Shellshock

Fourth Doctor Adventures #11.4

Released: 21 June 2022

Listened: 6/25/22

The Doctor unexpectedly finds himself in World War I in France, and of course in No Man’s Land, because that’s how these stories always go. This time, though, when the Doctor is knocked unconscious by shelling, he’s taken to a German hospital instead of an English one. Not that it really matters, because something alien is going on that’s affecting both sides equally, but it’s interesting to see the story from the German point of view. He gains a nurse, Hanna Schumann, as a temporary companion, and it’s kind of hard not to see parallels with Molly O’Sullivan, but he won’t meet her for some time yet. Hanna is very patriotic and dedicated to duty, but also believes in doing the right thing, and very willing to give the Doctor sass when he acts oddly or doesn’t explain things, which is most of the time. Much of the story is spent unraveling the mystery, and traveling back and forth through No Man’s Land, which does get a bit tedious after a while. But there really aren’t any baddies to speak of, which is an interesting twist on this kind of story.