| 词条 | The Talons of Weng-Chiang |
| 释义 |
| number = 091 | serial_name = The Talons of Weng-Chiang | show = DW | type = serial | image = | caption = The Doctor confronts Magnus Greel with the key to Greel's Time Cabinet. | doctor = Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor) | companion = Louise Jameson (Leela) | guests =
| director = David Maloney | writer = Robert Holmes | script_editor = Robert Holmes | producer = Philip Hinchcliffe | executive_producer = None | composer = Dudley Simpson | production_code = 4S | series = Season 14 | length = 6 episodes, 25 minutes each | date = 26 February – 2 April 1977 | preceding = The Robots of Death | following = Horror of Fang Rock }} The Talons of Weng-Chiang is the sixth and final serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 26 February to 2 April 1977.[1] In the serial, which is set in 19th-century London, the 51st century criminal Magnus Greel (Michael Spice) travels to the city while posing as an ancient Chinese god to find his missing time machine. Written by script editor Robert Holmes and directed by David Maloney, The Talons of Weng-Chiang was also the final serial to be produced by Philip Hinchcliffe, who had worked on the series for three seasons. One of the most popular serials from the series' original run on television, The Talons of Weng-Chiang has continued to receive acclaim from reviewers and it has been repeatedly voted one of the best stories by fans. Despite this, criticism has been directed towards the serial's representation of Chinese characters and an unconvincing giant rat featured in the story. Plot{{needsattention|project=Doctor Who|type=multiple|date=June 2017|}} The Doctor and Leela arrive in London so that Leela can learn about the customs of her ancestors, specifically the musical theatre of Victorian England. Performing at the Palace Theatre is the stage magician Li H'sen Chang, although the Doctor did hope to catch Little Tich. On their way to the Palace Theatre, the Doctor and Leela encounter a group of Chinese men who have apparently killed a cab driver. They attempt to silence the Doctor and Leela but are frightened away by the distant whistle of an approaching policeman. All but one escape, and he, the Doctor and Leela are taken to the local police station. At the station, Li H'sen Chang is called in to act as an interpreter, but unbeknownst to everyone else he is the leader of the group and he secretly gives the captive henchman a pill of concentrated scorpion venom, which the henchman takes immediately and dies. The Doctor, upon a brief examination of the body, finds a scorpion tattoo—the symbol of the Tong of the Black Scorpion, devout followers of an ancient god, Weng-Chiang. The body is taken to the local mortuary, along with the body of the cabbie which had just been found floating in the river. There they meet Professor Litefoot, who is performing the autopsies. The cabbie is Joseph Buller, who had been looking for his wife Emma, the latest in a string of missing women in the area. Buller had gone down to the Palace Theatre where he had confronted Chang about his wife's disappearance, threatening to report Chang to the police if she was not returned to him. Chang, fearful of discovery, had sent his men, including the diminutive Mr Sin, to kill Buller. Chang is in the service of Magnus Greel, a despot from the 51st century who had fled from the authorities in a time cabinet, now masquerading as the Chinese god Weng-Chiang. The technology of the cabinet is based on "zygma energy," which is unstable and has disrupted Greel's own DNA, deforming him horribly. This forces him to drain the life essences from young women to keep himself alive. At the same time, Greel is in search of his cabinet, taken from him by Chinese Imperial soldiers and in turn given by the Imperial Court to Professor Litefoot's parents as a gift. Mr Sin is also from the future, but is a robotic toy constructed with the cerebral cortex of a pig. It is better known as the Peking Homunculus, a vile thing that almost caused World War Six when its organic pig part took over the toy's functions. Greel tracks down the time cabinet and steals it, whilst concurrently the Doctor tracks Greel to the sewers underneath the theatre, aided (rather clumsily) by the theatre's owner, Henry Gordon Jago. However, Greel has already fled, abandoning Chang to the police. Chang escapes but only to be mauled by one of the giant rats—products of Greel's experiments, which were then used to guard his sewer hideout. While the Doctor and Leela try to find Greel's new hideout, Jago comes across a bag of future technological artefacts, among which is the key to the time cabinet. He takes it to Professor Litefoot's house, and there, after leaving the artefacts and a note for the Doctor, the Professor and Jago set out to follow anyone coming around the Palace Theatre in search of the bag. However, they are captured. