S12.E04: Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror

[DanaK]

Airdate: Jan 19, 2020 (7:10pm on BBC, 50minutes; 8pm ET on BBC America)

Synopsis (from Digiguide): It is 1903 and on the edge of Niagara Falls, something is wrong at Nikola Tesla's generator plant, where someone - or something - is sabotaging the maverick inventor's work. Has Tesla really received a message from Mars? And where does his great rival Thomas Edison fit into these events? The Doctor and her companions Yaz, Ryan and Graham must join forces with one of history's greatest minds to save both him and planet Earth

Guest starring: Goran Visnjic, Robert Glenister and Anjli Mohindra

Written by Nina Metivier

Directed By Nida Manzoor

Trailer from BBC

Honest to God, I hate that they play the theme music over the dialogue in these trailers. BBC America will probably have something better

ETA: Trailer from BBC America. Much better, right? And longer

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by DanaK

[DanaK]

Shame the Doctor isn't in period costume like the others

[gonzosgirrl]

2 hours ago, DanaK said:

Shame the Doctor isn't in period costume like the others

Yes, but I do love me some Goran Visnjic. ♥ Looking forward to this one!

[Sakura12]

They are finally wearing period clothes. I was beginning to think the Doctor got rid of her wardrobe room. 

[Llywela]

Now that was more like it! Some really nice character beats, strong performances, guest characters worth rooting for. I like that the three companions all got to have meaningful interaction with different guest characters, allowing us a bit of insight into how they view their experiences as individuals. Goran Visnjic and Robert Glenister were both excellent - and I have been a fan of both for many years, so it was great to see them together on-screen here.

Nice one.

[Joe Hellandback]

Watching it live in UK so spoilers if you're in the US/Commonwealth 

1. Doesn't everyone look great in their period clothes? Graham rather reminds me of Butch Cassidy in that famous picture.  

2. Goran Visnjic very good as Tesla, always liked him on ER, when I first saw the trailers I thought it was Mathew Morrison from Glee. 

3. Orb of Theslaw? Very Buffy, useful for restoring a vampire's soul 

4. The bugs are very Empress of Racnoss, even down to having a queen.

5. Nice depiction of Victorian NY, as the Dr said, an age of huge progress and utter deprivation. 

6. I like the Graham/Edison interplay, nice that they don't portray Edison as the villain, Tesla is the idea man but impractical whilst he is the more pragmatic developer. He sort of reminds me Dan O'Herily from Robocop/Halloween 3.   

7. Storyline rather reminds me of an old ep of ST;TNG where Geordie is kidnapped by a bunch of stupid aliens to fix their ship. 

8. Wow, a gun actually comes in useful on Dr Who?

9. The last act of Zulu scene was actually a little bit of a letdown.  

10. Not destroying the ship?

11. You know I would love a purely historical story for once with no spooky ooky, haven't had one since Black Orchid.

12. Much like Noor Khan in the 2nd ep, unfortunately the real Tesla had a sad end as the Dr observes, might have been nice to take him forward in time so he could see his legacy.    

Judoon? Mmmm, not a fan.

7/10

Edited January 19, 2020 by Joe Hellandback

[John Potts]

I loved one. You see what happens when you actually have characters that are actually likeable? It gets the audience caring about what happens to them! Of course, it did have the "Bad Guy (well, girl, I suppose) Monologuing about killing everyone instead of doing it", but hey, if villains didn't do that, half the movies I watch would have unhappy endings.

Overall, it reminded me somewhat of Vincent and the Doctor, in that despite the Doctor in that while the Doctor's visit inspired the both Vincent van Gogh and Nicola Tesla, neither's life was miraculously made better (even ignoring the whole timeline problems it would cause). And I really loved the way Edison saved NY by telling everyone that Tesla's power plant was going to explode - OK, it worked, but he's still a jerk!

Edited January 21, 2020 by John Potts

[AudienceofOne]

Firstly, the pros:

I love that pop culture at least has been hard-core propping Tesla while condemning that thief Edison to the waste bin of history. It's about time. Every time someone says Edison "invented the light bulb" I want to hit something. Edison did nothing but steal other people's inventions.

