Doctor Who (2005): The Fires of Pompeii

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Location: Pompeii
Date: 23rd/24th August 79AD
Enemies: Pyrovile
The Doctor takes Donna back to Pompeii, on the day of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, and is faced with a great moral dilemma. Should they warn the residents of the impending disaster, or let history take its natural course? Read full recap »

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Writers:: James Moran (III)

Director:: Colin Teague

Stars:: David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor); Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)

Guest Star:: Gerard Bell (Major Domo); Sasha Behar (Spurrina); Lorraine Burroughs (Thalina); Karen Gillan (Soothsayer); Victoria Wicks (High Priestess); Phil Cornwell (Stallholder); Philip Davis (Lucius); Tracey Childs (Metella); Peter Capaldi (Caecillius); Francesca Fowler (Evelina); Francois Pandolfo (Quintus)

Interestingly enough the day that The Doctor and Donna arrive in Pompeii, August 23rd, is Vulcanalia the feast day of the god Vulcan, the deity which would give its name to the new word in the Roman lexicon, Volcano. edit »
Lucius Petrus Dextrus

Lucius' full name literally translates from the Latin as Lucius of the Stoned Right Arm. edit »
In the Cambridge Latin Course books for GCSE, there is no daughter in the family and only Quintus survives the explosion of Vesuvius edit »
The Doctor mentions the "Shadow Proclamation" when speaking to the Pyrovile. This has also been referred to in Rose (when the Doctor asks to speak to the Nestene Consciousness), The Christmas Invasion (when Rose tries to get rid of the Sycorax), in Fear Her (the Doctor invokes it whilst speaking to the Isolus) and by Miss Foster in Partners in Crime. edit »
According to director Colin Teague, they only had two days at Cinecitta studios in Rome in which to film their material. edit »

Overnight UK viewing figures for this episode were 8.1 million, with the final viewing figure at 9.04 million. edit »
International Air Dates:

United States: 2 May 2008
Australia: 13 July 2008 edit »
This is the first episode of the new series to have location filming with principal actors performed outside of the UK. Roman era street scenes were filmed at the Cinecitta studios on the outskirts of Rome. Location filming was done in New York for Daleks in Manhattan, but only for establishing backgrounds, no principal actors were involved. edit »

(The Doctor saves Caecilius and his family from the volcano; they watch the destruction of Pompeii from afar)
The Doctor: It's never forgotten, Caecilius. Oh, time will pass. Men will move on and stories will fade, but one day Pompeii will be found again in thousands of years and everyone will remember you.
Donna: What about you, Evelina? Can you see anything?
Evelina: The visions have gone.
The Doctor: The explosion was so powerful it cracked open a rift in time. Just for a second. That's what gave you the gift of prophecy. It echoed back into the Pyrovilian alternative. But not any more. You're free.
Metella: But tell me, who are you, Doctor? With your words and your temple containing such size within?
The Doctor: Oh, I was never here. Don't tell anyone.
Caecilius: The great god Vulcan must be enraged. It's so... volcanic. It's like some sort of volcano. All those people... edit »
Donna: The Pyrovile are made of rocks. Maybe they can't be blown up.
The Doctor: Vesuvius explodes with the strength of twenty-four nuclear bombs. Nothing can survive it. Certainly not us.
Donna: Never mind us. edit »
The Doctor: If I might beg the wisdom of the Gods before we perish? Once this new race of creatures is complete, then what?
Lucius: My masters will follow the example of Rome itself. An almighty empire bestriding the whole of civilization.
Donna: But if you've crashed, and you've got all this technology, why don't you just go home?
Lucius: The heaven of Pyrovilia is gone.
The Doctor: What d'you mean, gone? Where's it gone?
Lucius: It was taken. Pyrovilia was lost, but there is heat enough in this world for a new species to rise.
The Doctor: Yeah, I should warn you it's seventy percent water out there.
Lucius: Water can boil and everything will burn, Doctor!
The Doctor: Then the whole planet is at stake. Thank you. That's all I needed to know. edit »
Caecilius: Sunrise, my love. A new day. Even the longest night must end.
Quintus: The mountain's worse than ever.
Metella: We killed a messenger of the Gods in our own house. (to Evelina) Sweetheart, can you see? Tell us what's going to happen.
Quintus: Just leave her alone.
Evelina: (closing her eyes) I can see...
Metella: What is it?
Evelina: A choice. Someone must make a choice. The most terrible choice. edit »
The Doctor: What are the Pyrovile doing here?
High Priestess: We fell from the heavens, we fell so far and so fast we were rendered into dust.
The Doctor: Right, creatures of stone shatter on impact. When was that, seventeen years ago?
High Priestess: We have slept beneath for thousands of years.
The Doctor: OK, so seventeen years ago woke you up, and now you're using human bodies to reconstitute yourself. But why the psychic powers?
High Priestess: We opened their minds and found such gifts. edit »

