Defender of the Earth: The Siege of Shackleton

"The sun would go on shining."

Writer: Una McCormack

Format: Audio

Released: November 2023

Series: Tenth Doctor Chronicles 2.04

Featuring: Tenth Doctor

Synopsis

The Earth is dying. Ravaged by the effects of climate change, the Doctor lands amid one of the most volatile era of Earth's history. With resources dwindling and tensions running high, the fragmented remains of humanity are poised to wipe each other out.

The Doctor wants to negotiate, but not everyone wants to listen him, and annihilation creeps ever closer...

Verdict

The Siege of Shackleton was another great little story to conclude the Defender of the Earth second series of Tenth Doctor Chronicles! This has been a very consistent boxset and the quality of the episodes individually has been strong as my repetitive rating reflects, but at the same time I can’t help but feel there’s something of a missed opportunity to give the Tenth Doctor a mini series of linked adventures in a more traditional boxset. I think bridging the gap of the 2009 Specials era in particular is rife for exploration and something could have been done there instead of the less exciting standalone stories. They weren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, they were all actually really strong, but the stakes don’t feel overly big in a story lacking some sort of overarching arc. Anyway, I don’t want to sound too negative as I thoroughly enjoyed the finale! Visiting the Earth way into the future at a time where the planet was so ravaged by climate change that even Antarctica didn’t have snow was intriguing. That’s a very different Earth to the one we usually see the Doctor defend, and it made him quite angry. His relationship with Natalia was very strong and I thought she was a terrific little character. The humour that came from him hitching a ride with her to Shackleton was amusing as he didn’t say a word, and it was quite a drive! So much so that the Doctor was so separated from the TARDIS that the translation circuit no longer worked. The scale of Antarctica is almost unfathomable so to imagine it as something of a last refuge for humanity is a little difficult to comprehend. But I liked exploring that far into the future and the way it almost felt like a feudal society was fascinating. Humanity was at its worst as even near its end they were separated into different factions and groups battling it out for resources. The anger that came from the Doctor when Natalia relayed the decision of council that they wouldn’t help their neighbouring town was extraordinary. It was fantastic writing and just what I’d expect of this incarnation, especially at this point in his life. I’m not sure just how threatening the alien scare was and the Doctor did try to sell it, but the locals were a little incredulous to the idea of extraterrestrial involvements. Despite the amazing resources required to build airplanes, those in Shackleton were still blaming their neighbouring settlement. It was rather extraordinary. I did like the simplicity of the conclusion and it was nice that even after a strong threat and speech from the Doctor, one that quite shocked Natalia if he was willing to go that far, he quickly reverted from heading in the deadly direction and merely muddled their communications and sent them packing. No blood was shed, but it was a little iffy for a moment! Overall, this was a good story and whilst I initially feared that it was going to be a bit of a diatribe about climate change, it was touched upon well and didn’t become the focus of the episode. Simply having the Doctor ask if humanity never learned and then Natalia blaming her ancestors was a good conversation and debate. A fine finale!

Rating: 8/10