As a consequence I really liked the comparison here between the aliens and Edison. It worked really well. Edison is nothing but a scrounger who used his financial power to force people with real ideas into servitude. This really worked for me.

The cons:

The directing. Seriously, the directing was bad. Especially the blocking and scene transitions. 

Like everyone else, I don't understand who Dr Who could possibly have bad directing or unpolished scripts with the development time it has and the small number of episodes. It stuns me. I mostly watch kdrama these days and they produce between two to three hours of incredibly well-directed television per show PER WEEK. How can Doctor Who not produce 13 hours a YEAR?

 

[HauntedBathroom]

I was doing the filing and then putting on a wash while most of this episode aired. Nothing exciting enough to catch my full attention, but it wasn't bad, just rather...meh. Which is about the best Doctor Who can aim for under Chibs.

[Sakura12]

2 hours ago, John Potts said:

Overall, it reminded me somewhat of Vincent and the Doctor, in that despite the Doctor in that while the Doctor's visit inspired the both Vincent van Gogh and Nicola Tesla, neither's life was miraculously made better (even ignoring the whole timeline problems it would cause). And I really loved the way Edison NY by telling everyone that Tesla's power plant was going to explode - OK, it worked, but he's still a jerk!

I thought they were going to take him to the future and show him the electric car named after him. 

I enjoyed this one. The characters had time to breathe and we got to know the guest characters and care about their story. You do feel for Tesla, he had amazing ideas but was a poor business man. Goran Visnjic was a good choice for Tesla. He was also a  good choice for this Doctor since she's more of an inventor type. 

I liked that the companions had more to do and I liked their interactions with Tesla and Edison. 

[Rhetorica]

Perfection! Mystery, sci-fi, philosophy, character development, science, technology, space exploration, time travel, extraterrestrial life. The only thing missing was a kiss between Tesla and the Doctor..

5 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Watching it live in UK so spoilers if you're in the US/Commonwealth 

7. Storyline rather reminds me of an old ep of ST;TNG where Geordie is kidnapped by a bunch of stupid aliens to fix their ship. 

"Make it go..."

[DanaK]

This was a very enjoyable and fun episode

Great period costumes in general and for the companions. Too bad the Doctor didn’t dress up

Good stuff between Yaz and Tesla and Graham and Edison. Good confrontations between the Doctor and Queen Skithra

The Doctor at her sciency best

Good performances from the guest stars, especially Goran as Tesla. Jodie and the other regulars did well also. I thought there was fairly good chemistry between Jodie and Goran

Also, I read this is only the 3rd time in Doctor Who that both the writer and director have been women

Edited January 20, 2020 by DanaK

[Lantern7]

This was fun. One thing . . . anyone else want the Queen of the Skithra to meet Tzim-Zha or one of his kind? I mean, those teeth. DAMN.

Great performances all around . . . Edison as asshole but not a major antagonist, the Doctor and Tesla’s interactions . . . and Graham and Ryan quipping off each other. “This ain’t our first rodeo.” “You’ve never been to a rodeo.” Ryan, you’re not helping.”

[Chaos Theory]

So the Doctor gets involved between the conflict between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison over their race to discover electricity.,,,.but with aliens.

Did anyone else spend the episode saying “Shut up Edison?” 
 

Loved the moment when Tesla first entered the TARDIS and he instinctively figured out the whole bigger on the inside concept.   Also his talk with the Doctor....” Recognition at last“ was really well done.   

Edited January 20, 2020 by Chaos Theory

[Suzysite]

This felt a lot like an episode of Timeless...with alien scorpions.  Dang it, I miss that show.  Even had Goran Visnjic for the final touch.

[DanaK]

I did find it interesting that they didn't portray Edison as an absolute bastard, because he was. Or I guess you could say he was more about the PR and money than being the one to come up with the ideas. Tesla was a bad businessman though even if he was a great inventor. Somehow Tesla won the current war but Edison got all the good PR and is the one people remember and idolize and Tesla ended up broke and forgotten. I guess the show tried to balance things and be fair.

