Doctor Who (TV Series) The Talons of Weng-Chiang: Part One (1977) User Reviews

Incredible and atmospheric adventure in Victorian London - one of the greats!

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 10 December 2014]

Review of all 6 episodes:

This is as good as Doctor Who gets. This is a frontrunner for best story ever for me alongside Pyramids of Mars which has some similarities as a pseudo historical with an evil 'ancient God' as well as similar brilliance of writing and characterisation.

The Doctor and Leela arrive in the 'pea-soup' thick fog of Victorian London and the perfectly realised atmosphere of that period with echoes of Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes help to make this one of the great adventures.

Girls have been going missing in the squalid streets around a theatre run by Henry Gordon Jago. Chinese performer Li H'sen Chang and his creepy dummy Mr. Sin are secretly serving Weng-Chiang, considered to be an ancient Chinese God. The Doctor and Leela team up with Jago and Professor Litefoot, a pathologist, and try to solve the mystery and stop Weng-Chiang from getting his hands on an item in Litefoot's possession which has powers unknown to its owner and dangerous to them all.

As well as capturing the Victorian setting perfectly there is a host of colourful and truly inspired characters all acted magnificently well. The wonderfully endearing and engaging Jago & Litefooot played to perfection by Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter make such an impact that they have inspired a series of prose and audio spin off adventures. They provide such charm and humour and make me really care about them. Chang, Weng-Chiang and Mr. Sin are chilling and effective villains who are hugely impressive and scary. Casey and other small cameo parts are extraordinarily good too. Tom Baker is extraordinary as The Doctor. His every line, glance and expression is phenomenally mesmerising and sublime. Leela makes an exciting, interesting and likable companion. She is very bright as well as physically dynamic and brave, Louise Jameson plays the role expertly.

The dialogue throughout is absolutely terrific, entertaining, absorbing, intelligent and convincing as well as being delivered with superb style. The plot is fantastically rich, fascinating and engrossing and the horror aspects are scary and captivating. This is basically grand guignol style horror with thrilling, macabre delights which I thoroughly enjoy. The make up and costumes are tremendous as well as the fabulously realised sets and period setting. Every aspect of the production is of the highest standard with the slight exception of the giant rats which guard the sewer. These rats are not problematic for me at all though because they are cleverly hidden in darkness and still work as a result. If this story was re-released with new computer generated effects re- creating the rats it would be great and would make this a flawless production but the ingenious way it is filmed manages to make the rats work as monsters despite limitations of the technology available.

The horror, excitement and menace of this story are simply superb and the characters and dialogue cannot be bettered. This whole story is sheer magic from start to finish and one of the all-time greats without doubt. For me it is one of my joint favourite stories. AMAZING!

My ratings: All 4 episodes 10/10.

a little absurd, a little too long (six parts!), but a cool atmosphere and a giant rat!

[Quinoa1984 · 9/10 · 4 June 2008]

A really cool episode of Doctor Who is the Talons of Weng-Chiang, where the good doctor and his lady Leela come to 19th century Victorian London, and there's a big plot involving a 51st century Chinese "Lord" who's trying to get a device together so that he won't die off (he already wears a chintzy black mask). It is, par for the course of a Doctor Who mystery, a bit more convoluted than maybe necessary, but that's part of the fun in figuring out what will happen next. There's a lot of servant-and-master stuff between "Chinese" magician (in quotes as it's really a white guy in make-up, probably a savage joke at old stereotypes) played by Christopher Benjamin, and some solid, very 'British' dialog between some supporting characters, and a little guy in a mask (played, I think, by the amazing Deep Roy) and a giant, Rodan-esquire rat! Overall the episode might be a little sluggish in parts, but for the most part it's as close to a classic as fans can hope for. Especially with Tom Baker at the helm, who makes the doctor a bad-ass sort of in the tradition of a Jack Sparrow character (almost without trying, and by luck, he gets his way against those against him), and is of course very funny beneath the seriousness of the story. And, by the way, there's magic! And some cool twists like someone you didn't expect in that box stuffed with swords!

