Doctor Who: The Fires of Pompeii

Donna: "You fought it off with a water pistol! I bloody love you!"

Russell T. Davies got the idea for a story based in Pompeii after watching the BBC documentary “Pompeii: The Last Day”. It was filmed at Cinecittà studios, Rome, and reused some of the sets from the now cancelled HBO/BBC series Rome -- hence its semi-authentic feel. Visually, too, this was a handsome episode. The costumes, the Pyrovile, the exploding volcano... the sheer attention to detail... all made for an impressive viewing experience.

RTD originally intended to run the story as part of the show's first season, but it was later replaced by ”Boom Town”. Which makes you wonder how this episode would have fared with Billie and Chris at the helm. Would it have been better? Worse? I guess we'll never know. But it was a pretty fine yarn in its own right.

The Doctor/companion dynamic was different from the get-go. Both Rose and Martha have questioned the Doctor's wisdom before -- but, when it comes to being headstrong, Donna's in a class of her own. She was completely disinterested in the Doctor's "fixed point in time” spiel. All she cared about was the impending carnage of Volcano Day. And to his credit, the Doctor, rather than ignoring the plight of Caecilius and Co (admittedly, with some hefty prompting from Donna), eventually went back and saved them all. Which only goes to prove that he needs someone there to keep him grounded.

Tate had a pretty strong episode, overall. Her handling of the story's weightier elements was spot on -- from her horror at the looming destruction of the city -- to her helplessness at preventing the inevitable human cost. Her comedic timing was, likewise, impeccable. James Moran's script was choc-o-block full of linguistic gags, all delivered with enthusiastic aplomb by Tennant and Tate. I'm not so sure the visual gags worked as well, however. Where did the Doctor get a water pistol from at such short notice (and 2000 years before they'd been invented)? TK Maximus, perhaps?

And Donna asked the question tonight that's perplexed mankind for decades. If the TARDIS translates English into Latin, and vice versa, then what would happen if someone spoke actual Latin? The answer... nobody would have a clue what they were talking about. Phil Cornell's character thought Donna was speaking Celtic. But why would the TARDIS assign random accents to different speakers? Cornell's stallholder had a decidedly cockney twang to him.

Also of note, particularly as these are retro reviews, is companion-to-be Karen Gillan's appearance as the soothsayer. Karen will be playing Amy Pond (the new Doctor's companion) from 2010 onwards. She was hard to recognise under all the makeup, but she was there nevertheless. And Torchwood fans will no doubt have recognised Peter Capaldi as Caecilius (Mr Frobisher from the "Children of Earth" mini-series).

And she's returning, is she? Is there really only the Doctor who doesn't know who this “she” is?

Bits and pieces:

-- The Doctor's joked that Donna's was from Barcelona... a tip of the hat to 70's British comedy show Fawlty Towers.

-- Lucius' comment that "she is returning", was a reference to Rose's scheduled reappearance later in the season.

-- The Doctor presumably spoke to Lucius in Latin, meaning his pun on the likeness of the words "sun" and "son" wouldn't have made sense. In Latin, the two words sound quite different.

-- What happened to the TARDIS' chameleon circuit? How comes Caecilius could see it in order to buy it?

-- Dextrus' comment that Donna had "something on her back" was a reference to future season four story "Turn Left".

Billie says...

I'm almost ashamed to admit that this one got to me. I loved Donna in this episode. She simply could not deal with the concept of twenty thousand people dying, and couldn't stop trying to do something about it. She made the Doctor see that one family instead of the big picture. Just save *someone*.

And I liked the rest of the episode, too. Maybe it was the superior sets and the clever dialogue on top of the tremendous tragedy. Maybe it was the cool-looking volcano aliens. Maybe it was Tate and Tennant, who ran around Pompeii in tandem and bounced lines off each other like they'd been working together forever. I liked the Latin/Celtic continuing joke. I liked the family and their household gods. I even liked the water pistol, illogical as it was.

Didn't Captain Jack say back in season one that he often pulled his con in Pompeii on Volcano Day? Too bad they didn't run into him.

Quotes:

Donna: "Should I change my clothes?"
The Doctor: "Nah, anything goes in Rome. It's like Soho, only bigger."

Donna: "Have you been here before?"
Doctor: "Yes, I have, and before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me. Well, a little bit."

Caecilius: "Who are you?"
Doctor: "I am... Spartacus."
Donna: "And so am I."
Caecilius: "Mr and Mrs Spartacus?"
The Doctor: "Oh, no no no no no, we're not married."
Caecilius: "Oh, brother and sister? Yes, of course, you look very much alike."
Doctor and Donna: "Really?"

The Doctor: "Did you think of moving away? Oh no, then again, San Francisco."
Caecilius: "That's a new restaurant in Naples, isn't it?"

All of our Doctor Who reviews are archived here
(Season 4, episode 2)