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Leela happen upon Chang in an opium den, already half dead from his injuries and the narcotic; there, he tells them that Greel can be found in the House of the Dragon but falls into rambling and dies before telling them its exact location. He does leave them a Chinese puzzle that tells the Doctor that Greel's lair is in a Boot Court somewhere. The Doctor and Leela return to Professor Litefoot's house. There they find the note and the key to the time cabinet. They decide to wait for Greel and his henchmen. When they arrive, the Doctor uses the key, a fragile crystal known as a Trionic Lattice, as a bargaining chip. He asks to be taken to the House of the Dragon, offering the key in exchange for Litefoot and Jago's release. Instead, Greel overpowers the Doctor and locks him in with the two amateur sleuths. Leela, who had been left at Litefoot's house at the Doctor's behest, has followed them and confronts Greel. She is captured and set in his life-essence extraction machine, a catalytic extraction chamber, but before her life essence is drained, the Doctor, Jago and Litefoot escape and rescue her. In a final confrontation, Mr Sin turns on Greel as the Doctor convinces it that Greel escaping in his time cabinet will create a catastrophic implosion. The Doctor defeats Greel by forcibly pushing him into his own catalytic extraction chamber, thus damaging it and causing it to overload. Having fallen victim to his own machine, Greel suffers Cellular Collapse and disintegrates. Enraged by the events, the Peking Homunculus attacks Leela, but the Doctor manages to remove its prime fuse and damage it beyond repair before bringing the Zygma Experiment to a permanent end by destroying the lattice. As the Doctor prepares the TARDIS, Litefoot attempts to explain tea to Leela, only to baffle her further. The Doctor and Leela bid farewell to Jago and Litefoot as they enter the TARDIS. Confused by the police box, Litefoot is astonished by its de-materialisation, a stunt which Jago remarks that even Li H'sen Chang could have appreciated. ProductionRobert Banks Stewart's story outline ("The Foe from the Future") inspired elements of this serial. "The Foe from the Future" was adapted by Big Finish Productions as an audio play in 2012. Working titles for this story included The Talons of Greel. This was the final Doctor Who story produced by Philip Hinchcliffe. Hinchcliffe was succeeded by Graham Williams as the series producer, who sat in on this story's production. This story featured the first Doctor Who work by John Nathan-Turner as series production unit manager. Nathan-Turner would succeed Williams as the show's producer from 1980 to 1989. The Talons of Weng-Chiang featured two separate blocks of location shooting. As planned, the serial was to have a week of location filming for the exterior footage, which took place at various locations in London, with the majority in the area around Wapping,[2] in mid-December 1976, followed by three studio recording sessions. Producer Philip Hinchcliffe was able to negotiate the swapping of one of the planned studio sessions for the use of an outside broadcast video crew, which led to the second block of location shooting in early January 1977, encompassing a week in Northampton, the majority of which was spent at the Royal Theatre.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} A large pile of straw seen in one scene was placed there to cover a modern car that had not been moved off the street.