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  • Audio commentary
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  • Photo gallery
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  • Documentaries - Whose Doctor Who

Doctor Who - The Talons of Weng-Chiang

Roadshow Entertainment/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 144 mins . PG . PAL

  Feature
Contract

The curtain falls on the resident Chinese ventriloquist/magician's act in a Victorian theatre, and the audience is appreciative. One punter, however, bursts in backstage demanding to know where his wife is. She hasn’t been seen since she was the audience volunteer in Li H’Sen Chang’s (John Bennet) show from the previous night. The theatre’s owner, Henry Jago (Christopher Benjamin), promptly escorts the angry punter from the theatre and out into the foggy London streets, but he is not happy.

Meanwhile, the Doctor (Tom Baker) and Leela (Louise Jameson) arrive in the same dark, foggy London streets looking like extras from a Sherlock Holmes movie, and the Doctor announces he is taking Leela to the theatre. No sooner is this announced, than they hear a “cry of death” and set off to investigate. Before you can say, “Trouble!” the Doctor and Leela are in it. They are set upon by a gang of Chinese goons, but manage to pin one down as the goon squad flees at the sound of a police whistle.

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"Elementary my dear...Leela?"

Police interrogations are hampered when the goon imbibes scorpion venom before he can talk. The now dead Chinaman wears a tattoo that identifies him as a member of the Tong of the Black Scorpion.

When another police whistle sounds, and the angry punter’s body is fished out of the Thames, The Doctor and Leela set off for the morticians to learn more, and it is here they meet Professor Litefoot (Trevor Baxter), who accepts the Doctor’s help in solving not just this death, but the whole business of several missing girls.

The autopsy reveals that the man was stabbed, but after death the body was attacked and bitten by a large rodent-like creature that most likely lives in the sewers. Surviving the first of several assassination attempts at the hands of the Tong, the Doctor explores the sewers, encounters the creature and deduces it is guarding something.

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"I think I'll have the sweet and sour rodent and a large fried rice, thanks."

The sewer entry is near the theatre, and it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems. The Doctor enlists the help of the easily impressed theatre owner, and sets about exploring the theatre’s darker recesses. He learns more and more about the ventriloquist/magician Chang, the Tong of the Black Scorpion, and the mysterious Weng-Chiang and his connection to the missing girls. With death all around, and ever-increasing danger as the Doctor closes in on the mystery, it becomes a race against time to prevent a certain catastrophe.

The mid-‘70s are fondly remembered by many fans as the golden years of Doctor Who. Tom Baker had totally refined the role and made it his own. The scripts at this time were mostly first rate and this is no exception. It borrows heavily and shamelessly from Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, Phantom of the Opera and even Pygmalion. The cast are spectacular and the acting in this story is as good as it got. The comedy was finely balanced with the horror, and the dialogue was rarely corny.

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"I don't know about you, but I'll be having words with my stylist."

The budget was better than it had been, and this meant that The Talons of Weng-Chiang could actually afford great costumes, makeup and location filming in a genuine Victorian theatre that was in mostly original condition. The location filming lends a great deal of believability to this story.

The special effects and stunts are minimal and therefore not as embarrassing as normal. Strong characters and the simple yet divergent storyline hold the story together. There is plenty of menace in the character of Chang, and the notion of the very secretive and dangerous Tong of the Black Scorpion.

The advantage of the DVD release over the VHS, apart from the obvious, is that the six episodes are separate and each has a complete opening sequence and closing credits rather than having the six episodes joined into one movie-length adventure.

Fans have regularly voted this story amongst the show’s best and most fondly remembered, and with good reason. It is a classic example of fine storytelling with great production values, and a talented cast and crew. Easily the best Doctor Who DVD yet.

  Video
Contract

Again the Restoration Team is to be commended and you can read all about their work on this story as well as the other Doctor Who work at their website.

Of course this is another full frame presentation and it looks better than I have ever seen it, and I was immediately struck by the cleanliness of the print and the solid colours and deep blacks. There is grain evident in a lot of shots, and noise is also quite frequent, but not enough to cause concern. The image is relatively sharp, though shadow detail varies, especially in the location filming at the theatre. Studio recording looks generally cleaner and slightly better all round.

There is no edge enhancement to speak of, and marks have been removed leaving a very watchable and enjoyable feature that will impress anyone who has seen this on television, or worse, the censored VHS release.

  Audio
Contract

Apparently the audio needed less restoration work than the video. It is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono and is more than serviceable, but hardly impressive. There are no aural gymnastics, nor can there be in mono. Subsequently all but the left and right front speakers are deathly silent. There is fine clarity, minimal hiss noticeable only in the few opening shots, and no clicks, pops or other glitches. Synchronisation is not an issue and neither is volume.

