Doctor Who – Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror Review

After the disappointing “Orphan 55” Doctor Who has a return to form with a historical adventure involving Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.

In 1903 Nikola Tesla (Goran Višnjić) is trying to get investment for a wireless electric transmitter. Whilst at Niagara Falls Tessa and his entourage are attacked by aliens: fortunately for Tesla, the Doctor arrives to save the day. The Doctor, her companions, and Tesla have to figure out who attacked the inventor and what they want.

“Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror” was designed to be a fun romp and if it released during the Davies or Moffatt eras it would have been seen as an above-average episode. Considering how Doctor Who has fallen during Chibnall’s tenure, an above-average episode is a massive improvement. After the basic setup, the episode jumped straight into the action with Tessa getting attacked and The Doctor saving the day.

One of the big changes Chris Chibnall made was to the series make historical episodes that focused on educating audiences. “Rosa” and “The Demons of the Punjab” were two of the most praised episodes of Series 11 and whilst there were decent episodes they acted more as an excuse for The Doctor to view historical events. These episodes treated Doctor Who sci-fi premise as an afterthought. “Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror” was able to be a history lesson and have a world-threatening sci-fi plot.

Tesla was a genius who ahead of his time who was instrumental in the field of electrical engineering. Yet, despite his intelligence, Tesla is not a particularly well-known figure outside of the world of science and engineering and as The Doctor said to her companions, business was not his strong suit. So, he made for a good figure to be the centre of a Doctor Who episode because the show highlights his achievements and his brilliance made him a good ally to The Doctor. The episode also showed the rivalry between Tesla and Thomas Edison (Robert Glenister). Edison was a shameless self-promoter, a suspected thief, and ruthlessly campaigned against Tesla, claiming his rival’s technology was dangerous.

“Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror” used ideas from previous Doctor Who episodes. The biggest influences were “The Girl in the Fireplace” and “Vincent and the Doctor.” Those episodes focused on The Doctor meeting historical figures with “The Girl in the Fireplace” focused on The Doctor protecting Madame de Pompadour from the Clockwork Droids. Whilst “Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror” tried to copy “Vincent and the Doctor’s” emotional ending because The Doctor tells their companion that the historical figure died without recognition, but their legacy lived on. Yazz reacted the same way to Tesla’s death as Amy did to Vincent van Gogh.

Another influence on this episode was “The Runaway Bride.” The villain in “The Runaway Bride” was a giant spider empress, in “Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror” the villain was a lady scorpion. She was a standard monster of the week who wanted to use Tesla to fix her ramshackle collection of alien technology.

The theme of this episode. The Doctor and Tesla were celebrated for being inventors and creative thinking whilst Edison and the Skithra were scalded for being leeches. Edison took other people’s ideas and claims them as his own and the Skithra who scavenge and harvest other races’ technology. It’s an interesting concept that should have been explored further.

The biggest issue in the episode were the companions. Ryan and Graham had little to do and they could have been written out of the episode without much consequence. At least Yazz went on the Skithra’s spaceship and helped to get civilians into safety.

“Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror” was an entertaining monster of the week episode that combined history and fiction. But it is a sad indictment of the Chibnall era that an average episode in the wider Doctor Who canon is one of the best his team can produce.