The Top of the Tree

This story draws heavily on A Christmas Carol and I would consider it practically required viewing to properly understand The Top of the Tree.

I didn't expect much out of this audio given this set isn't exactly well-regarded by fans, but I have to say it worked so much better for me than The Calendar Man.

The presence of Danny Horn reprising his role of a younger Kazran from A Christmas Carol was what really made the story for me. It allowed Jacob Dudman to really focus on his excellent impression of the Eleventh Doctor and the narration, both of which he is great at, while also not having him do Amy Pond, which is a relief since I found that distracting with the first chronicle.

It is also a brilliant slice of writing to return Kazran like this. There's plenty of room for adventures like this to occur within that episode, and I was thoroughly impressed by the idea and how much energy Horn was able to put into the role.

The rest of the story is fun, too. Kazran and the Doctor find themselves on a very strange jungle planet and must escape a series of dangers. It's the kind of thing that would either look terrible or cost and absolute fortune if done on television, making it such an excellent choice for an audio adventure. The sound effects really brought me into the setting and the narration let me really picture what was going on scene to scene, even if it all was very imaginative and alien.

I definitely think Top of the Tree is a bit underrated. It even has a great ending that I found nicely tied into Kazran's character in a fun little way. It was nothing game-changing, just a fun little detail to punctuate the audio adventure in a way I found effective and memorable. Definitely recommended and I am glad to know Horn had returned in another Big Finish, which I will definitely be checking out myself later.

Doctor Who – The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles

#1.02. The Top of the Tree ~ 10/10

◆ An Introduction

Christmas Specials can be very hit or miss. You could end up with a brilliant parody of Marvel superhero film, but you could just as easily get lumbered with a tasteless Narnia rip-off that’s as enjoyable as impacted wisdom tooth surgery.

I genuinely haven’t watched ‘A Christmas Carol’ since the initial broadcast, so I was excited to see what one of my favourite writers would do with one of the story’s key characters: Kazran.

◆ Publisher’s Summary

On one of their annual jaunts, young Kazran Sardick and the Doctor find themselves in trouble when the TARDIS is tangled in the branches of a very strange, very large tree.

They emerge into a habitat where myriad species fight for survival: an ecosystem of deadly flora and fauna, along with a tribe of primitive humans.

This is a mystery which can only be solved by climbing. But what will they find at the top of the tree?

◆ The Eleventh Doctor

Jacob Dudman once more delivers an excellent performance.

Careful is the Doctor’s middle name, he says seconds before falling through the branches of a vast and enormous tree! So the moron found a giant Venus fly-trap like pod and decided to ram his hand into it: his arm was stuck fast, all the way up to the biceps! When his companion also gets his arm stuck in the pod, the Doctor’s best idea is to break the one branch holding them in the air. Not the greatest showing of intelligence for the Time Lord, is it? The Doctor believes that all the best people are called awkward. He’s found a place for Awkward and her people to colonise, which just so happens to be Kazran’s planet in the distant past.

◆ Kazran Sardick

Danny Horn surprised me: his performance was stellar, and I would be totally up for hearing him in more adventures.

An earnest young man, Kazran has clearly been on a couple of trips in the TARDIS already: he mentions a previous encounter with the Draconians. He attempts to free the Doctor from the fly-trap pod, only to get himself trapped as well! It’s good to know that the pupil is as idiotic as his teacher: it’s like a Two Ronnies sketch with sci-fi undertones. Kazran worries that he doesn’t meet his father’s standards, finding it hard to live up to them, but is sweetly reminded by the Doctor that it’s OK to be himself. He’s completely floored when he realises that Awkward and her people are his ancestors, and then he realises that he just helped to found his own society.

◆ Hostile Environment

The interesting thing about this episode is that it doesn’t include an antagonist. Instead, it focuses on the hostile environment the Doctor and Kazran find themselves in. It seems like the only thing that could kill them is fall damage, but then you realise that the trees leak sap every so often… and the sap can chemically boil human beings!

That’s fine though: our dynamic duo are in peak physical condition, so they can easily clamber up to the canopies. Unfortunately, the trees are so tall that the canopies reach above the atmosphere… where there is no oxygen.

Simon Guerrier has created a planet that wants to kill the Doctor and Kazran at every opportunity. You either get boiled alive or suffocate, which both sound like incredibly nasty ways to go!

◆ Sound Design

The Doctor and Kazran find themselves trapped on a beautiful planet, but one which is incredibly dangerous too. Fox and Yason convey this perfectly with their sound design.

The enormous jungle is rather lively; buzzing insects, chirruping critters, and the cawing and chirping of birds sitting amongst the leaves. The fly-trap pods contain squelching digestive juices, and it’s as disgusting as it sounds. Laughter from the young tribal people as they swing through the trees. Scarlet bugs and blue insects scuttle their way upwards, desperately trying to escape the fowl tree sap. A low fizzing comes from the sap.

◆ Music

Wind instruments and the steady tapping of an animal skin drum. There is something wonderfully tribal about this score. Ioan Morris also includes a more comedic piece during the early scenes, when the Doctor and Kazran interact: it’s like listening to an inept pupil and his equally inept teacher!

◆ Conclusion

“All will climb, but the old have purpose.”

An enormous jungle stretching across an entire planet. Initially, it seems like the only danger to the Doctor and Kazran will be fall damage… but then the deadly tree sap starts rising, threatening to boil them alive. It’s not like they can retreat to the tree canopies either: they reach so high into the atmosphere that you’d suffocate from lack of oxygen!

Simon Guerrier has something of a reputation to uphold. I can easily class him amongst my favourite writers for Doctor Who, and this is another winner for him. Dudman and Horn work amazingly together, but it’s the setting that really stole the show: a truly hostile environment. Highly recommend this one.