The Witch Hunters

It's New England in 1692, and the TARDIS has put down just outside Salem village. The Doctor wants to make a few repairs to the machine and bids Ian, Barbara and Susan to explore and adopt the guise of a family travelling together so as not to arouse suspicion, for strangers are easily spotted. In these superstitious times the people of the Colonies have the odds against them as it is, not having seen much more of the Americas than the east coast, and for four strangers to come among them when there are whispered tales of witches and sorcery and public trials for straying from God's word can only lead to trouble.

Witch Hunters was actually the first PDA with the first Doctor and company, this time penned by Steve Lyons. Having read some of his other contributions to the Doctor Who series, particularly in the Virgin New Adventures range, I was not sure how this was going to play out, given there has been a certain comedy element to some of his work. This is not a comedy, though, not by a long shot; this story is about fear, terror and death. This is also a story about how absolute faith and belief in something can create monsters out of people, most notably out of the people of Salem who are scared stiff by religious doctrines telling them that witches must die, and even the slightest accusation of witchcraft can result in someone being presumed guilty and their life ruined or ended. Ian at one point rationalizes the frenzy as an opportunity for some to settle old scores and have a neighbour persecuted and ridiculed by the slightest suggestion that they practice the black arts. Most notable in all this is the Reverend Paris, who believes one hundred percent that he is doing the right thing to protect the good people of Salem by presiding over the local witch trials and condemning accused men and women to death; his convictions from a modern standpoint make him appear a monster, and there is no real attempt to humanize him beyond his role as religious fanatic. It's hard to say if showing him in a less fanatical light would have made much difference; would he have seemed just a convinced man of belief or would he have come across as a psychopath? Runner up to him is Abagail Parsons, one of a group of teenage girls with whom Susan joins, and who secretly practice some witchcraft of their own, just to see what happens, and end up causing heaps of trouble. Abagail then becomes one of the nastiest little you-know-whats ever, manipulating events through suggestions and outright lies to see people put on trial and eventually hanged for their alleged sins.

Witch Hunters jumps about a bit in time over the narrative. The local date is cited to mark the passage of time here and there but when the Doctor first arrives in the story he has actually come from the future, the narrative stating that his ability to return here is a favour owned to him from "the Death Zone business". It's more retcon at work, drawing from the events of an episode from 1983, which from this perspective has not happened yet, and will be explained (of course) later. But there is still regular continuity at work as well, featuring mention of the fast return switch from The Edge of Destruction and references back to The Aztecs and The Sensorites.

The danger that eventually befalls the TARDIS crew is all Susan's fault. All of it. It's not often that one can be so definite, but this time she is the one to blame. Her teenage angst issues lead her to consort with the local girls and thus stir things up, and there are two times where they are able to be free and clear of the troubles of Salem but both times she acts out and drops everyone back into danger. Her growing telepathic abilities are bound to lead her into trouble in a society living in fear of the unusual, but it's her mouth that really does her in on occasion; she may be an alien like the Doctor, but she doesn't have his ability to command attention and sway people with words, and when she tries to it is never good. Her motivation is not out of some need to be noticed or anything - she genuinely wants to help and this time it is Susan who is fighting against the inevitability of history and wanting to change things. Barbara learned this lesson the hard way and reminds Susan of the ordeal they suffered in Mexico when she impersonated a god to do the same thing. The Doctor implies that they can perhaps make changes but would end up becoming embroiled in history altogether if they stay, and he alludes to there being laws about this sort of thing and breaking them comes with even more severe consequences. Ian later muses that they may already be trapped in history, that they were already fated to their parts before he and Barbara were even born and before they made that fateful journey to Totter's Lane in the first place. Destiny perhaps? Thankfully Lyons knows better than to try and pursue this point too far.

I originally read The Witch Hunters when it was published in 1998, but it has since been reissued under the banner of The History Collection along with a story from each following Doctor where an adventure in the past is featured. The reissues have taken an extra leap and not only draw from the BBC Books PDAs but in some instances are a reprint of a Virgin or a Target title which may not have seen the light of day for some time. And to go further, the new editions are starting to receive the audio book treatment with an actor providing a mildly dramatized reading of the story with incidental music, minimal sound effects (is this case crowd sounds, the TARDIS interior and flight sounds, water on the beach) and a bit of characterization to the lines. David Collings provides the voice for The Witch Hunters and does it very well, capturing the characterizations of the regular TARDIS crew so well I more than once found myself thinking I was listening to William Russell reprising his role as Ian. Collings even gets Barbara's occasional stammmer and the Doctor's penchant to flub his words down well, he just sounds a bit off trying to do Susan's teenage squeaking.

Given that there is going to be a lot of material to cover in the series I will go with an audio book along these lines where I can to mix things up, and if they're all as well done as The Witch Hunters I will enjoy it all the more. The dipping into the Virgin lines does remove a few novels from Big Finish's potential to draw from when they get their shot at adapting a novel to a full cast audio so hopefully BBC Audio sticks to stories where the lead actors are no longer with us to reprise their roles, and Big Finish is allowed to do what they do best and dramatize with a full original cast.

NEXT EPISODE: THE FRAGILE YELLOW ARC OF FRAGRANCE