NuWho Review: Series 4 Episode 2 "The Fires Of Pompeii"

By: James Moran

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

         I feel like this is an episode that very often gets overlooked when people are discussing Doctor Who. And that's a shame because it's really quite a little jewel. The location is beautiful, the special effects stunning, and in places it is more emotional than a Steven Moffat season finale!

          What's the story? The Doctor and Donna land in what they think is Ancient Rome to do some sightseeing (The Doctor, by the way, makes some funny remarks about the Great Fire of Rome that are a reference to a great Classic Story), only to discover that they are in fact in the ancient city of Pompeii only one day before Volcano Day. Where is Captain Jack when they need him?

        From there on out things play out pretty much like you think they will. There's some debating about whether or not to try and warn people, there's meeting up with the obligatory family to give personal investment to the doomed-to-die residents of Pompeii, and there's your climax complete with Vesuvius lava monsters and the mountain spectacularly blowing its top. What makes this episode so great is the execution. The location is beautiful, the characters are memorable, and the dilemma that The Doctor and Donna face isn't exactly what we're all expecting it to be. David Tennant and Catherine Tate are the dream team together. Three episodes into Donna and they already fit together like peanut butter and jelly on crackers.

       This episode also has the distinction of being the Doctor Who premiers of Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) and Peter Capaldi (13th Doctor). So there's that too.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- "Hold on a minute, that sign over there's in English. Are you having me on, are we in Epcot?" Oh, Donna! I really do identify with you because, if I'm honest with myself, that would probably be my reaction too.

- Fun Fact: they actually traveled to Rome to shoot this episode. It was the first Doctor Who story to be filmed abroad and they used the set of the series entitled Rome to lend a higher feel of authenticity to the episode. Clearly it worked.

- Donna asks all the smart questions too. Like if the TARDIS translates for everyone (like into Latin) what happens when you say something in the language your English is being translated to (like 'Veni, Vidi, Vici'). Turns out, it just sounds like you're speaking 'Celtic'...

- As soon as The Doctor said 'We're in Pompeii and it's Volcano Day', I couldn't help but think of what Captain Jack said about Pompeii being a good place to stage one of his self-cleaning cons.

- I like how Donna, as soon as she finds out where they are, doesn't turn tail and run. No, her first thought is to stage a big announcement and warn as many people as she can. The Doctor, on the other hand, is surprisingly reluctant. He's the one who wants to run away because he knows that this is a fixed point in time that can't be fixed. Donna, of course, immediately takes him to task on it.

- "But that's what you do. You're The Doctor! You save people!" Poor Donna had her eyes opened to the true nature of Time Travel very, very quickly after joining the TARDIS. And, to her credit, she doesn't let it ruin her. No. If anything, she just becomes more determined than ever to save someone.

- Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) plays the most prominent soothsayer in this episode. She's disguised pretty well by that makeup...but nothing can hide her fiery red hair.

- Somehow I find it rather funny that the soothsayer's babbling about prophecies is then interrupted with the words 'the blue box'. One of these things is not like the other.

- I also love the design of the Sybil's temple. It's almost a hellish environment with the fires and smoke and incense, but it's also strangely exotic and beautiful.

- Caecilius and his entire family are named after another fictional family in a set of Latin textbooks.

- He buys the TARDIS from that (hilarious) shopkeeper because he thinks it is 'modern art'. I laughed so hard whenever he ordered honey and a dormouse from a servant just because he was trying to hard to not let his wife's disapproval of his purchase wreck his good mood. This family may seem a bit too 'modern nuclear' to some...but this is Doctor Who and all of the characters are fully-fledged and likable, so I don't see anything to complain about. It makes them more relatable.

- Oh. And I will forever love him for this scene:

 

 

- I think that just defined The Doctor and Donna's entire relationship!

- Some of the scenes in this episode are very reminiscent of Mary Poppins, what with the family taking 'positions' to defend their valuables from the quakes. Priceless!

- The Doctor's attempts to 'confiscate' the TARDIS never fail to make me laugh. It's doubly funny now, given what Peter Capaldi's new role is. It's almost like The Doctor is arguing with himself...

- Lucius Petrus Dextrus? Literally translated 'Light Stone Hand'? Huh. That's either really clever or really stupid. The jury's still out on which, though.

- The entire soothsaying scene where Lucius and Evelina are going head to head in 'deducing' The Doctor and Donna is one of my favorites. I love the way they manage to put a fantastical spin on every title that the two travelers could possibly hold. Even the Medusa Cascade reference didn't feel shoe-horned in.

- The little friendship that Donna and Evelina strike up is also quite sweet. And actually feels natural, not like the writers are just trying to give us personal stakes in the ancient tragedy of Pompeii (even if that is exactly what they're trying to do). The friendship is given time to grow and develop and so it feels more real than some of the things the writers tried to give poor Martha and Rose. Some relationships work and some really don't, but this is one of the ones that does.

