This episode was another step up. If every episode goes up one star, the last episode will be a 10/10. I don't think it will, though.
3 Reviews
ok. I love a good ventriloquist dummy.
ianweech16 March 2020
Incredible and atmospheric adventure in Victorian London - one of the greats!
A_Kind_Of_CineMagic10 December 2014
Review of all 6 episodes:
This is as good as Doctor Who gets. This is a frontrunner for best story ever for me alongside Pyramids of Mars which has some similarities as a pseudo historical with an evil 'ancient God' as well as similar brilliance of writing and characterisation.
The Doctor and Leela arrive in the 'pea-soup' thick fog of Victorian London and the perfectly realised atmosphere of that period with echoes of Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes help to make this one of the great adventures.
Girls have been going missing in the squalid streets around a theatre run by Henry Gordon Jago. Chinese performer Li H'sen Chang and his creepy dummy Mr. Sin are secretly serving Weng-Chiang, considered to be an ancient Chinese God. The Doctor and Leela team up with Jago and Professor Litefoot, a pathologist, and try to solve the mystery and stop Weng-Chiang from getting his hands on an item in Litefoot's possession which has powers unknown to its owner and dangerous to them all.
As well as capturing the Victorian setting perfectly there is a host of colourful and truly inspired characters all acted magnificently well. The wonderfully endearing and engaging Jago & Litefooot played to perfection by Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter make such an impact that they have inspired a series of prose and audio spin off adventures. They provide such charm and humour and make me really care about them. Chang, Weng-Chiang and Mr. Sin are chilling and effective villains who are hugely impressive and scary. Casey and other small cameo parts are extraordinarily good too. Tom Baker is extraordinary as The Doctor. His every line, glance and expression is phenomenally mesmerising and sublime. Leela makes an exciting, interesting and likable companion. She is very bright as well as physically dynamic and brave, Louise Jameson plays the role expertly.
The dialogue throughout is absolutely terrific, entertaining, absorbing, intelligent and convincing as well as being delivered with superb style. The plot is fantastically rich, fascinating and engrossing and the horror aspects are scary and captivating. This is basically grand guignol style horror with thrilling, macabre delights which I thoroughly enjoy. The make up and costumes are tremendous as well as the fabulously realised sets and period setting. Every aspect of the production is of the highest standard with the slight exception of the giant rats which guard the sewer. These rats are not problematic for me at all though because they are cleverly hidden in darkness and still work as a result. If this story was re-released with new computer generated effects re- creating the rats it would be great and would make this a flawless production but the ingenious way it is filmed manages to make the rats work as monsters despite limitations of the technology available.
The horror, excitement and menace of this story are simply superb and the characters and dialogue cannot be bettered. This whole story is sheer magic from start to finish and one of the all-time greats without doubt. For me it is one of my joint favourite stories. AMAZING!
My ratings: All 4 episodes 10/10.
This is as good as Doctor Who gets. This is a frontrunner for best story ever for me alongside Pyramids of Mars which has some similarities as a pseudo historical with an evil 'ancient God' as well as similar brilliance of writing and characterisation.
The Doctor and Leela arrive in the 'pea-soup' thick fog of Victorian London and the perfectly realised atmosphere of that period with echoes of Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes help to make this one of the great adventures.
Girls have been going missing in the squalid streets around a theatre run by Henry Gordon Jago. Chinese performer Li H'sen Chang and his creepy dummy Mr. Sin are secretly serving Weng-Chiang, considered to be an ancient Chinese God. The Doctor and Leela team up with Jago and Professor Litefoot, a pathologist, and try to solve the mystery and stop Weng-Chiang from getting his hands on an item in Litefoot's possession which has powers unknown to its owner and dangerous to them all.
As well as capturing the Victorian setting perfectly there is a host of colourful and truly inspired characters all acted magnificently well. The wonderfully endearing and engaging Jago & Litefooot played to perfection by Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter make such an impact that they have inspired a series of prose and audio spin off adventures. They provide such charm and humour and make me really care about them. Chang, Weng-Chiang and Mr. Sin are chilling and effective villains who are hugely impressive and scary. Casey and other small cameo parts are extraordinarily good too. Tom Baker is extraordinary as The Doctor. His every line, glance and expression is phenomenally mesmerising and sublime. Leela makes an exciting, interesting and likable companion. She is very bright as well as physically dynamic and brave, Louise Jameson plays the role expertly.
The dialogue throughout is absolutely terrific, entertaining, absorbing, intelligent and convincing as well as being delivered with superb style. The plot is fantastically rich, fascinating and engrossing and the horror aspects are scary and captivating. This is basically grand guignol style horror with thrilling, macabre delights which I thoroughly enjoy. The make up and costumes are tremendous as well as the fabulously realised sets and period setting. Every aspect of the production is of the highest standard with the slight exception of the giant rats which guard the sewer. These rats are not problematic for me at all though because they are cleverly hidden in darkness and still work as a result. If this story was re-released with new computer generated effects re- creating the rats it would be great and would make this a flawless production but the ingenious way it is filmed manages to make the rats work as monsters despite limitations of the technology available.
The horror, excitement and menace of this story are simply superb and the characters and dialogue cannot be bettered. This whole story is sheer magic from start to finish and one of the all-time greats without doubt. For me it is one of my joint favourite stories. AMAZING!
My ratings: All 4 episodes 10/10.
If even Leela is screaming!!
Sleepin_Dragon2 March 2021
The plan of Chiang is becoming clear, he's abducting young girls, and sucking their life force out of them.
I have been utterly engrossed since starting, and unlike yesterday's battle royale to stay awake through The Space Pirates, I am literally on the edge of my seat. The thing that gets me is how unbelievably bleak and macabre this story is, it's really nasty.
This episode showcases the brilliance of Leela, and why she's such a big favourite among fans. Not one to be in fine clothes, sat at table for long, the frills are off, and she's battling the villain at the core, only to run into real danger. It seems a real pity watching this, that Leela never got to battle The Daleks, on screen that is.
That's the best cliffhanger the show has had for some time. Who'd have thought a giant rat could be so terrifying. We learn that Louise can scream.
Credit to the writer, director, actors etc, they really delivered a magical story, very few true Doctor Who fans are critical of this story.
Outstanding, 10/10.
I have been utterly engrossed since starting, and unlike yesterday's battle royale to stay awake through The Space Pirates, I am literally on the edge of my seat. The thing that gets me is how unbelievably bleak and macabre this story is, it's really nasty.
This episode showcases the brilliance of Leela, and why she's such a big favourite among fans. Not one to be in fine clothes, sat at table for long, the frills are off, and she's battling the villain at the core, only to run into real danger. It seems a real pity watching this, that Leela never got to battle The Daleks, on screen that is.
That's the best cliffhanger the show has had for some time. Who'd have thought a giant rat could be so terrifying. We learn that Louise can scream.
Credit to the writer, director, actors etc, they really delivered a magical story, very few true Doctor Who fans are critical of this story.
Outstanding, 10/10.
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