Nikla Tesla's Night of Terror: aside from being better than last week's, I think there was a lot more going on too. It's a bit sad that this is noteworthy, but it's nice to see an ep with some conceptual cohesion. Mirroring the central theme, the argument between Tesla and Edison, in the showdown between the Doctor and the Skithra smacks nicely of competent storytelling. Felt a bit Davies era. (As did the Skithra, which were a pretty obvious reskinning of the Racnoss from The Runaway Bride. Right down to the Queen's particular brand of scenery-chewing.)

By my count, this is Chibnall's fifth historical, and fourth celebrity historical, in 1.4 seasons. That's quite a number. Not that I'm objecting, I think they're better than his average strike rate. More interesting to me is comparing the celebrity historical in Chibnall's era to those done by Steven Moffat and Russell T. Davies, because there are some sharp differences. Moffat's celebrity historicals are looong on celebrity, very short on historical (to their detriment, IMO). Churchill: cuddly curmudgeon with resolve and a cigar. Henry Avery: concerned pirate father, pretty much nothing of his actual depredations. Nixon gets the most superficial treatment he's ever been subjected to. We even get comedy Hitler, for goodness' sake. They're barely even theme park caricatures, they're so stripped down and sanitised.

(There is one important exception - written by someone else - namely Vincent and the Doctor. That one actually felt like it could be about a real person.)

Davies was more grounded in material conditions, so one might think he'd do better. But there's an odd quirk in his celebrity historicals - of his five such adventures, three of the names were: Shakespeare, Dickens and Agatha Christie. All writers. All mash-ups throwing Doctor Who into their own genre. It's a neat trick really, but it means that these aren't explorations of history, they're explorations of literature. If you take them out, the only other figures from the Davies era are Queen Victoria and Madame de Pompadour - not a lot for four seasons.

And then there's the Chibnall adventures. There's been a drop in the quality of the show, no doubt; but I'm going to say that this is one thing he does better. His celeb historicals feel like they care about the historical aspect. More than that, they strike me as being closer to the original intent of the show. I've mentioned before that at the outset, Doctor Who was supposed to be an educational show, alternating between imparting scientific and historical knowledge. In The Aztecs, the viewers were supposed to learn something about the Aztecs. The Reign of Terror was a French history lesson (more breadth than depth, but still). Viewers were intended to come away knowing more than they did before watching.

A single episode of the modern series, especially since it's now compulsory to make space for monsters, can't teach that much; but it can try to pique some interest. Moffat's historicals largely picked figures everyone knew and said "Here! You all know these two or three things about this guy!" (All guys, with one exception.) Chibnall, it's "Here's a figure you maybe don't know that well, but they're pretty interesting! Why don't you go google them?" I think that's a decently solid idea for the show in the modern era.

Some particular character points: I was impressed that they didn't fall into the temptation of making Edison a straight-up villain. In his argument with Tesla he presented a valid argument. When his employees were killed his reaction recognised their humanity, not their profitability. And he got probably the cleverest moment of the ep (clearing the streets). The writer is clearly on Tesla's side, but she plays fair.

I liked the Doctor in this ep too. There's a comment I came across that Tesla was the perfect figure to meet the 13th Doctor, because they're both basically intelligent, sweet and ineffective. That whitewashes Tesla, of course. Interesting, though, that I think that it's not true of the Doctor in this ep either. She was pretty effective. Also, she went the "one chance" route, without even clearing it with the companions first (as per Resolution). (Not much different from the Tenth Doctor, really.) It's a bit odd that copyright infringement is her line in the sand, but there you go.

This gets tricky. The Doctor needs to be effective. The Doctor also should be distinctive; every incarnation has its own flavour. Here the Doctor has an impact, but in the process, compromises her distinctiveness. She succeeds, but as another incarnation would. (I contrast it to It Takes You Away, where she succeeded on her own terms.) I think it's a net positive; stopping the monsters is in the show's DNA, and personalities can evolve. But right at this point it's just as well she's still the Inventor Doctor, so she still has something.

Casting: Goran Visnjic of course was very good, and he and Whittaker played well off each other. Edison was played by Robert Glenister, whose brother played Gene Hunt in Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes. This is not Robert G's first time on Doctor Who. He also had a supporting role in the highly acclaimed Fifth Doctor adventure, The Caves of Androzani. Oh! And the Queen was played by Anjli Mohindra, who was a regular on the Sarah Jane Adventures as one of the plucky teen adventurers.

Now THAT was a Doctor Who episode! Whee!

Goran Visnjic of course was very good

Also, funny! -- [link]

the Queen was played by Anjli Mohindra

Whoa! She was Rani! That's awesome!

Ok, that was awesome. Whee!

I don't know if it's been discussed here, or if there's something online, but a while ago I noticed that while most Time Lords have names, the ones who go off doing their own thing use "the" - as in The Doctor, The Master, The Rani ... has that ever been discussed?

Not having remembered that Jo Martin played Rochelle in Chef!, I am flapping my hands at Lenny Henry's appearance and making odd noises.

Jo Martin played Rochelle in Chef!

Chef! I used to *love* that show, had no idea anyone else in the US had even heard of it!

I enjoyed Chef! too. There are a few scenes that stick in my mind, but I remember it generally being fun.