Doctor Who's portrayal of Nikola Tesla overlooks a major issue

Note: This article contains major spoilers for the fourth episode of Doctor Who season 12.

In season twelve's ongoing bid to feature every major inventor in history, the latest episode of Doctor Who visited Nikola Tesla in New York, 1903.

Appropriately titled 'Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror', it sees the famed scientist introduced soon after accidentally contacting some aliens – unfortunately for him, they answered back.

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ER favourite Goran Višnjić brings Tesla to life complete with that moustache and the episode also explores his rivalry with Thomas Edison.

While battling the not-so-adorable Skithra, mention is also made of Tesla's various scientific achievements. Chief among these are his research findings, which led to the widely-used Tesla coil and his contribution to the AC (alternating current) electricity supply system.

BBC

Born in modern-day Croatia in 1856, the Serbian-American inventor became rightly known as one of the most influential scientists who ever lived. Doctor Who plays up to this a great deal, painting Tesla out to be a heroic yet tragic figure who didn't receive the recognition he deserved in his lifetime. Yaz, in particular, is affected by this, telling the Doctor that "it's not right" his contributions should be so overlooked.

This echoes a growing number of Tesla supporters who work to raise his profile in real life too, positioning him as a morally good man who fought against "evil" rivals like Edison.

Unfortunately, Tesla's story is much more complicated than that. Don't get us wrong: Edison was something of a tool. But just like anyone, Tesla was a product of his time, and despite all of the incredible things he achieved, he was also far from perfect.

A few years back, The Smithsonian uncovered an issue of Liberty magazine published on February 9, 1935, which included some of Tesla's predictions for the future.

Most notable among these was his belief that eugenics would be "universally established" by 2100 to "weed out the less desirable strains" of humanity. According to him, sterilising "the criminal and the insane... is not sufficient," and instead, marriage should be made "more difficult."

As Tesla put it, "A century from now it will no more occur to a normal person to mate with a person eugenically unfit than to marry a habitual criminal."

doctor who series 12 episode 2, jodie whittaker

Ben Blackall//BBC

Nikola wasn't the only historical figure of note to believe this. Many actively supported eugenics around this time, including HG Wells, Winston Churchill and the Nazi party, who would subsequently take the ideology to horrific extremes in World War II.

It's understandable that Doctor Who wouldn't explore this on screen, of course. At the end of the day, this show is aimed primarily at children and Tesla's personal beliefs in this regard had no particular bearing on the story. If the writers were to condemn him for this, then they could have easily attacked other historical figures who have appeared before on the show too.

However, there was no need to canonise him either. This episode clearly intends to make us sympathise with Tesla and perceive him as some kind of hero. Yes, he achieved some incredible things, but for a show that prides itself on educating viewers about history, it's wholly inaccurate and arguably irresponsible to worship him to this extent.

While we're hardly suggesting that Tesla should be "cancelled" for perpetuating the beliefs of his time, the idea behind eugenics is directly at odds with what Doctor Who represents.

It's like Matt Smith's version of the Doctor once said in one of his Christmas specials:

"Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space I've never met anybody who wasn't important before."

Doctor Who airs on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US.

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David Opie

After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.

In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.

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