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

Limited number of people that played Red Alert.

Same way Rose had a signal millions of light years away

 

I really enjoyed that. Might be the most enjoyable episode of the Chibnall era so far. Fast paced plot that didn't skip anything (mostly), fantastic guest cast. Tesla was awesome and in other hands Edison could have been a two dimensional villain ala the Trump alike from last year, but thanks to the script and Glenister’s acting he became a real person, maybe a dick but not inherently evil personified. The Tardis still feels too crowded but at least everyone got something to say this week, and Jodie is really growing on me this season. Finally afforded some agency and becoming more than a passive witness to history. Her scenes with everyone were great, and loved the ‘put the kettle on’ line!

More like this please. My only fear is that the overnights will drop again following on from last week’s episode but hopefully word of mouth will encourage people onto iPlayer at least.

One question, after the Doctor picked up Tesla at Niagara Falls, did they just walk to the train station? For a moment I thought they’d used the Tardis but that was quickly disproved once Tesla and his assistant saw the Tardis and clearly hadn’t seen it before.

 

The English experimental band?

 

Thanks all! I decided to read ahead of time before sitting through it and it looks like last week's epic is a one-off misfire. Will report back tomorrow after seeing it.

But I did see the teaser for next week's episode:

Spoiler

Oh look, yet another alien invasion on modern day Earth for NuWHO and with the monsters that wouldn't be out of place in The Teletubbies with 'Judoon platoon on the moon' goo-goo gaa-gaa rubbish. But this is a new Doctor and the new series 12 has been so much better that maybe there's a proper use for them... other than cutting budget corners.)

 

The short story The Rhino of 23 Strand Street (in the Twelve Angels Weeping collection) is actually a bloody good take on the 13th Doctor, so if this is any sort of adaptation I'm up for it. Heck, I'm just up for Jodie versus Space Rhinos because it's gonna be fun.

 

I'm still watching it in the USA, on until 9:11 this week. But I saw the ad for next week's Rhino episode and I'm so happy!!!!

I enjoyed it a lot, the characters were a lot of fun, no one plays Command and Conquer anymore. (Besides the US military who does in real life.)

But the preachy, history class little bit at the end. God damn just knock it off. I give the episode 6-7.

 

8. An enjoyable romp and you learned a bit about history! Now featuring actual bad guys too!

How did the Doctor and Tesla get from his place at the beginning on to the train? I seemed to have missed something there.

Don't like the use of the "I found a gadget that'll conveniently get me on the ship."

Overall, I enjoyed it. It was good solid entertainment. It won't be remembered as a classic nor did it really develop any of the main characters. But, the guest stars were all good. And, I absolutely loved the analogy between Tesla's assistant and the Doctor's assistants!

 

Hey, what do you know? That didn't suck. It wasn't groundbreaking, it didn't reinvent the wheel, but it was competent. The Doctor got to do stuff! Not as much as in some stories because of the huge crowd of characters that had to be serviced, but actual stuff. And we didn't just run away at the end!

It wasn't great Doctor Who. But I wasn't bored, the characters all got at least one moment and the guest cast actually did a really nice job this week. So it was at least decent Doctor Who.

I was somewhat taken out of the episode by the overwhelming similarity to the Racnoss. But maybe that was intentional and just not played upon. But even the queen felt like a really similar design, right down to the head "crown" and the teeth. (Though, to be fair, I'm saying that from memory. I haven't watched the Racnoss story in ages, so maybe it isn't as similar as I'm recalling.)

Better. That's not saying much, as last week was a complete flop, but better. I could be ok with this level of quality if it's the best we can manage.

 

Much like the creature in The God Complex who was a related species to the Nimon, presumably the scorpion queen was a related species to the Racnoss. Maybe it was a cost saving exercise, a costume that could be easily altered, cgi meshes that could be amended. Don't see the problem, especially given we saw the Racnoss precisely once thirteen years ago. God I feel old now! The majority of kids watching probably weren't even born when Runaway Bride came out...

 

...or those who have used them to detect potential leaks in a vacuum apparatus.

http://www.randombytes.net/leak_checking.html

 

For a series that likes to boast about how inclusive and PC it is, to gloss over Tesla's views on Eugenics in favour of mindless hero worship was a bit much.

 

Dr Who, the show that just can't win...

 

Overnight viewing figures were just a smidgen over 4 million. Given how poorly received Orphan 55 was that doesn't strike me as too terrible a drop off, and hopefully positive word of mouth will lead people to iPlayer.

 

And, come to think of it, mind wiping historical female figures because they couldn't be trusted to keep their big mouths shut while not doing the same to men isn't a great look either...

 

Who's always been inconsistent in certain respects though (someone made an interesting point on Twitter about how sometimes the Doctor and companions dress in period costume to blend in and sometimes not), interesting to see if that's just a trope applied to Spyfall or whether Chibnall does it again. RTD only mindwiped women as well as I recall. The Doctor did threaten to do it to Bill as well so not something to wholly beat Chibnall over the head with, but I agree it's annoying.

At least so far Chibnall hasn't had a women reduced to nothing more than a talking sex toy (ducks)

 

Gave it a 7. Much better than last week, The cast seems more integrated or something. It does seem to be getting into stride. We'll see.

\The Doctor always ties the phones into the TARDIS,

Now I feel old too.

 

Yup. We are now roughly level with season 24.

Uh uh.

In other news, Tesla doesn’t get a mindwipe.

This was an improvement on the last year and a half.

The shot of Tesla alone in the Tardis made me wish we had a mcgann series.

 

Which talking sex toy?

More people need to know Carveth.

 

Fun episode. Not really much more to add to that, it was enjoyable, engaging and fun. And it taught history, which is something I've been liking about the episodes set in the past since Chibnall took over, they've been used to educate the audience about actual historical people and events. I'm not saying that didn't happen under RTD or Moffat, though they did also tend to go in for the regular adventure which just happens to have a period setting kind of story too. Granted, those can have their merits, but I like that if it's going to be set in the past anyway, also use it to teach history to the audience as well.

Mind you, I'm not sure I get Ryan and Yaz's "who?" reaction to hearing Tesla's name. Even if they're not familiar with him or his achievements, you'd think they'd at least have heard the name Nikola Tesla at some point in their lives. But, okay, this was probably meant to be a means of providing exposition to much younger kids in the audience who might legitimately have never heard of Tesla, so I guess I can let it slide.

And I guess no one was willing to pay RTD royalties for the Racnoss, which is why we get resembles but is legally distinct from aliens here instead?

Love and Monsters ends with Ursula becoming a talking slab of concrete who gives Elton blow jobs.

 

Are you comparing 1980s TV habits with over 30 years later?