Lucius: Daughter of London, there is something on your back.

Lucius's speech to Donna foreshadows the events of "Turn Left". edit »
The Doctor: All the time every waking second: what is, what was, what could be, what must not. That's the burden of a Time Lord, Donna.

The Doctor's explanation to Donna is reminiscent of the exchange between Rose and The Doctor in 'Parting of the Ways' when Rose is explaining what she can see as a vessel for the Time Vortex 'I can see everything. All that is. All that was. All that ever could be.' and The Doctor says that's what he sees, all the time. edit »
The Doctor: Didn't you think of moving away? No, then again, San Francisco...

The Doctor is more than likely referring to the catastrophic earthquake and fire that ravaged San Francisco on April 18, 1906. Even though more than 80% of the city was destroyed the majority of the citizenry stayed and rebuilt rather than move to a more geologically stable location. edit »
Caecilius: Oh Rombus, I'm a little bit peckish. Get me some ants in honey, there's a good man. Ooh, maybe a dormouse!

This is a nod to the famous 'dormouse test' from Mary Beard, a professor of classics at Cambridge University. The test basically states that the longer you have to wait before this tasty little morsel appears, the more subtle the reconstruction is likely to be. edit »
Donna: Are you having me on, are we in EPCOT?

EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow) devolved into an international and futuristic exposition theme park at the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. It is, according to the promotional material, designed to allow visitors to explore the world in a day and experience the possibilities of the future. There is an Italian pavilion, but that is a reconstruction of Venice, not Pompeii or Rome. edit »

7
02
TVsheep
member since: Jan 15, 2008
The Fires of Pompeii
The Bottom Line: "Silly"
It was ok. ...Continue »
I liked this episode, and it was definitely better than Partners In Crime, but it wasn't all good.

Good:
The Pyrovile were pretty scary, and liked the theme of Pompeii. Also, when Lucius Pextrus Dextrus foretold the episode Turn Left. ("she is returning" "something on your back")

Bad:
The attitude of the son in the family just wasn't realistic. Teenagers in the year 79AD were different to teenagers nowadays.
When Pextrus had that stone arm that the doctor just pulled off. That was lame.
How do you make a big complicated alien machine out of marble???
How did the doctor and donna survive being inside an erupting volcano just because the were in a pod?

Meh.
06/22/08 07:49am | report abuse
7.5
11
inakaguy
member since: Aug 15, 2006
The Fires of Pompeii
The Bottom Line: "Average"
Better than the opener but lacking something. ...Continue »
This episode is an obvious improvement over the season opener but ultimately left me cold.

Some of the good points were character development for Donna, good performances from the supporting cast and the Latin/Celtic joke, which genuinely worked for me.

However, the plot was all a bit flat as far as I was concerned, and once again, the CGI monsters left me distinctly underwhelmed. It seems like Dr Who feels it has to compete with Hollywood or something in creating special effects, when to my mind, the scariest monsters from the series have taken the least special effects; the statues and the boy with the gasmask.

The episode was certainly a lot stronger than the first week's but while there was little to dislike, there wasn't a lot to love either.
05/11/08 08:24pm | report abuse
6
12
CodenameV
member since: Aug 25, 2005
The Fires of Pompeii
The Bottom Line: "Average"
The Doctor and Donna travel to Pompeii on volcano day, and meet some delightful people who are going to die. And some have eyes on their hands because they're clearly seven and in nursery. And some stuff blows up. And there's a stone gal at one point. ...Continue »
Well. That's that then.