Sax Rohmer meets Dr Who

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 7 August 2015]

Review of the Complete Story:

THE TALONS OF WENG CHIANG is a well-remembered serial from the Tom Baker era of DR WHO, and for good reason: in the long history of the show, this one is completely unique. It's a wonderfully Gothic pulp adventure that feels like something Sax Rohmer would have scripted for the show: the Doctor and Leela are up against the most sinister kind of Yellow Peril in the dimly-lit streets of East End London...

What's extraordinary about this story is how well they manage to evoke Victorian London on what would have been a very low budget. The streets are wonderfully atmospheric and the settings range from dank sewers to cobwebby alleyways and run-down music halls. You can almost see Jack the Ripper creeping around in the background!

Baker adopts a Sherlock Holmes-style personality in this one and even wears a deerstalker to hammer home the similarities. The story has lots of fantastic elements and if the special effects aren't up to scratch, then that's part of the charm. John Bennett is a delight, yellowed-up as the sinister Chang, but it's the creepy homunculus (played by dwarf actor Deep Roy) who everybody remembers as one of the most sinister life-size dolls put on film or TV. Watch out for a delightfully hammy Christopher Benjamin as the proprietor who becomes drawn into the mystery. My only real complaint is that the final identity of the masked villain turns out to be so ordinary and familiar from other DR WHO stories - something more uniquely horrific would have been more appropriate, I feel...

Magic

[a_l_i_e_n · 12 March 2007]

A fully loaded 1977 "Doctor Who" classic featuring:

-The Doctor strolling through shadowy London streets wearing a Sherlock Holmes-inspired deerstalker cap.

-Leela out of her animal skin dress but still ready to rumble in ankle length Victorian-era garb.

-Also on board: a sinister magician in the service of his Phantom of the Opera-like master.

-Young wenches drained of their life energy to prolong the existence of a twisted time traveling scientist.

-A ventriloquist dummy that's actually a deadly organic/robotic hybrid (played by Deep Roy from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" no less).

-GIANT KILLER RATS! Okay, maybe not very convincing ones. But still, Giant Killer Rats prowling through the sewers.

-A huge sculpted dragon (quite impressive in scale considering the limited budget) that shoots death rays from it's eyes,

-and all these elements revolving around the search for a crystal key that opens another TARDIS-like time travel conveyance.

-The absurdly over-played Weng-Chiang aside, this one features terrific performances. Of particular note is the chemistry between the supporting characters Mr. Jago and Prof. Lightfoot.

"Talons.." is a "Doctor Who" episode that neither time nor dated effects can diminish the enjoyment of.

Make an 'Orse sick, that would.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 2 March 2021]

The Doctor and Leela land in Victorian London at a time where they're much needed, girls are disappearing.

The start of one of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time, this first episode has it all, the vibe, the Ripper theme, Tom in his Sherlock Holmes get up. The Theatre, the mystery. Apart from the one issue, which I'll address later on, it is one of the best.

This managed to intertwine a story where you have realistic events, tangible crimes (the girls going missing) with genuine sci fi, an impressive mix.

The dialogue is exquisite, the lines are sublime, funny and quirky, each delivered with brilliance. Mr Jago is one of the best characters of all time.

Production values are incredible, nobody does costume drama like The BBC, and those values are evident here, it looks high quality. Tom and Leela's costumes are gorgeous.

The attention to detail is outrageous, look at the old lady that discovers the body for example, she has a tiny part, but she massively adds to the story, and overall feel.

I have purposely left this until the latter stages of my Doctor Who reviews journey, as I understand it's problematic for some. All I will say, is that it was made back in1977, attitudes were clearly very different, and nothing like this would ever be made in 2020. If you are offended by the display of racist attitudes, and John Bennett's appropriation of a Chinese man, I would recommend you avoid.

As an opening story, this is about as good as it can get. 10/10.

A great story but kinda rasist.

