The Fires of Pompeii
Story 190, Episode 740, Series 4 Episode 2
Doctor: The Tenth Doctor
Companions: Donna Noble
It’s not perfect, but The Fires of Pompeii turns out to be one of Doctor Who‘s most important stories.
The Review
This story is papered with RTD-era silliness, but has a devastating gut punch at its heart. Creating a story about Pompeii took audacity, and it helps that such a horrible event took place 2000 years ago allowing us to think of it impersonally. Throughout the story, Donna continues to try and save the people of Pompeii, but they will not listen to her. The Doctor first introduces us to the idea of a fixed point in time, with the destruction on Pompeii a seismic historical event that far too much depends upon to change. Even more brutally, the Doctor and Donna are forced to destroy Pompeii themselves, to prevent the alien Pyroviles (aliens made of stone propagating through dust that look like stone soldiers because of course) from conquering the planet. The Pyroviles look pretty cool, but are one of the least interesting parts of the story. The idea of carving a circuit board out of rock is really cool though! I’m not sure any other companion would’ve acted quite like Donna, daring to challenge the Doctor in such a way. The story doesn’t shy away from it either, we see people run in tear and Pompeii’s obliteration. The day is saved, but no one feels good about it.
This episode not only features soon to be companion Karen Gillan as a soothsayer (all prophecies have been completely true for 17 years in Pompeii thanks to some time rift Vesuvius causes), but Peter Capaldi! I haven’t seen this story since Capaldi became the Twelfth Doctor, and it was a delight to see him again but his performance isn’t anything special. At the end of the story, Donna pleads with the Doctor to just save one family, one act of kindness and mercy, and it is Capaldi’s Caecilius and his family that he does save. The scene is so powerful that seven years from now in The Girl Who Died it can be pulled back with devastating effect. In this story, we see just how hard it can be to be a Time Lord, carrying the burden of truth and having to watch helplessly as scores of people die. Of course, we will see what happens when a Time Lord chooses not to be so helpless, but that’s for another time. Even through all the cheesy moments like Caecilius forming the word ‘volcano’, this story still has a massive heart, and makes it a well-respected imperfect classic of the series. It even reveals that if you try to intentionally speak in the language you’re being translated into, they hear you speaking a foreign language, in this case Celtic, and who can hate that?
The Fires of Pompeii is a standard Doctor Who story with cheesy aliens and drama until it comes to a screeching turning point.
8.5/10 The ending really ratchets it up, justifiably famous.
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