Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror by Nina Metvier

Jodie Whittaker, Doing What She Does Best

 What it's About: Famous Inventor Nikola Tesla is being stalked by a floating orb, and red eyed men that turn into Scorpion Monsters, in a script that was probably written by a pen name for Russell T Davies!

Oh, Brilliant: Thirteen is on form, and her admiration for Tesla helps sell the man himself in the best way. I absolutely love thirteen in this episode, but I'll just mention the two brilliant moments where she goes into Tesla's lab and it's dull as hell, and the utterly amazing delivery she has for the entire climax. "Have You Ever Seen A Dead Planet?"
Thirteen even gives the best moment she's ever had as the Doctor when she tells the Skithra queen
that when she's gone no one will ever know she existed. Thirteen has teeth.

Nikola Tesla: The thing that elevates this above episodes like 'Unicorn and The Wasp' and 'Shakespeare Code' is the phenomenal, utterly fantastic performance given by the actor for Tesla.
Few actors ever feel like the historical figure they embody, Shakespeare, Christie, and even Rosa
all seemed like actors playing a role. Good actors, all three are excellent, but Tesla is simply
World Altering. It feels like a biopic movie in bits, where the historical figure is so fully realized.
The thing is, this episode embraces that no one knows who Tesla is, nowadays.
That his achievements were behind the scenes when people like Edison take all the credit.
I cannot emphasize how perfectly all of it is played, this is what we've been waiting for in a
historical. On screen, we meet Nikola Tesla.

Yaz: This episode is sort of companion lite, as Graham and Ryan sort of only have a few moments to shine, and Yaz doesn't do nearly as much as The Doctor, Tesla or even Edison.
Still, this is some of the best Yaz material to date, her being a full on, awesome action girl, and bits
even reminded me of  ACE.  I don't think I could compliment her more than that.

Other Companions: ...Um, Graham makes an AC/DC joke?

The Monsters: The Skithra are so fricking awesome. They aren't original, but they take the awe inspiring visuals monsters like the Racnoss had, and then make them move. The Skithra run, and chase and attack in a gloriously realistic manner, and the Skithra Queen, as played by Rani, is utterly
fantastic as well. I know they're one dimensional, but holy crap, they are, so, so, fun.

Overall: I recognize this is an average episode, but it's everything I love in Doctor Who.
It's not original, but it's well executed, fun, enjoyable, and awesome.
It may not be a perfect score, I mean, If I'm talking rationally, but it's one of my personal favorite Thirteen episodes. Maybe one of my favorite historicals. I had so much fun with this one: 10/10

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