The Doctor loves science as they are a scientist and inventor themselves. Throughout the history of Doctor Who, the Doctor has spoken about his/her adventures with scientists yet we never got to witness these stories until now. Tom Baker's Doctor joked about climbed a tree and dropped an apple on Isaac Newton's head thus helping him discover gravity. Colin Baker's Doctor kept George Stephenson on the right track against the Luddites.
In this episode we witness the rivalry between the inventors Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. Written by Nina Metivier, who is quite a new writer yet she does a great job at giving each character there moment to shine. She portrays the rivalry between Tesla and Edison well. Tesla is seen as a visionary genius but it thwarted by his own ambitions that was seen ahead of its time. Compared to Edison who is very much a businessman and appears to care more about money than anything else. With that being said, the only time he is seen to show compassion is when his whole workforce is destroyed in a matter of seconds.
Tesla is played Goran Visnjic who plays this character really well. We really feel as if Tesla is an outsider yet we want to really like him as he is following his passions and doesn’t want to harm anyone yet no one wants to listen. Haley McGee is Tesla's secretary and appears one of his closest and most trusted friends, her name is Dorothy Skerritt (another real person). We see Tesla through Dorothy's eyes and we see how much she admires and possibly love him. The chemistry between Visnjic and McGee is joyful to watch. Finally, we have Robert Glenister as the very commanding and at times ruthless Edison. This isn’t the first time Glenister has been in Doctor Who. Glenister once played Major Salateen in the episode entitled, Caves of Androzani, first broadcast in 1984. Overall, the performance from the guest cast is spot on and all really work well together and are enjoyable to watch.
What is very noticeable in this episode is that it takes four and a half minutes to set the scene. It also means it take four and a half minutes before we actually see the Doctor who appears from nowhere. She enters just like how Matt Smith's Doctor who as the Doctor comically blunders in. The plot of this entire episode it quite straightforward and easy to follow for once. At the heart of this episode is men and women of science joining forces to fed off an alien threat and invasion.
We meet a new race of aliens in this episode who look quite like scorpions, known as Skithra. We meet the Queen of the Skithra, played by Anjli Mohindra (also known for being in The Sarah Jane Adventures). This Queen is very reminiscent of the Empress of the Racnoss from The Runaway Bride. The Skithra are very similar to the Racnoss, yet they seem weaker in the storyline as they provide a threat yet they don't seem the smartest aliens we have faced. At one point we do think that for once the Doctor may have lost yet she always has something else up her sleeve. For once we had suspense of what may happen which we rarely get these days and this is all down to the writing itself.
This episode has a larger focus on the guest cast yet our main cast still put on impressive performances but they really do take a backseat in this episode. The plot is intriguing and our aliens really put the team in their places, thus we think they may have a foe that has outwitted them. overall, this episode is exciting and quite enjoyable to watch, it is clear that this episode has many similarities to the episode, The Runaway Bride yet it still works as its own story. We see two scientists face each other and save themselves from the Skithra. Strong performances, strong cast and overall strong writing which hopefully we will see more of in upcoming episodes.