[phalange]

I really loved the scene of the Doctor and Tesla bonding over their love of invention and being misunderstood. 

The scorpion queen asking the Doctor if she’s ever seen a decimated planet...oof. That was a painful blow. 

It was nice that Tesla got to see inside the TARDIS, but I wonder why Tesla and Edison didn’t have to have their memories erased like Ada Lovelace did. 

[CatWarmer]

6 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

4. The bugs are very Empress of Racnoss, even down to having a queen.

Exactly what I thought!  Even the voice initially sounded the same; I almost expected to see Donna in her wedding gown.  

[Suzysite]

I do wish they had Edison pronounce the word "patent" like Americans do instead of saying pay-tent.   Took me out of it a bit.

[angora]

I really enjoyed that. Great character moments, giving us some one-shot characters who were engaging on their own but who also gave us insight into the Doctor and the companions. The Doctor and Telsa bonding over their mutual love of invention. Yaz wanting Tesla to get his due. Ryan and Dorothy discussing how their lives changed when the Doctor/Tesla entered into them. Even Graham having a bead on Edison. Nice interactions with the Doctor and the Skithra Queen too, with the Doctor talking about their scavenger ways (they're like the Greyjoys - "we do not sow") and the Queen asking the Doctor if she'd ever seen a dead planet.

I also liked the parallels between the Skithra and Edison - that was nicely done without hammering home the comparison too hard.

Glad I'm not the only one who thought of the Rachnoss. When they gave us that quick shot of the Queen right before cutting to commercial, I may or may not have shouted, "Rachnoss!" at my TV. Hehe, not quite. Also - the Rachnoss Queen was Anjli Mohindra (Rani from The Sarah Jane Adventures)?!? I'd known she was gonna be guest-starring sometime this season, and I knew it wasn't going to be as Rani (sadly,) but I had no idea that was her until I saw her name in the episode description at the top of this thread!

Agree that all the companions looked great in their period clothes! I loved Yaz's hair liked that, and the Gilded Age style suited all of them really well.

[AnimeMania]

I thought it was interesting that the alien's teeth looked like if you took your teeth, turned them upside down, and put them back in your mouth.

I am surprised that the confiscated alien blaster wasn't used for their defense.

Not the bestest, but I think it hit all the points it was aiming at.

[futurechemist]

So what's the standard for when a historical character gets their memory wiped?

Agree that the alien looked like a Racnoss - large scenery-chewing humanoid bug queen. But the show didn't acknowledge it.

[libgirl2]

On 1/19/2020 at 3:17 PM, Joe Hellandback said:

Watching it live in UK so spoilers if you're in the US/Commonwealth 

1. Doesn't everyone look great in their period clothes? Graham rather reminds me of Butch Cassidy in that famous picture.  

2. Goran Visnjic very good as Tesla, always liked him on ER, when I first saw the trailers I thought it was Mathew Morrison from Glee. 

3. Orb of Theslaw? Very Buffy, useful for restoring a vampire's soul 

4. The bugs are very Empress of Racnoss, even down to having a queen.

5. Nice depiction of Victorian NY, as the Dr said, an age of huge progress and utter deprivation. 

6. I like the Graham/Edison interplay, nice that they don't portray Edison as the villain, Tesla is the idea man but impractical whilst he is the more pragmatic developer. He sort of reminds me Dan O'Herily from Robocop/Halloween 3.   

7. Storyline rather reminds me of an old ep of ST;TNG where Geordie is kidnapped by a bunch of stupid aliens to fix their ship. 

8. Wow, a gun actually comes in useful on Dr Who?

9. The last act of Zulu scene was actually a little bit of a letdown.  

10. Not destroying the ship?

11. You know I would love a purely historical story for once with no spooky ooky, haven't had one since Black Orchid.

12. Much like Noor Khan in the 2nd ep, unfortunately the real Tesla had a sad end as the Dr observes, might have been nice to take him forward in time so he could see his legacy.    

