The Tertiary Console Room: Review - Doctor Who

"New entry - ish. Three letters. I.S.H. Ish. Pronunciation variations: ish, ish, ish. Sometimes hyphenated or proceeded by an ellipsis, but in usual circumstances operating as a suffix. It has meaning, but is not meaningful in itself. Exceptions to follow. Ish. Almost a word, not quite. A fragment. Something slightly askew…"

…ish is a significant release for two main reasons. Firstly it is the debut audio script of Phil Pascoe, who brings a fresh new voice to the Big Finish range with his obvious love of the English language, and secondly that it reunites Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as the Sixth Doctor and Peri for the first time since 1999's Whispers Of Terror.

There are in fact some distinct parallels between this story and its predecessor in that the Doctor is drawn into a seemingly archetypal murder mystery and is wholly suited to the audio medium in that the sound itself is crucial. But where Whispers Of Terror twisted sound into a villain, …ish focuses on what makes everyday sound distinct by concentrating on the intricacies and nuances that make up the language of communication. With the story centring on a conference to present the universe's most complete dictionary, this facilitates the allowance of the dramatis personae to consist of linguists, lexicologists and logomaniacs which allows Pascoe to indulge his propensity towards language to the fullest.

The principal theme of …ish is the power of language itself, and Pascoe expresses this in several ways. The dialogue itself if full of unusual and distinctive words that alerts the listener immediately to how important it will be to the story and by showcasing the more elaborate nature of the English language, its significance is emphasised continuously. The ultimate representation of language throughout the story is the character of Book, the hologlyph sophisticated artificial intelligence behind the Lexicon itself, whose role it is to seek out and define every possible word and their possible connotations, and it's this which brings the story's danger. Like the best ideas in Doctor Who, Pascoe takes a simple idea - the force of words, or more specificly, the force of a word - and makes it seem plausible within the context of the story by introducing the listener to the idea of lexical transcendentalism.

Pascoe's script is intelligently written with the use of language flowing naturally and never seeming out of place allowing the wit and invention of the story to take prominence. The verbal sparring of the various characters throughout the play is a constant delight, and this holds the attention of the listener perfectly as they focus on the wordplay. The pacing of the story isn't quite as strong as it could be. The first two episodes in particular are very laid back and relaxed, so much so that when the development begins to gather momentum towards the end of the second episode the effect is more than a little jarring but the final parts are much more balanced and the build up to the climax is excellent. As the story builds and the threat becomes more apparent, the script is very clever as the loss of language very subtly creeps up on the characters and the listener until it becomes apparent that their vocabulary is diminishing.

The Doctor's role within the story is as the investigator, into both Osefa's murder and the circumstances that are revealed in light of that. This is a very familiar role for the Doctor and in this respect …ish is disappointing because it comes across as rather conventional, and while Colin Baker is wonderfully adept with the linguistic nature of the dialogue his performance cannot disguise the fact that there is little new for the Doctor to do here. That said, if you're writing a story where language is as fundamentally important to the story as it is here, then Colin Baker is the ideal choice for the Doctor as he is certainly the most vocally adept and eloquent of the ones available.

…ish is another strong story for Peri, as she finds herself predominantly with different characters throughout the story. As only the second story with her and the Sixth Doctor in the thirty-five releases to date from Big Finish, the combination feels very fresh and unusual thanks in part to the variety of companions that the Sixth Doctor has been afforded. On television, constant bickering plagued their relationship but, like their earlier audio adventure, Pascoe's script tones this down so it seems much more plausible that they would remain travelling companions as they enjoy each other's camaraderie, despite being divided by the same language. In fact the presentation of them here is so good, that it's a shame that by necessity they are split up for the majority of the story.

Of the other characters, Warren is by far the most fascinating as he initially appears to be an affable person, but it soon transpires that there is much more to him than just a keen interest in language. His motivations in believing that the collation of words into dictionaries, such as the Lexicon, is dangerous are very interesting and Pascoe conveys these well and creates him as a believable character, so much so that when the various twists that affect him throughout the story, they are most unexpected. Book is another interesting character who is presented in an enigmatic light initially, but unfortunately never really seems as threatening as he's supposed to seem which undermines this effect but the principle of the character is very inventive. Professor Osefa provides the impetus for the investigation that forms the story but aside from that she's rather a peripheral character even despite the methods of continuing to involve her in the story.

Colin Baker's performance is admirable, and conveys his satisfaction as he savours the veritable barrage of language the script offers wonderfully. He revels in the wordplay that he's asked to indulge in and given his powerful voice …ish is another demonstration of just what a magnificent Doctor he has become. Equally well served by the script is Nicola Bryant, who also gets to dabble in some linguistic dalliances in the course of the story. She seems more comfortable as Peri here than in some of her previous audio performances and there is a sense that with the compelling roles she has been afforded both here and in her previous story, The Eye Of The Scorpion, she has hit form and really come to terms with the character once more.

The cast of …ish is one of the smallest Big Finish has used for a while, but given the small scale of the story it doesn't matter because the script is focused enough not to need any more, and director Nicholas Briggs competently fills the roles of the non-principal cast members. Moray Treadwell proves inspired casting for the part of Book as his voice is perfect for the role. Combined with a subtle voice effect, Treadwell uses his authoritarian tone to convey Book's detachment well and makes his presence felt superbly. Marie Collet and Oliver Hume both play their parts agreeably, although Collet suffers from the periphery of her character and Hume (as Symposiarch Cawdrey) is likeable enough but there isn't enough depth to the character to enable him to really make you feel for his ultimate fate.

In a story where the emphasis is very firmly upon the dialogue, the music and the sound design take a back seat, but Neil Clappison, who has created both of these for …ish in the first Big Finish Doctor Who story he's worked upon, ensures that both are very discreet and understated matching the leisurely pace of the narrative and creating an appropriately evocative mood which often borders on the ethereal. The effects used for the hologlyphs is excellent, guaranteeing they sound distinctive although occasionally the sound design comes across a little heavy handed - particularly in a scene during episode one where the Doctor and Cawdrey are walking down a corridor where it seems at times that the footsteps effect is almost akin to running whereas the actors are clearing not portraying the scene in that way. But overall, Clappison's work is very promising indeed and as superb as Big Finish's regular composers and sound designers are, it's good that new faces are being used as it adds a degree of variety to their audios as different individuals bring different ideas and approaches which keeps the range fresh.

...ish is a very unusual play, and perhaps of all those that have tried, it succeeds the most at being a story that would only work on audio due to the fact that so much of it depends on what is being said, rather than being done. Phil Pascoe's witty and clever script is an intriguing twist on a familiar scenario that the cast and crew have relished in bringing to realisation. It's a challenging story, but also a rewarding one.