Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Story 91)

Product Description The Doctor brings Leela to Victorian London to meet her ancestors (though Agincourt might have been more her style). The TARDIS materializes in the darkest heart of the city, where life - and death - is anything but dull. A hapless cabbie is slain by agents of a secret Chinese cult. Young women are disappearing at an alarming rate, and Li H'sen Chang, the Palace Theatre's celebrated magician, may know more about that than he admits. Li H'sen's ventriloquist dummy, Mr. Sin, appears to have a life of its own, and the rat problem in the sewers is bigger than anyone can imagine.DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Commentary by producer Philip Hinchcliffe, director David Maloney and actors Louise Jameson, John Bennett and Christopher BenjaminDocumentary:Whose Doctor Who - 59-minute documentary presented by Melvyn BraggInterviews:Philip Hinchcliffe interview (Pebble Mill, 1977)Other:Blue Peter: Make Your Own Doctor Who Theatre; Behind the Scenes - 24 minutes of raw footage; Howard Da Silva intros/teases; TARDIS-Cam No. 6Photo galleryProduction NotesTheatrical Trailer:Trailers and continuity announcements Set Contains: Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang offers all six original episodes with good, if variable, full-screen picture and crisp and clear mono sound. There is also highly informative on-screen trivia text and a lively group commentary track with David Maloney, Louise Jameson, John Bennett and Christopher Benjamin. The highlight of disc 2 is an hour-long documentary, Whose Doctor Who, shown on BBC2 the day after the final episode of "Weng-Chiang" aired. Also included is 23 minutes of extremely poor-quality black-and-white timecoded video production footage and--much more fun--26 minutes worth of clips from Blue Peter with Lesley Judd, John Noakes and Peter Purvis showing how to build a Doctor Who music-hall theatre. There's also an interesting 11-minute 1977 interview with Philip Hinchcliffe, continuity announcements and trailers, a photo gallery, a short new animation, Tardis Cam No. 6, and optional subtitles. --Gary S. Dalkin