[2] The production team briefly considered giving Jago and Litefoot their own spin-off series. The production of this serial featured in a BBC 2 documentary, Whose Doctor Who (1977), presented by Melvyn Bragg, which was part of the arts series The Lively Arts. Including interviews with Tom Baker, Philip Hinchcliffe and fans of the series, it was the first in-depth documentary made by the BBC on the series and was transmitted on the day following the final episode. The programme is included as an extra on the DVD releases of The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Cast notesDeep Roy, who played Mr. Sin, had an uncredited role as an unnamed alien trade delegate in The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp (1986). Dudley Simpson—who composed much of the music for Doctor Who in the 1960s and 1970s—has a cameo as the conductor of Jago's theatre orchestra. Michael Spice appears in this story as the main villain, Magnus Greel. He also provided the voice of Morbius in the previous season's The Brain of Morbius (1976). John Bennett had previously appeared in Doctor Who as General Finch in Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974). Christopher Benjamin had previously appeared in Inferno (1970) as Sir Keith Gold and would return to play Colonel Hugh in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (2008). Broadcast and reception{{Episode table|background = |series = 6 |title = 20 | aux1=6 | airdate = 10 | viewers = 6 | country = UK |seriesT = Episode |aux1T = Run time |viewersR = |episodes ={{Episode list/sublist|The Talons of Weng-Chiang |EpisodeNumber = 1 |Title = Part One |RTitle = |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1977|2|26|df=y}} |Viewers = 11.3 |Aux1 = 24:44 |LineColor = }}{{Episode list/sublist|The Talons of Weng-Chiang |EpisodeNumber = 2 |Title = Part Two |RTitle = |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1977|3|5|df=y}} |Viewers = 9.8 |Aux1 = 24:26 |LineColor = }}{{Episode list/sublist|The Talons of Weng-Chiang |EpisodeNumber = 3 |Title = Part Three |RTitle = |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1977|3|12|df=y}} |Viewers = 10.2 |Aux1 = 21:56 |LineColor = }}{{Episode list/sublist|The Talons of Weng-Chiang |EpisodeNumber = 4 |Title = Part Four |RTitle = |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1977|3|19|df=y}} |Viewers = 11.4 |Aux1 = 24:30 |LineColor = }}{{Episode list/sublist|The Talons of Weng-Chiang |EpisodeNumber = 5 |Title = Part Five |RTitle = |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1977|3|26|df=y}} |Viewers = 10.1 |Aux1 = 24:49 |LineColor = }}{{Episode list/sublist|The Talons of Weng-Chiang |EpisodeNumber = 6 |Title = Part Six |RTitle = |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1977|4|2|df=y}} |Viewers = 9.3 |Aux1 = 23:26 |LineColor = }} }}Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping, in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), praised the double act of Jago and Litefoot and called the serial, "One of the great moments of Doctor Who history – an effortless conquering of the pseudo-historical genre with a peerless script."[3] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker were full of similar praise for the script, direction, the characters, and acting.[4] In 2010, Mark Braxton of Radio Times described the serial as atmospheric and "a triumph of pastiche over cliché". He praised the villains and Leela.[5] The A.V. Club reviewer Christopher Bahn wrote that the story was good at "genre-blending" and homages.[6] In 2008, The Daily Telegraph named the serial the best of the "10 greatest episodes of Doctor Who" up to that point, writing, "The top-notch characterisation, direction and performances, with Tom Baker at the top of his game, make this the perfect Doctor Who story."[7] This story was voted the best Doctor Who story ever in the 2003 Outpost Gallifrey poll to mark the series' 40th anniversary, narrowly beating The Caves of Androzani.[8] In Doctor Who Magazine{{'s}} 2009 "Mighty 200" poll, asking readers to rank all of the then-released 200 stories, The Talons of Weng-Chiang came in fourth place.[9] In a similar poll in 2014, magazine readers ranked the episode in sixth place.[10] Russell T Davies, lead writer and executive producer for Doctor Who's 21st-century revival, praised this serial, saying, "Take The Talons of Weng-Chiang, for example. Watch episode one. It's the best dialogue ever written. It's up there with Dennis Potter. By a man called Robert Holmes. When the history of television drama comes to be written, Robert Holmes won't be remembered at all because he only wrote genre stuff. And that, I reckon, is a real tragedy."[11] Although the script and the general production of the serial has been highly praised, some commentators have criticised elements of it such as the realisation of the giant rat and the depiction of the Chinese characters, which has been alleged to be racist. Mark Braxton, in his Radio Times review, acknowledged the failings of the giant rat.