Jo is shopping one day when she sees a spaceship land — right in the middle of London. Two blobby aliens approach her and seem to know who she is. As she tries to communicate, she has trouble saying certain words.

Sergeant Osgood is left in charge of UNIT HQ, and notes an alien invasion. As he tries to inform the Doctor, the two of them also have trouble communicating. The Doctor notices that they can only say words using the vowel "o", and, as Osgood notes, sometimes "y".

While the Doctor and Osgood try to solve the mystery of the missing vowels, the aliens, known as Forty and Forty-Two, kidnap Jo and take her to a dark room where Forty, Forty-Two, and their leader, Two, subject Jo to a history of their people, the Kobolds. Jo realises they blame the TARDIS for the religious wars on their planet.

The Doctor and Osgood head for the Doctor's hut to work on a device that will block the Kobolds' signals. However, the Doctor becomes frustrated with Osgood and storms into the TARDIS, where he learns he can speak normally.

The Kobolds take Jo to the Doctor's hut, and Osgood tries to warn the Doctor. When Osgood asks, "Why?", the Doctor understands what has happened to the vowels. The Kobolds break in and attack the Doctor, and after they seemingly overpower him, they head inside the TARDIS. However, this is part of the Doctor's plan.

Once inside the TARDIS, the Kobolds begin speaking normally. But Osgood enters with the Doctor's proton box, which explodes, killing Two and Forty. Forty-two tries to take over the TARDIS, and the Doctor needs Jo to distract him. At first nothing works, but then Forty notices the roundels, and is distracted long enough for the Doctor to take him back to his planet, Procyon Two.

The Doctor later explains to Jo and Osgood that the TARDIS had once materialised on Procyon Two, and had begun the process of changing the native language to English, but as the Doctor was still exiled on Earth, the Time Lords yanked him back to Earth before the process could be finished. Therefore, the Kobolds could only use the vowels "o" and "y".

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Brigadier is on leave.
The Doctor thinks the Zygons or Ssorg might be responsible.
The Kobolds have met Ky of Solos and Lytton.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

A footnote attached to a moment where the Doctor notes that the TARDIS "took a bit of a tumble during our recent battle against the Master." clarifies that the remark refers to The Time Monster, thus this story takes place after that.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Short Trips short stories

BBC Books

Short Trips	Model Train Set • Old Flames • War Crimes • The Last Days • Stop the Pigeon • Freedom • Glass • Mondas Passing • There are Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden • Mother's Little Helper • The Parliament of Rats • Rights • Wish You Were Here • Ace of Hearts • The People's Temple

More Short Trips	Totem • Scientific Adviser • Missing, Part One: Business as Usual • Moon Graffiti • One Bad Apple • 64 Carlysle Street • The Eternity Contract • The Sow in Rut • Special Weapons • Honest Living • Dead Time • Romans Cutaway • Return of the Spiders • Hot Ice • uPVC • Good Companions • Missing, Part Two: Message in a Bottle • Femme Fatale

Short Trips and Side Steps	The Longest Story in the World • A Town Called Eternity • The Not-So-Sinister Sponge • Nothing at the End of the Lane • Countdown to TV Action • The Queen of Eros • The Android Maker of Calderon IV • Revenants • Please Shut the Gate • Turnabout is Fair Play • Do You Love Anyone Enough? • Dr Who and the House on Oldark Moor • Gone Too Soon • Reunion • Planet of the Bunnoids • Monsters • Better Watch Out, Better Take Care • Face Value • Storm in a Tikka • Playing with Toys • Vrs

Big Finish Productions

Zodiac	The True and Indisputable Facts in the Matter of the Ram's Skull • Growing Higher • Twin Piques • Still Lives • Constant Companion • Virgin Lands • The Switching • Jealous, Possessive • Five Card Draw • I Was a Monster!!! • The Invertebrates of Doom • The Stabber • Introduction and links

Companions	The Tip of the Mind • The Splintered Gate • The Man from DOCTO(R) • Apocrypha Bipedium • A Boy's Tale • Kept Safe and Sound • The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe • Hearts of Stone • Distance • Qualia • Curriculum Vitae • Notre Dame du Temps • The Little Drummer Boy • Hidden Talent • The Canvey Angels • Balloon Debate • A Long Night

