July 1, 2009

Doctor Who #91: The Talons of Weng-Chiang

Title: Doctor Who: “The Talons of Weng-Chiang
Year: 1977
Network: BBC
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: David Maloney
Writer: Robert Holmes
Starring: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson
Music: Ron Grainer (theme), Dudley Simpson
Episodes: 6, at 25 minutes; the last story (of 6) from season 14
Synopsis: a sinister stage magician has a mysterious master
How I saw it: on video a couple times (rented from Netflix), most recently a few months ago
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for pacing, cinematography and special effects/design) c. 2.7/4 (Good).

It's a few episodes too long, and the white guy with taped eyes playing an Asian makes it somewhat painful to watch (I would expect that sort of thing form the 40's or 50's, but 1977?). On the positive side, it has some delightful secondary characters, a robot with a pig brain, rodents of unusual size, and some explosions.

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