Doctor Who 4x02 - "The Fires of Pompeii"
 

Yes, I lied. I'll still do the episode threads.

"The Fires of Pompeii" by James Moran
The Doctor and Donna arrive in Pompeii the day before Vesuvius is due to erupt, where the sale of the TARDIS by a street-seller leads them to discover a far greater danger lurking under the city.

I have got to say that was 10/10

I think it might be better for me to vote after the Series has finished because now I'd rate PiC 5 or 6 out of 10. And if a better story than this comes up my vote will be wrong.

Catherine Tate was amazing (n of the best companion sequences we have ever seen) and The Mill just blew me away.

A great story for The Doctor and Donna, looking into the Doctor's story and how he copes with Gallifrey and how Donna affects in such a different way to everyone else. I think Rose and Martha would argue in the TARDIS like Donna but not as emotionally!

And I had no idea that was the high priestess when I saw her in the trailer!

I'm pretty sure Danny will like it, the only bits you won't like will be RTD's fault (he confessed in confidential that the gags were his)

8/10

Solid episode with an important moral dilemma executed well with great performances from Tennant and Tate. The CGI was spectacular as well.

'She is returning', yes we know. We saw her last week.

I have to say, this weeks episode was a thousand times better than last weeks. Such a strong cast, and reasonably well written too. I think the scene towards the end will be a true testiment to the Doctor's and Donna's friendship. Ood-mania starts next week with the 2 parter, from the trailer it looks alright, though I still dislike the name "Ood"...but then, RTD came up with it, so pretty standard really.

I give this a 5. It was an improvement over last weeks tripe but there were still some parts which really broke the suspension of disbelief and did ruin the episode. How a couple of small bits of water managed to kill such a huge creature was simply stupid. I know it was rock and fire and they are both weak, but surely more water was required. Plus the Doctor Wielding a Water Pistol?! A very poor gag, effective at escaping but really could have been done so much better, and the idea of the Doctor and Donna being worshipped as Gods just sounds utterly stupid and could at least have been set up beforehand. The plot was poorly written out, just too clunky and was really not smooth. PLus it is me or does the CGI appear to be of a lower quality this series? It really just does not fit into the general scenes as well as it can. Plus the whole idea of the Doctor actually being the cause of the eruption was just out of character for him i feel. it worked much better if it maintained that he was simply powerless to do anything except flee, which is what he did, but the idea of him being a catalyst was the straw which broke the camels back. The fact Romans had idea of Volcanos was also historically inaccurate. The priestesses were just too shallow and over the top, no substance to them at all.

That said it was more more darker and grittier and once again Tate and Tennant do well with what they had, it did give a good view into how The Doctor is forced to live his life and also shows off his kinder side, as well as showing how noble Donna is. The monsters were much more of what should be expected and it was kind creeping seeing those people being turned to stone, very medusa-esque. Yet it still does nto feel like what Doctor Who should be.

But still, given how good the Ood were back in series 2. I am sure next weeks episode will be quite good. the Ood were always creepy and there was never a need to explain why. It should be good, plus it;s on another planet for once.

I thought the CGI was at its best yet! I personally find the CGi daleks irritating as they look wrong.

Water Pistol was silly but I just ignored it. If he didn't do that he'd just use some bottles or something which would slow down the story.

And Ben the Ood episode is 1 episode not 2. The Sontaran one that follows is 2 parts though!

Ah right, thanks for that :).

Best episode of the series yet......hmmm

Great cast, good story, etc. 'Twas good, that's all.

What the bleeding heck? How do we go from "Partners in Crime" one week, which completely destroyed my faith in the new series of Doctor Who, to "The Fires of Pompeii" the next, which is one of the best episodes this entire series has ever presented? I just don't know. This ranks up there with Moffat's episodes, though, that's for sure. Very strong 9/10 from me -- I had to restrain myself from giving it a perfect 10.

Kind of like how we went from a great episode in The Sound of Drums to the horrific Last of the Time Lords?

