Right I thought rather than reviewing another movie, I would go back to looking at an old classic Doctor who story from Tom Baker's era, The Talons of Weng Chiang, which was the swansong of the great partnership of producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor/writer Robert Holmes. So let's give it a look!
So the story begins with the TARDIS landing in London back in the Victorian times, as the Doctor and Leela (Louise Jameson) emerge wearing Victorian clothes. The Doctor and Leela while they look around the local area, they hear a scream and they find a group of Chinese coolies who are attacking a cab driver. The Doctor and Leela fight them off, as they hear the sound of a police whistle they flee, and the Doctor trips up one of them, just in time for a Sergeant (David McKail) to find them and he asks them to come to the station. Meanwhile at the Palace theatre, a famous Chinese magician, Li H'sen Chang (John Bennett) is performing an extended run at the theatre, much to the delight of the owner, Henry Gordon Jago (Christopher Benjamin). Chang however was accosted by the cab driver earlier on and he accused him of putting his wife into some weird trance and since then she has disappeared. After this Chang is called to the police station where he is asked to be an interpreter for the coolie, the Doctor and Leela caught. Chang unbeknowst to the Doctor and Leela discretely gives the coolie a scorpion venom pill, which kills the coolie instantly. Chang denies that he did anything and wishes them good night, but on examining the dead coolie's hand, the Doctor sees a tatoo of the Tong of the Black Scorpion, who were a dangerous political organisation who worshipped the ancient god, Weng Chiang.
The Doctor and Leela then head to the mortuary where they find where they speak to Professot Litefoot (Trevor Litefoot) who is examining the bodies and tells the Doctor that the cab driver, was a man named Joseph Buller, who's with Emma Buller went missing, and this was just one of several girls that have gone missing in mysterious circumstances. The Doctor finds rat hairs on Buller's body, which suggests to him that he was killed by a large rat, and that the god Weng Chaing, was the master of abundance who could make things grow. On this hunch, the Doctor checks the sewers with Leela and they find a large rat, which advances on them, but they manage to escape just in time.
In the meantime we find out that Chang is actually a servant of the so called God, Weng Chiang, who is in fact a war criminal from the 51st Century, Magnus Greel (Michael Spice) who is stranded in this time, and he is desparately looking for the time cabinet he travelled in. However as a result of having used the time cabinet, which is based on an unstable form called Zygma energy, Greel is left hideously deformed and has to wear mask to hide his true features. It also is revealed that the girls who disappeared have in fact been captured by Chang and taken to Greel, who uses a distillation chamber to drain their life energies into his own body, in order to revitilise himself, as he dying from the effects of his time travel. Chang also in his task of trying to find the time cabinet is aided by a the small waxwork doll, Mr Sin (Roy Deep) which is in fact a homunculus (small robotic human) who came from the future with Greel.
And as things progress the Doctor and Leela eventually cross paths with Greel, as well as meeting up with Jago and Litefoot, who all pull their resources together to try and defeat the evil villain from the future, who if he finds the time cabinet again, it could have disastrous consequences for them all.
Talons is without a doubt one of the real highlights of the Tom Baker era, the scripts, sets and performances are all wonderful. Robert Holmes, who was the script editor during the Philip Hinchcliffe tenure, and also wrote the story, has crafted a terrific adventure, which is creepy, menacing as well as very entertaining. The story also succeeds in bringing together another partnership, with Henry Gordon Jago and Professor Litefoot, who in the story make an unlikely duo, but they ultimatley help each other and the Doctor in their fight against Greel. And the gothic themes that were seen to be running now and then through the Hinchcliffe era really come to the fore here, and in this story Holmes and Hinchcliffe find the perfect balance of drama and fun.
