Chang Lee

Chang Lee was an Asian-American gangster in San Francisco in the last year of the 20th century.

Biography
On 30 December 1999, Lee and his friends thought they had made a getaway from a rival gang, when suddenly they were beset by several members of that gang, eager for revenge. The rival gang members picked off Lee's friends one by one. Just when it appeared that Lee would follow his friends into death, the TARDIS appeared in front of Lee and the Seventh Doctor emerged. Confused, the rival gang members fired on him, then fled. Lee got an ambulance to take the Doctor to a hospital, where he "died" and later regenerated into his next incarnation.

Lee met and was enthralled by the Master, who convinced him the Doctor was evil. For a time he collaborated with the Master, even when not under active hypnosis. However, the Doctor revealed the Master's stories as lies and Lee resisted the Master's commands. Rather than use any energy re-converting him, the Master snapped Lee's neck, killing him. The Doctor reversed time and resurrected Lee and Grace Holloway, whom the Master had also killed.

After the Master's defeat the Doctor bade Chang farewell, warning him he shouldn't be in San Francisco the following Christmas. The Doctor allowed him to keep the two bags of gold dust the Master had originally bribed him with. (DW: Doctor Who)

Behind the scenes

 * Some fans consider Chang Lee a companion of the Doctor, perhaps based on the fact that the TARDIS saves his life. Other fans consider him one of the few companions of the Master. In fact, he's both — and neither. He became a willing participant in the Master's plans, but only after being hypnotised. Later, he sided with the Doctor and was killed for it. When resurrected, he showed no interest in staying with the Doctor on any sort of long-term basis.
 * The novelization of the Doctor Who telefilm offers further details of Lee's life, particularly how he got involved with gangs. Lee's parents were industrious, law-abiding shop owners. His brother, Chang Ho, two years his senior, wanted to use the shop as a front for selling crack for the gang. His parents refused were killed by a rival gang. This left Lee under Ho's protection and he brought Lee into his gang. A rivalry with another gang intensified and Ho was knifed in 1996.


 * The novelization also names the friends with Lee on the night he met the Doctor. One was called Lin Wang. However, the book claims that one, Pik Sim, was a woman with long hair, while in the final cut of the film they are clearly all males. This discrepancy reveals the difficulty inherent in relying on Gary Russell's novel for accurate details, as it was written without the benefit of seeing the final film and apparently even before casting had been completed.