‘THE STABBER’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Tom Watson and the Fish Talk to Him with the Sixth Doctor and Peri

This story is by Alison Lawson and it features the Sixth Doctor and Peri. I’ve come across Alison Lawson before as she wrote ‘A Long Night’ in ‘Short Trips: Companions’. She would later pen ‘Catch-1782’ with the Sixth Doctor and Mel. I greatly enjoyed Alison Lawson’s writing in ‘The Stabber’ here.

‘The Stabber’ focuses on the character of Tom Watson whose job is to inject fish from the lake with an antibiotic serum. One day, he accidentally injects his thumb with some serum. The next day, Tom feels great but then puts some serum in his tea. He soon has headaches and hears voices in his head.

The voices belong to the fish who ask him to stop injecting them with serum. Tom soon calls for help in his mind and after falling asleep; he wakes up to find the Sixth Doctor and Peri who answer his call. The Doctor has Peri joining Tom at his house for dinner with his wife Mary and baby daughter Linda.

I like how Peri gets to know Tom and interact with his wife Mary when having dinner at their house. It turns out that Tom and his wife are vegetarians. Elsewhere, the Doctor examines Tom’s serum-filled tea in the TARDIS and he works out a formula in order to block the side effects of the serum. 🙂

Pretty soon, Tom has the formula in his tea just as the Doctor and Peri leave. Tom’s headaches soon go away and he can no longer hear the fish. The fish are angry that he can’t hear them and that he won’t help them anymore. I did wonder if Tom would stop what he was doing with injecting the fish.

‘Short Trips: Zodiac’ is an enjoyable collection of ‘Doctor Who’ short stories by Big Finish, edited together Jacqueline Rayner. I can’t say it’s a great collection. The earlier stories are less good than the later stories, although I guess it’s a challenge to get into these ‘Doctor Who’ short story collections.

I didn’t really pick up on the zodiac themes featured in the stories of this ‘Short Trips’ collection while Jim Sangster wrote the introductions and links as Kasterborus. It’s not something I’m into, but the stories were entertaining enough and I’m glad I had a collection of stories like this to distract me.

‘The Stabber’ rating – 8/10

‘Short Trips: Zodiac’ (Book) rating – 7/10