The World Tree

"You're just a figment of my imagination."

Writer: Nick Slawicz

Format: Audio

Released: December 2022

Series: Short Trips 12.X

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor

Synopsis 

Nora Wicker is forgetful. Not big things – not yet, anyway. She remembers her address and where the shops are. She remembers people when they come to visit, no matter how rare that is.

But she doesn't remember where the bush with the red leaves in her garden came from – and she definitely doesn't remember asking for a house call from the Eleventh Doctor.

Verdict

The World Tree was a really strong Short Trips adventure! I’m a massive fan of the Paul Spragg Memorial Opportunity because it’s a lovely way to give new writers the chance to dip their hand into the word of Doctor Who and Big Finish. It’s always a Christmas treat to download a free audio too and this was certainly terrific! I must admit that I was a little disappointed before listening to find that Lisa Bowerman was the narrator for an Eleventh Doctor story, but by the end I thought she did a stellar job. That initial disappointment had nothing to do with Bowerman herself - I think she’s tremendous for the record - but because I was hoping for more Jacob Dudman. Of course, with the Eleventh Doctor Chronicles ongoing I shouldn’t be too greedy, but he really is uncanny in his likeness and impersonation of Matt Smith’s incarnation. He’s almost become synonymous with the role for Big Finish now. However, the story was far from being the Doctor’s here. Nora was a tremendous character and she was just a very sweet old lady who was missing her Earnie and getting on with the life. Bowerman played her beautifully and despite the story not having any kind of action or what felt like a strong threat, her personality and caring touch was more than enough to keep my interest firmly in the story and her character. I was a big fan of hers. The relationship with the Doctor was fantastic and I adored the way she worked out that he wasn’t really there in the kitchen with her. At least not physically. The psychic paper showing Nora that the Doctor was carrying his medical degree around was pretty amusing and he even seemed a little stumped by that. The truth soon came out though that this wasn’t the first time the Doctor had met Nora. Far from it in fact! They’d encountered each other well over 16,000 times but on each occasion Nora’s memory had reset. That was the trouble of inadvertently caring for the World Tree. The innocence behind that natural plant was very intriguing and the danger and damage it was going to cause without realising made it very threatening indeed. But it just did nothing, except grow. It couldn’t be seen with the audio format of course, so the beautiful artwork on the cover really came in handy there. The green was a very nice touch too. I liked how the Doctor was able to explain the dangers of the tree with it growing continuously with no stopping because it didn’t know any other way. Within a month its roots would destroy the entire planet! The Doctor not being able to contain it in space so trying to do so in time was tremendous. I thought that was genius and a quite brilliant way to deal with the threat it posed! The Doctor had created a bubble to envelope Nora’s garden and cottage that reset everything within it, meaning the World Tree reverted back to its size and hadn’t done too much damage within a day. Nora’s earlier realisation that the Doctor was a hologram was simply wonderful and her knowing that because of the gate not making its noise was sublime. An old lady at her best! She really was lovely and her relationship with the Doctor was so nice, even if she didn’t understand half of what he was saying with Blinovitch and a temporal paradox. My only issue came in the ending as it seemed a little too simple after 16,000+ attempts that the Grand Aboretum were just going to come and collect the Tree safely, but Nora’s feeling sympathy for it after it would be alone just made her an even more likeable figure. She really was marvellous and I’d love to hear more from her! The way she was telling Earnie a story at the end to conclude was lovely. Overall, a great adventure! 

Rating: 8/10