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(a) ARTICLES INDEX.
- Season 14, Story 6
- 6 episodes (run times and UK airdates shown below)
- (24:45) - Saturday 26 February 1977
- (24:29) - Saturday 5 March 1977
- (21:57) - Saturday 12 March 1977
- (24:31) - Saturday 19 March 1977
- (24:50) - Saturday 26 March 1977
- (23:29) - Saturday 2 April 1977
- Author - Robert Holmes
- Producer - Philip Hinchcliffe
- Director - David Maloney
MAIN CAST
- Tom Baker (The Doctor)
- Louise Jamieson (Leela)
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95%
The sound quality is excellent. The picture quality is generally good but there is some minor video noise. This is not distracting and is more the consequence of both the age of the production and the source material. Overall, the quality is excellent.
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DISC ONE
- Special Features: Commentary - Louise Jamieson, Philip Hinchcliffe, David Maloney, John Bennett (Li H'sen Chang) & Christopher Benjamin (Jago).
The option to turn on or off the audio commentary during video playback.
- Special Features: Information Text
The option to turn on or off story information displayed during video playback.
DISC TWO
- Whose Doctor Who (58:44)
A Melvyn Bragg TV documentary, from 1977, looking at Doctor Who featuring interviews with members of the public, students, professionals (eg educational psychologists), Tom Baker, Philip Hinchcliffe, Terrance Dicks, Robert Holmes plus a sit-in with Dudley Simpson during the scoring of The Talons of Weng Chiang, rehearsal sessions, footage of the actors relaxing.
- Behind the Scenes (24:00)
Low quality black and white, timecoded footage of various takes from The Talons of Weng Chiang - showing the setting-up of various shots.
- Blue Peter Theatre (26:00)
A selection of footage from Blue Peter shows related to Doctor Who: while the Blue Peter studio is having work done to it, the presenters make use of Doctor Who sets (specifically Robot); and how to make your own Doctor Who model theatre and create your own adventures - this ends with a special Doctor Who adventure created especially by Blue Peter. They also demonstrate how they created the sound effects for their theatre adventure.
- Philip Hinchcliffe Interview (11:30)
Philip Hinchcliffe appears on the BBC 1 afternoon magazine programme, Pebble Mill At One to discuss the show (screened just prior to the Melvyn Bragg documentary).
- Trails and Continuity (2:29)
Continuity announcements for The Talons of Weng Chiang and the Whose Doctor Who documentary.
- TARDIS Cam No.6 (1:43)
Fictionlab CG short film, originally posted on BBCi - The TARDIS in space alongside some space whales
- Photo Gallery (3:25)
A selection of stills from The Talons of Weng Chiang.
- Easter Egg
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NB - this DVD release is unedited. The previous, video release had had a couple of scenes trimmed - these have now been restored.
The TARDIS arrives in London towards the end of the 19th century. Young women are vanishing, rumours abound that perhaps Jack the Ripper is back. Too late to save a man from falling foul of a secret Chinese Sect known as the Tong of the Black Scorpion, the Doctor and Leela capture one of the sect. The police hire an interpreter, Li Hsen Chang, to speak to the man but he dies after ingesting a poison. When the body of a man is fished from the Thames, his corpse showing signs of having been chewed, the Doctor and Leela decide to investigate further.
Is there a connection between the disappearing women, Li Hsen Chang, the tong of the Black Scorpion and a man, posing as the Chinese god Weng Chiang, hiding under a theatre? And why is someone trying to steal an old Chinese cabinet from local pathologost, Professor Litefoot?
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REVIEW BY
(d) D.S.Carlin
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