Who Review: Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror

New York, 1903. American inventor Nikola Tesla is trying to convince a group of wealthy businessmen to invest in his wireless power transmitter, Wardenclyffe Tower. His vision to transmit everything from voices to electricity through the air is met with a cold reception, not least due to the fact Tesla claims to have received alien signals from space. His unwarranted reputation as a crazy scientist who brings destruction plagues his career, a reputation that is fueled by his rival, Thomas Edison.

A mysterious energy source, already responsible for the death of one of Tesla’s helpers, draws The Doctor and Tesla together. But there’s little time for mutual admiration. The aliens Tesla contacted were real, and they’re after Tesla. But why? It’s up to the Doctor, her crew, and her new friends to figure this out before the hostile creatures make good on their threats against the genius inventor, and his planet…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those who haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

I was extremely gun-shy coming into this episode of Doctor Who. The last story, “Orphan 55,” started out well and ended up a complete train wreck. Would this be the same? Would Tesla be another historical figure thrown into the story for no apparent reason, like the two ladies from “Spyfall”? What political or social messaging was The Pastor going to preach at us this time? The evils of wealth? The dangers of fossil fuels? Yeah, the jade was setting in.

The story did indeed start out well. There was a strong performance from Goran Višnjić playing Tesla and, indeed, the entire supporting cast. I could pick on the American accents, but anyone who has been able to enjoy Doctor Who during the Sixth Doctor’s tenure has learned to overlook dodgy American accents. And, to my surprise, the story continued to be good… and finished well. Oh my goodness. This was actually a good story! The first of season 12!! And possibly the best of Chibber’s era so far.

I found a lot to like about this story. First, nothing was throw-away, from the Wardenclyffe Tower and Tesla’s dream of cordless energy, to the transport device The Doctor used to rescue Tesla and Yaz. Wardenclyffe and the transport device both played important parts in defeating the aliens. Even the rivalry between Tesla and Edison is subtly mirrored in the difference between The Doctor and the Queen of the Skithra. Tesla and The Doctor are the creators and inventors, whereas Edison and the Queen take other people’s ideas and use them for their own purposes. That’s where the similarity ends, of course. After all, Edison was not a giant red scorpion-creature.

And–hallelujah–we were spared any overt messaging. Not that there wasn’t plenty of sermon material. How about Yaz and Ryan’s ethnicity in early 20th Century New York? What about the role of women? Not that these and other issues are not important, but they would have detracted from the main plot. The only thing that was close to a social message was The Doctor’s comment about how in New York at this time, “The rich got richer and the poor got poorer.” But that was all that was said. Well done!

There were some imperfections in this otherwise laudable effort. I was jarred by the sudden escape at the beginning from the place where The Doctor, Tesla, and Dorothy were being shot at to the train. How did they get to the train? Was there a station nearby? I don’t recall seeing one. They couldn’t have used the TARDIS given Tesla’s reaction to the TARDIS when he enters it later in the story. Maybe the explanation was cut for time? Also the protesters seemed a little lame. Perhaps this is historically what they were like, or maybe they were toned down for younger viewers.

This story also had an interesting take on violence. Edison used a gun against the scorpion creatures (Skithra), and it worked. (By the way, I thought he Skithra CGI was amazing–extremely well done.) He managed to kill a couple of them, and Yaz didn’t scold him for it. Also, the Doctor’s original plan was to “take out the Queen,” which would get rid of the Skithra threat since they are a hive species. Did she mean to kill the Queen? In the end, she caused the Queen a great deal of suffering as she sent millions of volts of electricity into her ship, leading to the Skithra’s hasty departure. I’m not suggesting that The Doctor turned from dove to hawk. But it does acknowledge the reality that The Doctor is not afraid to use violence when necessary.

It was nice to see the return of some familiar faces to the world of Doctor Who. Edison was played by Robert Glenister who played Salateen in the Fifth Doctor classic story, “The Caves of Androzani.” And, under all that makeup, the Queen of the Skithra was played by Anjli Mohindra who was Rani Chandra in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

To sum up, this was good, solid Doctor Who. Not quite to the classic level, but certainly well worth your time. Keep it up, Chibbers!