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DOCTOR WHO
THE TALONS OF WENG-CHIANG

Written by
Robert Holmes

Part Three

(Overlap from Litefoot stepping into his garden)

[EXT. Outside Litefoot's house]

(We pick up with LEELA grabbing the blade end of a knife from atop the tablecloth and throwing it at MR SIN as the dummy haltingly advances with its own blade held up in its fingers. LEELA's aim is true, and the knife hits the dummy in the throat. This does not deter it, however.
We cut to just inside the front door, where CHANG, in a dark hat and cape, is going over LITEFOOT's unconscious form. He takes the inert professor's revolver but does no more, for he has heard a whistling DOCTOR approach. CHANG hides behind a hedge as the DOCTOR nears Litefoot's residence, then points the revolver at him.
Back inside, LEELA is backing away from MR SIN with her mouth open. She suddenly vaults onto the table and, from there, out the window. Hearing the glass shatter, the DOCTOR ducks, just as CHANG fires from the hedge. A moment later, the DOCTOR sprints toward the house as a second shot from Chang misses him. He dives behind the wall, where LEELA is already taking shelter.)
LEELA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Sssh.
LEELA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Ssssh.
LEELA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Ssssh.
CHANG: (rising) Sin!
(Inside the house, MR SIN turns, plait swaying from side to side, and slowly leaves the room.)
DOCTOR: Where's Litefoot?
LEELA: He went out. He said he'd seen a Chinaman outside the window.
DOCTOR: And you jumped through it?
LEELA: Something like that.
DOCTOR: (gesturing with his cane) Stay here.
(The DOCTOR heads off. Meanwhile, CHANG has MR SIN in his arms as he runs down the steps. The dummy is floppy once more. The DOCTOR has gone round to the back of the house and stands on a barrel in order to crawl in through an open window.
In front, LEELA watches CHANG and MR SIN leave the scene in a hansom cab. She chews her lip for a moment, then runs up behind the cab and jumps onto the back of it.
The DOCTOR opens the front door of Litefoot's house just in time to see the last part of this.)
DOCTOR: Leela! Leela, no! Don't-! Leela.

[INT. Litefoot's dining room]

(LITEFOOT is now sitting at the table.)
DOCTOR: (to an unseen individual) Ice!
LITEFOOT: The sheer criminal effrontery. Things are coming to a pretty pass when ruffians will attack a man in his own home.
(The DOCTOR places an ice pack on the top of LITEFOOT's head. This consists of several ice cubes tied up in a serviette.)
DOCTOR: Well, they were Chinese ruffians.
LITEFOOT: I wonder what they intended.
DOCTOR: Robbery?
LITEFOOT: Well, there are some pretty valuable things here. That K'ang-hsi vase, for instance. My family brought that back from Peking. Or that Chinese puzzle box.
(The DOCTOR investigates this. It's a tall cabinet with a round inset design on the front, presumably a means of access. The DOCTOR touches it, inspecting the front.)
LITEFOOT: It doesn't open. Chap spent a week here once looking for a secret spring.
DOCTOR: Fused molecules.
LITEFOOT: No, no, no, no. Lacquered bronze.
DOCTOR: It's extraordinary. It's from this planet.
LITEFOOT: A parting gift from the Emperor.
DOCTOR: Technology this advanced? Ah! (LITEFOOT winces and puts his hand to his head at the noise) Got it! Well, of course, that's the answer.
LITEFOOT: What the Dickens are you raving about, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Weng-Chiang.
LITEFOOT: Weng-Chiang?
DOCTOR: Weng-Chiang. I do hope that girl Leela isn't in danger.

[INT. Theatre, cellar]

(LEELA has crept down into the cellar and flattened herself against a corner. She watches CHANG rap thrice on the flagstone again. It grinds open, and he heads into the lair below. The stone hinges closed behind him. LEELA creeps forward.)
LORD [OC]: You will explain yourself, Li H'sen.

