The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part Six

The one where Weng-Chiang's true identity is revealed...

Tom Baker is so 100% The Doctor in this episode, commanding the screen with the greatest of ease and dominating every shot he's in, never mind every scene. It wouldn't be long until Baker's interpretation of his Doctor would slacken a little, soften up and become less commanding, but this really feels like one of the final examples of this version of the Fourth Doctor. The first meeting between Weng-Chiang and the Doctor is delightful, with Tom switching from light and playful to deadly serious effortlessly. "What have you done to her?" he asks of Leela. "Nothing, yet," teases Weng-Chiang, to which a steely Doctor replies: "Take my advice. Don't."

You really would not cross this Doctor, not this version for sure! It's another example of how the Doctor seems to have developed a great fondness for the savage Leela. He expressed concern for her several times in The Face of Evil (even throwing a flesh-eating monster at someone for slapping her across the face), and here his concern shows through again with a barely veiled threat.

Everybody decamps to the House of the Dragon so that the Doctor can see to the release of Jago and Litefoot. These two are back under lock and key in the basement, and there's a lovely little scene between them which characterises them even more. They see themselves as comrades in arms, but Jago confides in his new friend that he's not as brave as he makes out, to which Litefoot replies that nobody is when it comes to it. Jago lets his guard down to confide in Litefoot, and the professor recognises this but still bolsters his friend by saying that he has faith in him. It's a nicely written scene, played perfectly by Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin.

At last we find out who Weng-Chiang really is. He's not a real Chinese god at all, but a war criminal from the 51st century called Magnus Greel, "the infamous Minister of Justice, the Butcher of Brisbane". Does that mean Greel is Australian? Maybe the continents have shifted somewhat by the year 5000, as the Doctor mentions the Filipino Army advancing on Reykjavik. The Butcher of Brisbane is apparently responsible for 100,000 deaths during the course of his zigma beam experiments, which were his attempts to master time travel technology. Again, Tom is masterful in this confrontation with Greel, you can see every moment of anger and disgust on the Doctor's face, that glare of accusation, that snarl of contempt for what Greel is and represents. When Greel claims he was "the first man to travel through time", the Doctor replies quietly: "Hmmm. Look what it did to you."

Which reminds me, nobody except for Leela actually sees Greel's melted face beneath the mask, which is why the savage insists on calling him Bentface! "Why do you call him Bentface?" enquires Litefoot. "Because it is," she replies.

Piggy Mr Sin climbs inside the dragon statue, which has a laser gun inside that shoots from the eyes! Mr Sin absolutely adores his new toy, and it's not long before his newfound power goes straight to his head. The episode - indeed the story, and the entire season - culminates in a bracing shoot-out, with Mr Sin shooting down all of Greel's coolies and slicing up most of the beautiful Chinese furniture scattered about the hall. At one point, Jago refers to the laser beam as a "death ray", which is very prophetic of him as the very idea of lasers, or "projected energy weapons", were a thing of the future. Author H.G Wells is often cited as having predicted what is in essence a laser in his 1898 novel The War of the Worlds, when he describes the Martians' heat ray weapons. In real life, laser theory wasn't properly mooted until Einstein's paper on the quantum theory of radiation in 1917, so all in all, Jago did well to call it a "death ray" at a time (1890s) when it had barely even been thought of.

Finally, Mr Sin turns his anger (and lasers) on Magnus Greel when he hears the Doctor explain that if Greel activates the time cabinet, they'll all be blown sky high. Greel is gunned down, and then the Doctor shoves him in his own distillation chamber (and that's quite a shove Baker gives Spice!), resulting in complete cellular collapse. The Doctor then brings any danger of further zigma experiments to an end by crushing the crystalline trionic lattice underfoot (look out for Tom Baker checking he's in camera shot when he places the key on the floor!).

A few quick observations about the episode:

• "There's a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu..." recites the Doctor, decades before it's been written. Litefoot asks if he's quoting Kipling, when it's actually a poem called The Green Eye of the Yellow God written by J. Milton Hayes in 1911 (the poem is often misattributed to Kipling, which adds an amusingly prescient dimension to it all). Puzzlingly, the Doctor claims he's quoting Harry Champion, who was a music hall artiste forced into retirement in 1920 (the year the Doctor states).
• The Doctor refers to the two girls imprisoned in the basement as having been given the "broth of oblivion", a reference to Meng Po, the Chinese goddess of forgetfulness. Old Lady Meng used to serve soup on the Bridge of Forgetfulness which would wipe the person's memory so that they could be reincarnated in the next life without the burdens of the last.
• Louise Jameson is fantastic in her scene facing off against Greel. Just marvel at the energy she puts into her threat against the villain: "I shall not plead, but I promise you this: when we are both in the great hereafter, I shall hunt you down, Bentface, and put you through my agony a thousand times!" You go, girl!
• Loving the Doctor going all Ace and rigging up an explosive involving gas, linen and a box of lucifers! BOOOOOM!
• Michael Spice really earns his salary with the line: "Let the talons of Weng-Chiang shred your fleeee-eeesh!"
• The briefest of bits where Jago says he wishes he had a catapult because he was a dab hand with one as a nipper, and the flash of amusement from the Doctor. It's tiny moments like this which prove to me that Tom Baker knew exactly what being Dr Who was all about, and had his interpretation down to a fine art. His Doctor can find amusement in the gravest situations.
• It's tricky to see, but you can spot someone pushing the pot off the wooden box when it's supposedly hit by Mr Sin's laser (they're hiding behind the red curtain!). Never mind the Hand of Sutekh, what about the Hand of Sin?

With the distant cries of the muffin man, the Doctor offers to buy everybody a muffin, and they up sticks and leave. That's a hell of a mess left for others to clean up, especially as there's a fair bit of 51st century technology hanging about still. The Doctor seems unconcerned about leaving anachronistic technology in Victorian London, but perhaps that sort of thing was mopped up by Torchwood?

As is quite common with this era, it all ends with the Doctor's quick exit, making off in his TARDIS for the next adventure, leaving new friends Jago and Litefoot munching on their muffins wondering where the blue box just disappeared to.

And so ends Season 14, Tom Baker's third and what many deem to be his best. I can't agree - I think that accolade must go to its predecessor - but there are some true gems to be enjoyed, principally in the latter half of the run. All three Leela stories are wonderful, and particularly well written, while the Sarah Jane two are slightly underwhelming by comparison. As is traditional, the six-parter has some padding, but it's presented so beautifully that you barely notice. The best thing about the whole season is undoubtedly the addition of Louise Jameson as Leela, who hits the ground running and is a breath of much-needed fresh air. Jameson's performance is well-studied and executed, the sign of a fine actor taking things seriously, when the fact she has to play it all in the skimpiest of costumes would surely have made it more difficult (plus the fact she was playing against a reportedly belligerent co-star).

The day after The Talons of Weng-Chiang finished, BBC2 showed an episode of The Lively Arts called Whose Doctor Who, which examined the "ideas and attitudes which have characterised the series from the beginning". There'd be a juicy slice of behind the scenes footage from the making of Talons too...

Meanwhile, Doctor Who's own 6.30pm slot on Saturdays was taken by a great many adventure films (such as The Pink Panther, The Magnificent Seven, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), and for one night only, the dreaded Jim'll Fix It ("waltz with Jimmy Savile"!). The series would return with its 15th season, a new producer and another new companion...

First broadcast: April 2nd, 1977

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Tom Baker is fantastic as the Doctor in this episode, one of his last gasps as this "Hinchcliffe" version of the Fourth Doctor.
The Bad: The laser beams aren't as well done as they could have been, not really stretching far enough or being seen to hit anything.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆ (story average: 8 out of 10)

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 08 - the Doctor offers Magnus Greel a green jelly baby in Litefoot's dining room.

NEXT TIME: Horror of Fang Rock...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four; Part Five

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: https://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-talons-of-weng-chiang.html

The Talons of Weng-Chiang is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Talons-Weng-Chiang-Special/dp/B009BOSEEA