[5] In his volume of British history State of Emergency, Dominic Sandbrook criticizes the giant rat for being "one of the worst-realized monsters not merely in the show's history, but in the history of human entertainment."[12] Howe and Walker noted that its flaw was the realisation of the giant rat, though the story "still contains its fair share of gruesome and disturbing material".[4] Some of the English characters display racist attitudes towards the Chinese characters, which go unchallenged by the Doctor, who normally stands up for marginalized groups.[13] Meanwhile, the Chinese immigrants themselves are portrayed in a stereotypical fashion – other than Li H'sen Chang (a major villain who is himself akin to Fu Manchu, but portrayed by a white actor – another source of criticism),[14] all of the Chinese characters are coolies or members of Tong gangs. The Chinese Canadian National Council for Equality characterized the content of the episodes as "dangerous, offensive, racist stereotyping [which] associate the Chinese with everything fearful and despicable". As a result of their complaint to TVOntario, the Canadian channel chose not to broadcast all six episodes of the serial.[15] Christopher Bahn wrote, "If it wasn't for the uncomfortably racist aspects of the story, it'd be close to perfection."[6] Digital Spy placed it in the Top 10 of Doctor Who while noting that "that Holmes's desire to reflect the UK's 1970s fascination with mysticism and the martial arts led to a rather unfortunate depiction of Asian culture."[16] Future Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat addressed the issue of the giant rat in an interview in 1995, saying: "How could a good hack think that the BBC could make a giant rat? If he'd come to my house when I was 14 and said 'Can BBC Special Effects do a giant rat?' I'd have said no. I'd rather see them do something limited than something crap. What I resented was having to go to school two days later, and my friends knew I watched this show. They'd go 'Did you see the giant rat?!' and I'd have to say I thought there was dramatic integrity elsewhere."[17] Commercial ReleasesIn print{{Infobox book|name = Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang |image = Doctor Who and the Talons of Weng-Chiang.jpg |caption = |author = Terrance Dicks |cover_artist = Jeff Cummins |series = Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |release_number = 61 |release_date = 15 November 1977 |publisher = Target Books |pages = |isbn= 0-426-11973-8 }} A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in November 1977, entitled Doctor Who and The Talons of Weng-Chiang. The script was published by Titan Books in November 1989, entitled "Doctor Who The Scripts The Talons of Weng-Chiang" and edited by John McElroy.[18] Home mediaThe Talons of Weng-Chiang was released in omnibus format on VHS in the UK in 1988, having previously been available only in Australia. The fight scene between the Doctor and the Tong of the Black Scorpion in Part One was slightly edited to remove the use of the nunchaku (or chain-sticks), which were at the time classed as illegal weapons in the UK and couldn't be shown on-screen — a ruling which has since changed. The story was released in complete and unedited episodic format on DVD in April 2003 in a two-disc set as part of the Doctor Who 40th Anniversary Celebration releases, representing the Tom Baker years. On 2 September 2008, this serial was released for sale on iTunes. A special edition version of the story was released on DVD as part of the "Revisitations 1" box set in October 2010. References1. ^{{cite web|work=The Independent|title=Review of Doctor Who ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’ (Series 14)|first=Neela|last=Debnath|date=21 September 2013|url=http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/12/31/review-of-doctor-who-%E2%80%98the-talons-of-weng-chiang%E2%80%99-series-14/}} 2. ^1 {{cite web|url=https://drwhointerviews.wordpress.com/category/david-maloney/|title=David Maloney – Doctor Who Interview Archive|website=drwhointerviews.wordpress.com}} 3. ^{{cite book |title=The Discontinuity Guide |last1=Cornell |first1=Paul |authorlink1=Paul Cornell |last2=Day |first2=Martin |authorlink2=Martin Day |last3=Topping |first3=Keith |authorlink3=Keith Topping |year=1995 |publisher=Virgin Books |location=London |isbn=0-426-20442-5 |pages= |chapter=The Talons of