[INT. Laboratory]

LORD: (using a cleaver for emphasis) I will not tolerate failure!
CHANG: There has been no failure, Lord.
LORD: Then where is the time cabinet?
CHANG: The house is marked. When night returns, my brothers in the band of death will strike.
LORD: I put no trust in your dockyard riff-raff.
CHANG: Lord, for your glory they would die willingly.
LORD: (picking up a hunk of meat) Opium-sodden scum. Strike!
(CHANG does, striking a gong that hangs beside his silver-helmed LORD, who pulls a rope. This raises the cover to a sewer entrance, which has a large grille across it. He places the meat over one of the bars.)
CHANG: Lord, I promise you shall have the great cabinet of Weng-Chiang before another dawn.
LORD: I had better. I grow weary of this hole in the ground.
(LORD throws a large chunk of meat through the grille.)
CHANG: You are safe here, Lord.
LORD: Safe? It is a trap, and I was seen returning to it.
CHANG: Tonight?
LORD: Yes, and now he knows where I am, he will be back.
CHANG: Who?
LORD: By your description, the one you have already failed to kill.
CHANG: The doctor! I knew he was a danger.
LORD: Listen, Li H'sen.
(He refers to the giant rat, which is collecting its food.)
LORD: The beasts of darkness. I have made them larger and more savage than lions! (short of breath now) Yes, yes, the Doctor is a danger, and he was brought to my door by your blundering. You see what it means, Li H'sen?
CHANG: He will die.
LORD: The list of your failures is growing. I must be ready to move quickly. I need strength.
CHANG: I will bring a girl, Lord.
LORD: (hands at CHANG's neck) One will not be enough this time. I need two fresh young donors, and I need them at once.
CHANG: It is not easy at this hour, Lord-.
LORD: No excuses! Get them! (He throws CHANG to the ground.)
CHANG: Yes, Lord.
(CHANG bows and is on his way. He carries his torch out, and LEELA silently follows him out in the darkness.)

[INT. Litefoot's dining room]

(LITEFOOT finds the DOCTOR drawing on his tablecloth.)
LITEFOOT: Haven't you slept?
DOCTOR: Sleep is for tortoises.
LITEFOOT: Any news of Miss Leela?
DOCTOR: Not yet.
LITEFOOT: Perhaps we should inform the police.
DOCTOR: There are already nine missing girls on their list.
LITEFOOT: Oh yes, but surely missing under very different circumstances.
DOCTOR: No. If my suspicions are correct, then I know what those poor girls were used for, and I can't imagine a more grisly fate. He's a blackguard.
LITEFOOT: Who's a blackguard?
DOCTOR: I don't know who's a blackguard. Some slavering gangrenous vampire comes out of the sewers and stalks this city at night. He's a blackguard. I've got to find his lair, and I haven't got an hour to lose. Look. (he gestures to the long-suffering tablecloth) You see? I've been trying to trace the line of the sewers. That's the Thames, this is the line of the Fleet, and (moving the candelabrum) that is the Palace Theatre.
LITEFOOT: I'm beginning to see what you're getting at.
DOCTOR: Good. Good.
LITEFOOT: Yes, well, erm, if you've finished with the tablecloth, I think I'd better dispose of that before my housekeeper arrives.
DOCTOR: Right.
LITEFOOT: How do you know the course of the Fleet? It's been covered for centuries.
DOCTOR: I caught a salmon there once. Would have hung over the sides of this table. Shared it with the Venerable Bede. He adored fish.
(LITEFOOT places the tablecloth in a hamper in the entrance hall.)
DOCTOR: Professor, you don't happen to have an elephant gun, do you?
LITEFOOT: Elephants?
DOCTOR: Mmm.
LITEFOOT: (laughing) Why on Earth do you want an elephant gun?
DOCTOR: We're about to embark on a very dangerous mission.
LITEFOOT: Well, I've a Chinese fowling piece if that's any good. Used for duck, mainly.
(He hands this long, thin weapon to the DOCTOR.)
DOCTOR: Made in Birmingham. Yes, that's the main requirement. Could you get me a small boat?
LITEFOOT: I imagine so. May I ask the purpose of these preparations?
DOCTOR: Yes. To find the confluence of the Thames and the Fleet, Professor, then to follow the Fleet.
LITEFOOT: (as the DOCTOR looks down the barrel of the gun) And then?
DOCTOR: Oh, and then we shall see.

