By Dale Smith

Obverse Books, out now

Obverse Books’ ongoing series of monographs focusing on a Doctor Who serial or story hits 1977’s Season 14 story, The Talons of Weng-Chiang. 

Dale Smith has certainly chosen a story with plenty to write about in his analysis of Robert Holmes’ The Talons of Weng-Chiang, which is surely the most problematic Classic Who story, primarily because of its racism.

However you fall on this story, whether you see it as abhorrent or just a product of its time, Smith is ready to challenge your opinions. Whether or not you ultimately change your outlook on the six-parter, the author ensures that you have plenty of food for thought. As an eight-year-old viewer at the time of transmission I naturally didn’t pick up on its yellow face makeup or any ‘yellow peril’ allusions – I was just thrilled by the homunculus cyborg Mr Sin, while also being disappointed by the fake-looking giant rat.

If one wishes to hold their opinion of some media based on the bubble in which it was first consumed, that’s fair enough, but it would be naive to ignore the aspects which (even then) sit uncomfortably with us now. And it’s not just the xenophobia, Smith reminds us of the damage caused by defining villains through disfigurement and the colonial tactic of treating non-British as uncivilised.

Verdict: However you feel about Weng-Chiang, Dale Smith wants you to consider the full story, and he does so convincingly and in a balanced manner. 8/10

Nick Joy

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