From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   Since John Hall was able to copy + paste successfully, I'll test it   
   now.  Fingers crossed.,,   
      
      
   SHORT TRIPS: CHAIN REACTION   
      
   1 episode. Approx. 16 minutes. Written by: Darren Goldsmith. Directed   
   by: Nicholas Briggs, Ken Bentley. Produced by: Nicholas Briggs, Jason   
   Haigh-Ellery. Performed by: Louise Jameson.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   On a hot summer day at an English shopping centre, the Doctor sets a   
   coin rolling toward a pigeon. This simple act sets off a chain   
   reaction that has effects both minor and major on several of the   
   people in the parking lot - and attracts what should be genuinely   
   impossible interference from a particularly stubborn security guard.   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: This is a case of a story that's particularly well-matched   
   to its chosen Doctor. There are only two Doctors of the eleven that I   
   can comfortably see amusing themselves by pushing the rules of time to   
   test the impact of a simple coin roll: The 4th and the 7th. And if it   
   was the 7th Doctor, then it would probably be due to some grand master   
   plan to thwart an all-powerful villain, meaning that only the 4th   
   Doctor can really convince in setting this chain in motion for no   
   truly significant purpose.   
      
   Sarah Jane Smith: Appears (briefly), placing the story somewhere in   
   Season 13 or early Season 14. Otherwise, has no real role to speak of.   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   This story presents the Fourth Doctor at play, and it's a rather   
   engaging snapshot - the sort of thing a 15 minute audio Short Trip is   
   probably best suited for. It's easy to picture Tom Baker's Doctor   
   lounging against a wall, rolling a coin toward a pigeon and watching   
   to see what happens. Of course, like all good games, the chain   
   reaction he sets off has a purpose - a way for the Doctor to "win."   
   And like any good gamer, the Doctor plays until he finally beats the   
   game.   
      
   There is a complication in the form of the security guard, and the   
   guard's intrusion is used to create a challenge for the Doctor. It's a   
   classic three-fold structure. The first pass sees the most likely   
   result of a coin roll: Nothing of any consequence happens. This pass   
   also describes the basic setting (the parking area, the scaffolding   
   with the paint) and introduces the security guard as an irritant to   
   the Doctor's ploy. The second pass shows us the bulk of the chain and   
   the Doctor's urgency in observing the spectacle. I particularly liked   
   the detail of the three knots in his scarf, with a knot being undone   
   every time one of the major steps of the chain was completed. This   
   second pass ends by bringing the guard back and presenting him as a   
   more significant hurdle for the Doctor to overcome. And finally, the   
   third pass completes the chain, presents the punch line to the   
   Doctor's little game, and explains the guard's seemingly impossible   
   interference.   
      
   This very precise structure helps this minor little piece to maintain   
   momentum, while the portrayal of the Doctor keeps it engaging. I also   
   enjoyed the descriptions of the chain reaction itself. Each piece of   
   the chain is amusing, but nothing happens within that chain that's so   
   over-the-top as to strain credibility. There's no question of life and   
   death here: A woman will either get splashed with paint or she won't;   
   a businessman will either bump into a teenager or he won't; a young   
   man and a young woman will either meet, spark, and exchange phone   
   numbers or they won't. No lives hang in the balance, and no piece of   
   the chain provokes any actual destructive slapstick.   
      
   In short, tone and incident match. Chain Reaction is a light,   
   pleasant, clever diversion. Judged on that basis, I find it a   
   thoroughly enjoyable one.   
      
      
   Rating: 7/10.   
      
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