Doctor Who:
The Fires of
Pompeii
By James
Moran
“That's just
it. Don't you see, Donna? Can't you understand? If I could go back and save
them, then I would. But I can't. I can never go back. I can't. I just can't, I
can't.”
Series 4
foray into the past takes us back to ancient Rome. Actually it is to Pompeii or
as The Doctor refers to it “It’s volcano day.”
The past couple of stories that have happened in Earth past have been
very enjoyable and The Fires of Pompeii is just as good as those if not better.
I liked how
there was an alien living in the heart of the volcano and the fumes that it was
giving off was giving some of those a second site to see into the future. A really good scene is when The Doctor is
grilling Lucius about having a special power and then they were having a battle
of wills and Lucius starts revealing to The Doctor about himself and his way of
life and then Spurrina adds to the conversation and starts revealing more about
The Doctor. Not vet often do you see The
Doctor flustered and it was pretty good seeing that happen.
Liked how The
Doctor and Donna befriended the family who bought the TARDIS. It becomes even funnier now that Caecilius
who was the one who bought the TARDIS and claimed it to be modern art is in
fact Peter Capaldi who will be the 12th Doctor when series 8 hits
our screens. Maybe it was a 12th
Doctor plot to buy the TARDIS to mess with his younger self. Anyway looking back on that it does seem
humorous now considering the events that have taken place. Plus future companion Karen Gillan is in The
Fires of Pompeii also playing one of the Sisterhood and in fact the one who
spots the TARDIS that was part of the prophecy.
The Firs of
Pompeii had some good dialog in it.
Especially the puns early on in the story those were pretty funny. The best dialog has to go to Donna. The way she pleads with the Doctor to save someone
not all of Pompeii but just one person was really powerful and a great moment
in the show. The thing with the 10th
Doctor is he needs a companion to keep him centered and grounded to prevent him
from getting out of control. Donna’s speech
at that time snaps him back to reality and does the right thing by saving Caecilius
family.
Donna’s
development as a character has grown so much that she brings a real human
aspect to the show. What she brings is a
caring and person who questions people who are mean or do odd stuff that she feels
is not right. She gets it and having her
bring that up while she talks to The Doctor or the villain is something we
haven’t seen before and is a refreshing to see in a companion. The Fires of Pompeii solidifies Donna as one
of the best companions and not just the caricature of the loud mouth fool she
was portrayed as in Runaway Bride.
The Pyrovale
were pretty cool creatures inhabiting humans and turning them into stone and
giving them powers to see the future. Plus
I loved the creature in the volcano. It
looked pretty impressive and the rock features on fire made it look similar to
the Balrog but not to similar just the way the fire was on it. The Fires of Pompeii was a really good story
where we get to learn something about Donna and what she is made off and we get
to see a side of The Doctor that we rarely see.
Grade B+
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