History Recap / DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang

JustForFun/{{The|OneWith}} [[ValuesDissonance racist one.]] ''And'' also the one with ''[[SexySoakedShirt technical nudity.]]''

JustForFun/{{The|OneWith}} [[ValuesDissonance racist one.]]

'''Production code:''' 4S

Written by Creator/RobertHolmes. This six-episode serial first aired from February 26 to April 2, 1977.

** MAGNUS GREEL!!!!! Dear Lord, he was always ranting and raving about something.

* CallBack: A rather sneaky one: The Doctor mentions he hasn't been to China for [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E4MarcoPolo about 400 years.]] The Doctor mentions upon meeting Leela that he was 750, meaning he must have been 350 at the time.

* EndOfAnEra: This story marked the GrandFinale of Creator/PhilipHinchcliffe's tenure as producer. Knowing this, he decided to end his era with a bang, indulging in all the graphic and horror contect that had got him to boot, since he was being fired for it anyway.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Jago acts like a brave, clever detective hero but he can't walk the talk.

Greel's "Time Cabinet" was lost in London and has been found by Litefoot, so Greel sends Chang's ventriloquist's doll, "Mr. Sin" (a computerised homonculus with a pig's brain... well, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild the 51st century]] is a bit weird like that) to infiltrate Litefoot's house and retrieve it. Mr. Sin succeeds, but the Doctor and friends manage to intervene before Greel can escape. He falls into his own lifeforce-extracting machine and is disintegrated, before the Doctor manages to deactivate Mr. Sin. The Doctor buys everyone muffins to celebrate.

* AlmostDeadGuy: Li H'sen Chang.

[[ThisIsGonnaSuck Yep, no beating around the bush today...]]

->''"Doctor, you make me wear strange clothes, you tell me nothing: you are trying to annoy me." ''
-->-- '''Leela'''

JustForFun/{{The|OneWith}} [[ValuesDissonance racist one]].

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Series/DoctorWho Who]][[Series/{{Sherlock}} Lock]]: The Early Years[[note]]([[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons never gets old...]])[[/note]]]]

The racist one.

* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: The Doctor says this to Litefoot before hunting the rat in the sewers. Litefoot replies the elephant gun.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Magnus Greel's lair is in the sewer, the entrance to which is guarded by a giant rat.

* ChineseLaunderer: {{Justified}} by being set in VictorianLondon. Mr. Sin smuggles himself in Litefoot's house inside a laundry basket.

* RacialFaceBlindness: Chang sarcastically says, "I understand we all look alike," when the Doctor asks if they've met before. However, it is not an act of prejudice of the Doctor's part; he had seen Chang on a poster (which reappears continuously throughout the serial) and was just struggling to remember.

* DisposableSexWorker: Greel identifies his victims as "a few contemptible slatterns who will never be missed"; Chang protests that they ''are'' being missed and it's getting people's attention.

* AttackOfTheKillerWhatever: There's a killer ventriloquist's dummy.

* {{BFG}}: Litefoot's elephant gun is the period equivalent.

* TheConsigliere: Li H'sen Chang in is this to Magnus Greel, reminding him some things are not workable.

* CyanidePill: Li H'sen Chang slips a scorpion venom pill to a member of the Black Scorpion Tong who has been captured by the police, who then commits suicide to avoid revealing anything under interrogation. Later on, Weng-[[BadBoss Chiang forces another Tong member to commit suicide]] after [[YouHaveFailedMe he makes a mistake]], laughing maniacally as the man dies in agony.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: In keeping with the Victorian Penny Dreadful influence, the story doesn't shy away from the racist attitudes towards the Chinese in Victorian England, such as Jago referring to them as "insurmountable chinks".
* DemonicDummy: Mister Sin is presumed to be one at the beginning of the serial.

* DumbwaiterRide: Jago and Litefoot attempting to use a dumbwaiter to escape from Magnus Greel and his followers.
* DyingClue: Dying and unable to speak, Chang tries to give the Doctor a clue to Greel's headquarters by pointing to his shoe. The Doctor makes a few guesses about the clue but then finds the location another way. Turns out that Greel's headquarters is in Boot Court.

* EvilLaugh: Greel gets an amazing one in the Episode 4 cliffhanger.
* {{Expy}}: Li H'sen Chang was clearly based on Literature/FuManchu in terms of his design, abilities, and characterization. The key point if divergence between the two is that Chang is a magician who serves as TheDragon to Greel, rather than being the mastermind.

* {{Fauxshadowing}}: The original draft of the serial actually had the Master as the villain, but he was vetoed. Magnus Greel is also a black-cloaked, physically-decayed villain with a time machine trying to stave off his own death, as the Master was in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin "The Deadly Assassin".]]
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Leela doesn't adapt well to Victorian values.

* ForScience: When the Doctor says a 100,000 deaths can be laid at Greel's door, Greel says they were used for science.

* HaveAGayOldTime: "She's been acting queer ever since you put the 'fluence on her!"

* HumanSacrifice: Jago thinks the Chinese will do this. Litefoot says he's thinking of the Druids.

* JackTheRipoff: The disappearances and murder of several women in Whitechapel? You guessed it. The original draft had the Doctor chasing Jack the Ripper.
** Casey, the theater stagehand, hangs a lampshade on this. Jago is immediately dismissive.
* LargeHam: MAGNUS GREEL!!!!! Dear Lord, he was always ranting and raving about something.

** Henry Gordon Jago comes a fairly close second.

* MagiciansAreWizards: Li H'sen Chang is a StageMagician... and a bit more, with the technology given to him by his master.

* RacialFaceBlindness: Chang sarcastically says, "I understand we all look alike," when the Doctor asks if they've met before. However, it is not an act of prejudice of the Doctor's part; he had seen Chang on a poster and was just struggling to remember.
* RaisedByNatives: The Doctor's cover story for Leela.

* RodentsOfUnusualSize: The rat.

* SelfPlagiarism: Creator/RobertHolmes rehashed the plot of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]]" - an alien criminal hides out in the past and allies himself with a human in order to fix his machine via kidnapping people.

* WholePlotReference: To the Film/HammerHorror film ''Film/TheTerrorOfTheTongs'', right down to the Literature/FuManchu {{expy}} in {{yellowface}}, but incorporating elements of Sherlock Holmes.

* YellowPeril: Which along with the Yellowface led to the story being [[BannedInChina Banned In Canada]][[invoked]].

** Later on, a Tong member who failed one time too many is forced to commit suicide.

''[[TheStinger Everybody have fun tonight!]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXu6QmxpJE Everybody Weng-Chiang tonight!]]''

* WholePlotReference: To the Film/HammerHorror film ''The Terror Of The Tongs'', right down to the Literature/FuManchu {{expy}} in {{yellowface}}, but incorporating elements of Sherlock Holmes.

* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Litefoot smokes a pipe in the carriage. The Doctor explains that there's no tobacco where she comes from. Litefoot concludes it sounds healthy but exceedingly dull.