8️⃣⏹️ = ENJOYABLE TIER: HIGH

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

“WHEN YOU SAY BOOK, I SAY…!”

...ish is tremendously original. There is nothing quite like it in Doctor Who or sci-fi in general. The 2016 film Arrival comes pretty close, and that came out 14 years later. Kudos to the writer Phil Pascoe (in his first and only contribution to the Main Range) for the ingenious originality of the script and the many clever word plays and intelligent jokes littered throughout the four episodes.

This story has one of those few plots I can't really wrap my head around. It is multi-layered and intelligent, yet confined and not too majestic. It’s something of a murder mystery with similar vibes to Whispers of Terror, but even more demanding. The scholarly quality of most of the dialogue makes the story seem more educated than most Doctor Who adventures, and the atypical subject matter is unlikely to entice first-time listeners. The first two episodes don't achieve much in terms of plot progression, but the two latter parts still manage to wrap things up neatly.

...ish delves deep into what could be described as intelligent academic writing, actually utilising linguistics as a plot device. It's a unique concept well-suited for the audio format, but it also takes away a lot of the magic of a science fiction story by turning everything overly complex and confusing. All this being said, there are some interesting things and concepts buried beneath all that pretentiously complicated dialogue, and the second half of the adventure turns up the dial on tension and the creepy factor.

The Sixth Doctor fits this story better than any other Doctor would. His obsession with language makes him the perfect candidate to save language itself. Colin Baker clearly enjoys himself in this one, and the intelligent dialogue (which could easily sound pretentious when performed by any other Doctor) fits his personality perfectly.

The other characters are also fairly enjoyable, especially Moray Treadwell as the ambiguous but creepy Book. Peri gets entangled in the intricacies of language as well, and Nicola Bryant provides another fine performance, and she gets a lot to do in the second half.

The atmosphere turns from complex and confusing to complex and weirdly fascinating. The idea of language itself being destroyed (as it starts doing in Part 3; the characters are slowly losing more and more of their vocabulary) is actually a pretty grim one, and clever writing makes the threat feel real. Much of the atmosphere is downplayed by the messy first half that risks imploding the entire adventure, but it's made up by the more tightly paced second half.

Things turn real interesting once the Doctor blocks his and Peri’s ability to say "...ish," which affects any word with that sound in it, before things are switched so that “...ish” sneaks itself into words it doesn’t belong in.

The unprecedented subject matter, brilliant acting, and surprisingly well-realised themes keep this story intriguing. Had all four episodes been similar to the first two, I would have lost interest fairly quickly and most likely given up on the story.

The climax is breathtaking, clever, and sharp, made all the better by Baker and Bryant, who put their hearts into the performances.

With a tighter-paced first half and a somewhat more coherent plot, this story would likely be another timeless classic. As it stands now, it is brilliantly original and surprisingly clever, but not the best example of an all-time great Big Finish story.