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We use cookies to remember your preferences such as preferred shipping country and currency, to save items placed in your shopping cart, to track website visits referred from our advertising partners, and to analyze our website traffic. Privacy Details. Doctor Who Short Trips: 2040 by John Binns. BOOK Doctor Who Short Trips: 2040. Editor: John Binns Big Finish RRP �14.99 ISBN 1 84435 111 4 Available 26 November 2004. In 2040, the human race has broken out of Earth's confines, with bases on the moon and missions to the outer planets. Terrorist threats are contained by ever-larger military alliances, using vehicles and weapons that can think for themselves. Large corporations are increasingly working as the partners of government, the largest of these companies being Perseus. But is this a good thing. In 1948, George Orwell transposed the final two digits of the year in which he was writing, and so titled his cautionary tale about the direction in which human civilisation was heading Nineteen Eighty-Four . In 2004, editor John Binns has done much the same thing with his anthology, Short Trips: 2040 . The problems and concerns of today are shown to have escalated in these stories. The twin threats of terrorism and nuclear disaster converge in The Nuclear Option by Richard Salter; neighbours and co-workers become ever-more distanced from each other in Tara Samms' Separation ; the intrusiveness of reality TV reaches new heights (or rather depths) in Observer Effect by Lance Parkin; the Seventh Doctor and Mel meet an eccentric cult in Xanna Eve Chown's Daisy Chain ; and numerous endangered species face extinction in The Last Emperor by Jacqueline Rayner. The instances described above form the main thrusts of their respective narratives, but in other cases pertinent issues are alluded to in passing. The nanny state has become even more health-conscious than it is today in Thinking Warrior by Huw Wilkins; sea levels have continued to rise according to Marc Platt's Outsourcing ; the European state has become a reality and congestion charging has forced most vehicles off the roads in The Baron Wastes by Alexander Leithes. In addition to the obviously Nineteen Eighty-Four -ish concept of 2040 , Binns has also throw an element from another Orwell novel, Animal Farm , into the final story of the collection, his own The Ethereal . Like the pigs that become indistinguishable from their former human masters, the aliens behind the businesslike fa�ade of the Perseus Corporation are revealed to be porcine beings posing as humans. But aside from its moral fibre, is this collection worth reading? Well, there's some good stuff here. Tara Samms, who previously excelled at depicting character-led internalised terror in tales such as Glass (in the BBC's first Short Trips collection) and Frayed (for Telos Publishing), to name but two, pulls it off again with her poignant and unnerving Separation . The Last Emperor is similarly moving. Both Observer Effect and Artificial Intelligence , the latter by Andy Campbell, are by turns darkly humorous and horrifying. The Baron Wastes is a terrific yarn, embroiling the Fourth Doctor in a James Bond type espionage adventure, with elements of The Avengers and Die Hard added for good measure. However, the other nine contributions either confused me or left me unmoved. The confusion arises because, although they are all set in the same year, the stories do not always appear to follow a logical sequence, from either the Doctor's or the Earth's point of view. For example, in Matthew Griffiths' Sustainable Energy , we are told that the Sixth Doctor is cut off from his TARDIS, but we are not shown how this came about until four stories later, in Outsourcing , which supposedly takes place beforehand. It would have made more sense to transpose these two tales. Furthermore, we never discover how the Doctor manages to get his ship functioning normally again. The concluding entry, The Ethereal , is guilty of telling, rather than showing, what becomes of the Earth after 2040, via copious paragraphs of description. Fans of the Seventh Doctor, and in particular his New Adventures , should enjoy themselves, because he appears in no fewer than five of the stories, often accompanied by companion Chris Cwej. In many other respects, though, this is a rather lacklustre anthology. Richard McGinlay. Buy this item online We compare prices online so you get the cheapest