S12.E04: Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror

[sharifa70]

On 1/20/2020 at 4:34 PM, John Potts said:

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!

It was Edison who kept saying “pay-tent” in the episode, not Tesla.

And yeah, it bugged me, too.

[Llywela]

8 hours ago, angora said:

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!

I'd forgotten that. (Clear my schedule, I need a massive Classic rewatch!) Maybe that's what gave him the idea for the screwdriver! All great inventions start somewhere.

Examples like this are why I'm always a bit chary of the sonic screwdriver being treated as a magic wand. Take it away, and the characters are forced to exercise their ingenuity in order to escape, which can provide the opportunity for some really strong character interactions of the kind you don't really get when everything is All Action All The Time, As Fast As Possible.

[John Potts]

On ‎1‎/‎19‎/‎2020 at 9:17 PM, Joe Hellandback said:

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. 

"We are smart"

On ‎1‎/‎21‎/‎2020 at 6:32 AM, Llywela said:

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.

Jon Pertwee (Three) once used it to detect (and explode, IIRC) mines in The Sea Devils. Unfortunately, pursuit was close behind them and they had to just chance it (Spoiler: they survived!).

[Eulipian 5k]

After 50 years of comings and going it took Nikola Tesla to not just observe that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside , but to understand that "the interior dimensions transcends the exterior. Well written  character, "Spot on!".

I see why some are asking how come the Doctor didn't wipe anyone's memory this time. If Tesla spoke it would be just be another story from the guy talking to Martians, but Edison could do real damage with what he's seen. What if he spent all his money trying to build a TOMDIS (Patented, trademarked to EIC) and never backed the phonograph or the movie camera??? AARGH! No MTV... No IPhone.. No BBC... No Dr Who!!!

[taanja]

On 1/20/2020 at 6:34 PM, John Potts said:

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!

It was Edison who said pay-tent - not Tesla

[libgirl2]

7 hours ago, Llywela said:

I'd forgotten that. (Clear my schedule, I need a massive Classic rewatch!) Maybe that's what gave him the idea for the screwdriver! All great inventions start somewhere.

Examples like this are why I'm always a bit chary of the sonic screwdriver being treated as a magic wand. Take it away, and the characters are forced to exercise their ingenuity in order to escape, which can provide the opportunity for some really strong character interactions of the kind you don't really get when everything is All Action All The Time, As Fast As Possible.

The War Doctor-  "The pointing again! They’re screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?"

Edited January 22, 2020 by libgirl2

[DanaK]

FYI, reportedly director Nida Manzoor is the first South Asian woman to direct an episode of Who. And she gets to do it again for the next episode (the Judoon one)

At this point, I feel this episode's title is probably the best and most whimsical one of Jodie's era

 

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

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

Just to be that annoying person, for the US, we call it the Gilded Age, though 1903 was probably just past that era (which runs from the 1870s to about 1900 or just a little before). It falls more into the Progressive Era though, but 1903 probably melds into both eras

Edited January 22, 2020 by DanaK

[Llywela]

Also, 1903 isn't Victorian even in the UK. Queen Vic died in 1901 - 1903 would be Edwardian, in the UK, where this story is not set.

[Eulipian 5k]

The way the Skithra were emerging into "Gilded Age" NY was well done and scary. A step up from the puppetry of the Racnoss and as menacing as the Reapers and  Krillitane .

Will Amy and Rory be greeted in 1934 by an American Wilf screaming about "them aliens that attacked us in 1903!"

[Gummo]

A fun episode, though it would be nice to see some change-up in pacing from episode to episode. Not every story needs to be told at breakneck speed with breathless dialogue. After all, it was the 4th doctor's laid-back, easygoing manner that demonstrated his mastery of every situation.

I liked that the aliens were clumsy (I loved how they kept bumping into each other during the invasion) and rather stupid. Not every alien race is superior to humans!

[Bruinsfan]

Now this was much more like it!

I spent a good chunk of the episode wondering if they'd actually gone back in time about 40 years to get a young Kevin Kline to play Tesla. Great job by Visnjic in the role!

All the companions had their moments to shine and turn in good scenes.

One nitpick, regarding that bit about needing to drop the TARDIS shields while charging up the big Tesla coil. I know it was two production teams ago, but have the writers forgotten that the TARDIS can readily generate enough energy to tow the planet Earth through interstellar space and protect it while doing so?  I am totally onboard with it not having any weapons systems and thus needing to use Tesla's invention, but power limitations should not be an issue. Some other delay/problem with the 1900s end of the tech combo could easily have been substituted to preserve dramatic tension.