- I also love how, despite all of The Doctor's warnings, Donna just can't help herself and tries to warn Evelina and her family anyway.

- The Doctor and the son of the family, Quintus, also get a bit of bonding time. It is a joy to watch the petulant, bored Quintus find his hero in The Doctor and start to come out of his narcissistic personality and grow into a man over the course of the episode. Character growth done right!

- I think by far my favorite funny moment from this episode happens when Donna is dragged into the Sybil Temple and is about to be used as a sacrifice:
Priestess: "And this prattling tongue will be silenced!"
Doctor: "That'll be the day..."

- Also: "You fought him off with a water pistol? I bloody LOVE you!"

- Actually, when you think about it, that weapon of choice makes a lot of sense. The Screwdriver doesn't do wood (and I'll bet it doesn't do lava either) so water would be the logical choice. As to where he did that water pistol without it leaking on him? I got nothing...

- The design of the Pyroviles is very interesting. They're literally big stone demons lit aflame by lava. And, of course, they're trying to take over the world. (No I am not going to resurrect that meme again.)

- By far the best part of this episode comes at the pre-climax. The Doctor and Donna realize that Vesuvius is never going to erupt unless they make it happen. They have to choose between Pompeii (and Caecilius' family) and the world. Of course you KNOW what their choice will be, but that doesn't make it any less heart-wrenching.

- And it gets even worse...

- That is why I love Donna Noble. It's not because of her slaps or her sass or the fact that she is a slightly more mature woman who's not interested in romance. It's because, on her first voyage out, Donna Noble was prepared to sacrifice herself with The Doctor for the good of all humanity. It wasn't because she had no choice. He would have given her time to run and get back to the TARDIS before he pressed that lever. It was because she didn't want him to carry the burden of responsibility alone. So gently she puts her hands on top of his and they push together.

- And then, of course, all hell breaks loose with the force of an exploding volcano. Hot ash rains down on the city, burning houses and burying people as they run for shelter. Children scream, mothers cry, and men fight to breath in the scorching air. This episode beats out ANY of the volcano disaster films that have come out over the course of the years.

- The Doctor and Donna do survive, naturally, and they have to run back through the city to get to the TARDIS. This does two things. First of all it heightens the tension, because they're running towards the danger instead of away, and secondly it gives us a chance to see and experience the devastation first hand.

- The Doctor is very closed off from it all, striding his way through the streets with a frighteningly dead expression and focused on one goal: getting to the TARDIS and running away. Thinking about it, this probably feels like he's back in the Time War again and he can't bear to watch another city be razed at his hand. Donna, on the other hand, is still trying to save the people. She tries to warn them to run as far away as they can, not back inside their houses, she tries to rescue a little boy from the flames only to have him ripped away by his mother. It's a tough scene to watch, really it is.

- What is really hard to watch, though, is when The Doctor gets back to Caelicius' house and stalks straight to the TARDIS, in so much pain over the fixed point and what he knows has to happen that he ignores the family huddled together in a corner and begging for help. This episode isn't afraid to go and explore the dark side of The Doctor and of the Time Lord responsibilities in general. Usually fixed points feel more like plot convenience or deus ex machina rather than real events. This doesn't, though, this feels very organic. And it hurts.

- I think the moment where Donna breaks down and begs  The Doctor "...not the whole town. Please save SOMEONE!" is sort of the defining moment between them. Donna isn't an innocent. She doesn't look at The Doctor with rose-colored glasses and she doesn't see him as Superman with two hearts. She knows that he is flawed and (kinda) human and makes terrible mistakes sometimes. She also knows that he needs someone to stop him, slap him, call him back to reality because she's seen what happens when he travels alone for too long and looses too much. So she has determined to be the person there not only to let him cry on her shoulder but also to give him a kick in the pants in the right direction. Here she makes him go back and at least rescue Caecilius and his family from the volcano's destruction.

- "The great god Vulcan must be enraged. It's like some kind of...volcano." The history and Roman myth buff in me squee'd at that.

- I love the ending to this episode with the family re-established in Rome, the daughter getting on with her life, the husband and wife more in love than ever, and the son deciding to study to be a doctor.

- And, of course, their new household gods.

            This episode is a delightful trip back to the days of Ancient Rome. The set and props and special effects (especially on the Pyroviles and during the eruption) look amazingly good for a show of Doctor Who's budget and all of the actors are spot-on. The characters are three-dimensional and all have some sort of arc throughout the story. And, of course, the climax (emotional and otherwise) is just perfect. I actually get teary-eyed during the Doctor-Donna scenes inside Vesuvius. And it takes a LOT to get me actually crying over an episode of television! The Fires of Pompeii is a SOLID 5/5!

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently.