The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part Two

The one where Leela enjoys/ devours a cold collation...

Our heroes escape the giant rat by throwing an oil lamp at it and scarpering back up the ladder onto the street. The Doctor assumes the rat is a guard, keeping people away, but if that is the case, why was poor cabby Joseph Buller mutilated by it before being chucked in the river? He was killed on the street by a stab to the heart by Mr Sin, so how did he get down into the sewers before being washed up?

Li H'sen Chang visits a secret lair deep beneath the Palace Theatre, which is home to his beloved master, the god Weng-Chiang. Writer Robert Holmes was obviously lifting wholesale from Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, and the scene toward the end of this episode, where the Doctor pursues Weng-Chiang among the theatre flies and rigging, is another iconographic steal. Weng-Chiang is not a well man, it seems, and requires the bodies of young women to put into his distillation chamber, which sucks the life essence from them to give to him. So far, so gruesome.

It's also a sure sign that Weng-Chiang is not of this earth, but actually some kind of alien, as he has a distillation chamber, as well as holographic technology to project ghosts, and the ability to make small creatures like rats and money spiders much, much larger. He also seems to have gifted Chang with the ability to hypnotise and read minds, so all in all, this Weng-Chiang chap is not to be trifled with. Oh, and he wears a mask to hide his face, so I'm guessing he ain't a looker.

His ultimate aim is to retrieve something called a time cabinet, which he seems to have mislaid but desperately wants back. Each night, he, Chang and Chang's little murderous midget Mr Sin trawl Limehouse and its environs, scanning for the cabinet's presence among the dimly hit houses and businesses, and on this night in particular, they manage to trace it to the house of none other than Professor Litefoot!

The scenes in Litefoot's house between the professor and Leela are gold dust, with two top notch actors fully comprehensive of a beautifully considered script. I love Leela's culture clash among Victorian society, and the fact Litefoot quickly accepts that Leela is a "savage" and is happy to humour her. He at first apologises to Leela for discussing the gruesome details of his pathology in front of her, until the Doctor explains that she is a "savage, found floating down the Amazon in a hat box." After that, he accepts "Miss Leela" for what she is, which must come from the fact he spent his childhood in China, as part of a different culture.

Litefoot takes Leela back to his house for supper (the Doctor jumps ship to visit the theatre), and reveals that his housekeeper Mrs Hudson always leaves him a "cold collation". Either Litefoot has the most voracious appetite, or Mrs Hudson is a goddess of abundance, because tonight's collation is a veritable banquet, replete with ham, beef, chicken, tongue and quail! All this for just one man! It's delightful to see Louise Jameson and Trevor Baxter spark off each other as the savage Leela tucks into a whole meat joint with her hands and teeth, using a carving knife to cut into it. Litefoot's muted astonishment is wonderful, and the bit where he picks up a serving plate, then gently thinks against it in case it offends his guest, is lovely. Later, Leela slurps from an entire bowl of blancmange, but Litefoot amusingly draws the line at her wiping her mouth on the table cloth. "Ah! Napkin!" he instructs. Every scene between these two is wonderful.

Director David Maloney continues to make the most of his night shoot on location, with the streets shrouded in mist, lit by gas lamps, cobbled and mysterious. Doctor Who has rarely enjoyed night shoots (they cost more), and the shots of Hansom cabs cantering along back-lit cobbled streets just drip with atmosphere. Love the bit where the Doctor shouts "Carry on, cabby!", a little in-joke for fans of the beloved film series.

Chang assigns his little friend Mr Sin to break into Litefoot's house, which provides for a cracking cliffhanger. Sin seems to knock Litefoot unconscious  - but does not stab him to death, oddly - and then approaches Leela with his knife outstretched, shambling like an animated dummy would, and oinking like a piglet. I mean, what the hell is Mr Sin? Is it a ventriloquist's dummy brought to life, or is it a real living thing? The utter strangeness of Mr Sin is both intriguing and abominable, surely one of Doctor Who's most sinister monsters ever.

First broadcast: March 5th, 1977

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The cold collation scene with Leela and Litefoot is classic.
The Bad: I'm not clear on the sequence of events which led to the death of the Bullers. Why was Mr Buller mutilated by the giant rat when he was never in the sewers? And why is it being suggested Emma Buller was abducted by Chang during his vanishing act when she was apparently levitated and put under the 'fluence on stage a whole week earlier? Was she a glutton for punishment?
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 07

NEXT TIME: Part Three...

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

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