  Extras
Contract

The BBC have again provided plenty of extras here and cement this DVD’s place as the most entertaining and best value Doctor Who release yet.

The Audio Commentary is possibly the best Doctor Who commentary yet, even though it lacks input from the Tom Baker himself. What we do get are actors Louise Jameson (Leela), John Bennet (Chang) and Christopher Benjamin (Jago), Phillip Hinchcliffe (producer), and David Maloney (director) working in various combinations for the different episodes. This commentary is full of information from the off and it comes at you thick and fast. There are minimal pauses and all manner of anecdotes, technical hints, discontinuity hints, fluffs, memories, stunt discussions and much admiration and talk about the quality of the story.

There are also the usual Production Subtitles, which are always included in Doctor Who DVDs and are a wonderful addition when viewed with the commentary. This one is even better than normal, offering multitudes of snippets and things to look for. Whoever wrote these also has a good sense of humour and takes advantage of the fact that there was always a great deal of fun to be had when watching Doctor Who. For the first time I found myself back-scanning the disc as the commentary and the production subtitles are so loaded and so informative that for I found myself unable to take it all in with one attempt.

Those familiar with British television will know of Blue Peter which is/was(?) a children’s television show and is sort of what you would get if you crossed Simon Townsend’s Wonder World with The Curiosity Show. This DVD contains a 26-minute montage of segments from 1977 from that show which has been titled Blue Peter Theatre, all of which are to do with Doctor Who. You will learn how to make a small puppet theatre complete with Doctor Who cutout characters and sets, provided you have a copy of the Radio Times from 1977 handy. Or you can write in for a ‘fact sheet’. Good luck getting one sent to you!

At 24 minutes, Behind the Scenes is a very poor quality look at the making of Doctor Who – The Talons of Weng-Chiang. It was never intended for broadcast, and is an unnarrated ‘fly on the wall’ look at the shooting of various scenes. The quality is as bad as anything I have seen on DVD, but this is made quite clear on the cover and does provide fans with extra footage that will be of interest and wouldn’t be seen otherwise.

The Phillip Hinchcliffe Interview was recorded and broadcast in 1977 and was seen on the Pebble Mill at One magazine style television program, and the producer discusses, amongst other things, the possible effects of the portrayal of on-screen violence.

The above extra makes mention of one of the other extras and at almost one hour, Whose Doctor Who is an episode of a show called The Lively Arts and this particular one-hour documentary on Doctor Who was aired the day after the airing of Episode Six of The Talons of Weng-Chiang. It looks at the whole phenomenon of the show, then in its 13th year. It includes input from Tom Baker as well as several key crew and provides insight into the creation of the programme as well as its social impact, especially on children.

Trails and Continuity is simply two and a half minutes of BBC promotional pieces for the programme itself and the special Whose Doctor Who.

Also included is TARDIS-Cam No. 6, that at 1:45 is a last look at how special effects for Doctor Who might look in 2003 if the show was still in production. It’s also in 16:9 enhanced widescreen.

There is also a Photo Gallery that self-navigates its way through three and half minutes of shots of varying frames and size. Shots from the feature are included as well as promotional stills and backstage and rehearsal pics.

Lastly, for the devoted fan there is an Easter Egg of an extended and title-free opening sequence. It can be found on Disc Two and details are included on our Easter egg page.

  Overall  
Contract

There should be no need to convince you any further. If you are a fan then this deserves a place in your collection and will no doubt earn one. Casual fans will also find much to like here, and if you are looking for a story to introduce the uninitiated, this is it. Baker was close to his best, the script was entertaining and solid, the acting was uniformally solid, and even the usual dodgy special effects and cheap props were above the regular standard. Throw in the atmospheric theatre locations, the foggy London streets, borrowings from well-known classics, give the whole thing a Holmesian feel, and it really is elementary my dear Watson!


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      And I quote...
    "An excellent script, first-rate acting, great sets and costumes, reasonable stunts and special effects – this can’t be Doctor Who. Ah, but it is, it features Tom Baker, and all is right with the world."
    - Terry Kemp
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Akai
    • TV:
          TEAC CT-F803 80cm Super Flat Screen
    • Receiver:
          Pioneer VSX-D409
    • Speakers:
          Wellings
    • Centre Speaker:
          Wellings
    • Surrounds:
          Wellings
    • Subwoofer:
          Sherwood SP 210W
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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