Judoon? Mmmm, not a fan.

7/10

I also thought it was the Racnoss the queen sure sounded the same.

Goran Visnjic was wonderful. I was reminded in some ways of Vincent, how such a brilliant man would end up dying so sadly never knowing what he did for humanity. Never getting the recognition in their lifetime. It brought me the same sense of sadness.

Overall, it was okay. Parts dragged, parts were good. Yaz again was very good with her interactions with Tesla. Ryan didn't do much for me and Graham had some good one liners.

On 1/19/2020 at 8:18 PM, Rhetorica said:

Perfection! Mystery, sci-fi, philosophy, character development, science, technology, space exploration, time travel, extraterrestrial life. The only thing missing was a kiss between Tesla and the Doctor..

"Make it go..."

There were moments......

 

23 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Loved the moment when Tesla first entered the TARDIS and he instinctively figured out the whole bigger on the inside concept.   Also his talk with the Doctor....” Recognition at last“ was really well done.   

So did I!

Edited January 20, 2020 by libgirl2

[cardigirl]

This one was pretty good, but I couldn’t help comparing it to Vincent and the Doctor, and I liked the Vincent episode more. 

I enjoy the companions and thought they did well this week, but dear god, Jodie’s Doctor has always, always got her mouth hanging open and after awhile, that is all I see when I watch her. Does she have breathing issues? 

Goran Visjnic on my screen again is always a good thing. He was great as Tesla. 
 

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by cardigirl

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, cardigirl said:

This one was pretty good, but I couldn’t help comparing it to Vincent and the Doctor, and I liked the Vincent episode more. 

I enjoy the companions and thought they did well this week, but dear god, Jodie’s Doctor has always, always got her mouth hanging open and after awhile, that is all I see when I watch her. Does she have breathing issues? 

Goran Visjnic on my screen again is always a good thing. He was great as Tesla. 
 

 

He was fabulous in the role and quite nice to look at as always. 

[jcin617]

10 hours ago, Suzysite said:

I do wish they had Edison pronounce the word "patent" like Americans do instead of saying pay-tent.   Took me out of it a bit.

I was going to say the same thing - unless we've changed how we pronounce it in the US in the last 100 years.   

Edited January 20, 2020 by jcin617

[gonzosgirrl]

17 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

4. The bugs are very Empress of Racnoss, even down to having a queen.

My first thought as well.

I enjoyed this one - seemed much more 'Who'ish to me. Even Ryan didn't bug me so much. This exchange kind of sums him up for me:

“This is not our first rodeo.”

“We’ve never been to a rodeo.”

“You’re not helping Ryan.”

Heh.

3 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

Goran Visnjic was wonderful. I was reminded in some ways of Vincent, how such a brilliant man would end up dying so sadly never knowing what he did for humanity. Never getting the recognition in their lifetime. It brought me the same sense of sadness.

Agree. But maybe it was the Doctor's assurance that he does change the world and will be recognized for it eventually, that keeps him going even as his life situation spirals downward. He's a good enough man that knowing that is enough inspiration to push on.

Edited January 20, 2020 by gonzosgirrl
grammar

[rur]

1 hour ago, cardigirl said:

I enjoy the companions and thought they did well this week, but dear god, Jodie’s Doctor has always, always got her mouth hanging open and after awhile, that is all I see when I watch her. Does she have breathing issues? 

Good episode, but re: Jodie's mouth -- I hadn't noticed it. (Although now I probably won't be able to unsee it.) But I got very tired of seeing Tennant's gritted teeth, although he's one of my favorite doctors.  So I guess there's a precedent?😏

Edited January 20, 2020 by rur

[libgirl2]

24 minutes ago, rur said:

Good episode, but re: Jodie's mouth -- I hadn't noticed it. (Although now I probably won't be able to unsee it.) But I got very tired of seeing Tennant's gritted teeth, although he's one of my favorite doctors.  So I guess there's a precedent?😏

I never noticed either, but now I will! 

