New Who 12.4 Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror

[strange_complex]

Just a few quick thoughts on this week's Who:

1. This series is really interested in inventions and the history of technology, isn't it? After Barton, Ada Lovelace, the hall of Victorian inventors and the MI6 tech in Spyfall and Sylas the brilliant engineer kid in Orphan 55, now we have Tesla vs. Edison. I mean, technology is always central to Doctor Who, but in this series it is being treated not just as a given but something whose very route into existence we should be fascinated by. It'll be interesting to see where that goes.

2. Despite their shared interest in the history of technology, though, this episode and Spyfall depart radically from one another in their treatment of the historical guest stars of the week. I was already unhappy at seeing Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan having their memories of what they had seen with the Doctor wiped; I'm absolutely bloody furious now that the same logic hasn't been applied to Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, who if anything saw rather more than they did. Is there not some kind of, I don't know, overall story editor whose job it is to ensure consistency in these matters???

3. Yaz looks absolutely amazing in Victoriana.

That is all.

Comments

[sir_guinglain]

Yaz's outfit was approved by our costume expert in Oxford, too. We think we saw trousers.

[qatsi]

I was pleased that Tesla actually had something to do with the plot, too. Lovelace and Babbage were virtually cameo roles.

I'm with you on the inconsistency, especially as there is a pattern of aliens seeking out these historical figures. I liked the characters in the last series, but not so much the writing. This season so far has had better stories but I still feel there is potential to have done better.

[softfruit]

That (mind wipe) is a really interesting thing I hadn't noticed, thank you.

[cosmolinguist]

I was thinking near the end "Tesla won't get his mind wiped, will he" and of course he didn't. It's no good putting POC and other women in the show if they're just going to be treated to special violations, Chibnall!

I thought the costumes were all fabulous -- Ryan's suit! Everybody's hats!

[cosmolinguist]

I would like to agree with you about all this, and also admire your amazing icon!

[sovay]

I was already unhappy at seeing Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan having their memories of what they had seen with the Doctor wiped; I'm absolutely bloody furious now that the same logic hasn't been applied to Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, who if anything saw rather more than they did.

Oh, poop.

[danieldwilliam]

I was keeping an eye out for the mindwipe and was disappointed when it didn't turn up.

Particularly because unlike Lovelace and Inayat Khan (who were less likely to do something* for reasons discussed last wek), Tesla and Edison are pretty likely to capitalise on a ride in the Tardis. The state of industrial science in the early 1900's was much advanced over Lovelace and Babbage's time. They had tools not available to Lovelace and Babbage. Tesla had the sort of wide ranging mind that would pick apart the physics he was shown and Edison was explicitly running an innovation factory.

That and Tesla and Edison are post HG Well and his Time Machine, so the idea of aliens and time travel and so is is perhaps more in the cultural milieu in a way that makes accessing capital easier.**

It just seems inconsistent.

*and I'm not entirely sure what it is that Lovelace and Khan might do that is undesirable.

** I can't remember how rich Lovelace was.

[danieldwilliam]

The Captain approved of Goran Višnjić accent. He was amazed that they had gone to the trouble of finding someone who had just a hint of foreign accent in the their USian accent.

[danieldwilliam]

Yes, I think she was wearing loose fitting trousers.

Almost at the end there is a scene, shot from behind, where she and some others are running and she does a sort of hop and it's pretty clear she's wearing trousers (or perhaps culottes).

[miss_s_b]

I did like Charley's way of looking at it that it's not worth wiping men's minds because they're rubbish, but women are more dangerous...

[strange_complex]

Haha, that is good! That will be my headcanon reason now...

[strange_complex]

I hadn't come across him before, but I agree that he was well-cast, including for his appearance in fact, as well as his accent. And to be fair, so was the guy playing Edison.