Big Finish Main Range
Axos is a creature from a previous 3rd Doctor story that he defeated who is about to escape, thanks to those meddling kids, er, humans! I like the humans running about, ships coming and going, and how the greedy human on Earth even gets his “come-uppance” but there are some tense parts, too. If I hadn’t already listened to A Death in the Family, I would be very worried about Evelyn’s fate floating around in space. Yes, they’re in a time loop but no one really seems to mess with the chronology of when a character exists and dies in Doctor Who, which is both good and bad. It gives the stories a predictability that we perhaps shouldn’t have in the back of our heads – this character won’t die because we already know this is how she dies.
I kind of picture Axos looking like a space-faring yam or potato, depending how rounded it is on the ends. Or a cross between a space-faring yam and the cylinder from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. If it wasn’t for Bernard Holley’s voice, I would expect the squawks and toots of a whale to come out of the thing. The guts are described quite well but the exterior is mostly left up to my imagination, that’s for sure. The story is well done overall and I liked it a lot, though I don’t think I’ve seen the 3rd Doctor story to compare the differences in activity for Axos. And Thomas Brewster really is just there for the Doctor to be mad at and to pretend to help the bad guys, as he is wont to do.
Colin Baker, Maggie Stables, and John Pickard
Writer: Mike Maddox
Director: Nicholas Briggs
Release: February 2011