From: atropos@mac.com   
      
   On Feb 19, 2026 at 3:48:10 PM PST, ""Adam H. Kerman""  wrote:   
      
   > BTR1701  wrote:   
   >   
   >> I watched an old Tom Baker episode of the Doctor-- "The Talons of   
   >> Weng-Chiang", which the YouTubes apparently thought would seriously harm me   
   >> with all the warnings about "cultural insensitivity" they put up before the   
   >> episode would start.   
   >   
   > This was a wonderful serial, the last serial of season 14. Producer   
   > Philip Hinchcliffe, who ran the show during its most creative period,   
   > was leaving. It was also the last serial directed by David Maloney, who   
   > would produce Blake's 7. Hinchcliffe wanted to go out on a bang; ths   
   > serial had especially high production values, relatively speaking.   
   >   
   > There is no cultural appropriation. Weng-Chiang was a future war   
   > criminal and mass murderer passing himself off as a god and performing a   
   > vaudeville stage act. His face was damaged so the actor Michael Spice   
   > was in heavy makeup and not yellowface. An actor who could perform in   
   > heavy makeup was needed and he didn't have to be Chinese. He's one of   
   > the great villains. Also says one of the most memorable lines of   
   > dialogue: She's got muscles like a horse!   
   >   
   > Also, it's fiction, not documentary.   
   >   
   >> I was also surprised at the scene in the storm sewers when Leela is attacked   
   >> by a giant rat and falls into the water. The Doctor kills the rat and helps   
   >> Leela up. She's wearing a sheer white top which became see-through in the   
   >> water and you could easily see her breasteses through the fabric. She was   
   >> essentially topless in that scene. Not what I expected in a Doctor Who   
   >> episode.   
   >   
   > There's a note about this in the Tardis wiki.   
   >   
   > 	Louise Jameson didn't have a happy time filming the sewer   
   > 	scenes, as she was suffering from glandular fever which also   
   > 	forced her to cancel a forthcoming appearance on the Saturday   
   > 	morning children's phone-in show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop   
   > 	(1976-1982). Not only did she have to contend with thrashing   
   > 	about in the water, but she discovered that the undergarments   
   > 	which made up her costume became partly transparent when damp.   
   >   
   > I've said this before. Leela (Louise Jameson) corrupted my yout'. We got   
   > these episodes as syndicated foreign programming on my local public   
   > television station a few years after their iniitial broadcast on BBC1.   
   > She was hot as anything, a premiere action babe. That savage warrior   
   > costume she typically wore, not in this serial, was more revealing than   
   > a one-piece bathing suit.   
      
   I always kind of resented Leela. I started watching DOCTOR WHO one summer   
   while visiting my grandparents in Boston. It was playing WGBH-PBS there at the   
   time. I didn't know anything about the history of the show. I didn't know   
   Baker was the fifth guy to play the role or that the companions come and go.   
   All I knew was that Sladen seemed to be the main cast along with Baker. And I   
   also had a major junior-high crush on Sarah Jane. Then suddenly she just   
   leaves and here's this jungle girl trying to replace her in my heart. I wasn't   
   having it.   
      
   >> Why couldn't this tradition have continued with Sarah Jane Smith, Pond, and   
   >> The Impossibly Cute Girl?!?   
   >   
   > Any brief hint of nudity of a gorgeous actress corrupts boys. It's worth   
   > the risk.   
   >   
   >> And I'm sure anim8r would include Donna Noble in that, too.  ;-)   
   >   
   > Oh! That's mean.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)