely idea, so far not to have happened in my lifetime but of which anything goes in DOCTOR WHO’s often skillful storytelling, that one day the UK would be a leading superpower in the exploration of space, celebrating the ambition and dedication of the men then landed on the Moon a year earlier, as the story effectively creates it’s own unique brand of realism, even down to the innovative for its time idea of having a news presenter character (played by Michael Wisher) talking to the camera, to us viewers, about what’s going on during a tense early part of the plot. Also, in an intriguing life is stranger than fiction moment of television history, one of these episodes would also transmission co-incide with the critical attempts being made in reality by NASA to rescue the space-stranded Apollo 13 mission!

The Doctor with early colour era companions Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) and Liz Shaw (Caroline John).

In the role that made him a TV legend, Pertwee’s exiled to Earth incarnation of the Third Doctor starts to hit his stride by the near end of his premiere season, shouting at bureaucrats, and laudably showing his skills as a scientist and adventurous action hero, alongside a much underrated at the time companion in scientist Liz Shaw, played with believability by the much-missed Caroline John. John's realistic breath of fresh air portrayal of Liz proves a much better companion/foil to the Doctor when watched in today's modern era of WHO storytelling, with its overall better developed female roles, rather than back in 1970, when behind the scenes the actress/character was seen to stand out uncomfortably with the other more popular screamy companions that would bookend her one year stint on the series.

Alongside the out of this world combo, those alien menace fighting army lads at UNIT are also a much more serious and determined investigative/ fighting force during this superior part of the Pertwee era, with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, as played by the late, great Nicholas Courtney, now emerging as one of the show’s true iconic figures, before his character changed to become an equally lovable, if not quite as effective, Colonel Blimp type. Ambassadors also witnesses the colour series introduction of faithful Sergeant Benton (cheery John Levene)- later a perfect companion to the Brigadier, and occasionally fun comedy foil in between shooting machine guns unsuccessfully at Daleks and Axons.

One of the frightening alien ambassadors of the title! 

Director Michael Ferguson makes fine use of the changing times of television film-making technology to give the story a touch of ambitious and gritty film quality action/adventure reminiscent of late sixties BOND (if on a lower budget than anything Broccoli and Saltzman would ever have been used to!), of which there’s a rawness to it that wouldn’t be out of place in some of the early SWEENEY’s, either, especially in it’s opening and closing episodes. Fists reach their intended impacts courtesy of the impressively staged for their time action sequence makers of HAVOC: a thrill providing stunt team worthily showing every penny of their screen time existence, including Derek Ware (look out for his excellent leap onto a helicopter!), Alan Chuntz, Roy Scammell and Terry Walsh.

One of the real Martians!

Regarded as one of the shows best directors of early colour WHO, Ferguson continues his ambitious work with clever angles and a spirited pace, plus some terrific episode cliffhangers (especially part two’s ominous “Right, cut it open!” finale). Most noticeable is the atmospheric and eerie way he film shoots the alien ambassadors in their outdoors scenes-a genius and scary idea where, with the sunlight behind them, you never see their faces under the astronaut suits until the finale episode. I also love the distinctive opening and ending stings that would become a part of WHO history, and the cliffhanger coming at ya titles-part of the charm of Pertwee’s experimental and exciting first season, and an idea of changing episode title/logo designs currently being paid tribute with similar experimentation by today’s WHO series era under the control of Steven Moffat. The early CSO work on this story is also of a very good standard alongside excellent filmed model shots from classic series effects veteran Ian Scoones.

The Doctor and friends in roadster Bessie, along with General Carrington (John Abineri).

Amongst the bangs and crashes, a fine cast adds weight to the adventure, including WHO stalwart John Abineri, who, with his mercenary army, brings menace and tangible occasional audience sadness to his role as deranged General Carrington. CROSSROADS veteran Ronald Allen is also fine as the British Space boss Ralph Cornish, but probably the best of the bunch, and making a lot out of a relatively thin role, is William Dysart, who impresses as the opportunistic and clever mercenary working with Carrington, Reegan. There’s a touch of the Connery Bond about him-sharp suitedly ruthless and edgy as he makes his own plans to manipulate the captured aliens.

Incidental music begins to make more of a mark on the series with the Pertwee era, and this tale has some of Dudley Simpson’s best music for early seventies WHO, no doubts about it, with the classic theme for UNIT making its debut, and a hauntingly melodic and mysteriously surreal theme for the alien ambassadors of the title as they are forced into doing Reegan’s dirty work.

The aliens often prove unstoppable.

As the story develops over seven episodes (part of a season where the stories were longer than usual so as to make the most of production budgets), Ambassadorsmanages to overall hold its duration, though there's a few plot holes and inconsistencies here and there if you look close enough (mostly due to the many script rewrites that occurred over a long period-it was originally commissioned as a story for the Patrick Troughton B/W era). Episode Five show a little bit of padding, but by the fast paced finale things are wrapped up pretty satisfactorily (notably with some more good UNIT action as the Brigadier gets stuck in with some hand to hand combat! Go Brig!).

Its original colour PAL masters wiped thirty plus years ago, of which only episode one escaped the purge, the colour restoration process to the surviving b/w film copies (courtesy of a colour Betamax tape from an American fan of the mid-seventies), has not been without difficulties. Until such time as WHO’s resident superfan Ian Levine can build a time machine (and I truly believe he has the resources to do it!) in order to go back and stop the stupid BBC executives of 1975 from junking the original colour PAL masters, these are the best quality colourized copies of the story we’re going to get with the current technology available to the dedicated Restoration Team, and they should be congratulated for their remarkable efforts both old and new with this release, especially noteworthy in sections of episodes five and seven. It’s a shame that there's no featurette tribute on the DVD about the Team’s long behind the scenes journey to complete the story, of which its previous official UK BBC VHS release had only been partially completed-a hybrid of colour and B/W.