[Llywela]

47 minutes ago, Bruinsfan said:

One nitpick, regarding that bit about needing to drop the TARDIS shields while charging up the big Tesla coil. I know it was two production teams ago, but have the writers forgotten that the TARDIS can readily generate enough energy to tow the planet Earth through interstellar space and protect it while doing so?  I am totally onboard with it not having any weapons systems and thus needing to use Tesla's invention, but power limitations should not be an issue. Some other delay/problem with the 1900s end of the tech combo could easily have been substituted to preserve dramatic tension.

To be fair, what we saw in this episode is more in line with the usual TARDIS capabilities - it was the towing Earth through space episode that was the outlier!

[Eulipian 5k]

"Doctor, don't travel alone".

This arc more than any other has shadowed the Doctor since he lost Rose; then Amy, then Clara. Now that the Doctor took that advice and formed a "fam", the Internet Shakespeare's are up in arms "too much! travel alone! Like any trip in the TARDIS, I'm not always keen on the places we go to, but even the Doctor knows it's Her (Sexy's) call where we end up. Maybe the Box is the mad one.

[taanja]

5 hours ago, Gummo said:

A fun episode, though it would be nice to see some change-up in pacing from episode to episode. Not every story needs to be told at breakneck speed with breathless dialogue. After all, it was the 4th doctor's laid-back, easygoing manner that demonstrated his mastery of every situation.

I liked that the aliens were clumsy (I loved how they kept bumping into each other during the invasion) and rather stupid. Not every alien race is superior to humans!

Don't even get me started on my love of all things Tom Baker! He just turned 80 years old I saw on the news. One of my favorite quotes from #4 -- "Why! He's almost as brilliant as I am!"

[whoknowswho]

On 1/20/2020 at 3:43 AM, futurechemist said:

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.

Oh God, oh God I miss 10 and Donna Noble...so much.

[Eulipian 5k]

23 hours ago, Llywela said:

On 1/23/2020 at 1:45 PM, Bruinsfan said:

One nitpick, regarding that bit about needing to drop the TARDIS shields while charging up the big Tesla coil. I know it was two production teams ago, but have the writers forgotten that the TARDIS can readily generate enough energy to tow the planet Earth through interstellar space and protect it while doing so?  I am totally onboard with it not having any weapons systems and thus needing to use Tesla's invention, but power limitations should not be an issue. Some other delay/problem with the 1900s end of the tech combo could easily have been substituted to preserve dramatic tension.

To be fair, what we saw in this episode is more in line with the usual TARDIS capabilities - it was the towing Earth through space episode that was the outlier!

This reminds me of being shocked! (shocked I say!) at the Kassavans almost breaching the TARDIS doors. But then I remembered Jackie Tyler and Mickey pulled the TARDIS doors open with a friggin tow truck! Which one was the outlier? (We can't write off the episode with 9's TARDIS because we'd have no Bad Wolf, no immortal Jack, or no Moment for the War Doctor).

[Bruinsfan]

The Kassavans were ghostly energy creatures invading from another dimension and unfamiliar to the Time Lords though, so that seems like fair game to me. I'm more bothered when it's something like recreational human transport technology from Kerblam! or Orphan 55 casually overcoming the TARDIS defenses. At least when it happened in "Bad Wolf" the Doctor had a line about the transmat beam needing to be fifteen million times as strong as normal, and it turned out to have Dalek technology behind it.

[DanaK]

40 minutes ago, Bruinsfan said:

The Kassavans were ghostly energy creatures invading from another dimension and unfamiliar to the Time Lords though, so that seems like fair game to me.

Given the Kassavans were working with the Master, isn't it possible they were using some sort of Time Lord technology or knowledge to breech the Tardis?

[Llywela]

11 hours ago, Eulipian 5k said:

This reminds me of being shocked! (shocked I say!) at the Kassavans almost breaching the TARDIS doors. But then I remembered Jackie Tyler and Mickey pulled the TARDIS doors open with a friggin tow truck! Which one was the outlier? (We can't write off the episode with 9's TARDIS because we'd have no Bad Wolf, no immortal Jack, or no Moment for the War Doctor).

Jackie and Mickey didn't pull the TARDIS doors open - Rose had a key. They used the truck to pull open part of the console inside to access the heart of the TARDIS within.

[Bruinsfan]

23 hours ago, DanaK said:

Given the Kassavans were working with the Master, isn't it possible they were using some sort of Time Lord technology or knowledge to breech the Tardis?

