Rating: 
Summary: Doctor Who at his best
Review: I do not have much to add to the great reviews her already but this is my favourite Doctor Who story. A sublime and heady mixture of Victorian Gothic with a science fiction story of time travel gone wrong. Mass murder in the future is combined with torture and the draining of vital essences in the sewers under London. This is a very rich story in many ways. The transformation of the savage Leela into Victorian lady is a masterpiece as is the implied vision of Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes. Literary links abound such as the idea of an eastern society a la George Orwell's 1984. Using the odd image of a rat too was a masterstroke although at the time this was enough to cause uproar in Brtitain as the great and the good came out to condemn such scenes in what, after all, was a childrens show. For me, not only was this story the best of Dr. Who, but that particular season was the highpoint of the Doctor's career. If I could I would give the Talons 10 points!
Rating: 
Summary: I never thought I would see the day
Review: I grew up watching these air and now own all of the Tom Baker movies. I love them. All but this one. It isn't so much what it is... it's what it's not. Which is good science fiction and amusing characters and yes, corny dialog. Instead, I found this to be more of the character of a B-movie and Leela was absolutely terrible. I would say the major faults were that it was more "horror" than sci-fi and that even though Tom Baker was his amusing self, Leela's role butchered the cast. If you are looking for a great one, try Genesis of the Daleks, Seeds of Doom or the Ark in Space. I'll be selling this movie on eBay!!
Rating:
Summary: best watched alone
Review: I had some friends over and some of them had never before watched Doctor Who. They strayed into conversation during some of the slower bits. I readily admit it could be tightened up by as much as a third, but the interaction between the Doctor, Leela, and his two "partners in crime" George Lightfoot and Henry Jago, makes for one of the better ventures into the Doctor's world. Just don't have anyone over to yammer away during the slower parts.
Rating: 
Summary: A top 10 dr who story
Review: I liked this story because it was so much more adult than other episodes I have seen - Chang smokin' dope after he's had his leg gnawed by a giant rodent, people committing suicide and collapsing dead on the floor to the sound of Mr Sin's hysterical laughter, ladies of ill repute (prostitutes) having the life force sucked out of them by a dirty old man (Magnus Greel)- they had to be plumb, not with muscles like a horse! Visually it was excellent. The giant rat wasn't well realised, but the sewers were kept suitably dark to compensate for this. It would have been better not to have shown it at all, just hearing it would have been creepier. And as for Mr. Sin - he warranted a come back, my all time favorite villain. The doctor's description of him was excellent - "the peking honkuman, a mechanical play thing made for the emperor's children in the 51st century. It has the cerebral cortex of a pig,it's only organic component, it relishes in causing mayhem and almost started world war six!" - excellent stuff! Apart from Sin, this show made you feel sorry for the other characters Chang and Greel. I was quite moved by Chang's death - his journey over the golden bridge of the Gods to the Jade palace where his ancestors were waiting to greet him. There's also a great tender moment when Tom Baker's mouth drops as Leela walks into the room in a ball gown, "Ohh . . I'd be proud to take you to the theatre dressed like that." Move aside Peri, this proves that Leela was the doctor's hottest comp. Other great moments are where both the doctor and Greel screw up Chang's magic show and the cliffhanger where Chang points the pistol at the doctor. How may cliffhangers have we had where someone points a gun at the doc? but Robert Holmes plays around with this one and puts a twist into it. Leela is really on form, and doesn't just become a lady merely because she's wearing a dress. I could asy more, but just get it, it's great (and this from one who is usually very very critical of dr who). Only gripes - a toy rat, some blurred close-ups, not so great incidental music, and a bit of padding (wouldv'e been better as a 5 parter).
Rating:
Summary: Should be six stars!
Review: If you went through the 26 years of Doctor Who, the longest running sci-fi show in history and you needed to pick the top 5 or maybe even the top 3 adventures, I feel comfortable saying that 99% of the fans would easily place The Talons of Weng-Chiang" in that group. The show comes from the pen of Robert Holmes and was the final show under the helm of producer Phillip Hinchcliffe, who had produced the greatest group of adventures ever for the Doctor. This, combined with the most popular Doctor of them all, Tom Baker and a wildly popular companion, Leela, makes for a grand adventure.
