Tuesday 21 January 2020

Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror


Nina Metivier’s first Doctor Who script proves to be a distillation of all that is terrific about the programme. She brings her historical characters to life with economy and heart, allowing us to feel for both Tesla and Edison, avoiding the easy route of making Edison the villain of the piece; her monsters have a simple, clearly-defined plan and there’s space for a rollicking chase sequence, perhaps the most exciting and well-shot of the series since Chris Chibnall took over as showrunner. This is an extremely accomplished episode of Doctor Who and as solid an example of the show as one is likely to find. If a stranger to the programme were to ask what the whole thing was about, you’d do worse than to point them in the direction of this exciting adventure.

Director Nida Manzoor is also a newcomer to the Doctor’s world, but judging by her display here, you’d be hard pressed to tell. Like Metivier, her first voyage into the time vortex establishes her as a more than worthy TARDIS pilot. There is an assuredness on display here. From that first slow pan down from Niagara Falls to the kinetic train sequence, and the lovely reveal of the TARDIS crew in situ, the episode feels confident, measured and well-paced. Were the next episode written by Metivier and directed by Manzoor (one out of two ain’t bad!), I wouldn’t be worried about quality for a minute, such is their obviously refined talent.

Manzoor also shoots the Queen of the Skithra carefully, usually in full, angry close-up, possibly to disguise the shortcomings of a costume which doesn’t quite chime with the fellow CG scorpions. Anjli Mohindra puts in a creepy performance and sells the psychotic nature of the sting-tailed foes, but she’s lumbered, like Sarah Parish before her, with a costume which isn’t quite fit for purpose. Whereas Parish was clearly immobile but definitely a spider, here Mohindra is clearly mobile but definitely not a scorpion, her tail only appearing in a couple of shots as a CG addition. It’s telling that we never see her in a long shot and the only scene in the episode that doesn’t completely work is the first one on the ship: there’s a lot of dialogue here but because of the shot limitations, it feels cumbersome and long-winded. When we get back down to Earth, things quickly pick up again as Manzoor broadens the scale of her storytelling.

Star of the show, perhaps unexpectedly, is Goran Visnjic, as the titular Tesla. He brings a real edge of class to proceedings and oozes actorly charisma. His turn as Tesla is affectionate, subtle and all the more powerful for that. He’s not doing the mad scientist bit; he’s inhabiting this very real man. Robert Glenister too, puts in a fine performance as Edison. He is almost unrecognisable as the Salateen of yesteryear and in the end both he and Metivier expose a little of his otherwise unseen charm. Sadly, after what I felt was a real improvement this year, Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor returns to a more leaden form of delivery, her hands in the last scene with Yaz doing more than her voice. Watching the two leads in scenes together (especially that penultimate one) exposes sharply the quiet talent of Mandip Gill, again excellent, and the overreaching, try-hard measure of Whittaker. She has more rabble-rousing speeches and history lessons to deliver this week and sadly, like the wet wedding speech in Demons of the Punjab, she just hasn’t got the patter or the power to make them sing.

Speaking of Demons, this is the first historical story of the Whittaker era to feel joyous, truly celebratory of humankind’s achievements. Rosa and Demons, whilst powerful, were understandably earnest and sombre. Witchfinders was haunting and Spyfall – Part Two serious and dark. Here, we’re having fun again and it feels good and so right for Doctor Who to be a bit more freewheeling. To encapsulate the differences in the miniscule: Rosa does everything it can, very obviously, to not rob Rosa of her agency. However contrived that feels, it would after all be distasteful. A fortnight ago, Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayat Khan were mind-wiped to allow them to continue their Earthly stories with ideas all of their own. Chris Chibnall’s take on history is cautious and careful, not wishing to tread on the toes of pioneers and heroes. However, that caution is thrown to the wind here by Metivier and Tesla and Edison end the episode memories intact, having seen a glimpse of a new world, just as Shakespeare was enlivened by the Doctor or Dickens chose to write of aliens in his final novel. This feels like such a positive shift after the worthier historicals of last season. Because who better to steal from, who better to look up to - whoever you are, however famous - than the Time Lord who stands for all that is good? Yes, we have our Earthly heroes whose talents and achievements should never be devalued, but can’t we also allow them a bit of fun escapism with the Doctor too, a hero to everyone?

When the credits role on Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror, there’s a real sense that the show has its joy back, that it is content and assured enough to be a rollicking adventure again. With such a strong script, beautifully rich costume and set designs, an extremely effective musical score from Segun Akinola and a new sense of joie de vivre, this is as lavish and confident as Doctor Who is ever likely to be.

8/10

JH

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