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One of the first Big Finish stories to really take advantage of being an audio play. The end is a bit silly, and the pacing is a bit slow at times, but a really great play. It’s actually a shame that Scherzo exists, in a way, because …ish gets unfavorably compared to it, and it’s not a fair comparison.
Actually, I gave this one a relisten and I think I liked it less than I remembered. I really liked the way they play with language, and Colin sounds like he’s having a great time, but the way the story supposes that English is the most superior language of all time leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Nevertheless, I like a lot of the ideas in this, and a living language story on audio is always fun
I really love this one. It’s just really delightful in a way that’s hard to define. I love the wordplay and how much this one relishes in its dialogue. Every line sparkles and really shines.
Thanks Big Finish. I love language. Language is cool. And I like how this story takes language to silly extremes, inverting the idea of it and its origins. Oh wait. Did I say language? I think I might’ve meant English instead. And considering how English is currently doing with taking over the world, this story might just become more and more relevant.
I hope I’ve remembered all the English terms Book used. Might be useful for my English exams…
Gotta be honest, English doesn’t sound like a real word anymore.
Wait a minute… English… English… English…
It’s happening again! Nooooooooish
(I got banished to another realm or something)
This one was pretty good .…ish, I think the writing is extremely clever but perhaps a little too clever for its own good because while it really impresses with the use of language, I found the plot to be a little lacking.
Part Two and I’m quite liking the development of Book. Peri is written with actual intelligence and the Doctor is written to play to Baker’s strengths. A good cliffhanger too - definitely better than my memory, but not scaling the heights.
Finished the story last night. It is a promising start in Part One but the story really feels like it treads water across Parts 2 and 3 and a chunk of 4 before there is some fiddling around with hologlyph parameters and everything is okay again.
I like how intelligently Peri is written and the supporting cast are good but there’s a lot of telling us what is happening and not a lot of things actually happening. There were also a few bits where I lost track of who was doing what including how Ossifer came back to life suddenly which initially I thought was a flashback (like earlier in the story). As @shauny says above, a story which is probably trying to be too clever for its own good and forgets to include the plot side of things. It feels like the content of a short story stretched over 4 episodes.
I remember enjoying this story a lot. I appreciated how it played upon a “quirk” specific to Six with his love of language, but I agree with others that the plot was somewhere between decent to good; could be better, but also acceptable as is. I can’t recall the specifics, but I remember towards the middle of this audio it started to drag a bit and get confusing, sort of what @deltaandthebannermen said above. I still gave it four stars, though, because the concept itself isn’t an easy one to execute.
In hindsight (and if I had to choose between either to listen to right now), I prefer The Rani Elite’s take on an academic setting more than Ish.
I enjoyed this one, but feel like it’s got a better premise than its actual execution.
I really enjoy the talk about language evolution, and how it’s an every changing medium. I also like the ideas about how words/language has power.
Peri was written very well. I think this is the best she has been rendered, up to this point. She was intelligent, sarcastic, and really the standout from this serial.
I feel though that the execution felt a bit lacking. The middle of the serial felt a bit ‘flabby’, and the “virtual world” side chats were sometimes hard to follow when they were taking place.
Also the ending just sort of happens. I followed it, but it seemed to a bit of a wet fart.
The things I liked, I liked a lot. The rest just felt a bit meh.
A 3.5/5, but this may change on a re-listen.
My rating system
5.0 Perfect/Fav
4.5 Excellent/Fav
4.0 Very Good
3.5 Good/Enjoyable
3.0 Fine/Average
2.5 Meh
2.0 Bad
1.0 Very Bad
Started this one this morning. I like the ideas behind it and it works so well with Colin’s Doctor, but it does drag in places. One thing I noticed this time round is that Cawdrey suggests that Book write Osefa’s speech. Something that probably wasn’t even considered when originally written is that this could also add AI writing into the themes of this story.
Half done. I’m enjoying this, but yeah it is a bit verbose. Overflowing with ideas does not always make a cracking story. That said, it’s enjoyable enough. I like that the author remembered that Peri was going to college for botany. Anyway, I’ll probably have more to say after I finish the story another day.
Finished this today. It’s good, I rated it 4/5. It does drag a little, and if you don’t like word play and language and word games, it’s probably not as much for you as it is if you do. This is story that only really works on audio, and to a lesser extent, only with the Sixth Doctor and Peri. That said, it was still highly enjoyable, if a bit… dense.
So this one was a case of good idea, poor execution, in my opinion. In fact, it played like it had been conceived by person A, handed over to person B who didn’t really get the idea but decided to interpret it as a serious philosophical musing on linguistics but had to stop after a bunch of bits had been written, and then handed over to person C who didn’t talk to either A or B but decided to stitch it together with lighthearted humour and puns.
The 6th Doctor and Peri fitted the story but seemed a bit unclear what role they were playing, and I didn’t really understand the other characters at all.
Not bad, just… lacking in coherence.