Taking place in Victorian London, this is one of the richest adventures in the history of the show and one of the most well written with some fantastic characterization. Magnus Greel and the Homonculous creature as well as Li Sen Chang are magnificent villains in this thriller. Yes, the giant rat is cheesy but it's all part of the fun of '70's Doctor Who. I can't recommend the adventure highly enough and there are a lot of great extras as well. I think it's also a great homage to Robert Holmes that, of the Who adventures that are out on DVD or are about to come out, there are quite a few Holmes stories amongst the few out so far, including "Carnival of Monsters", "Spearhead from Space", "The Power of Kroll", "The Ribos Operation", "The Ark in Space", "The Two Doctors", "The Talons of Weng Chiang" and "The Caves of Andozani". So, in essence, of the 158 adventures in 26 years, so far, 23 have come out on DVD. Of those 23, 8 have been written by Robert Holmes! And I believe Pyramids of Mars is coming out next, also from Holmes. Can there be any doubt that this man has done some of if not THE best "Who"?
Rating:
Summary: Should be six stars!
Review: If you went through the 26 years of Doctor Who, the longest running sci-fi show in history and you needed to pick the top 5 or maybe even the top 3 adventures, I feel comfortable saying that 99% of the fans would easily place The Talons of Weng-Chiang" in that group. The show comes from the pen of Robert Holmes and was the final show under the helm of producer Phillip Hinchcliffe, who had produced the greatest group of adventures ever for the Doctor. This, combined with the most popular Doctor of them all, Tom Baker and a wildly popular companion, Leela, makes for a grand adventure.
Taking place in Victorian London, this is one of the richest adventures in the history of the show and one of the most well written with some fantastic characterization. Magnus Greel and the Homonculous creature as well as Li Sen Chang are magnificent villains in this thriller. Yes, the giant rat is cheesy but it's all part of the fun of '70's Doctor Who. I can't recommend the adventure highly enough and there are a lot of great extras as well. I think it's also a great homage to Robert Holmes that, of the Who adventures that are out on DVD or are about to come out, there are quite a few Holmes stories amongst the few out so far, including "Carnival of Monsters", "Spearhead from Space", "The Power of Kroll", "The Ribos Operation", "The Ark in Space", "The Two Doctors", "The Talons of Weng Chiang" and "The Caves of Andozani". So, in essence, of the 158 adventures in 26 years, so far, 23 have come out on DVD. Of those 23, 8 have been written by Robert Holmes! And I believe Pyramids of Mars is coming out next, also from Holmes. Can there be any doubt that this man has done some of if not THE best "Who"?
Rating:
Summary: One of Dr. Who's Best
Review: Its difficult to explain the appeal of Dr. Who to someone who has either never watched the show or has only seen a few ill-chosen clips. When a show is on the air for 25 odd years, its only reasonable to expect a fair share of less-than-praise worthy episodes to be produced and, as any true fan knows, when Dr. Who produced a subpar show, the results could be painful (such as Timelash, a few of Hartnell's stories, the end of Trial of the Timelord, most of the seventeenth season...) Often times, the show would teeter on an unstable line between entertainment and camp. Why do Dr. Who fans remain so loyal to a show that often times disappointed them? Becasue for every couple of clunkers, you got a wonderful episode like the Talons of Weng-Chiang that showed what Dr. Who -- when operating at top capacity -- was capable of. To me, at least, this is one of the best Dr. Who seriels of all time and certainly the best of the many Tom Baker episodes. Essentially, Baker and his companion -- the wonderfully erratic and independent Leela -- find themselves in Victorian London, investigating a series of brutal murders that are actually connected to a criminal from the future. What makes this episode shine? First off, the acting is amazing. Baker, who could sometmes seem to be coasting on his eccentric mannerisms, is at top form here and his performance here -- wryly humorous yet with a sincere compassion at its core -- shows why Baker became the most popular of the many actor to play the Doctor. Louise Jameson, as Leela, is a wonderful delight as she shows Leela's savage befuddlement at the prim society they've been dropped into. The villianous Marcus Greel is, for once, a believable, multi-faceted Dr. Who villian who doesn't plunge into comic book chicanery. Prof. Litefoot and theater owner Henry Jago, as the Doctor's two allies, are two wonderful characters who wonderfully symbolize the twin factors at work in Victorian London (Jago representing the sleaze while Litefoot represents the morality). Despite the show's length, the plot makes admirable sense without resorting to any of the technobabble that