In a lovely celebration of their careers on the show, the late Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney and guest star Peter Halliday contribute a warm and informative commentary, previously recorded for the eventual DVD release back in 2009. Their contributions pop up within in-depth themed talks from Terrance Dicks, Derek Ware, Roy Scammell and Derek Martin. It’s all well worth a listen.

Controlled by outside forces, the alien ambassadors are trapped on Earth.

Chris Chapman’s thirty minute documentary on the making of the serial concentrates on the story’s most successful elements: notably the quality visuals and stunt work, with contributions from Michael Ferguson and key members of the HAVOC team: Ware and Scammell. Later series Production Manager Margot Hayhoe and Terrance Dicks also add key contributions. The original next week’s new adventure trailer for the story is also given a fun colour restoration, there’s a nice stills gallery (with lots of rare B/W behind the scenes shots, though some classic episodic images seem to have gone AWOL and not made the selection), ever comprehensive production notes text (from walking WHO encyclopedia Martin Wiggins), and PDFs.

Wrapping things up, there’s the continuing featurette series of Tomorrow’s Timesfrom film-maker Marcus Hearn, hosted by Peter Purves, which looks back at the Pertwee era and how well received both the show and its star were at the time by audiences and critics, plus a colourful Coming Soon trailer for the next exciting Third Doctor invasion story, in a brand new Special Edition: The Claws of Axos.

Our UNIT heroes, with Derek Ware far right as a solider, communicate with the aliens.

For years a neglected, often forgotten story, The Ambassadors of Death is a truly under-rated little gem and easily one of the standouts of the Pertwee era, at a time when the show was starting a new life and a new colour Renaissance. Its great to see it fully restored and complete at last. So thanks BBC for the new essential purchase release: to mis-phrase a certain FERRERO ROCHER advert: “With these Ambassadors you are really spoiling us!”

KOOL TV RATING (overall story and extras): 4.5 out of 5

Get The new release here: Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney: Film & TV

GOODBYE, CAROLINE JOHN...

A happy Caroline John poses for a publicity photo in her 1970 debut as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in DOCTOR WHO.  Images: BBC.

More sad news for DOCTOR WHO fans came this past week with the loss of one of the Jon Pertwee eras classic companions, as distinguished TV/theatre character actress Caroline John, well known in the legendary series as the one season playing Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, tragically passed away earlier in the month. She was 71.

A leggy Caroline poses for another promotional image.

The actress would enjoy her singular season stint with flamboyant leading man Jon Pertwee.

Liz Shaw would prove to be an important new companion to the Doctor in 1970, part of what was to be a bold and distinctive new colour re-invention of the series, which saw the Time Lord and his always malfunctioning TARDIS time/space vehicle confined to 20th century Earth in banishment by the all-powerful Time Lords. Helping, if sometimes reluctantly, his trusty friend Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and his military UNIT organisation fights various alien invasions and arrivals on Earth, as well as other strange forces, Liz Shaw, also prior reluctantly recruited as well, would work side by side with our alien hero on an equal scientific footing, as well as becoming firm friends in the adventures to come. Liz would prove a resilient, thoughtful and brave companion to the Time Lord through a series of four gritty QUATERMASS-style adventures that brought the series into more glossy, well made territory, full of drama, scary monsters and action at the start of a popular and iconic period often far removed, but no less enjoyable, to what had been seen before with William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton's monochrome eras.

The first seventies WHO "family": the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney), the Doctor and Liz Shaw.

Surviving the first attack of the plastic controlling Autons, helping to discover the reawakened Silurian caves in Bedfordshire (and working against the clock to find a cure for their released killer plague), averting the abuse of captured powerful alien ambassadors from Mars, and then trying to stop the end of the world with the dangerous scientific drilling endeavour, helmed by a loony scientist, known as Project Inferno (Miss John's best performance in the series, playing two versions of her character: one her normal friendly self, the other a colder, more authoritarian alternate universe figure that was a member of an almost Gestapo-like military police), Shaw eventually went back to Cambridge to resume her original, all-encompassing scientific studies, and was quietly replaced the following season in the UNIT set-up by then new producer Barry Letts, who, with no disrespect to the actress (who at the time was also about to have a baby) or the Shaw character, thought that Pertwee and the series needed a slightly younger and more vulnerable, perhaps more audience accessible figure to identify with: the energetic and enthused (though also sometimes deliberately less resourceful) Jo Grant, as played by Katy Manning. Miss John would happily return to WHO for a welcome cameo in the shows 1983 Twentieth Anniversary story THE FIVE DOCTORS, playing a ghostly apparition version of Liz, as well as making an appearance in the 3D dramedy DIMENSIONS IN TIME for the 1993 CHILDREN IN NEED television event linked to WHO's later Thirtieth Anniversary celebrations.

John and Courtney would excel playing parallel universe versions of their characters in the classic story INFERNO.

The Doctor and Liz in their final story together: INFERNO.

Beyond the classic WHO series, of which she was also partaking in various DVD and audio projects (both fan based, licensed and official originated BBC titles) right up to her passing, Miss John was an acclaimed actress in world touring theatre and had appeared in many noteworthy UK TV series, too, including Tom Baker's memorable 80's BBC TV version of the SHERLOCK HOLMES classic THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, POIROT and MIDSOMMER MURDERS, and comedy series like HARRY ENFIELD'S TELEVISION PROGRAMME.

Quiet, seemingly sometimes reserved, but always a very friendly, enthusiastic and highly likable person, Miss John, survived by her husband, fellow actor Geoffey Beevers, and her three children, will be sadly missed by her family, friends, WHO fans and the acting community at large...