[DanaK]

FYI, the New York street scenes were reportedly filmed in Bulgaria

[Sakura12]

With Tesla they seem to be showing that it was his love of inventing and figuring things out that kept him going over the fame and money. He needed money to fund his ideas not because he wanted wealth. 

That's why I figured since the Doctor let him keep his memories, she would tell him that his name lives on in the future. 

[libgirl2]

32 minutes ago, Sakura12 said:

With Tesla they seem to be showing that it was his love of inventing and figuring things out that kept him going over the fame and money. He needed money to fund his ideas not because he wanted wealth. 

That's why I figured since the Doctor let him keep his memories, she would tell him that his name lives on in the future. 

Kind of reminds me of someone. 

[Llywela]

With the memory wipe thing, I don't think Edison or Tesla really saw anything that either could or would use to their advantage. They didn't witness the future, only aliens in their own time (including the Doctor and TARDIS in that). Both were already well established in their careers anyway. Edison isn't going to go around shooting his mouth off, because that would threaten his reputation, and it was established that he is more of a businessman than a scientist capable of reverse-engineering anything he'd seen. And Tesla's brain was already on fire with more inventions and concepts than he is ever going to be able to realise, even if he could find funding. Yaz confirmed the concept of radar to him as something functionally useful in the future, but it was something he had already thought up (under a different name) and already knew he couldn't sell. I don't think there was any danger in leaving their memories intact.

And anyway, the Doctor usually does leave peoples' memories intact - the times he hasn't are the outliers, rather than the times he does. With Ada and Noor...I think it was badly handled, but I suspect the reasoning was: Noor is from an incredibly sensitive period in history and at the time the Doctor met her was unfortunately within about a year of being tortured for information by Nazis and then executed, so her memory was wiped because she didn't need any more pressure in her life, and with Ada, well - the Doylist reasoning is that she was just starting her career of brilliance, so if her memory had been left intact there would always be people complaining obviously it was time-travelling with the Doctor that gave her all her ideas in the first place, while the Watsonian reasoning would be that she had seen the future and with a mind like hers could take what she'd seen back to her own time and end up pushing more boundaries than she should, thus changing history. But honestly, it was horribly handled - memory wiping in Doctor Who always is.

[Fiftyninth]

I absolutely hated everything about this episode, including the guest cast. Different strokes, I suppose. 

[taanja]

On 1/13/2020 at 12:28 PM, DanaK said:

Shame the Doctor isn't in period costume like the others

The Doctor never dresses in period costumes.

23 hours ago, Suzysite said:

I do wish they had Edison pronounce the word "patent" like Americans do instead of saying pay-tent.   Took me out of it a bit.

Ever notice British actors playing Americans can never pronounce the word something/anything. 

They always say -- somethin -- anythin.

[NeenerNeener]

18 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I am surprised that the confiscated alien blaster wasn't used for their defense.

I wish one of these times when someone points a scary alien blaster at The Doctor, he/she points the sonic screwdriver at it and all the fasteners pop out.

[gonzosgirrl]

32 minutes ago, NeenerNeener said:

I wish one of these times when someone points a scary alien blaster at The Doctor, he/she points the sonic screwdriver at it and all the fasteners pop out.

Is in new that the screwdriver does so much more than just open things? I honestly don't recall it being so versatile before, but I admittedly don't dissect canon with this show as much as some others (hiding my face from my common Supernatural fans here). 

[DanaK]

2 hours ago, taanja said:

The Doctor never dresses in period costumes.

What about Thin Ice, I think it was, where the 12th Doctor went back to some 1800s Ice Fair thing with Bill Potts

6 minutes ago, gonzosgirrl said:

Is in new that the screwdriver does so much more than just open things? I honestly don't recall it being so versatile before, but I admittedly don't dissect canon with this show as much as some others (hiding my face from my common Supernatural fans here). 

