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The Doctor and Peri visit a conference of lexicographers.
But the leading expert in the field is found dead, apparently
by her own hand. Is her hologlyphic assistant responsible?
Can the Doctor discover who wrote the suicide note, and why
it is riddled with spelling mistakes...?
And
so we come to the latest Doctor Who release from Big
Fin-
...ish!
Colin
Baker has certainly benefited from some excellent scripts
during his time with this company, far better than the ones
he tended to get while playing the Doctor on TV. Like The
Whispers of Terror - his previous adventure with co-star
Nicola Bryant - this story truly plays to the strengths of
the audio medium. Whereas Whispers concerned itself
with sound, ...ish concentrates on language. The precise
meaning of the words spoken is even more vital in audio drama
than it is on the large or small screen (which can, when all
else fails, fall back on visual means of communication).
The
subject matter, which touches upon both sides of the old "correct
English" versus "living, evolving language" debate, is well
suited to the pedantic Sixth Doctor, who continues to berate
Peri (Bryant) about her Americanisms. The Doctor pours scorn
upon "-or" spellings in place of "-our" spellings and the
use of "-ize" in place of "-ise". So perhaps we'd better not
tell him (or the author, Phil Pascoe) that "-ize" spellings
are advocated by Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, and were
regularly used in Virgin Publishing's Doctor Who novels!
The
buzzing, modulated voice of the artificial intelligence Book
(Moray Treadwell) - a kind of walking, taking super-dictionary
- haunt the listener for quite some time after the CDs have
concluded. However, some over-acting by Chris Eley as the
linguistic anarchist Warren undermines the drama to a degree.
Pascoe's
intelligent script, which is peppered with inventive and amusing
wordplay, is sometimes a little too clever for its own good,
and does get a bit long-winded and, well... wordy! As a result,
this drama falls short of utter brilliance, and ends up being
merely brilliant-
...ish.
Richard
McGinlay
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