In terms of the performances there is much to enjoy here, especially Christopher Benjamin as Henry Gordon Jago, the pompous theatre owner, who has a large vocabulary and likes to act big, but at the same time he's a coward, who would flee at any sign of danger, but towards the end he plays his part in fighting the baddies. He also get's plenty of great lines, one I really like is when he speaks to his stagehand, Casey, and says to him "I will look over those lugubrious leaniments at the crupuscular hour!" and Casey says "Eh???" to which Jago replies "See you in the morning!". Trevor Baxter is also excellent Professor Litefoot, as he plays Litefoot as a plucky character, who will stand up for a fight, and his scenes with Christopher Benjamin are great, and some of the highlights of the story. John Bennett is also very good as Li H'sen Chang, the enigmatic and mysterious magician, who obeys Greel blindly at first, but realises altogether a bit too late that Greel later deserts him. Bennett also has some excellent make-up to make look like a gent from the Orient, which looks very convincing (despite the fact he wouldn't be able to move his eyebrows!). Roy Deep also makes a noteworthy appearnce as the creepy Mr Sin, the dimunitive waxwork doll, that does Greel's evil bidding, and at the end the Doctor pulls out his "fuse". And finally we have Michael Spice as the villanous Greel, who we never see his face until the climax at the end of epsiode five where Leela unmasks him, and we see his twisted features. Spice plays a great villain, especially with his impressive booming voice, I can easily have seen him sending young kids cowering behind the sofa!
The regular cast are also in top form here too, with Tom Baker having grown effortlessly into his role now as the Doctor, and he provides his usual commanding, engimatic and humorous qualities. Tom Baker also get's his fare share of great lines, one of which is the title of this post, where he taunts Greel, who demands for the Doctor to hand over the time key for the cabinet, and the Doctor says "never trust a man with dirty finger nails!". I also like the scene where the Doctor participates in a magic trick for Chang at the theatre, where he gets inside a cabinet which Chang will slot swords into, but before he does we see the Doctor exit out the back door of the cabinet! Louise Jameson is also fine as Leela, and yep she does look pretty fine in that Victorian dress (although I miss her sexy leather skins!). Jameson also has quite a few impressive dramatic moments with Greel, as she swears she will hunt him down (calling Greel bent face!) and "put him through my agony a thousand times!". She also has an amusing scene where she eats with Litefoot at his house, but rather than use a plate, she sticks a carving into a cut of meat and starts eating it with her hands, and Litefoot feels obliged to join in. Although I think Leela probably needs a few more lessons in Victorian etiquette than Eliza Doolittle does! ;-)
As for any flaws, well its such a good story there aren't too many, even at 6 episodes, it moves along at a good pace, and doesn't fall foul to the some of the padded 6 parters in the past. One big flaw however that can be levelled at it is of course the inclusion of the giant rat, which is basically pretty silly, and is not menacing at all, as it just looks like a man in a mouse costume (which is pretty much what it is!). I was also never a fan of one line in the story, which came from Greel, and its the way in which Michael Spice says "Let the talons of Weng Chiang shred your flesh!" its just a bit OTT and makes me cringe when I hear it. But apart from that its pretty much all great stuff.
The story also has a notable score from Dudley Simpson, which is once again great, as Simpson, who by this time had been a real veteran score writer for the show virtually since it began (his first music score for the show was back in 1964 in the Hartnell era, Planet of Giants) and Simpson himself makes a cameo in the story as a conductor at the theatre. Simpson's score has plenty of dramatic passages throughout and I really like the use of some of the organ music, especially when Chang is negotiating the bowels of the theatre to reach the sewer to meet with Greel. Production wise, the giant rat aside, its pretty much top notch as the sets are all great, and the costumes, as always in BBC period drama as spot on. And one amusing fact about the making of the show was that for one of the scenes show on the streets, there was one shot where a modern car was in shot. However the production team where unable to contact the owner to have it moved, so they ended up covering it over with hay! You can spot it easily, as you see the shape of the car beneath!
So The Talons of Weng Chiang remains one of the great classics of the original show, and one of Tom Baker's finest stories. It was a shame that Philip Hinchcliffe decided to part company with the show at that point as his tenure on the series proved to be what quite a few fans called the Golden Age of the show. And some might even say that Doctor Who was never the same again.
Anyway that's it for now, until the next post, byeeee!
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