Weng-Chiang|chapterurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/talonswengchiang/detail.shtml }} 4. ^1 {{cite book | author = Howe, David J & Walker, Stephen James | year = 1998 | title = Doctor Who: The Television Companion | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/talonswengchiang/detail.shtml| edition = 1st | location = London | publisher = BBC Books | isbn = 978-0-563-40588-7 }} 5. ^1 {{cite web|first=Mark|last=Braxton|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/blog/2010-09-14/doctor-who-the-talons-of-weng-chiang|title=Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chaing|work=Radio Times|date=14 September 2010|accessdate=14 October 2013}} 6. ^1 {{cite web|first=Christopher|last=Bahn|url=http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-talons-of-wengchiang,63742/|title=The Talons of Weng-Chiang|work=The A.V. Club|date=23 October 2011|accessdate=14 October 2013}} 7. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3674193/The-10-greatest-episodes-of-Doctor-Who-ever.html|title=The 10 greatest episodes of Doctor Who ever|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=2 July 2008|accessdate=13 October 2013}} 8. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.gallifreyone.com/article.php?id=pollres2003|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124154703/http://www.gallifreyone.com/article.php?id=pollres2003|archivedate=24 January 2008|title=Outpost Gallifrey 2003 Reader Poll|publisher=Outpost Gallifrey|accessdate=13 October 2013}} 9. ^{{cite web|first=Lester|last=Haines|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/17/best_who_ever/|title=Doctor Who fans name best episode ever|work=The Register|date=17 September 2009|accessdate=13 October 2013}} 10. ^{{cite news|title=The Top 10 Doctor Who stories of all time|url=http://www.doctorwhomagazine.com/the-top-10-doctor-who-stories-of-all-time/|accessdate=21 August 2014|publisher=Doctor Who Magazine|date=June 21, 2014}} 11. ^{{cite news |first=Richard |last=Johnson |title=Master of the universe |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/03/11/svdrwho11.xml&page=1 |work=The Sunday Telegraph |date=2007-03-11 |page=1 |accessdate=2007-03-12 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313191113/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=%2Farts%2F2007%2F03%2F11%2Fsvdrwho11.xml&page=1 |archivedate=2007-03-13 |deadurl=yes |df= }} 12. ^{{cite book |last1=Sandbrook |first1=Dominic |authorlink1=Dominic Sandbrook |title=State of Emergency: The Way We Were: Britain, 1970–1974 |date= |year=2010 |month= |publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=978-1-846-14031-0 |oclc= |page=348 |quote=... and a giant rat – the latter one of the worst-realized monsters not merely in the show's history, but in the history of human entertainment.}} 13. ^{{cite book|last1=Stanish|first1=Deborah|title=Chicks Unravel Time|publisher=Mad Norwegian Press|isbn=978-1935234128|pages=132–133}} 14. ^{{cite book |first=Gary |last=Gillatt |title=Doctor Who: From A to Z |location=London |publisher=BBC |year=1998 |isbn=0563405899 |pages=35–39 }} 15. ^{{cite news |title=Chinese object to Dr. Who |newspaper=Regina Leader-Post |date=7 November 1980 |page=12 }} 16. ^{{cite web|last=Jeffrey|first=Morgan|title='Doctor Who' top 10 best stories: 4 - 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang'|url=https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who-50th-anniversary/a526570/doctor-who-top-10-best-stories-4-the-talons-of-weng-chiang/|work=Digital Spy|date=28 October 2013|accessdate=11 February 2019}} 17. ^{{cite news | url= http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv43/onediscussion.html | title= Four Writers, One Discussion | work=The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club | accessdate=10 October 2017}} 18. ^{{cite book |last=Holmes |first=Robert |authorlink=Robert Holmes (scriptwriter) |editor-last=McElroy |editor-first=John |title=Doctor Who – The Scripts: The Talons of Weng-Chiang |date=November 1989 |publisher=Titan Books |location=London |isbn=1-85286-144-4 |page=4 |ref=harv }} }} External links{{wikiquote|Fourth Doctor}}
Target novelisation
7 : 1977 British television episodes|Doctor Who pseudohistorical serials|Doctor Who serials novelised by Terrance Dicks|Fourth Doctor serials|Victorian era in popular culture|Doctor Who stories set on Earth|Television episodes set in London |
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