occasionally marred other episodes of Dr. Who. (It might sound like I'm being hard on every episode of Dr. Who other than this one and I don't mean to be. Most fans, I think, love this show all the more for the occasional flaw.) Despite the low budget, Talons makes wonderful use of its Victorian setting and creates a believable and atmospheric turn of the century London (the only thing that rings false are the giant rats but its a minor quibble). Mostly, however, I love the small details. The way Mr. Sin lives up to its origins by snorting like a pig when it attacks or Litefoot's admirable struggle not to reveal his initial discomfort when he first meets Jago. As a show, Dr. Who was always an intoxicating crazy quilt of styles. It was a show that dealt with time travel and (usually) aliens but it never quite seemed to be science fiction. It was an adventure show with very few action sequences, philosophical and sometimes very serious with dialouge that was often laugh-out-loud funny, and a fantasy that, in its own strange way, was usually very much rooted in reality. In the Talons of Weng-Chiang, all of these paradoxical elements come together wonderfully. This is the show I would hold up to explain to anyone what made me a fan of Dr. Who. Without resorting to the smug moralizing or overblown effects of so much science fiction programming, the Talons of Weng-Chiang is a wonderfully entertaining voyage into the world of Dr. Who.
Rating:
Summary: The Worst of Dr. Who
Review: Never before have I seen an episode of Dr. Who more boring. This episode has always been called a classic, but all I see is rubbish and a horrible story.I am a die-hard Dr. Who fan and rarely am I disgusted with a Dr. Who serial. So, when I call a Dr. Who episode horrible, that is a rare event and shouldn't be taken lightly. Of all the videos I have purchased, this was the worst buy and I recommend that you take this advice seriously: Only buy this video if you want to complete your collection; otherwise, forget this video and pretend it doesn't even exist!
Rating:
Summary: The Fourth Doctor and Leela as they should be.
Review: One of the better Fourth Doctor stories and one of the all around best historical Dr. Who stories around. The dark and moody atmosphere really helps to sell this one. Victorian England comes alive in this story. While it has some slow moments, and is lacking in special effects for the "sewer guardian" the characters are well done and the story is very enjoyable. Robert Holmes' story is first rate. Since he was the one who created the character of Leela, she is at her best in this story. If you're a fan of the Fourth Doctor and Leela (and who isn't) I would also like to suggest you get The Horror of Fang Rock and The Robots of Death. The Fourth Doctor and Leela at their very best.
Rating:
Summary: Grand entertainment for all.
Review: Order some Chinese take-out, sit back and let this one take you away. Set in Victorian London, "Talons" pits Tom Baker's Doctor against the diabolical Magnus Greel, a wonderfully named and hideously deformed renegade from the distant future who is using the dreaded Tong of the Black Scorpion to murder his way through a perpetually fog shrouded London in search of his Time Cabinet. What makes this feature-length episode really click with life are all of the delightful supporting characters that give life to the period. From the blustrously alliterative Henry Jago through the wordly Professor Lightfoot right down to the assorted policemen and stage hands, "Talons" is filled with believable characters and well developed settings that all serve the story -- nothing seems to have been superimposed to create interest. I especially enjoy the scenes where Leela regards the trappings of Victorian life with a sort of quite bemusement, asking the Professor why he smokes and if they should "give the proper resonses" when at the theatre during a sing-along. This may sound controversial, but I also am intrigued by the sly racism that pervades the episodes and how it is recreated as a facet of the times ["He's a Chinese, in case you haven't noticed."] in a way that is descriptive ["We were attacked by this little man and four other little men."] and not really condescending. Were the producers and scriptwriters aware they were pandering to a stereotype when having the delirious Chang relate his opium fueled vision of "... crossing the golden bridge leading to the palace of jade ..."? You better beleive it. One of the duties of historical fiction is to not only create the look but the feel of the times, and the oriental characters are presented in a quietly xenophobic air that is probably quite accurate, unfortunate though that is. Still, it's one of the best of the Baker episodes, a marvel of a visual production, and since it's got Leela in it [always my favorite companion, even if she wears more clothing than usual in an effort to "not frighten the horses"] you can't go wrong. Highly recommended.
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