Sure, that could be. In the past the Master has co-located his TARDIS with the Doctor's (causing an apparently endless recursion of one console room opening into another), and repurposed the latter into a paradox engine that let him change the past without negating the future.

[DoctorAtomic]

I completely forgot to watch this week. And I'm always behind on participating in the discussion.

I liked Mrs. Garret and Ryan kind of sharing a common experience. Tesla being the 'Doctor' of the time is fine with me. I always like the actor that played Edison, and he really made him grating. I liked Graham calling him out on his fixation of Tesla. Though I find it odd the Yaz and Ryan didn't know something about Tesla at all.

The actor playing Tesla was top notch too.

The close up shots of the queen was weird but kind of cool.

I do like the Doctor being 'Doctor'. Tesla was all ready to give himself up, and the Doctor was like, 'uh, no. We're not.'

I also found it amusing that Tesla was really bad at naming things.

Nice shot of Tesla in the TARDIS. I would object to saying 'history leaves him behind'.

And for some flavor -

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by DoctorAtomic

[Florinaldo]

The show fully bought into the mythology that has been building around Tesla over the past decades. According to this episode, NT unerringly envisioned or predicted just about every aspect of future technology and science; I am surprised they did not say he proposed the 4-slice toaster or paper tissues being dispensed in a box.

In reality, NT was indeed a genius but not without his mistakes and dead-ends. Several of the notions he floated around did come to pass, but often in completely different manners than the ones he proposed. Similar to the helicopter: Leonardo da Vinci came up with the idea, but his design has nothing to do with how they were ultimately realised (and was in effect impractical).

Like any scientist, NT had his share of both successes and failures, as well as some surprising blinders; for example, he did not believe in subatomic particles and stated that if electrons even existed, they had nothing to do with electricity.

That being said, one does not look to DW for an accurate history lesson, despite Sydney Newman's initial intentions in the 60s. This was a lightweight episode that I will probably quickly forget. It did not help that the villain reminded me so much of the one in The Runaway Bride (a related species perhaps?).

[DanaK]

One thing that hasn't been noted is that when the Doctor couldn't figure out how to track the Skithra after they took Tesla and Yaz, Ryan insightfully spoke up and suggested that Tesla might have already figured it out with his supposed contact with Mars. Then the assistant confirmed that he was likely right and indicated Tesla's readings were at his lab.

In regards to @Florinaldo saying the take on Tesla was bordering on the mythological, let's remember that Edison wanted the world to go with his current type, and he ended up being wrong. I think most if not all scientists go through blind alleys as well as successes. It's not up to a fictional story to lay it all out there, but to tell the part of the story they are aiming at

[Joe Hellandback]

On 1/22/2020 at 7:49 PM, Llywela said:

Also, 1903 isn't Victorian even in the UK. Queen Vic died in 1901 - 1903 would be Edwardian, in the UK, where this story is not set.

Apologies, thought it was earlier.

[Florinaldo]

On 1/26/2020 at 10:34 AM, DanaK said:

I think most if not all scientists go through blind alleys as well as successes

Which is what I said, mentioning Da Vinci as an example, but many other famous (or not)  examples can be provided; Einstein never equalled his early successes like the photoelectric effect (for which he got the Nobel) and relativity (for which he did not). He spent the later part of his life tilting at quantum windmills, rather ironic since his Nobel-winning work helped pave the way for quantum physics but he was intellectually at odds with a probabilistic model.

In Tesla's case, I thought that the episode went overboard in showcasing his polymath genius, without ever mentioning his mistakes (except in business). Even a serious biopic has to simplify things, but this became caricature. Surprisingly, their portrayal of Edison was more balanced. They did not portray him as a fraud who stole every one of his ideas from others without coming up with anything on his own, which is a frequent depiction in popular culture. He did throw his weight around and got the better of many rivals (like Emile Berliner or the Lumière brothers) by using the power of his name, his money, his connections and the US courts, but he was also a legitimate inventor. Both sides of the man came across in this episode.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Florinaldo

[Bruinsfan]

Well, they did bring up that matter of Tesla causing a small earthquake in New York City, so he wasn't portrayed as an absolutely faultless inventor. And they demonstrated his hubris with that bit about the man killed in the power plant.

[elle]

A random but of shallowness - I liked the costume design of Yaz's long skirt which was really wide leg pants.  It really wasn't noticeable to me until she started running.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

On 1/20/2020 at 4:41 PM, taanja said:

The Doctor never dresses in period costumes.

