Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror Quiz

Answer: Niagara Falls

The story starts at Niagara Falls, where Tesla has built a hydro-electric station. He is seeking investors for his new project, but many are skeptical after reports Tesla has had contact with extra-terrestrials. The Doctor enters the picture after Tesla finds a mysterious orb.

This part of the story (sans extra-terrestrials) is real history. Tesla did design the world's first hydro-electric power plant at Niagara Falls. There is a monument to Tesla on Goat Island, which is in the Niagara River. It was hailed as one of the most remarkable engineering achievements in human history.

Answer: Dorothy Skerritt

Dorothy Skerritt really was Nikola Tesla's personal secretary. In "Night of Terror," Dorothy tried to calm her somewhat temperamental boss, while being fiercely loyal to the scientist. Dorothy Skerritt was played by Haley McGee.

Margaret Cheney wrote a notable biography of Tesla called "Tesla: Man Out of Time" (2001). Nikki Wilson was the producer at the BBC for the episode. Dorothy Gale "Ace" McShane was the companion of the Seventh Doctor, starting with "Dragonfire" (1987).

Answer: New York City

They wind up in New York, where the Doctor waxes rhapsodic about the romance of early 20th century Manhattan. She does note that the Empire State Building is not yet around, but that Central Park already is.

The Doctor has been a regular visitor to New York. The Tenth Doctor visited 1930 Manhattan with Martha Jones in "Daleks in Manhattan" (2007) and the Eleventh Doctor visited with Amy and Rory in both 1937 and 2012 in "The Angels Take Manhattan" (2012).

Answer: Thassor

The Doctor identified it as an Orb of Thassor, an object of one of the oldest races in the universe. The Thassor left them as information sources, similar to Cybermen infostamps. The aliens invading Earth used it as bait to track Tesla, so they could abduct him.

Thals were the peaceful residents of Skaro, who were wiped out in a war with the Daleks. Tharils are a race of E-Space residents who were helped by the Fourth Doctor and Romana in "Warrior's Gate" (1981). Trantor is the center of the universe in the Issac Asimov "Foundation" series.

Answer: Skithra

The Skithra are a scavenger race, who steal what they need, and then have to abduct engineers to fix their ship when it breaks down. The Skithra abducted Tesla with hopes that he could repair their ship and upgrade its weapon systems. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" used a similar scenario in "The Samaritan Snare" (1989) with a race called the Pakled.

The Racnoss were a spider-like race who bore similarities with the aliens in "Tesla's Night of Terror" ("The Runaway Bride (2006)). The Shakri, known as the "pest controllers of the universe" appeared in "The Power of Three" (2012).

Answer: Wardenclyffe

The last third of "Tesla's Night of Terror" takes place at Wardenclyffe, his Long Island laboratory. The labor features an enormous tower that generates electro-magnetic waves, that Tesla hopes to use to create a global communications network. The tower comes in handy later when they need to attack the alien spaceship.

Wardenclyffe was a real laboratory and the tower was real, existing between 1902 and 1917. Wardenclyffe was in Shoreham, on eastern Long Island.

Ferne Clyffe is a state park in Illinois. Wardenburg is a village in Germany. Heath is the male protagonist of the Emily Bronte novel "Wuthering Heights" (1847).

Answer: scorpions

The Skithra bear a striking resemblance to scorpions. However, the ones who attack our heroes are about one hundred times larger than normal. The Doctor is able to keep them from attacking by using the force fields of the TARDIS (remarkably useful, that blue box is). Until she has to drop the force fields to zap the alien spaceship. Things got tricky at that point.

Answer: future

Yazmin is somewhat depressed when the Doctor informs her that Tesla remains neglected by history despite the fact his invention saved the world. The Doctor encourages him to keep on inventing, and Tesla closes with this upbeat statement.

Most of the historical information about Tesla was correct. He was a naturalized citizen, he did work for Thomas Edison (and Edison shafted him), the locations of his installations were all accurate. Sadly, the Doctor was right about Tesla's fate; he did die in poverty in January 1943.

However, in 1960 a measure of magnetic flux density was named after him. Since the 1980s, there has been growing interest in Tesla's ideas, which were clearly decades ahead of their time.

Answer: Goran Visnjic

Goran Visnjic, a native of Croatia, played Tesla. Science Fiction fans know him as Garcia Flynn from the NBC series "Timeless" (2016-18) although he gained his first notable exposure in the US as doctor Luka Kovac in "ER" (1999-2009). This is actually excellent casting, as Tesla was also born in Croatia and emigrated to the United States.

Glenister played the rather more famous Thomas Edison. The episode gave a fairly accurate presentation of the relationship between Edison and Tesla. Glenister began working in British television in 1978 and is probably best known as Ash Morgan in "Hustle" (2004-12).

Ray Holman was the costume designer for the episode. He began working full time on "Doctor Who" during the 2010 season. Other shows Holman has worked on include "Broadchurch" (2013-17) and "Wizards vs Aliens" (2012-14). Jonathon Young played Tesla in the Canadian science fiction series "Sanctuary" (2008-11).

Answer: Nida Manzoor

Nida Manzoor directed "Night of Terror" (2020). She also directed several episodes of the comedy series "Enterprice" (2017-18) and wrote several episodes of the comedy/mystery series "Dixi" (2016).

Nina Metivier wrote the script of "Night of Terror." (2020). Metiver worked together with Maznoor as the producer of "Dixi" (2014-17). She also wrote about half the show's episodes. Metivier's other writing credits include "The A-List" (2018).

Amjli Mohindra was the Queen of the Skithra. A remarkably attractive young actress when she's not covered in alien makeup, Monindra began working in British television in 2006. Fans of "The Sara Jane Adventures" (2008-11) may remember her as Rani.

Emma Sullivan is the director of episodes 7 and 8 during series 12. More on her when the episodes air.