A Universe of Terrors	The Exiles • Mire and Clay • Ash • Face-Painter • Losing Track of Time • The Discourse of Flies • The Fear • Mauritz • The Comet's Tail • Long Term • Soul Mate • Whiskey and Water • The Death of Me • This is My Life • Gazing Void

The Muses	Introduction • Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing • The Brain of Socrates • Mordieu • An Overture Too Early • Hymn of the City • Confabula • The Astronomer's Apprentice • Katarina in the Underworld • The Glass Princess

Steel Skies	Corridors of Power • A Good Life • Reversal of Fortune • Monitor • Dust • Light at the End of the Tunnel • No Exit • House • Deep Stretch • Inmate 280 • Doing Time • The Ruins of Heaven • Cold War • O, Darkness • Greenaway • Eternity

Past Tense	The Immortals • Far from Home • All Done with Mirrors • CHAOS • Ante Bellum • The Thief of Sherwood • Come Friendly Bombs... • Graham Dilley Saves the World • Bide-a-Wee • Mortlake • White Man's Burden • Of the Mermaid and Jupiter • The Man Who Wouldn't Give Up • One Small Step... • To Kill a Nandi Bear • Fixing a Hole • That Time I Nearly Destroyed the World Whilst Looking for a Dress

Life Science	Syntax • Primitives • The Northern Heights • Observation • Mortal Thoughts • Lant Land • A Star is Reborn • The Southwell Park Mermaid • The Destroyers • The Reproductive Cycle • Jonah • Scribbles in Chalk • The End • The Age of Ambition • Echo • A Rose by Any Other Name

Repercussions	The Time Lord's Story • The Ghost's Story • The Rag & Bone Man's Story • The Seismologist's Story • The Dead Man's Story • The Inquisitor's Story • The Gangster's Story • The Bushranger's Story • The Schoolboy's Story • The Juror's Story • The Farmer's Story • The Republican's Story • The Assassin's Story • The Diplomat's Story • The Steward's Story • The Tramp's Story • Repercussions...

Monsters	Best Seller • From Eternity • Last Rites • The Touch of the Nurazh • Flashpoint • These Things Take Time • Categorical Imperative • Trapped! • Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life • Screamager • The Colour of Monsters

2040	The Nuclear Option • Separation • Thinking Warrior • Observer Effect • Artificial Intelligence • Daisy Chain • Sustainable Energy • Culture War • The Baron Wastes • /Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet • Outsourcing • Anteus • The Last Emperor • The Ethereal

A Christmas Treasury	Last Christmas • UNIT Christmas Parties: First Christmas • In the TARDIS: Christmas Day • Water's Edge • A Yuletide Tail • Spookasem • Christmas Special • Never Seen Cairo • The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas • Last Minute Shopping • Every Day • The Eight Doctors of Christmas • The Little Things • UNIT Christmas Parties: Christmas Truce • The Clanging Chimes of Doom • Perfect Present • Present Tense • Goodwill Toward Men • It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow • All Our Christmases • Lily • ...Be Forgot • The Feast of Seven... Eight (and Nine) • UNIT Christmas Parties: Ships That Pass • Evergreen

Seven Deadly Sins	The Duke's Folly • That Which Went Away • Angel • Suitors, Inc. • The 57th • Telling Tales • Too Rich for My Blood • Seven Deadly Sins

A Day in the Life	After Midnight • Sold Out • Undercurrents • The Five O'Clock Shadow • The Sooner the Better • Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast • The Heroine, the Hero and the Megalomaniac • Waiting for Jeremy • A Life in the Day • Morphology • Making History • One Wednesday Afternoon • How You Get There • The Last Broadcast • The Terror of the Darkness • Visiting Hours • Before Midnight

The Solar System	Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus • Neptune • Pluto • Sedna

The History of Christmas	The Lampblack Wars • Home Fires • The Feast • Rome • Set in Stone • The Thousand Years of Christmas • Presence • Danse Macabre • The Church of Saint Sebastian • The Prodigal Sun • Be Good for Goodness's Sake • Ode to Joy • Nobody's Gift • The Innocents • Comforts of Home • Christmas on the Moon • The Anchorite's Echo • The Revolutionaries • The Gift • Callahuanca • Not in My Back Yard • She Won't Be Home • Saint Nicholas's Bones • The Long Midwinter

