Trivia / Doctor Who S14 E6 "The Talons of Weng-Chiang"

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• Banned in China:
  • In 1980, Canadian broadcaster TVOntario decided not to air the story because of issues raised by the local Chinese Canadian community, specifically the Chinese Canadian National Council. In their complaint to TVOntario, the CCNC had described it as "dangerous, offensive, racist stereotyping to associate the Chinese with everything fearful and despicable". The similarities to Fu Manchu were also noted as a concern too. The serial's Canadian premiere ended up on YTV in 1990.
  • The story was not shown on Los Angeles television after 1985 for similar reasons, this time involving a local sponsor of Asian extraction.
• Creator's Favourite Episode: Philip Hinchcliffe named this as one his favourite stories.
  • Despite the trouble making it (including having glandular fever while filming), Louise Jameson also considered it one of her favourite stories along with "The Sunmakers".
• Fake Nationality: Li H'sen Chang is played by British actor John Bennett in Yellowface.
• Inspiration for the Work: Robert Holmes drew upon Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, The Phantom of the Opera and Fu Manchu.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: The rats used for the episode were simply borrowed from a pet shop rather than actual trained studio animals. They were as a result constantly causing issues like refusing to stay in shot, fighting and biting the rat wrangler.
• Reality Subtext: Robert Holmes wrote the script at a time when Tom Baker's mental health was starting to fail him, and his ego and drinking habit was beginning to cause production issues and public embarrassment. The story portrays the Doctor as very selfish and aloof, paying little attention to Leela and trying to ditch her four times (as Baker hated the character and had been pushing for her to be written out), contains a setpiece where the Doctor intentionally upstages another actor on a stage as a mindgame (Baker often hogged scenes and stepped on lines to abuse actors he disliked), and also portrays the Doctor as having a secret alcohol stash.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The Season 14 finale was originally intended to be "The Foe from the Future", written by Robert Banks Stewart. The story featured a similar premise, in that a villain from the far future is deformed and trapped in the distant past by a faulty time travel experiment and seeks to rejuvenate himself by kidnapping people, but was set on contemporary Earth rather than Victorian London and lacked the Yellow Peril subplot. When Banks Stewart's script fell through, a new one was put together by Robert Holmes at the last minute; the original story would later be adapted by Big Finish Doctor Who as part of the Lost Stories range.
  • The true identity of Weng-Chiang was supposed to be the desiccated, decomposing Master; there are several story elements still left over from this original plan in fact, such as the time cabinet and Magnus Greel's plan to restore himself through the life energy of others. Robert Holmes and Philip Hinchcliffe decided not to reuse the Master, as it had been only a season since his last appearance (this being the era where the show started to shy away from its recurring villains; the Master wouldn't return to the series for another four seasons).
  • Jago and Litefoot made such an impression that The BBC considered giving them a spin-off. Big Finish duly obliged.
  • The Doctor and Leela’s outfits here were meant to be a full Significant Wardrobe Shift to underscore the “My Fair Lady” dynamic between the pair.
• Working Title: The Foe from the Future (back when it was written by Robert Banks Stewart) and The Talons of Greel. The former would be reused for the Early Draft Tie-In adaptation by Big Finish Doctor Who.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: According to David Maloney, because Robert Banks Stewarts' script fell through at the last minute, Robert Holmes wrote the serial largely on the fly:
  Robert Holmes delivered the scripts more or less hand to mouth. He'd gone away on holiday expecting a six-parter on his desk when he got back, but it fell through and at very short notice he had to write six episodes himself. We didn’t ever start with all six scripts and we discussed it a lot between us.
• You Look Familiar:
  • John Bennett (Li H'sen Chang) was previously General Finch.
  • Christopher Benjamin played Sir Keith Gold, and would later play Colonel Hugh Curbishly.
  • Michael Spice (Magnus Greel) was the voice of Morbius.

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