[EXT. Street]

(Dawn is coming. LEELA is following behind a wall as a woman dolled up for late-night work gets out of a cab in the street and pays the driver.)
TERESA: Ta, ducks.
(As the driver leaves with his cab, CHANG sneaks up behind the working woman. He stands at her door, which she is unlocking.)
TERESA: Oh!
CHANG: Pleasant are the dreams of morning.
TERESA: You gave me a turn, dearie.
CHANG: Fresh as dew and bright with promise.
TERESA: Yeah, well, that's how you might see it, Mister Chin-chin, but as far as I'm concerned, all I want is a pair of smoked kippers, a cup of rosie, and put me plates up for a few hours. Savvy?
CHANG: Budding lotus of the dawn, despicable Chang has other ideas.
TERESA: Well, I can tell you what to do with your ideas.
(She is trapped in his gaze and falls silent.)
CHANG: You will come with me.
(TERESA turns. LEELA watches as she follows CHANG slowly away. LEELA runs along behind the fence opposite them.)

[INT. Chang's dressing room]

(TERESA enters. CHANG follows and presses her into his chair.)
CHANG: (bending down) Await my return.
(He closes the door. LEELA starts to head in but retreats as CHANG runs downstairs from his dressing room. Hearing laughter, CHANG casts his eyes about. He heads toward the theatre seats, where two men are sitting. They are the source of the echoing laughter. Meanwhile, a woman is sweeping the floor in front of the stage. She looks up toward the men and smiles. A less happy-looking CHANG peers out through the stage curtain. We see LEELA creep into the dressing room. She finds the mesmerised TERESA.)
LEELA: The spell of the shaman.
(There is a high-pitched, slightly unhinged-sounding laugh nearby. LEELA pulls open a wardrobe. There is nothing of consequence within.
Meanwhile, CHANG has hypnotised the cleaning lady. He heads upstairs, and she follows. He grabs the woman in the chair.)
CHANG: Come. I said 'come'!
(As he takes the two women by the hand, we see that TERESA is wearing her undergarments and within the wardrobe.)

[INT. Theatre]

(CHANG is dragging the two women through the halls.)
CHANG: Come, you painted drabs. My master must feed.

[EXT. River]

(Past a moored ship near the Tower of London moves a smaller boat, in which the DOCTOR and LITEFOOT are being rowed.)
DOCTOR: There it is, fifty yards ahead.
LITEFOOT: (sitting) Sit down, Doctor. The man knows these waters.
DOCTOR: I've always enjoyed messing about in boats.
LITEFOOT: I think this entire enterprise is extremely rash and ill-considered.
DOCTOR: My dear Litefoot, I've got a lantern and a pair of waders and possibly the most fearsome piece of hand artillery in all England. What could possibly go wrong?
LITEFOOT: Well, that for a start. It hasn't been fired for fifty years. If you try to use it, it'll probably explode in your face.
DOCTOR: Explode? Unthinkable. It was made in Birmingham. Tie up over there, Skipper.
(The BOATMAN pulls the boat to a grille at the side of the water.)

[INT. Laboratory]

(The cleaning lady is now in her undergarments. The other girl remains fully kitted out in her garb of the night.)
CHANG: You will hear the commands of my master, Weng-Chiang, and obey.
LORD: (WENG-CHIANG) (examining the specimens through a glass) Where did you get them?
CHANG: Are they unsuitable, Lord?
WENG-CHIANG: They're not the best, but they'll do. They're young. Their life essence is still strong. (feeling the arms of the disguised LEELA) Oh! This one has muscles like a horse!
CHANG: I took what I could find, Lord.
WENG-CHIANG: I have given you knowledge. I have made you a leader among your fellows. All I have asked for in return is a few contemptible slatterns who will never be missed.
CHANG: But they are missed, Lord. And because your need is so great, I've been forced to move unwisely.
WENG-CHIANG: Unwisely?
CHANG: I took this one from the rooms above. Nobody saw, but it will bring the police even nearer.
WENG-CHIANG: It is of no consequence. Once I have the time cabinet, I can move from here. Now put this one in the distillation chamber.
CHANG: Yes, Lord.
WENG-CHIANG: Leave me to my work.
(CHANG bows, and WENG-CHIANG turns to LEELA.)
WENG-CHIANG: I shall not keep you waiting long.

[EXT. Sewers]

LITEFOOT [OC]: All right, Doctor?
DOCTOR: All right, Professor.
LITEFOOT [OC]: I'll wait for you for two hours, then.
DOCTOR: Yes, no more. If I'm still in here at high tide-.
LITEFOOT [OC]: Yes?
DOCTOR: Don't bother.
LITEFOOT [OC]: Oh. Well, good luck!