Farewells	The Mother Road • Father Figure • The Bad Guy • Separation Day • The Very Last Picture Show • Into the Silent Land • Wake • The Velvet Dark • Life After Queth • Black and White • Curtain Call • Utopia • The Wickerwork Man • The Three Paths

The Centenarian	Prologue • Echoes • Direct Action • Dream Devils • Falling from Xi'an • Log 384 • The Church of Football • Incongruous Details • Ancient Whispers • First Born • Dear John • Checkpoint • Childhood Living • The Lost • Old Boys • Testament • Forgotten

Time Signature	An Overture Too Early • The Ruins of Time • Gone Fishing • The Avant Guardian • Second Contact • Resonance • Walkin' City Blues • The Hunting of the Slook • The Earwig Archipelago • DS Al Fine • Certificate of Destruction

Dalek Empire	Kalendorf • Natalie's Diary • Alby • Private Investigations • Suz • The Best Joke I Ever Told • Hide and Seek • The Eighth Wonder of the World • Mutually Assured Survival • Museum Peace

Destination Prague	Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna • Room for Improvement • Life from Lifelessness • The Long Step Backward • Strange Attractor • Gold and Black Ooze • The Dogs of War • Sunday Afternoon, AD 848,988 • Nanomorphosis • Spoilsport • War in a Time of Peace • The End of Now • Suspension and Disbelief • Leap Second • Lady of the Snows • The Time Eater • Fable Fusion • Men of the Earth • Across Silent Seas • The Dragons of Prague • Omegamorphosis

Snapshots	Golem • Indian Summer • All of Beyond • The Eyes Have It • The Misadventure of Mark Thorne • Attachments • There's Something About Mary • My Hero • Plight of the Monkrah • Remain in Light • In Case of Emergencies • Puppeteer • Osskah • Piecemeal • The Report • You Had Me at Verify User Name and Password • She Knew • The Glarn Strategy • Salva Mea • The Sorrows of Vienna • Fanboys

The Ghosts of Christmas	Faithful Friends: Part One • But Once a Year • For the Man Who Has Everything • Tell Me You Love Me • The Cutty Wren • Do You Dream in Colour? • The Nobility of Faith • 24 Crawford Street • The Sommerton Fetch • Faithful Friends: Part Two • Dear Great Uncle Peter • Do You Believe in the Krampus? • They Fell • The Christmas Presence • Snowman in Manhattan • The Crackers • Jigsaw • Dr Cadabra • Far Away in a Manger • All Snug in Their Beds • Decorative Purposes • The Stars Our Contamination • Keeping It Real • Christmas Every Day? • Faithful Friends: Part Three

Defining Patterns	Machine Time • The Time and Tide • Losing the Audience • One Card for the Curious • Séance, or Smoking is Highly Addictive, Don't Start • The Celestial Harmony Engine • Mutiny • Numb • Closing the Account • The Great Escapes • Loose Change • Lepidoptery for Beginners • One Step Forward, Two Steps Back • Homework • The Devil Like a Bear • Stanley • Twilight's End • The Book of My Life • Defining Patterns

The Quality of Leadership	From Little Acorns • One Fateful Knight • The Slave War • Goths and Robbers • Good Queen, Bad Queen, I Queen, You Queen • The Price of Conviction • God Send Me Well to Keep • Peaceable Kingdom • Rock Star • On a Pedestal • Clean-up on Aisle Two • The Spindle of Necessity • Epilogue

Transmissions	Doctor Who and the Adaptation of Death • Policy to Invade • Only Connect • Gudok • Generation Gap • Lonely • Blue Road Dance • Tweaker • Link • Driftwood • Methuselah • Nettles • Larkspur • See No Evil • iNtRUsioNs • Breadcrumbs • Transmission Ends

How the Doctor Changed My Life	Homework • Change Management • Curiosity • Potential • Second Chances • Child's Play • Relativity • Outstanding Balance • The Last Thing You Ever See • The Shopping Trolleys of Doom • The Final Star • The Man on the Phone • The Monster in the Wardrobe • Suns and Mothers • Taking the Cure • Those Left Behind • Evitability • £436 • Time Shear • Running on Empty • Swamp of Horrors (1957) - Viewing Notes • Insider Dealing • The Andrew Invasion • Stolen Days • Lares Domestici