It seems to be a lot more versatile with New Who

In regards to Tesla, Goran has been a fan of his all his life so hopefully that informed his performance. Also, it turns out Tesla was a germaphobe, which explains the character’s awkwardness when it seemed like there should have been a hug or handshake

[AudienceofOne]

18 minutes ago, gonzosgirrl said:

Is in new that the screwdriver does so much more than just open things? I honestly don't recall it being so versatile before, but I admittedly don't dissect canon with this show as much as some others

In fact it's new that the screwdriver opens things, especially doors. This was a NuWho thing because RTD said he didn't want the Doctor to be stopped by doors. Traditionally it was more like a scanner, although it could do computer things too. Writers have had a love/hate relationship with it for 50 years where some writers love it and expand the number of things it can do (sometimes to ridiculous levels) while others hate it and even get rid of it completely. 

[John Potts]

4 hours ago, jcin617 said:

I was going to say the same thing - unless we've changed how we pronounce it in the US in the last 100 years.   

Maybe Tesla retained his original accent (or traces of it) after he emigrated to the US? He was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (in what would become Yugoslavia and later Croatia). Since Goran Visnjic is also a Croatian immigrant to America, I'm going to guess his accent is pretty authentic!

[NeenerNeener]

33 minutes ago, AudienceofOne said:

Traditionally it was more like a scanner, although it could do computer things too.

If they're going to call it a screwdriver it should have a setting to move screws in any direction.

[Frozendiva]

The last minute or two got cut off again so I will catch the ending tomorrow (when the show re-airs).

I was always fond of Jonathan Young's portrayal of Tesla on 'Sanctuary'. Doubt he would have fit this version.

I also liked the scorpions overtaking New York.

My one gripe is that there are too many companions.

[Llywela]

When the sonic screwdriver was first introduced, during the Second Doctor's run, it was...a screwdriver. The very first thing we ever saw it do was unscrew a bunch of screws. But, y'know, sonically, or whatever. Its use was far more limited during the classic era - it was mostly used for opening things, but manually, the way you'd use an actual screwdriver to fiddle with a control panel, rather than at distance as an all-purpose remote control, the way the modern Doctors use it. It was the 2005 reboot that turned it into something akin to a magic wand - and yes, it has been used in increasingly versatile ways through most of the modern era.

Did someone say the sonic screwdriver was used as a scanner in the classic era? That isn't true. It is New Who that turned it into a scanner. It never had any such function in the first era of the show.

[AudienceofOne]

25 minutes ago, Llywela said:

Did someone say the sonic screwdriver was used as a scanner in the classic era? That isn't true. It is New Who that turned it into a scanner. It never had any such function in the first era of the show.

I'll shut up then. This shows that the two eras really are blurring for me. I'm sure I remember one of the later doctors scanning things with it. But it certainly couldn't open doors, that was new. 

[Llywela]

1 hour ago, AudienceofOne said:

I'll shut up then. This shows that the two eras really are blurring for me. I'm sure I remember one of the later doctors scanning things with it. But it certainly couldn't open doors, that was new. 

Well, it could open doors - but only if the Doctor used it to open the control panel and manipulate the mechanism! 😉 He certainly couldn't just point it at a door and press the abracadabra button to open it like a remote control.

It is possible you are remembering right and I'm remembering wrong, I'm hazier on the 6th and 7th Doctors than the earlier ones, but certainly through the bulk of the classic era, the sonic screwdriver was not used as a scanning device. And I remember being really surprised when it started being used as such in the reboot.

Edited January 21, 2020 by Llywela

[darkestboy]

Not a bad episode but not a great one either.

Tesla and Edison were well cast and both worked with the Doctor and the gang.

Queen Skithra could've been a little more interesting as a baddie though.

Still ready to lose these current companions though, 7/10

[DanaK]

One interesting thing I noted after watching a couple more times is that when the Doctor and Tesla were in the Tardis and the Doctor pressed something to send energy or something through some cables to the tower, the lighting in the Tardis changed from bright and orange supports to darker and white-blueish supports and stayed that way through the end of the sequence, with Tesla standing there alone in the Tardis near the columns. It was some interesting looking cinematography

Edited January 21, 2020 by DanaK

[tennisgurl]

I really liked this one, it had tons of elements of things that I enjoy about Who (interesting historical characters, sense of adventure, comedy, good guest stars, good stuff for the companions and the Doctor to do) plus, its a story where Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison have to work together with the Doctor to fight evil scorpion space pirates in Gilded Age New York! I mean, that just writes itself! 

