The Top of the Tree

The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles #1.2

Released: 15 August 2018

Listened: 12/19/22

You might think, given the title, that this could be a Christmas story, but it isn’t. It’s another of Kazran’s Christmas outings with the Eleventh Doctor, but there’s nothing Christmassy about it, except for the fact that it takes place in a tree. A really, really big tree. With odd gravity, acidic sap, a huge insectoid ecosystem, and devolved proto-humans who crashed there a long time ago. As high concepts go, this one is awfully high. There’s also an absurd amount of climbing up and down the branches, which can get tiring just to listen to. In fact, as stories go, this is one of the most punishing I’ve seen or heard for both the Doctor and the companion. And given that Kazran is a once-a-year companion, you could probably forgive him for wanting to check out of the whole story, which he does want to, at times. But this is a young adult Kazran, and he’s developing a sense of altruism, which is the whole point of the Doctor’s larger plan, after all. The physics and ecology of this story is nearly enough to break disbelief, but manages to just hang on to the right side of it, and for that, it’s memorable. But that’s all for Kazran, of any age, in this project.