Christmas Around the World	Planet of the Elves • Exclave • A Visit from Saint Nicholas • Instead of You • Christmas Every Day • Mirth, or Walking Spirits • Do You Smell Carrots? • The Doctor's Cross Word • Dateline to Deadline • Autaia Pipipi Pia • No Room • Interesting Times • Revellers of Doom • Lost and Founded • The Best of Days • Conscription • Christmas in Toronto • Companion • Illumination • White on White

Indefinable Magic	Phoenix • The Power Supply • Favourite Star • Hiccup in Time • Shamans • The Fall of the Druids • Priceless Junk • Have You Tried Turning It Off and Then Back On Again? • The Reign Makers • Pass It On • The Science of Magic • Hello Goodbye • Trial by Fire • Death Sentences • Once upon a Time Machine • Mardi Gras Massacre • Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Re:Collections	I Was a Monster!!! • Apocrypha Bipedium • Face-Painter • The Glass Princess • The Ruins of Heaven • The Thief of Sherwood • The Age of Ambition • The Dead Man's Story • Flashpoint • Thinking Warrior • All Our Christmases • Suitors, Inc. • How You Get There • Venus • The Lampblack Wars • Life After Queth • Checkpoint • The Avant Guardian • Museum Peace • Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna • The Glarn Strategy • Dear Great Uncle Peter • Losing the Audience • The Spindle of Necessity • Lonely • Lares Domestici • Lost and Founded • The Fall of the Druids

Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Morphology_(short_story)&oldid=3728294"