I loved having Goran Visnjic on my TV again, and he was a great pic for Tesla, a character that I am kind of surprised is just now showing up on Who as Tesla as a historical figure tends to lend himself well to historical scy fi/fantasy (turning into a vampire, cloning machines, etc) but I am glad that they wanted, as he really works well with 13, who is something of a quirky inventor type herself, so they had some really good scenes together, especially when they were talking about feeling alone and misunderstood in the time and place they were at and in the joy of inventing. I also loved the bit where she told Tesla that they all knew that it was killing Eddison that the aliens wanted Tesla and not him! You really do feel for the guy, he was an amazing inventor, who was not only brilliant but had such passion for creating things that could truly benefit mankind but was a really crappy businessman, so he could never find the resources to make many of his inventions a reality.

The comparison between the scavenger/thieving scorpion aliens and Edison was subtle and effective, and in general I really liked the guest characters, who were all engaging, memorable, and had good moments with the Doctor and the companions, and interesting bits of characterization on their own, like Teslas annoyance of having to remind people that he is a US citizen, or, despite Edison being a jerk and a very shady businessmen, he is clearly shaken by the mass murder of his employees. Yaz being upset that Tesla will never get the credit he deserves in his lifetime, Ryan and Dorothy bonding over their adventures with the Doctor/Tesla, everyone seemed to have things to do, which is something that the show can sometimes struggle with, having three companions. I especially loved Graham having Edisons number right away, and just having not of it with him. The villains themselves were kind of generically evil, but they worked pretty well, both as the comparison to the shady dealings and thievery of Edison, and because the rest of the characters were so well drawn. 

I did definitely see the similarities between this episode and Vincent and the Doctor, both about men that whos brilliance was sadly not recognized in their time and whos lives ended in tragedy, but who history will remember one day as visionaries. It adds a real bittersweet ending to the episode, that Tesla will die poor and in obscurity without getting to see his creations reach their full potential, while rich assholes like Edison will get the money and the fame, but that one day what he envisioned will come to fruition and he will be seen as a brilliant pioneer, even if it takes awhile. 

The gang should consider hanging in the Golden Age more often, they look fabulous in those outfits! Off to the Chicago Worlds Fair to fight HH Holmes? 

Edited January 21, 2020 by tennisgurl

[TwirlyGirly]

22 hours ago, DanaK said:

<snip>

Also, it turns out Tesla was a germaphobe, which explains the character’s awkwardness when it seemed like there should have been a hug or handshake

 

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

<snip> You really do feel for the guy, he was an amazing inventor, who was not only brilliant but had such passion for creating things that could truly benefit mankind but was a really crappy businessman, so he could never find the resources to make many of his inventions a reality.<snip>

Not just a germaphobe, though. Tesla had an extremely debilitating and severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Reading about how it affected him makes his achievements even more amazing:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/22/nikola-teslas-ocd/amp/

In addition to being an inventor, Tesla had an eidetic memory and he was a polyglot; he spoke eight languages!

A brilliant mind tortured by untreated mental illness and plagued by chronic insomnia -  his skills and accomplishments are incredibly impressive, IMO.

[angora]

19 hours ago, Llywela said:

When the sonic screwdriver was first introduced, during the Second Doctor's run, it was...a screwdriver. The very first thing we ever saw it do was unscrew a bunch of screws. But, y'know, sonically, or whatever.

I was just coming here to say that! I started with New Who and then backtracked to the classic series, and it charmed me so much the first time I saw Two using the sonic screwdriver on actual screws.

For what it's worth, Two also once sonically broke out of a jail cell, one with a "sonic lock" whose key emitted a certain tone to open the door. This was pre-screwdriver, so he used the resonance from a glass of water to get the right frequency!