Fully expecting an episode on par with last week's cracking opener, I was extremely disappointed this week. Basically, the Doctor arrives in Pompeii with Donna and Donna tries to convince him to help save everyone who is destined to die in the volcano eruption that buried the city. There is also an irritating sub plot with some women who can see the future, and who are infected with a monster made out of stone.

That's about it. It wasn't very good.

It had a few good moments, true. Some of Donna's comments to the Doctor were generally amusing. When the Doctor fought a fire monster with a water pistol produced a chuckle. And the insults towards Celts are always cause for hysterics. But that's about it. It's an episode that is only saved by the laughs rather than the action.

Now, speaking of the action...The Doctor is an ALIEN. Get that into your thick heads writers! He does not cry - he does not show emotion other than anger. He is alien. He does not care about human beings. The Doctor would not go back to rescue someone. The Doctor sat and watched as one of his assistants was obliterated, just because that explosion was the cause of the Big Bang. He does not care. If the Doctor was human, I'd be happy for him to emote. But he isn't!

Okay, rant over.

Best bit of the episode was of course when the weirdo predicting villain told Donna "darkness is all I see in your future...you will show you are truly noble before the light returns" and the words to the Doctor "you walk under a false name. Doctor. It is a lie. Like you." and "She is returning to you, Doctor....she is coming!"

So, basically, I was right. The running theme for this year is (drum roll) ROSE TYLER.

That bit saved an otherwise crap episode.

6/10
05/10/08 12:00pm | report abuse
9
11
sagarmathasgirl
member since: Sep 17, 2005
The Fires of Pompeii
The Bottom Line: "Another great installment"
Donna and the Doctor grow closer in Pompeii. ...Continue »
I have to admit--I was worried about Donna as the companion. She annoyed the heck out of me in "Runaway Bride," and I foresaw more of the same in this series. However, I started watching "The Catherine Tate Show" to get used to her anyway. And I have to admit, I've been pleasantly surprised by her performance. Instead of being a wackily irritating guest star, she's actually exploring and building up the character she represents, leading me to start liking Donna Noble. She's determined not to fall in love with The Doctor, for one thing. While this should prove impossible (um, excuse me, it's David Tennant), the lack of sexual tension allows them to grow even closer as friends. Instead of accepting what he says as fact, she takes the initiative and tries to change his mind. Her "just save someone" scene was almost heartbreaking in its sincerity. The Doctor himself (and Tennant) deserves no end of love and praise. Great actor, great character, the most obvious and basic reason for watching this show. Perfect timing in this episode. I love how he's able to say the most ridiculous things with a straight face, as if they're perfectly familiar to him.
The guest stars in the episode were all pretty good; the special effects, as always, were done well.
A great, very challenging plot point was when the Doctor realises he caused the volcano to happen. Every time the Doctor has to confront his own morality, convictions and ethics, the episode becomes stronger. Especially this one, considering Donna also betrays her former ideals to help him.
All in all, a strong, character-building episode.
05/08/08 07:28pm | report abuse
9.5
11
AvatarBlue
member since: Jun 21, 2007
The Fires of Pompeii
The Bottom Line: "Exactly why I watch this series"
Better than expected ...Continue »
Given the opener last week - this was unexpectedly better! What the first show did wrong, this did right. I felt engaged from the outset. The ancient setting/location was appealling and from the start we get a real sense of something dreadful about to happen - not only Vesuvius about explode.

The supporting cast of character (the roman family) contribute to the success of the story telling here with more than plausible dialogue, successfully communicating their emotions and sentiments as the plot unfolds. Tenant is back to his best in a few key scenes - especially at the very end - in an emotional finale.

Tate is much better also. If youre like me then youll hope she limits her "comedy show persona" to the absolute minimum in further shows. Im still not convinced about her though.

The story is one of the better Tennant era ones and the visual effects are first class. I think one of the stars of this episode is the actress who plays Thalina (Lorraine Burroughs). I liked her scenes alot! Lots of action, curt dialogue, hanging dread, good supporting cast and subject matter make this an excellent episode that should not be missed.

I may well return and mark this as a series classic if the writers return to cute flab creatures as the main enemies of the Dr!
05/05/08 04:54am | report abuse