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Infobox Short Story|
+{{title dab away}}
-story name=Morphology|
+{{real world}}
-series=[[Big Finish - Short Trips]]|
+{{Infobox Story SMW
-doctor=[[Third Doctor]]|
+|series=[[Short Trips (series)#In print|Short Trips short stories]]
-companions=[[Jo Grant]]|
+|doctor = Third Doctor
-year=|
+|companions=[[Jo Grant|Jo]]
-writer=[[Phil Pascoe]]|
+|featuring = [[Tom Osgood|Osgood]]
-publication=[[Short Trips: A Day in the Life]]|
+|enemy = [[Kobold (species)|Kobold]]
-previous story=[[A Life in the Day]]|
+|setting=
-next story=[[Making History]]|
+|writer = Phil Pascoe
-|}}
+|anthology = Short Trips: A Day in the Life
+|release date = 7 July 2005
+|prev = A Life in the Day (short story)
+|next=Making History (short story)
+}}'''''Morphology''''' was the tenth short story in the [[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]] anthology ''[[Short Trips: A Day in the Life]]''. It was written by [[Phil Pascoe]]. It featured the [[Third Doctor]] and [[Jo Grant]].
-==Summary==
+== Summary ==
-While shopping in Soho, Jo is confronted by three blobby Kobolds: Numbers Two, Forty, and Forty-Two. The [[Kobold]]s demand that she tell them all about [[the Doctor]]’s [[TARDIS]], but Jo finds that she is having difficulty communicating -- and slowly comes to realise that she can no longer use any vowels other than “o” and sometimes “y”. At [[UNIT]] HQ, [[the Doctor]] and Sergeant Osgood find that they have the same problem. Osgood is temporarily in charge, and when he tries to contact the rest of the world, he discovers that the problem is widespread. [[The Doctor]], realising who is responsible, takes Osgood to one of his homes away from home to work in peace on a device that will solve the problem; however, he has difficulty communicating with Osgood, and when he storms into the [[TARDIS]] in a fit of irritation, he finds that all of the English language’s vowels have returned to him. Meanwhile, the [[Kobold]]s reveal to Jo that the [[TARDIS]] once materialised briefly on their homeworld, Procyon Two; the three Kobolds who have come to [[Earth]] are survivors of the religious wars that ensued.
+Jo is shopping one day when she sees a spaceship land — right in the middle of [[London]]. Two blobby aliens approach her and seem to know who she is. As she tries to communicate, she has trouble saying certain words.
-The [[Kobold]]s force Jo to lead them to the Doctor’s hut, where they force their way into the TARDIS -- and in its shock upon seeing the interior, Kobold Forty-Two uses a word with a vowel other than “o,” and thus develops the ability to speak with other vowels. Unfortunately, Osgood then completes his work on the Doctor’s proton box and carries it inside the [[TARDIS]], where it explodes, killing the other two [[Kobold]]s. Forty-Two attempts to seize control of the [[TARDIS]], but when the Doctor tells Jo to distract it, Jo points out all of the roundels on the [[TARDIS]] walls, and Forty-Two, realising that he’s now surrounded by “o”s, regresses mentally and physically into a simpler life form. [[The Doctor]] explains to Jo and Osgood that the TARDIS translation circuits do not in fact translate alien languages within the minds of the travellers; in a typical piece of [[Time Lord]] arrogance, they actually reach out and alter the aliens’ language to English. When [[the Doctor]] briefly materialised on Procyon Two during one of his failed attempts to escape his exile, the process began but was interrupted, leaving the Kobolds stuck with only the vowels “o” and “y”. When the [[Kobold]]s arrived on [[Earth]], the [[TARDIS]] was reminded of its unfinished business, but unfortunately spread the effect over the entire [[Earth]] until the [[Kobold]]s had gone.
+Sergeant Osgood is left in charge of UNIT HQ, and notes an alien invasion. As he tries to inform the Doctor, the two of them also have trouble communicating. The Doctor notices that they can only say words using the vowel "o", and, as Osgood notes, sometimes "y".
-==Characters==
+While the Doctor and Osgood try to solve the mystery of the missing vowels, the aliens, known as [[Forty (Morphology)|Forty]] and [[Forty-Two (Morphology)|Forty-Two]], kidnap Jo and take her to a dark room where Forty, Forty-Two, and their leader, [[Two (Morphology)|Two]], subject Jo to a history of their people, the [[Kobold (species)|Kobolds]]. Jo realises they blame the TARDIS for the religious wars on their planet.
-*[[Third Doctor]]
-*[[Jo Grant]]
-==References==
+The Doctor and Osgood head for the Doctor's hut to work on a device that will block the Kobolds' signals. However, the Doctor becomes frustrated with Osgood and storms into the TARDIS, where he learns he can speak normally.
-''to be added''
+The Kobolds take Jo to the Doctor's hut, and Osgood tries to warn the Doctor. When Osgood asks, "Why?", the Doctor understands what has happened to the vowels. The Kobolds break in and attack the Doctor, and after they seemingly overpower him, they head inside the TARDIS. However, this is part of the Doctor's plan.
+Once inside the TARDIS, the Kobolds begin speaking normally. But Osgood enters with the Doctor's proton box, which explodes, killing Two and Forty. Forty-two tries to take over the TARDIS, and the Doctor needs Jo to distract him. At first nothing works, but then Forty notices the [[roundel]]s, and is distracted long enough for the Doctor to take him back to his planet, [[Procyon Two]].
+The Doctor later explains to Jo and Osgood that the TARDIS had once materialised on Procyon Two, and had begun the process of changing the native language to [[English language|English]], but as the Doctor was still [[Exile on Earth|exiled on Earth]], the [[Time Lord]]s yanked him back to Earth before the process could be finished. Therefore, the Kobolds could only use the vowels "o" and "y".
+== Characters ==
+* [[Third Doctor]]
+* [[Jo Grant]]
+* [[Tom Osgood]]
+* [[Two (Morphology)|Two]]
+* [[Forty-Two (Morphology)|Forty-Two]]
+* [[Forty (Morphology)|Forty]]
+* [[Tosh (Morphology)|Tosh]]
+== Worldbuilding ==
+* [[The Brigadier]] is on leave.
+* The Doctor thinks the [[Zygon]]s or [[Ssorg]] might be responsible.
+* The Kobolds have met [[Ky]] of [[Solos]] and [[Lytton]].
+== Notes ==
+* A footnote attached to a moment where the Doctor notes that the TARDIS "took a bit of a tumble during our recent battle against the Master." clarifies that the remark refers to ''[[The Time Monster (TV story)|The Time Monster]]'', thus this story takes place after that.
-==Notes==
+== Continuity ==
 ''to be added''
-==Continuity==
+{{ST prose}}
-While trying to determine who is responsible for these events, the Doctor name-checks the Zygons, Ssorg, and K’to. The Kobolds claim to have encountered Ky of Solos and Lytton while searching for the Doctor. The Doctor’s croft may be the hut depicted in the TV Action series of comics.
+{{TitleSort}}
-==External Links==
-''to be added''
 [[Category:Third Doctor short stories]]
+[[Category:Short Trips: A Day in the Life short stories]]
+[[Category:Stories set in England]]
+[[Category:Stories set in the 1970s]]

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Latest revision as of 19:34, 5 March 2024

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