Death-Dealer (audio story): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox Audiobook

|series          = [[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]]

|anthology       = [[Short Trips: Volume 1|Short Trips: Vol. 1]]

|doctor          = [[Fourth Doctor]]

|setting          = [[Unnamed planet (Death-Dealer)|Unnamed market world]]  

|writer          = [[Damian Sawyer]]

|publisher        = [[Big Finish Productions]]

|release date    = [[November]] [[2010]]

|previous story   = [[A True Gentleman]]

|next story       = [[The Deep]]

}}'''''Death-Dealer''''', also known as '''''The Death-Dealer''''', was a [[2010]] [[Big Finish]] audio vignette read by [[Louise Jameson]] and featuring [[Leela]] and the [[Fourth Doctor]]. It is by far the shortest of the stories on ''[[Short Trips: Volume 1]]'', and recounts the time when Leela unwittingly paid to be killed.

On an arid market world, not dissimilar to a middle-eastern bazaar on [[Earth]], the Doctor treats Leela to a day of shopping. She struggles to understand the fundamentals of commerce, but then spots a weapon that appeals to her. Paying the merchant, Jason, she examines her new toy. Soon, however, she is slain by Jason's knife. The Doctor discovers her dead body and demands answers. A local policeman explains that no laws have been transgressed; Leela has bought a [[death-dealing|legal death experience]]. Soon, she springs back to life. Jason explains that the knife's edge contained not only a fast acting poison, but also restorative microscopic robots. Whole again, Leela returns to [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] with the Doctor, musing on the newfound appreciation she has for life, now that she has died. The Doctor, having [[regeneration|come back from the dead]] himself, can appreciate her point.

== References ==

* The story employs a [[wikipedia:limited third person|limited third person]] perspective, focused mostly on Leela, except for the period of time she is dead.

* The experience of her own death is a subject often explored by Leela. It's a major part of the character right from her introduction in [[DW]]: ''[[The Face of Evil]]''. However, it's a particularly strong theme of the trilogy of [[Companion Chronicle]] stories that begin with ''[[The Catalyst]]'', all of which deal with Leela's actual death. This vignette could easily be integrated within that trilogy as a bit of foreshadowing.

 

There are no definitive clues within the story as to when it might be set. However, because Leela has no concept of money at all, it would seem logical to place this story before ''[[The Sunmakers]]''. Her liberal use of [[janis thorn]]s might also suggest an early placement for this story, but Leela never definitively relinquished the thorns. Thus, this story can only safely be said to occur sometime between ''[[The Face of Evil]]'' and ''[[The Sunmakers]]''

 

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