[INT. Laboratory]

(Now LEELA too is wearing petticoats etc. WENG-CHIANG pulls several levers on a rustic-looking box of controls while the CLEANING GIRL stands in a compartment. Pillars of white light glow on either side of her, and the air around her begins to shimmer in dull cloudy reds. LEELA readies a scarf. The girl's body is obscured completely as LEELA steps forward and throws that scarf over WENG-CHIANG's face. She kicks him to the floor and returns the levers to their starting position. It's too late, however - the undulating clouds of light dissipate to reveal the dried-up husk of the girl, slumped in the chamber. LEELA attempts to make an escape the way she'd come, but WENG-CHIANG fires an energy weapon as soon as she sets a hand on the ladder. She jumps down. He too hits the floor, on the other side of a work surface filled with test tubes and other glass equipment. Before he can get to her side, though, she has reached the opening to the sewers and crawled below the grille. He strikes the gong three times rapidly. It's feeding time.)
WENG-CHIANG: When my beauties find her, she will wish she had died here!
(We hear the sewer cover closing and the rats squealing. LEELA half-runs. The DOCTOR, meanwhile, hears the sounds. He walks forward stalwartly.
We cut to Litefoot's house, where two COOLIES run up with two baskets on a hand cart. They are labelled 'LIMEHOUSE LAUNDRY'. The men arrive at the door, enter the house with the baskets, and come out with one - presumably still with the tablecloth inside.
Back with LITEFOOT and the BOATMAN on the river, chimes ringing out prompt LITEFOOT to check his pocket watch. The tide is nowhere near in yet.)

[INT. Theatre]

(TERESA, wearing some of Leela's outers, descends the stairs. She is confused.)
CASEY: Hey, you. What's your business here?
WHORE: Business? (she pauses) Where the devil am I?
CASEY: Oh, you wouldn't be knowing.
WHORE: (looking at her clothes) What happened to me last night? Can't remember a thing.
CASEY: Look, if there's anything missing, I'll remember you sure enough. Now you come on, get on out of here.
WHORE: Get your hands off of me! I'm a lady.
JAGO: What's the trouble, Casey?
CASEY: No trouble, Mister Jago. I'm just seeing this lady off the premises.
WHORE: Oh, my Lord. It was him! It was him!
(She points to the poster of Chang on the wall.)
JAGO: Mister Chang? What are you talking about?
WHORE: Quick, let me out of this place! Let me go!
(She runs through the stage door in a flurry. CASEY sees that she's gone.)
JAGO: Another case of the screaming oopizootics. I'll bear that in mind.
CASEY: What?
JAGO: It might have some relevance to the matter in hand.
CASEY: What matter?
JAGO: The investigation, Casey. These missing females. I've made the acquaintance of a very high-up gentleman, an amateur investigator who's been called in personally by the Yard. Scotland Yard. And I am assisting him.
CASEY: No.
JAGO: I am. He told me to watch, Casey, and I am watching, everywhere.
(As JAGO walks off, CHANG lurks in the corridor.)

[INT. Laboratory]

(LEELA is trying not to get eaten by Weng-Chiang's oversized rodent.)
WENG-CHIANG: You incompetent fool! She was a tigress!
CHANG: She substituted herself for the woman I had found. The police must be closing in.
WENG-CHIANG: My rats will dispose of her, but you, Li H'sen, have made too many mistakes.
CHANG: That girl. She was with the doctor. It is not the police. It is he who sent her.
WENG-CHIANG: Vacant excuses. You have failed me! You know that until I have the time cabinet, I can never be whole again, never escape from this hideous condition, yet, knowing this, you still failed me.
CHANG: (kneeling) Lord, hear me. I would lay down my life in your service.
WENG-CHIANG: You are dismissed, Li H'sen. I can no longer leave my fate in your blundering hands.
CHANG: Great one, let me find this doctor. Let me strike him down for the harm he has done you.
WENG-CHIANG: Do not beg. You have proved unworthy. Go!
CHANG: (rising) I await your commands, Lord.
WENG-CHIANG: Go!
(As CHANG leaves, a labouriously breathing WENG-CHIANG throws some levers of his device. We see the reddish clouds around him now.)

[EXT. Sewers]

(LEELA slogs through the sewers, just ahead of the giant rat. She has slowed. Meanwhile, the DOCTOR hangs his torch on the wall in another stretch of sewer, to have his hands free to use the fowling piece. As he prepares to fire, LEELA rounds the corner. She is soon on the ground, with the rat tearing at her ankles.)

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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