Talons of Weng-Chiang

[Florinaldo]

7 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

Well, they did bring up that matter of Tesla causing a small earthquake in New York City

That is another element in the legend around Tesla. He certainly did not cause an earthquake in NYC, although he himself claimed to have done so in an effort to bolster interest in an invention of his. Thinking that causing earthquakes would be seen as a positive by investors and the public is another indication of his poor business sense. I believe that the Mythbusters show debunked that silly story.

It’s another part of the myth that the DW writers bought into, although not the most important aspect; as I have argued, I think the "Tesla as a visionary who foresaw every aspect of our modern world" view, mostly voiced by Ryan I believe, is the most blatant oversimplification they resorted to.

[taanja]

15 hours ago, QuantumMechanic said:

Talons of Weng-Chiang

My favorite Doctor ! I remember that ep well.
Seems to me from the images -- Tom Baker's Doctor is wearing his normal overcoat (that he wore every ep) and that hat he always wore that was kind of like a Sherlock Holmes style.  

[DanaK]

Ratings catch up:

Overnight ratings: 4.04 million viewers

Final consolidated ratings: 5.20 million viewers

Appreciation Index: 79

28th most watched program of the week

[Llywela]

3 hours ago, taanja said:

My favorite Doctor ! I remember that ep well.
Seems to me from the images -- Tom Baker's Doctor is wearing his normal overcoat (that he wore every ep) and that hat he always wore that was kind of like a Sherlock Holmes style.  

Nah, the deerstalker hat was just for that one story - he typically wore a big floppy felt hat. And the Ulster overcoat and gloves were specially for the occasion as well, very much not part of his usual ensemble, which looked like this:

He definitely made more of an effort to blend in for this adventure than he usually did - he even took off his scarf and donned a tie instead!

Ahem. On topic, I really loved the period gear the gang wore for this adventure - so glad they made the effort for once!

[taanja]

37 minutes ago, Llywela said:

Nah, the deerstalker hat was just for that one story - he typically wore a big floppy felt hat. And the Ulster overcoat and gloves were specially for the occasion as well, very much not part of his usual ensemble, which looked like this:

He definitely made more of an effort to blend in for this adventure than he usually did - he even took off his scarf and donned a tie instead!

Ahem. On topic, I really loved the period gear the gang wore for this adventure - so glad they made the effort for once!

So the pic I found/posted was the Doctor "blending in"? haha! I remember when # 9 and Rose were in London during the blitzkrieg and Captain Jack looks at The Doctor and says something like -- You're dressed as a U Boat captain? 

That's how I always remember The Doctor-- the companions dress up but The Doctor never really does. But people always think he blends in.

[Llywela]

Just now, taanja said:

So the pic I found/posted was the Doctor "blending in"?

Yes, that was, indeed, the Doctor's idea of 'blending in' in Victorian London! Deerstalker, Ulster and tie in place of his silly scarf - what more could he possibly need? 🙂 And it was still more effort than he typically makes!

[Bruinsfan]

The people in each new location have always tended to just accept the Doctor's presence regardless of how much he should stick out from the locals. I suppose it's entirely possible there's some low-level telepathy going on to make him/her seem to blend in regardless of appearance.

[Pattycake2]

Question-why was The Doctor practically drooling over Tesla.  Yes, he discovered or contemplated many of the things that we use in the 21st century.  But the Doctor travels in space and so do a zillions other races across the universe.  Earth technology is like a baby’s first word compared to Einstein.  I know the Doctor loves earth, but jeez.

[benteen]

I really enjoyed this episode.  The show bounced back nicely after Orphan 55 and one thing the Chibnall era seems to excel in is historical episodes.

Goran Visnjic was terrific as Tesla.  As a Timeless fan, it was great to see him on the show and I agree, this seemed a little more like a Timeless episode (particularly when The Doctor is telling Yaz about Tesla's future).  He and The Doctor worked well together and I enjoyed their mutual bonding over invention.  Robert Glenister was also good as Edison and I appreciate that the show didn't make him a complete bastard either.

It would have been nice if the villains had been more of a threat but they are certainly more memorable than many of the original aliens so far in the Chibnall one.  The stealing technology bit definitely reminded me of the Pakleds from Star Trek The Next Generation (the episode was called Samaritan Snare).

Fun episode and I enjoyed the Gilded Age setting.

[LilJen]

Did not recognize Visnjic, who I remember well from ER. The bad (but period appropriate) wig or hairstyling threw me off. 

[DanaK]

On 1/28/2020 at 12:02 PM, DanaK said:

Ratings catch up:

Overnight ratings: 4.04 million viewers

Final consolidated ratings: 5.20 million viewers

Appreciation Index: 79

28th most watched program of the week

28-day ratings: 5.80 million viewers