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Quick DrWho review: The Talons of Weng-Chiang
11 years ago
ScottishFurHello all and welcome to a new review
Today we'll be looking at one of the best and at the same time one of the most problematic DrWho episodes ever, the Talons of Weng-Chiang, but for the purposes of the review I shall just call it Talons.
This story features the 4th Doctor, Tom Baker, one of the most recognisable Doctors ever--long multicolour scarf, toothy grin, bulging blue eyes, curly hair, hat, jellybabies (which is a candy) all iconic in their glory.
His companion is Leela, a young woman from a race called Sevateem, who are in fact humans from a spaceship called Survey Team 7 but who crashed on an alien world and became Sevateem (Sevateem, Survey Team, see it?).
Leela is great. She's not a trembling damsel in distress, and is instead a fierce and protective, lunging at villains with a knife.
Talons came out when DrWho was becoming more horror-orientated, with grim stories and dark settings. Talons takes place in Victorian London, where the Doctor has taken Leela to see how her ancestors lived. They get attacked by thugs from a Chinese cult called the Tong of the Black Scorpion. They later find out that there has been numerous cases of young women missing and also several murder cases.
In a local theatre, a performer called Li H'sen Chang is working with the Tong to kidnap people and bring them to Weng-Chiang, a supposed (and probably highly fictionalised) Chinese god. Weng-Chiang is in fact a criminal from the future called Magnus Greel. He's draining the life of the kidnapped people to keep himself alive, in a sense its cannibalism.
Oh and also Greel is good at screaming.
"LET THE TALONS OF WENG-CHIANG SHRED YOUR FLESH!"
He also has a ventriloquist puppet as a servant, Mr.Sin who is in fact a computer with a part of a pig brain in its system (hence why it snorts), who he uses to murder people and kidnap Leela
So its up to the Doctor, Professor Litefoot and theatre owner Henry Jago to stop Weng-Chiang's murders and save Leela.
There are many points in favour of Talons:
-it looks great, with stunning sets and costumes.
-Jago and Litefoot are brilliant and were to get their own spin-off even.
-its very entertaining and suspenseful at times
-Its atmospheric, with dark visuals, great location work and lighting. The only thing that doesn't work visually is a giant rat in a sewer (a result of an experiment). This oozes of Victoriana and is just so enjoyable in that sense
And it also has a dragon turret :
But it does have one major issue. All the Chinese characters are evil villains and the only one who talks (Li H'sen Chang) is a white actor in heavy make up to look Asian, in other words its yellowface (he's the person in orange robes with the swords. The creepy guy in the mask downstairs is Greel) :
In the present day this would not be allowed, but I guess it was common when this was made (1977).
Still even then its rather uncomfortable. Additionally there's a lot of racist talk here and there and the word "chink" is also used.
There are some who dismiss this, but you can't ignore Talon's one big flaw. ITS RACIST.
Overall Talons is regarded as one of DrWho's all time greats. I personally enjoy it, but I take into account of its issues. I'd say be careful with it. Its great, but I can understand if someone would avoid it or say they don't like it because of the racism.
Today we'll be looking at one of the best and at the same time one of the most problematic DrWho episodes ever, the Talons of Weng-Chiang, but for the purposes of the review I shall just call it Talons.
This story features the 4th Doctor, Tom Baker, one of the most recognisable Doctors ever--long multicolour scarf, toothy grin, bulging blue eyes, curly hair, hat, jellybabies (which is a candy) all iconic in their glory.
His companion is Leela, a young woman from a race called Sevateem, who are in fact humans from a spaceship called Survey Team 7 but who crashed on an alien world and became Sevateem (Sevateem, Survey Team, see it?).
Leela is great. She's not a trembling damsel in distress, and is instead a fierce and protective, lunging at villains with a knife.
Talons came out when DrWho was becoming more horror-orientated, with grim stories and dark settings. Talons takes place in Victorian London, where the Doctor has taken Leela to see how her ancestors lived. They get attacked by thugs from a Chinese cult called the Tong of the Black Scorpion. They later find out that there has been numerous cases of young women missing and also several murder cases.
In a local theatre, a performer called Li H'sen Chang is working with the Tong to kidnap people and bring them to Weng-Chiang, a supposed (and probably highly fictionalised) Chinese god. Weng-Chiang is in fact a criminal from the future called Magnus Greel. He's draining the life of the kidnapped people to keep himself alive, in a sense its cannibalism.
Oh and also Greel is good at screaming.
"LET THE TALONS OF WENG-CHIANG SHRED YOUR FLESH!"
He also has a ventriloquist puppet as a servant, Mr.Sin who is in fact a computer with a part of a pig brain in its system (hence why it snorts), who he uses to murder people and kidnap Leela
So its up to the Doctor, Professor Litefoot and theatre owner Henry Jago to stop Weng-Chiang's murders and save Leela.
There are many points in favour of Talons:
-it looks great, with stunning sets and costumes.
-Jago and Litefoot are brilliant and were to get their own spin-off even.
-its very entertaining and suspenseful at times
-Its atmospheric, with dark visuals, great location work and lighting. The only thing that doesn't work visually is a giant rat in a sewer (a result of an experiment). This oozes of Victoriana and is just so enjoyable in that sense
And it also has a dragon turret :
But it does have one major issue. All the Chinese characters are evil villains and the only one who talks (Li H'sen Chang) is a white actor in heavy make up to look Asian, in other words its yellowface (he's the person in orange robes with the swords. The creepy guy in the mask downstairs is Greel) :
In the present day this would not be allowed, but I guess it was common when this was made (1977).
Still even then its rather uncomfortable. Additionally there's a lot of racist talk here and there and the word "chink" is also used.
There are some who dismiss this, but you can't ignore Talon's one big flaw. ITS RACIST.
Overall Talons is regarded as one of DrWho's all time greats. I personally enjoy it, but I take into account of its issues. I'd say be careful with it. Its great, but I can understand if someone would avoid it or say they don't like it because of the racism.
It's also a glorious pastiche on several genres: the theatre, evil geniuses from the future, Sherlock Holmes, Pygmalion (the whole idea behind Leela, in fact), Chinese inscrutability, the Tongs... all thrown together into one glorious melting-pot.
It's definitely a classic. Rumour had it that there was going to be a spin-off featuring Jago and Lightfoot, which would have been hilarious.
And I still do like it just a bit aware of some of its fallings. Though its not as offensive as say Tomb of the Cybermen with Toberman or the Celestial Toymaker.
wish I had one
I know its of it's time and creates the Victorian setting, but racism still isn't nice