Although frequently cited as one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time, "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" has not aged well. The Doctor and companion Leela (Louise Jameson) land in London in the 19th Century. Women are disappearing. A cult, the Tong of the Black Scorpion, who are followers of the god Weng-Chiang, might be the abductors. A celebrated magician named Li H'sen Chang is discovered to be the leader of the Tong, but who is the mysterious living god that he serves?
Written by Robert Holmes, the story puts The Doctor figuratively in the shoes and deerstalker cap of Sherlock Holmes and sets him loose on the streets of Limehouse. Things get personal when Leela, typically an assured hunter herself, is abducted. Will she be the next victim?
Airing in 1977, few Who serials dealt with such mature content as "The Talons of Weng-Chiang." Chang is revealed to be an opium addict, while his master is a time traveler much like The Doctor but hardly as altruistic. The story rightly earns its high reputation as a gripping thriller, but in retrospect, one has to reckon with difficult Asian stereotypes, racist tropes, and the fact that several of the Asian characters in the story are heavily made-up English actors adopting stilted Eastern accents.
"The Talons of Weng-Chiang" is filled with thrills, chills, and suspense, yet negatively dates itself with its often ignorant depictions.
