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Colin Baker often spoke of his desire for his Doctor to have viewers scurrying for the dictionary after each episode. Couple that with an American companion, and the result is ...ISH, the first Big Finish story from newcomer Phil Pascoe. Initially, the story reminded me a little of GHOST LIGHT, but with the cataloguing involving words rather than species. However, just as species evolve, so does language, and it's the hologlyph Book's job to define every possible word, which causes the story's danger. Amongst the story's setting of linguists, lexicologists and logomaniacs, we also have the Sixth Doctor and Peri, making their first appearance together since WHISPERS OF TERROR. Like that story, this is one that seems especially written to take advantage of the audio medium, rather than just happening to be an audio-only story. Of course, there are some familiar WHO moments about ...ISH, with a murder to investigate and the Doctor and Peri being split up for much of the time. Since it's over thirty releases since we last heard the Sixth Doctor and Peri, this is slightly disappointing, although with an even smaller than usual cast, it's also understandable. Colin Baker clearly relished the opportunity to perform a script that delights in its use of the English language. Not for the first time, Big Finish have toned down some of the brasher aspects of the Sixth Doctor's character, and there's a lot less bickering between him and Peri her. As previously mentioned, the Sixth Doctor and Peri spend a fair amount of time amount. However, Nicola Bryant still gets some good material to work with, and Peri is able to have some linguistic fun of her own. Despite these positive aspects, ...ISH didn't really work for me, and I'd have to lay the blame for this at the plot. The first couple of episodes open quite slowly, but Pascoe does increase the pace towards the end of the story. The concept of lexical transcendentalism also works within the story. However, despite listening to the whole thing a couple of times, I still found the plot somewhat confusing. This is not a complaint about the performances or the production, but rather the plot and script. New authors in WHO is something most of us would support, and since ...ISH isn't a complete disaster, I'd be interested in hearing (or reading) another contribution from Phil Pascoe. BACK TO THE TOP |
...ISH |
