The Witch From The Well

 


The Witch From The Well by Rick Briggs

The Witch From The Well reaches Mach Eight very early on, and I feel like I never really caught up. There's a reason I've delayed on the Mary Shelley reviews, and well, it's been me relistening to this one, over and over, trying to get the Plot down. Three relistens, and I sort of figured it wasn't worth the effort to get beyond the broad strokes. Anyway, There have been quite a few stories like The Witch From The Well over the years. It's not ambitious, really, even if it opens up with such a volley of information you'll be struggling to keep track even at the end of Part Two - hell, if you really want to go pedantic, it bears a lot of similarities to the later Phillip Hinchcliffe play The Devil's Armada (which is better) and The Witchfinders. (which, I'm sad to say, is also better.) I feel a story like this should open up slow, atmospheric and methodical, and it loses a lot from the very, very, NuWho pacing it starts out with. But it's not free of good things. Most of which are Mary Shelley, continuing to add a beautiful gothic edge to these stories, even if she's relegated to a bit of a B-Plot here. The Eighth Doctor and the Witch-Pricker have some delightful scenes together, even if the Witch-pricker doesn't have much depth, he's excellent authority for the Doctor to pounce off of. The Guest cast are pretty good - Agnes Bates is entertaining, if undeveloped, and the oddly named Finicia and Lucern are a very creepy pair of twins, even if thanks to the plot being so goddamn fast, I did not comprehend most of their plan. Without a doubt though, the highlight of the story is Mary Shelley finding her biography in the TARDIS. This is the kind of bold move that you can only get from a companion who is actually an established historical figure - it's absolutely brilliant stuff, and really excellent character work for Shelley yet again. Maybe it's the fact that she is a real person, but the way she is written makes her actively feel like one of the most real companions. One of the greats, and I'm sad I'm 2/3s done with her. The title Witch From the Well is so evocative, the potential for this story is so vast, and the previous story was so good, perhaps I was expecting a bit much from (Not) Nick Briggs, but it's not the worst thing that I've ever experienced. It was fun. (On the relistens, I really got frustrated on the first ride through trying to follow it) If it really does feel similar to a lot of Witch stories we've had before. It's got all the right pieces, and it's not exactly rushed for time. If it slowed down at the start and let us catch up, we might have had something engrossing. Heck, a lot of people besides me like it, maybe If I followed it from the start, I might rest comfortably in that camp. I'll stop attacking the story now. 6/10 

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