Doctor Who:
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
By Robert Holmes
“I don't know who's a
blackguard. Some slavering gangrenous vampire comes out of a sewer and stalks
this city at night, he's a blackguard. I've got to find his lair and I haven't
got an hour to lose.”
The Doctor brings Leela to
Victorian London to see how her ancestors have lived. What happens next is just typical luck for
The Doctor as they get involved with a case that involves the Tong of the Black
Scorpion. There also appears to be a
connection with a a slew of woman disappearing and it seems to all center
around Jago’s theatre and his main act Li H’sen Chang. It appears that Chang is working for the 51st
Century criminal Magnus Greel or as he is known now Weng – Chiang.
With the aid of giant
sewer rats and the murderous Peking Homunculus Mr. Sin it appears that Greel
might be able to get the time cabinat working again and get the Zeta beam to
take him home. Unfortunately this will cause
great repercussions to Earth as the beam is spread thin and will not work. So it is up to The Doctor and Leela and the
aid of his two new friends Jago and Lightfoot to stop the villainous Greel and
save the Earth in the processes.
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
is one of those stories that is just timeless and is such a true classic. It is Tom Baker at his best. He is not to
silly and he just has a commanding presence in this story that he just takes
over the case. The Doctor does his best
Sherlock Holmes impersonation in this story with his attire and his mannerisms
as he does become a detective in this story.
It is good to see Doctor Who give a nod to the great detective and have
the two British institutions join forces in a roundabout way.
I loved the characters of Jago and
Lightfoot. They bring a certain
Victorian style and a bit of light heartedness with their funny moments. There is great chemistry between the two of
them that it was a no brainer for Big Finish to bring them back with their own
series of audio adventures. They just
worked and were one of the perfect secondary characters created for Doctor
Who. To bad they never returned to the
series on TV.
I just loved Mr. Sin. Played by Deep Roy this character was
evil. Killed without remorse and just
seemed to enjoy it way too much.
Disguised as a ventriloquist dummy that was actually alive was pretty
freaky and scary to one so young when he first watched The Talons of
Weng-Chiang. In fact I still find Mr.
Sin Creepy but not so much anymore since I meet him in person. Mr. Sin is truly
one of the evilest Doctor Who baddies of all time.
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
is to me a perfect story. There isn’t
anything that I do not like about it. It
is a story that I feel in love with back in the day and still enjoy watching
over and over again. It is just that
enjoyable and I do love the giant rat in the sewer even if it does look like it
should be on a kid’s bed. I also like
how it also pays homage in a way to The Phantom of the Opera. The hole theatre set and Greel lair under the
theatre is classic. What is there not to love about this story?
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
is a true classic written by one of the best writers of the shows history in
Robert Holmes and he delivers one of his best all time for the best Doctor of
all time.
Grade A
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