deal! Click on the logo of the desired store below to purchase this item. Short Trips: 2040. Short Trips: 2040 is the tenth Short Trips anthology published by Big Finish Productions. The stories all take place in the year 2040, and a number of them link together to form parts of a bigger story. The year 2040 was chosen in a homage to George Orwell's 1984 (in both cases the year was chosen by reversing the last two digits of the year of publication). The Nuclear Option. Roots: Paranoia about terrorism, especially Al Qaeda, and concern over US foreign policy. O, Canada plays on the radio. Goofs: Chris sees echoes of the alternate future, but Roz doesn't; the implication is that this is something to do with Roz's death ( So Vile a Sin ), but this doesn't make sense, since, as she notes, she is still from the same future as Chris. [Perhaps it's to do with Chris's innate telepathy first seen in SLEEPY - Ed. ] Continuity: The Doctor provides Roz and Chris with passports whilst in Canada. Roz doesn't know what coal is until the Doctor explains it to her. She hasn't heard of Chernobyl. Whilst in Canada, Chris dresses in a t-shirt bearing the legend "I am Canadian!" and a pair of shorts. He loves twenty-first century donuts and drinks espresso. Chris sees images of the alternate future where Collinson's mission is successful. Links: This story takes place somewhere between Happy Endings and So Vile a Sin . Location: Toronto, Canada, 2040AD. Future History: Turkey Point 3 is a notorious nuclear disaster that takes place in the 2020s. By 2040AD, everyone uses Personal Associative Networks, or PANs, as personal organizers, a form of identification, and many other functions. CIA agent Laura Collinson infiltrates the terrorist cell in order to assist their sabotage of the Toronto nuclear power plant, planning to stop it at the last minute and publicize the near-disaster, knowing that Canada will hand effectively over control of its military to the US, beginning the end of Canada's sovereignty. The Doctor stops her, hinting that he has seen the time line in which she was successful. Unrecorded Adventures: The Doctor, Chris and Roz have been in Canada for two months, Chris sightseeing, Roz drinking, and the Doctor infiltrating a terrorist organisation. The Bottom Line: Competent and topical, and it's nice to see Chris and Roz again, but the whole thing feels rather half-hearted. The criticism of the US raised isn't really explored very well, making it something of an increasingly common cliché and it feels like a wasted opportunity. Separation. Dialogue Triumphs: "Who does this Doctor think he is, anyhow?" "I don't think he thinks anything. He just knows." Continuity: The unnamed entity that haunts the domicile block is old, and apparently feeds on human drama and conflicts. It delivers its spores, which resemble twisted dark sticks, to the residents inside envelopes. The Doctor claims that it is had fed so much on drama and conflict that it is near to collapse, but warns that it will recover unless stopped. Whatever it is, it wants to be left alone. Links: PANs were first mentioned in The Nuclear Option . Location: An apartment block somewhere on Earth, 2040AD. Future History: The Buildworth Corporation owns the domicile block. The Bottom Line: Although Samms' prose is always highly readable, "her" tendency in short stories to substitute plot for character and leave things largely unresolved is starting to become tired. Separation is a decent little story, but it makes me nostalgic for the days when Samms provided resolution. Thinking Warrior. Roots: Greek mythology (Perseus, Castor and Pollux). Short Circuit (an intelligent military robot that develops a conscience). There is a reference to BMW. Continuity: The Doctor poses as CMO (Conflict Management Oversight) investigator. He is investigating Perseus for UNIT. He doesn't carry a PAN ( The Nuclear Option ). He has a jagged scar on his wrist (see /Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet/ and The Ethereal ). He likes tea with milk and two sugars. Castor and Pollux are part of Perseus Dynamics' Peacekeeper project, designed to create robotic soldiers; Castor is the alpha version neural network simulation, and Pollux is the beta version intelligence core. Both are artificial intelligences and have developed autonomous thought. Links: The Eighth Doctor is travelling alone, placing this story in the same gap as Shada or Rip Tide and The Eye of the Tyger .