[ianweech · 8/10 · 16 March 2020]

It's a great episode, but it really is kinda racist. I couldn't concentrate on the episode with all of the unsubtle racism. Maybe the next episode will be better, but i don't think it will be.

Atmospheric

[jasonpauljones-64690 · 7/10 · 3 December 2022]

I enjoyed Talons back when I was a kid and having now watched it again many years later I can see why. Tom Baker is the best Doctor, hands down, way ahead of the rest with maybe John Pertwee as the only other worthy mention. Louise Jameson's character, Leela, feels awkward in this one, struggling to make her tribal character fit into Victorian England, but she still is wecolmed here and she manages to carry the role better in other Dr Who stories, in particular, Horror of Fang Rock. Talons stands out as one of the best stories mainly because the first three episodes are near perfect. The sets, the characters, the dark imposing Victorian England, all combine wonderfully to create a captivating watch. However, from the fourth to the sixth episode it slowly but surely and irreversibly slides downhill. They could easily have completed a much tighter and effective and memorable Talons in 4 episodes, because the set locations are very few: the Palace Theatre, the underground, the old chap's (can't remember his name) small residence, the occasional fleeting street scene, and Greel's lair. All of which is fine, the theatre with its shadowy spookiness and pokey passageways is awesome, but they cycle through the locations over and over and it really becomes quite tedious and loses its panache that is so strong in the first three episodes. Maybe all concerned enjoyed making this so much that they found it difficult to let go, which is understandable. Aside from Leela, whom I mentioned seems a tad out of place, the cast with Jaygo the amiable theatre director, Chang the mysterious illusionist and his side kick Sin, Greel the sinister, ancient 'god', old chap, and of course the Doctor, all shine brightly to bring us a classic Dr Who adventure.

Derivative But Helped By High Production Values

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 30 October 2013]

Review Off All Six Episodes

Young women have been going missing in 19th Century London . When a body is found floating in the Thames the police autopsy shows hairs from a giant rat . The Doctor investigates and finds himself coming in to conflict with Magnus Greel a war criminal from the 51st Century

This is it . The story that constantly won nearly every fan poll as the greatest ever story from the classic era which always perplexes me and makes it difficult to criticise because it's an undisputed classic and nothing more is supposed to be said . Truth be told in my humble opinion it's not even the best story from the early Tom Baker era since I rate Ark In Space , Genesis Of The Daleks and The Seeds Of Doom higher . In fact this story is as over rated as much as the following story is under rated and there's several other stories outside the Tom Baker era that are superior to this one

There's nothing much wrong with Talons . Well apart from the giant rat which is realised on screen by putting a real rat in an model sewer which is almost convincing only for the illusion to be shattered when it has to eat someone which is done via ... well did anyone else think it was a giant draught excluder . Magnus Greel when he makes and appearance is let down by Michael Spicer screeching OTT lines such as " Let the talons of Weng Chiang shred your flesh " at every opportunity . It's also a highly derivative story and much fun can be had by playing a drinking game where you gulp down a shandy every time you spot a reference to another story from literature , cinema and television . This will be the only time someone suffers alcohol poisoning from shandy

To give it some credit Talons is a very lavish production containing atmosphere and some genuine night filming but much of this credit should also go to the BBC in general who were always fantastic at creating period drama in the mid 1970s . They used to adapt literary classics and broadcast them in an early evening Sunday slot which mirrored the intimacy of theatre while having the ambition of cinema . Much of the acclaim of Talons is down to it pushing the boundaries that DOCTOR WHO isn't really a children's show and we get references to " smoking pipes of poppy " and a character who is blatantly a prostitute . Drugs and whores ? Well why not but in reality Talons is a case of style over substance abuse . It's a good enough story for producer Hinchcliffe and director David Maloney to end their respective contributions on the show

And style over substance is probably the best way to describe season 14 of the classic series . It's a good enough season in its own right but slightly uneven . It's also interesting to note that in the passing years that have given us repeats on UK Gold , sell through video and DVDs season 14 isn't of the legendary status it once had with several others eras especially Pertwee's debut season from 1970 surpassing it in polls . Rightly too in my opinion

Dr. No...

