| THE WITCH HUNTERS by Steve Lyons |
| Story ? Synopsis: The Ship lands in Salem, 1692. Aware of the impending witch trials, Barbara and Ian don't want to stay too long, but Susan enjoys her time there. The Doctor concludes his repairs on his Ship, and then takes Susan to watch a performance of the play The Crucible. So horrified by events, Susan activates the Fast Return switch, leading the travellers back to the scene at the height of the trouble. Susan is accused of being a witch, and Ian dubbed a warlock for leading her astray. The Doctor heads off on a mission of mercy to plead a pardon for one of the others accused of witchcraft. He returns, but has to flee with Barbara in the Ship. They return after 2 weeks have passed, Susan losing hope, and Ian in prison. The Doctor and Barbara are able to rescue Susan and Ian, but unable to change history. |
| Review:- A highly-rated historical treatment of a black day in American history... The studies of history have been a frequent topic of the show since the very early days, and they arguably reached their zenith with the 1st Doctor, mainly since his first companions included a history teacher. What the MA and PDA ranges could do was apply a fuller examenation of a key period, whether there was alien intervention or not. Salem, however, seems a bad choice to me. As there were no good reasons for the goodfolk to suddenly go on a witch hunt, and no rational reasons for the afflictions of the children, then the question comes: what can Dr Who bring to this story except answers? Especially when the answer seems to be: it's Susan's fault! So, whilst the writing is undeniably competent, and the lessons pretty obvious, the point of the exercise remains elusive. It is scarcely shocking to put forward the view that the witch hunts were a tragic mistake, and to try and fob things off onto an accident of circumstance, Susan making a bad situation worse, is just an insult. The later twist where Susan is forgiven so that the locals can have a go at Ian as well does at least pad the latter half of the plot, and the exit of Barbara and the Doctor in the Ship means that there is some doubt over whether the travellers will change history or not. Amidst all this is the tale of Rebecca Nurse, doomed to die, but whom the Doctor mistakenly promises to save. As Barbara deduces, he ensures her fate, but what neither she nor Ian realise is that he was more deeply concerned for Rebecca than they would expect, or that he would usually allow of himself. This at least gives some real emotion in a story smothered by its own self-satisfaction. Long over-rated, this is average at best, and appalling at worst. Fortunately, Lyons later covered similar ground in the much-better Final Sanction. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |