They noticed this NOW?!

[Yminale]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...service-runs-Doctor-episode-racist-slurs.html

Too be brutally honest the white folks get treated worse than the Chinese.

 

[Tosk]

I'm all for a warning before a show that "does not comply to 2019 standards" but dropping old shows entirely doesn't sit well with me.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only one. The Crusade featured Bernard Kay as Saladin. In some ways, that's worse considering Saladin is a historical figure. I guess that's not as obvious since it was black and white and missing two episodes.

 

[Imaus]

The UK was 'slow on the uptake'. Monty Python was using the N-word in the 70s, and Spitting Image, twenty odd years later, was more apprehensive but I doubt it would fly today - as seen with the milquetoast reception imitators have received since then. (Or maybe that's more due to execution?)

It's a non-issue, really. Must had been a slow news day.... Hell, the current doctor is female and the companion cast has been diverse for what,, a decade, two now? Not like that really saves the show, at least not to me. Not into Time stuff or British Scifi.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Monty Python also has at least two different sketches that used blackface (Idle and Palin, I think maybe someone else).

 

[Tenacity]

This too shall pass.

 

[Jayson1]

This is why people need to buy stuff on DVD or Blu Ray. These networks or streaming services are going to keep giving into censorship more and more as long as people keep getting upset because they can't handle the reality that things were different in the past. While I don't mind a warning label it really is dumb that people can't figure out for themselves that if you watch something from the past it might not fit into modern standards. Is it wrong to expect people to have common sense on this stuff?

Jason

 

[StarMan]

From the article: "Programmes to make it onto the service include Fawlty Towers, which contains scenes where John Cleese's character Basil Fawlty impersonates Nazi marching and has trouble communicating with a Spanish character called Manuel."

Sweet Baby Jesus.

Scotty, get me the hell outta here.

 

[matthunter]

Monty Python also has at least two different sketches that used blackface (Idle and Palin, I think maybe someone else).

Yeah, plus at least one ep of The Goodies had Graeme blacked up to play a boxer in the contest of martial arts against Bill's mastery of Ecky-Thump. That also included Tim as a stereotypical "a-haw-hee-haw" Frenchman fighting with baguettes.

Oh, the 70s.

 

[XCV330]

Monty Python also has at least two different sketches that used blackface (Idle and Palin, I think maybe someone else).

The Zulu war scenes in Meaning of Life MOSTLY use blackface actors. From what I have read, it may have been an interview with Gilliam, they were filming near Glasgow, and some of the extras brought in to play the Zulus felt that the sketch was offensive, and walked off the set. They then hired out of work white dock workers, but did not have enough makeup so were only able to make the front of the actors dark. You can see it in some scenes when they turn around, which just makes the whole sketch even more bizarre.

 

[Marc]

Oh, the 70s.[/QUOTE]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...service-runs-Doctor-episode-racist-slurs.html

Too be brutally honest the white folks get treated worse than the Chinese.

once again the daily fail lives up to the nickname.

I'm just wondering where they plagiarized the story from.

 

[The Wormhole]

Not trying to defend anything or make excuses or whatever. I acknowledge this is racist and offensive and all that nasty stuff. But aren't there better things to get worked up over in 2020 then something that happened in 1977? Fine, it was terrible, this is not argued, but unless you expect someone to take a TARDIS back in time and tell the people of the 1970s to get woke, what exactly is accomplished by going off on 1970s racism today?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Monty Python also has at least two different sketches that used blackface (Idle and Palin, I think maybe someone else).

Jones did it as well. In one episode, he plays a film director who purports to be Italian, but is actually (and rather obviously stereotypical) Japanese. The sketch has a fair amount of obvious racial slurs - against both.

He appears again at the end of the ep, as a different character, in blackface.

Here is a transcript.

And there's this...

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And this...

Spoiler: racial slur contained within

A sketch about bullfighting in which the typical bullfighter is described as "a small, greasy Spaniard"

And the "Attila the Hun Show" sketch.

 

[Jayson1]

Not trying to defend anything or make excuses or whatever. I acknowledge this is racist and offensive and all that nasty stuff. But aren't there better things to get worked up over in 2020 then something that happened in 1977? Fine, it was terrible, this is not argued, but unless you expect someone to take a TARDIS back in time and tell the people of the 1970s to get woke, what exactly is accomplished by going off 1970s racism today?

I agree. The thing that really bugs me though is how some youngsters act like they are the first to discover racism and sexism existed. People have known for decades for example that what Mickey Rooney did in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was racist or that TOS had some casual sexism like no female captains or Uhura screaming when nobody else does when Kirk is beamed off the ship in the Gorn episode. People have always been confronting racism and sexism for awhile now and while it's true their is some debate when it comes to edgy comedy what the line is between edgy and offensive it isn't like most people are going out of their way to insult people except for the biggest assholes but I would like to think most people who fall under that category is small.

Jason

 

[worf1965]

This is one of my favorite classic who series. Yes I know thd portrayal of the Chinese characters is offensive. But I realize it was done in the 70s when society was not as "enlightened " with these matters as today. You just have to realize this as you watch.

 

[Jayson1]

The thing is people have been noticing for like 3 decades now. Only now you have people trying to pretend everyone has been all cool with it for the last 30 years because I guess we didn't get up and protest something that happened so long ago it was no longer relevant to the present day other than being a reminder that "hey people sure were racist back then" which of course you didn't even need to see the episode to know that already.

Jason

 

[diankra]

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only one. The Crusade featured Bernard Kay as Saladin. In some ways, that's worse considering Saladin is a historical figure. I guess that's not as obvious since it was black and white and missing two episodes.

In the Crusades it's noticeable that the black face is more subtle in 3 than in 1, though that could just be down to the quality of the surviving prints.
Either way, I think intention counts. In Crusade Saladin is a more pleasant character than Richard, in Talons there are numerous digs at the racist attitudes of the London 'locals', some from the Doctor, some from Chang ("I understand we all look alike to you").

Call me a cynical ex-journalist, but I suspect the story started with a hack ringing round till they found someone willing to be outraged on the record.

 

[StarCruiser]

From the article: "Programmes to make it onto the service include Fawlty Towers, which contains scenes where John Cleese's character Basil Fawlty impersonates Nazi marching and has trouble communicating with a Spanish character called Manuel."

Sweet Baby Jesus.

Scotty, get me the hell outta here.

What are you implying? That there's no intelligent life down here? You wouldn't be wrong, you know...

 

[Kai "the spy"]

What are you implying? That there's no intelligent life down here? You wouldn't be wrong, you know...

I think it was Eric Idle who sang "Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space, cause there's bugger all down here on Earth".

 

[worf1965]

A further thought here. By seeing this series and its insensitive treatment of another race and comparing it to how the show deals with minority groups now, doesn't that show progress and how people can learn. While some may say the show has gone too far the other way in recent years, one can't deny that even back with Tennant's Doctor (and perhsps even earlier) the show had already come far in trying to overcome utilizing racial stereotypes. So I would argue the Talons of Wang Chiang has value both as a great story and as a tool to see how we can learn from past mistakes.