Talons of Weng-Chiang, a truly classic Doctor Who story, mixing the fascination och Victorian England with the excotism of Chinese culture. This is Doctor Who at the peak of its dark and quite violent era - this is Doctor Who gone Victorian murder mystery à la Arthur Conan Doyle (quite literally; The Doctor abandons his usual outfit for a costume resembling the one famously worn by Sherlock Holmes). Talons of Weng-Chiang is penned by Doctor Who veteran Robert Holmes and features several nods to Conan Doyle's novels and short stories, including lines of dialogue ("Elementary, my dear Litefoot") and a character called Mrs Hudson.
Tom Baker is as great as ever and Louise Jameson is really starting to feel comfortable as actionpacked and curious companion Leela. Chang is the most memorable of the foes, and very well played, while pigman Sin is under-utilized. Weng Chiang is unfortunately quite a bore with a cheap Darth Vader-ripoff of a costume. It doesn't help that he is gravely overacted, too.
Jago and Litefoot are among the most memorable supporting characters on the show, up there with Bellal from Death to the Daleks, Tommy from Planet of the Spiders and Condo from The Brain of Morbius. They are talkative, witty and immensley likeable and it's a joy to see that writer Robert Holmes has chosen to give them a few funny and memorable scenes of their own. It's a shame that Talons of Weng-Chiang became their only TV appearance, but at least they got a Big Finish audio adventures range of their own.
Visually Weng-Chiang is one of the most stunning stories the show has presented. The great golden dragon in the temple is truly remarkable and the face under Weng-Chiang's mask is believably hideous. Otherwise it's a quite slow story, mostly focusing on building suspense for the magnificent final episode. It's depiction of Chinese people might not fully reach today's standards but in this particular case it can be forgiven.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2018-07-18T18:14:13Z— updated 2018-08-06T06:13:53Z
Talons of Weng-Chiang, a truly classic Doctor Who story, mixing the fascination och Victorian England with the excotism of Chinese culture. This is Doctor Who at the peak of its dark and quite violent era - this is Doctor Who gone Victorian murder mystery à la Arthur Conan Doyle (quite literally; The Doctor abandons his usual outfit for a costume resembling the one famously worn by Sherlock Holmes). Talons of Weng-Chiang is penned by Doctor Who veteran Robert Holmes and features several nods to Conan Doyle's novels and short stories, including lines of dialogue ("Elementary, my dear Litefoot") and a character called Mrs Hudson.
Tom Baker is as great as ever and Louise Jameson is really starting to feel comfortable as actionpacked and curious companion Leela. Chang is the most memorable of the foes, and very well played, while pigman Sin is under-utilized. Weng Chiang is unfortunately quite a bore with a cheap Darth Vader-ripoff of a costume. It doesn't help that he is gravely overacted, too.
Jago and Litefoot are among the most memorable supporting characters on the show, up there with Bellal from Death to the Daleks, Tommy from Planet of the Spiders and Condo from The Brain of Morbius. They are talkative, witty and immensley likeable and it's a joy to see that writer Robert Holmes has chosen to give them a few funny and memorable scenes of their own. It's a shame that Talons of Weng-Chiang became their only TV appearance, but at least they got a Big Finish audio adventures range of their own.
Visually Weng-Chiang is one of the most stunning stories the show has presented. The great golden dragon in the temple is truly remarkable and the face under Weng-Chiang's mask is believably hideous. Otherwise it's a quite slow story, mostly focusing on building suspense for the magnificent final episode. It's depiction of Chinese people might not fully reach today's standards but in this particular case it can be forgiven.
Rating: 9,0 out of 10