[Xstal · 4/10 · 3 July 2022]

Reflecting attitudes that should have been barred, a Chinese minstrel is this week's co-star, with clichéd presentations, passed down through generations, it's no surprise we preserve, such prejudiced, blind causations.

Not Rats But Racism

[JamesHitchcock · 23 April 2015]

Did anyone ever use to wonder why Leela, a warrior-maiden from an alien planet, speaks perfect English with a Home Counties accent? The real reason is no doubt the convention, adopted in "Doctor Who" and other science fiction films and television series, that all aliens, regardless of which planet they originally come from, are fluent speakers of the tongue of Shakespeare. (This convention is an improbable but necessary one; the series would not be very interesting if the Doctor could only communicate with his adversaries using an English/Dalek phrasebook containing phrases such as "Take me to your leader!" or "Where is the nearest TARDIS repair shop?") In the series itself, however, the explanation is that Leela is in fact an Englishwoman by blood and descent, some mishap having marooned her forebears on a distant planet. So in this serial the Doctor has taken his lovely companion back to England to learn about the customs of her ancestors, starting with the music halls of Victorian London.

And the Doctor never arrives anywhere without running into trouble. Trouble in this particular instance takes the form of some giant rats in the sewers, a mysterious cabinet, a sinister Chinese stage magician and his even more sinister boss, who is posing as the ancient Chinese god Weng-Chiang. (The name "Chiang" is here pronounced as two separate syllables, as though it were written "Chai-Ang").

"The Talons of Weng-Chiang" is frequently voted among the greatest "Doctor Who" serials ever, and were it not for one problem I would agree with that judgement. Scriptwriters for the series frequently tried to draw upon classic literature for inspiration; the earlier Tom Baker adventure "Planet of Evil", for example, draws upon "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" and, indirectly, upon Shakespeare's "The Tempest". Here the main inspiration is Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes" stories, with a nod in the direction of "The Phantom of the Opera". Baker abandons his trademark scarf in favour of a deerstalker and cape as worn by Holmes, he tries to puzzle out problems by rational deduction rather than relying upon complex scientific apparatus and at one point even says "...elementary, my dear Litefoot". (Yes, I know Holmes never actually said "...elementary, my dear Watson", but a lot of people think he did, and the phrase has passed into legend in the same way as "Play it again, Sam", which Humphrey Bogart never actually utters in "Casablanca").

The serial is wonderfully evocative in the way it conjures up the atmosphere of Victorian London, the story generates plenty of tension, Baker is on top form and there are two splendid characters in the shape of the theatre manager Henry Jago and the gentlemanly scientist Professor Litefoot (thus spelt in the credits), who plays Watson to the Doctor's Holmes. Jago at first seems like a blustering coward, but when danger threatens he finds real reserves of courage within himself. He is played by Christopher Benjamin who had earlier played Sir Keith Gold in the Third Doctor adventure "Inferno". Those giant rats, admittedly, are far from convincing, but they were not the "problem" I mentioned earlier.

The real problem is another R-word, not rats but racism. Looking back, it is amazing just how insensitive British television could be in the seventies. This was the decade of not just the "Black and White Minstrel Show", which still starred white performers in blackface, but also of comedy shows like "Love Thy Neighbour", "It Ain't Half Hot, Mum" and "Mind Your Language" which featured a wide gallery of racial stereotypes. "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", unfortunately, falls firmly within this unlovely tradition. The Chinese characters are all portrayed as criminals, or opium addicts, or both, and the figure of the evil magician Li H'sen Chang, played by a white actor made up (unconvincingly) to look Chinese could come straight from the pages of Fu Manchu. Leela even describes the Chinese as "yellow", which struck me as a goof; the inhabitants of North-East Asia differ little from Europeans in skin-tone and the idea that the Chinese have yellow skin is a European received idea of which a visitor from another world would presumably be ignorant. A pity. Had the scriptwriter been more culturally sensitive this could have been a first-rate serial rather than a tacky piece of seventies racism.