Doctor Who: The Feast of Axos

This is both the second part of the “Sixth Doctor and Thomas Brewster” trilogy, and a sequel to the somewhat bonkers 1971 TV story The Claws of Axos.

Set in Earth orbit some time in the near future (probably the 2020s, from the clues given), it has an unusually hard SF feel, with much use of spacesuits and space shuttles. For the most part, though, this is superficial, due to the mad nature of Axos itself. To be clear, that's not a bad thing in the context of Doctor Who, since hard SF was honestly not the point for most of its run. Using some of the tropes for atmosphere, without delving too far into them, actually works rather well, and the scene at the end of the third episode, with Evelyn dealing with Newton's laws in zero-G, is exactly the sort of thing that more typical stories wouldn't deal with - and is brilliantly written and performed.

Brewster once again proves himself to be untrustworthy, although he doesn't set your teeth on edge as much as he does in some of his other stories. You can at least see where he's coming from in this tale, even if you feel little sympathy for what he ends up doing. In this context, Evelyn comes across as more sympathetic towards him than seems justified, although this was likely necessary to set up the third part of the trilogy. Part of the problem is that the character has already worn out his welcome, and, in fact did so quite some time ago; he's more tiring than anything else.

Another weakness is the decision to have Colin Baker also play an Axonite. There's a sound plot reason for this being the case, but it does get a little confusing at times, despite giving his voice a slight distort in the golden-skinned form.

Overall, though, I did enjoy the story. Its tone is quite different from the TV story it's a sequel to, which is probably a good thing. Yes, the villains aren't hugely original, but they're at least turned on their head from those of the Pertwee story, and the concept of Axos fits as well with 21st century concerns over things like climate change as it did with '70s geopolitics.