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

[Jim Steele]

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?

That's... a leap. The Racnoss weren't space scavenging pirates iirc, and at this point in the timeline are supposed to be dormant. I think the skithra queen's visual similarity to the empress of the racnoss was a deliberate, knowing nod, even a hint that the two species were distantly related, but they trusted the audience to not need it spelt out to them because leaving some things ambiguous is fun for the audience and also it wouldn't have served this story in any way whatsoever?

 

[matthunter]

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.

My mother (mid 70s) had never heard of him either, beyond assuming he was something to do with the cars (as Ryan did), so it's not just the yoof, sadly. He was even mentioned on Taskmaster ffs but maybe she was asleep during Liza Tarbuck's spiel about him.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

That's... a leap. The Racnoss weren't space scavenging pirates iirc, and at this point in the timeline are supposed to be dormant. I think the skithra queen's visual similarity to the empress of the racnoss was a deliberate, knowing nod, even a hint that the two species were distantly related, but they trusted the audience to not need it spelt out to them because leaving some things ambiguous is fun for the audience and also it wouldn't have served this story in any way whatsoever?

Besides, the Judoon are also a Davies creation...

 

[Jim Steele]

Maybe someone in the know can correct me on this but I'm pretty sure Davies' contract wasn't a Terry Nation type deal where a species he came up with for one episode would be his intellectual property. I know the BBC is daft but it's not stupid. Ok it is stupid, but it does employ lawyers.

 

[cultcross]

We've already seen the Judoon are in this series haven't we? An RTD creation.

 

[cultcross]

Very 'meh' episode this week. I usually enjoy the historicals because they tend to have something to say. This one... didn't. A rather dull alien fight story with a bizarre motivation (an interstellar species really want a Victorian era inventor?) and not a lot of 'there' there.
Not actively terrible like last week, but not much to write home about.

 

[Jim Steele]

Not actively terrible like last week, but not much to write home about.

Suspect this will be the Chibnall era's epitaph.

Sad that we've pivoted from Moff's "Exciting, energetic, well-acted, convoluted bollocks" to Chib's "Simple stories, drearily told". God, this show needs a bomb under it. Took me three days to watch last week's because the first 30 minutes were so fucking boring

 

[Skipper]

Oh well, I just put it there.

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[Redfern]

bizarre motivation (an interstellar species really want a Victorian era inventor?)

I got the impression thy were not a time traveling species and their interstellar capabilities had failed. So they had to "settle" for the best who could be found at that time, which proved to be Tesla because he actually answered the signal from Mars.

Maybe they had no luck waking up any Ice Warriors and couldn't work out the booty traps to the Pyramids of Mars.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Wow, I found this dull as hell but I see it was pretty well received so maybe I'll give it another go sometime see if my mood is any better.

I got the impression thy were not a time traveling species and their interstellar capabilities had failed. So they had to "settle" for the best who could be found at that time, which proved to be Tesla because he actually answered the signal from Mars.

"We look for things that make us go."

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[jaime]

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

Nope, just the viewing figures. I am aware the landscape has changed. Just find yet another eighties echo funny (along with changed timeslot, multicoloured costumes etc.)

Tbh, satellite TV was already eating at the viewing habits then, not to mention the proto iPlayer that was called ‘taping it cos mum wants to watch corrie’.

 

[jaime]

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.

Ah yes. Whilst I hated that and that episode, I would say she was a few levels above a talking sex toy.m

 

[jaime]

That's... a leap. The Racnoss weren't space scavenging pirates iirc, and at this point in the timeline are supposed to be dormant. I think the skithra queen's visual similarity to the empress of the racnoss was a deliberate, knowing nod, even a hint that the two species were distantly related, but they trusted the audience to not need it spelt out to them because leaving some things ambiguous is fun for the audience and also it wouldn't have served this story in any way whatsoever?

I’ll be honest, at first it made sense of the Silurian weapon if they had dug their way up from below.
And mars, as we know, is pretty much someone else territory.

Feels like there was some jinks in production, but this is such an improvement over last week I will not bother thinking too hard about it.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I thought the Doctor stole the TARDIS - not invented it. She did nothing to dissuade Tesla and Edison of that notion or maybe I missed it.

 

[RevdKathy]

Didn't anyone else immediately say "the Pakled"? They steal things to make them go, then kidnap an engineer to fix it.

The business of only women having their minds wiped needs a thread to itself, but all sorts of thoughts. From women being more likely to end up in a lunatic asylum if they say anything, to them having possible greater influence if they are allowed to retain knowledge. Tesla was already deemed mad, what's one more episode of lunacy?

 

[Seven of Five]

This was easily better than last week, but again it didn't particularly grab me. It was intriguing enough, though, and well-executed.

 

[Alan Roi]

The business of only women having their minds wiped needs a thread to itself, but all sorts of thoughts. From women being more likely to end up in a lunatic asylum if they say anything, to them having possible greater influence if they are allowed to retain knowledge. Tesla was already deemed mad, what's one more episode of lunacy?

As I recall, the women were brought to the future so gained some knowledge of it. Neither Tesla nor Edison gained any knowledge of the future from their adventure with the Doctor.

 

[Alan Roi]

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

One can compare the quality of stories, execution and performances, however.

 

[CuriousCaitian]

Thoroughly enjoyable. Good guest stars, good pace, one of the best eps for Jodie thus far, fun if, as others have mentioned, somewhat Racnoss-like villainous aliens. Basically, it did the simple Dr Who things well. I do have to wonder how all of Edison's staff being wiped out seems to have caused not so much as a raised eyebrow, but maybe that's just me.

Hopefully Orphan 55 was a case of getting the weakest stuff out of the way early on. Bring on the Judoon!

 

[SolarisOne]

It's funny. I just listened to an episode of a podcast called Throughline a few weeks ago that, in part, talked about Tesla and Edison's AC/DC feud and how it led to the current (pun not intended) state of the electrical grids in the contiguous United States.

Also, my rating went from 1 last week to 10 this week. So, there's that.