Spoilers Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror grade and discussion thread

​

​

As I've mentioned before when news of this episode first came out, I'm curious to see how it will depict the two famous inventors, and hopefully not in a too-kindly light for Edison because of the shit he did and got away with historically. However, considering how kindly the show has previously portrayed Churchill, it's probably a long shot, but fingers crossed.

 

Nice to see the BBC saving money for the licence payer by re-using costumes from Peaky Blinders...

 

Wow.... I missed last week's episode and didn't feel like I missed anything. And forget there's who on tonight...... I was such a big nuWhovian that I actually made my then-girlfriend a fan. And now...... The description alone does nothing for me.

 

After last week's catastrophe, I am very worried. I frankly wouldn't put it past them to take a big steaming dump on both inventors and make them the bad guys of the tale. 'Man is the REAL monster' has been a big theme of this era.

 

1) Fairly formulaic romp but at least competent and I'll take that over the trash of last week
2) Nastier versions of the Pakled mixed with the Racnoss
3) Surely the response to "Telsa!" is not "who?" but "Like the car guy?"

 

I really loved this one and not just because, as I had hoped, it properly depicted Tesla and Edison. Perhaps it leaned a little too heavily on the great and unappreciated genius of Tesla with Queen Skithra so driven to steal him away for her own nefarious purposes, but I don't mind that too much because it's so long overdue. Not only was this a smashing and riveting adventure, but it was also a reasonably good history lesson (I, for one, didn't know about Wardenclyffe Tower).

While I'm still disappointed that Anjli Mohindra didn't return as Rani (I suppose it's still possible), I enjoyed her over-the-top performance as Queen Skithra, even if you couldn't really tell it was her.

I know this is probably a coincidence, but this is the second episode in a row that reminded me of Farscape, this time Queen Skithra reminding me of Natira from the season two trilogy, "Liars, Guns and Money."

 

Well, that was so much better than last week! Great guest appearance from Goran Visnijc, mystery, thrills, period stuff - and yeah, Tesla really did claim to have had messages from Mars! It was surprisingly true to life for him... Yaz got something to do, and Graham was still show-stealing with the grounding moment when he gives his opinion on Edison. Phew, what a relief!

Could almost have worked as a Murdoch crossver too- they've done several good Tesla episodes.
Next week looks fun.

 

They DID go with "is he something to do with the cars?". Sadly, I thought people would at least know about Tesla coils, but my Mum dispelled that illusion on the phone just now.

Wonder if these guys are related to the Racnoss? Both arthropods.

I thought it was a marked improvement, not least because I could hear the bloody dialogue this week. And Edison was shown for the twonk he was - Graham's line about his depot manager was very on-point.

 

Oh, and anyone who says Jodie isn't getting heroic Doctor moments should be shown this one. And her "I'd have put the kettle on" line was a killer.

 

Thanks - I must of misheard that.

 

Liked it. A real step up from last week !

 

Bit slow to get going, but once it did it was alright.
Main complaint. The train couplers were the British/European type, not the American version that would have been in use. The chain would have also been under tension, and not released by pulling out a pin. FFS.

Robert Glenister has a better American accent than his brother.

The scorpion queen sounded like Jen Barber with her Aunt Irma voice.

The doctor seemed more knowledgable and proactive this time, good to see.

Where did the Silurian weapon come from? A 65 million year anachronism.

Looking forward to next week.

 

Funnily enough they had both Telsa and Edison back in last weeks episode (the show's 200th)

 

Nah, they could have found a Silurian group waking up and slaughtered them for their tech. Maybe even Vastra's - maybe she only thought it was humans who killed her sisters?

 

In addition to Graham's wonderful confrontation of Edison, I loved this exchange:

"Fantastical."

"I couldn't figure it out either."

"The internal dimensions transcend the external."

Best take on the TARDIS reaction yet, along with a great dig at Edison.

 

Okay, low bar perhaps, but that was WAY better than last week. Pretty enjoyable, all in all. Goran Visnic (who appears to be turning into Kevin Kline) remains charismatic and watchable, the companions all managed to come across like individual characters (Ryan remains short-changed) and we had a bad guy with actual aims, and a plan that I could follow. The final scenes, talking about Tesla and his legacy etc., felt very classic Who.

 

I don't know if anyone else picked up on this, but Goran Višnjić is a nice piece of casting considering he's Croatian like Tesla. I don't know if that was deliberate or not, but often times these days that kind of distinction is overlooked in Western media.

Not just classic. I was reminded of "Vincent and the Doctor" in particular.

 

That occurred to me too, but the Vincent scene also felt very classic-Who to me!

 

Goran was excellent but I can't help but feel they really wanted Robert Downey Jr doing "foreign Tony Stark" but couldn't justify the expense...

 

I give it a 7 because it's worlds better than last week's ass-spewing mayhem. The inclusion of Edison and Tesla (one of my personal heroes)... that was satisfying to me

How did the Doctor and Yaz talk on cellphones when there's no towers or satellites? More TARDIS magic?

Again, the baddie of the week looks recycled with distinctly human eyes.

All in all, not a bad episode, but not a good one either.