‘Death-Dealer’ (ST/Audio)

‘DEATH-DEALER’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Dealing Death with the Fourth Doctor and Leela

This story is by Damian Sawyer. It features the Fourth Doctor and Leela; and is read by Louise Jameson. This is another good short story where Leela gets stabbed and brought back to life again. The story does run pretty quickly for ten minutes and is considered the shortest story in ‘Short Trips: Volume I’.

Louise Jameson provides a lovely reading. I enjoyed how Louise voices Tom Baker’s Doctor as well as Leela. There are also some interesting voices provided for Jason, the lizard-like death dealer as well as the policeman who comes to investigate what’s happening. Louise probably had her voice synthesised.

I became anxious when Leela got stabbed and wondered how she’d get brought back to life again. I wasn’t expecting it to be done so quickly. It was interesting how the alien death dealer Jason did this for a living in order to give his customers a chance to experience death. It was quite a disturbing concept.

It also echoes the Dar Traders who were featured in ‘The Darkening Eye’ and ‘The Death Collectors’. Everybody in the market place seems to be okay with Jason stabbing Leela and the Doctor is outraged by how Jason can do such a thing. I did like some of the sarcasm the Doctor had when he was speaking.

The setting for the story is an unnamed arid market world and it’s supposed to be not dissimilar to a midde-eastern bazaar. I wasn’t sure if we were on Earth, perhaps in an Arabian bazaar. I liked how the Doctor and Leela left in the TARDIS, since they reflect on the death-like experience Leela went through.

‘Death-Dealer’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Fourth Doctor was ‘The Revisionists’ (ST/Audio) For Leela was ‘The Revisionists’ (ST/Audio)	The next story For the Fourth Doctor is ‘Last Man Running’ (Book) For Leela is ‘Last Man Running’ (Book)
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