Talk:Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror (TV story)

The Year
Not sure if this counts as the source, but the description of the episode on iPlayer states the year as 1903. However, knowing that this isn't stated in the episode - can we say that this story took place in 1903 for this reason or not? StevieGLiverpool ☎  17:36, January 20, 2020 (UTC)
 * The simple answer is no, because that's an out-of-universe source for potential in-universe information. The Doctor's comment about Tesla coming from 1900 can inform our coverage, but details in official synopses that don't make it into the finished story, as broadcast, can't count for us as valid sources for in-universe information. 20:07, January 20, 2020 (UTC)
 * However, we CAN state it in the story notes section given events in the episode in reference to the real world, as it currently does. --DCLM ☎  20:41, January 20, 2020 (UTC)
 * Before going to Wardenclyffe, the TARDIS scanner shows a newspaper with a headline about Tesla’s “signals from Mars”. A year is on the newspaper, but I could not tell whether it was 1900 or 1903. It would be fab if someone could determine that, but by itself would not give us an in-universe dating more definite than 1900s, given that the newspaper is from months before the story takes place. 192.0.133.244talk to me 21:17, January 20, 2020 (UTC)


 * At one point in the episode, a newspapper from the New York Bugl (rest of the name off-screen) dated 1903. The newspapper article is called Tesla: I Heard Message from Mars and documents an event that has already happened prior to the story (that is, Tesla recieving a signal from Mars. Surely enough, the year is a bit blurry on the journal shot, but it firmly places the story as at least 1903 (but not necessarily 1903 itself). OncomingStorm12th ☎  21:20, January 20, 2020 (UTC)
 * True. I missed the year on that paper. In real life when exactly in 1903 did Tesla receive those signals? And what time of the year does this story take place (since we know the paper is a bit old by the story's placement)? It could help us clarify if the year is 1903 or 1904? --DCLM ☎  21:39, January 20, 2020 (UTC)
 * Now that's evidence to set this story specifically in the 1900s. :) Real-world chronology does not enter into it, though. If we were told, within the story, that those events were in January, say, with this story taking place just a few months later (ie. definitely fewer than 11), then we might be able to pin down more. Anything without such a foundation in DWU evidence would be speculation and/or real world creep. Truly, though: nice find! 23:54, January 20, 2020 (UTC)
 * Now I've done a bit of research for that specific paper... or more like I've practically been searching the Internet dry... and I can't find a single evidence of this newspaper actually having existed. I've searched in at least 3 different "newspaper archives" for the paper's name and I even used the headline of the article mentioned and checked the dates of each paper. I found absolutely nothing on this newspaper. --DCLM ☎  10:52, January 21, 2020 (UTC)
 * I did a second round of digging around for some evidence of this paper, and still nothing. New York Bugle simply never was a real-world paper. I can't find a single real-world reference to that name. The closest thing I could find would be that the paper is based on either New York Herald or New York Times as they were around at that time and were/are New York-based. --DCLM ☎  23:35, January 22, 2020 (UTC)

I was looking through some officially released scripts for series 12 and noticed an interesting line in the script for this episode. On the second page it says: "CAPTION: NIAGARA FALLS. JULY. 1903." For some reason, this caption is not present in the episode. Is the script considered a valid source? Mpozd.spb ☎  10:10, May 28, 2020 (UTC)
 * 'fraid not, at least not in these circumstances. It's a behind-the-scenes document, not an independent way to tell a story, so it fails Rule 1 and Rule 2 of T:VS. Things which appear in the script but didn't make it to the final cut are held to be "deleted scenes". --Scrooge MacDuck ☎  11:03, May 28, 2020 (UTC)