I haven't even seen Partners in Crime yet. Gonna go download this now. :P

Hmm, I actually planned a story about this same event when I was in 6th grade! It was called Pompeii's Last Days and since I was still a n00b to the Whoniverse, it had Julius Caesar's birthday being held on Pompeii the eve before the eruption. The Master working with mute Cybermen to make Vesuvius erupt. And a dockworker named Raoul who somehow got into the locked TARDIS and stowed away like Adric did.

Yeah, utterly n00bish, eh?

This sounds really good. I'll watch it soon on YouTube.

My $0.02,
James

Not really. The Sound of Drums wasn't a truly stunning work of art -- it was passable at best. This, however, is.

Watch Partners in Crime first. It will make The Fires of Pompeii seem even better, and you certainly don't want to save Partners in Crime for later.

Pretty much.

Such an improvement over last weeks episode, they don't even bare comparing. :D

CGI was great, the monster design was awesome as well, props to the mill.

Loved the story, combined with Tennant and Tate's acting.. top notch. Moral dellimas, revelations, talk about the flow of time and all that good stuff.

"She's coming back" - or whatever it was, cleary pertains to his daughter, I assume?

Not sure what he meant about something on Donna's back though.

The few ''gags" even made me laugh properly, despite the arguments about the water pistol ,it just seemed.. Doctor-ish. (I was listening to a Big Finish today with 7th playing spoons though and that also made me grin madly.)

I'm going to re-watch this on the big screen, really feels like proper Who for some reason and it was VERY enjoyable.

Only quibble for me this week is the damn bit at the end. Making them both into household gods. Saw it coming a mile away and earned a small groan from me, but eh. I'll take that over last weeks problems. :)

Wholeheartedly agreed.

I didn't notice it on the first viewing, but on the second viewing I took it to mean Rose. Might be his daughter though -- interesting thought.

Me neither. I imagine it references something though.

I agree completely. I loved the water pistol.

Same here!

Frankly, while that was a wee bit silly, I don't think that would have been terribly out of place on the old series either, if you think about it, so it didn't really bother me at all.

Waterpistol ftw. :)

I reckon that "She's coming back" is supposed to mean Rose, and "Donna's got something on her back" is to mean that she's got some sort of competition, 'cos of how many people are going to be returning later in the series.

Glad to hear Danny liked it. I'm saving my rating until the Series is finished so there all fair. I gave PiC a 9 which I really should not have.

She's coming back = Rose

And "Theres Something on your back" is a line from a later episode (it was overheard on a night shoot by the people who do set reports on OG)

So we heard The Shadow Proclamation again and there was another Missing Planet. I thought there was meant to be a subtle arc this Series.

A little thing from each episode ... mind you the Ood's planet hasn't gone obviously!

The Ood episode is set before "The Impossible Planet", and features their origin, so their planet probably is gone, but that's the magic of time travel.

You know, it's generally pretty easy for me to like things that aren't shit.

Glad to hear you don't think its shit!

But the episode is called Planet Of the Ood

I think you're missing my point. It's obvious that The Fires of Pompeii wasn't shit -- it's proper Doctor Who. A bit of scariness, a moral dilemma, something to make you think. My point is that it should come as no surprise to you that I enjoyed The Fires of Pompeii, because it didn't suck. Partners in Crime, on the other hand, was an affront to Doctor Who.

What is it with point-missing today? He's saying from the perspective of The Impossible Planet (meaning that being the present), the Ood home planet is gone. In Planet of the Ood, it takes place prior to the events of The Impossible Planet, so their planet is still around.

Thank you Danny for not giving up yet. Glad you liked this episode. Think you may have overreacted after not enjoying last weeks. :P (But I could be thinking wrong.)

When does it say "She's coming back"? I missed it on first viewing. I'll watch it back sometime this week.

It was far more than "not enjoying" it. I found it disgusting and insulting, and I don't think giving up on the show entirely would have been that much of an overreaction. I love Doctor Who too much to watch this sort of thing done to it. But then I wouldn't be giving other, more talented writers a chance (like James Moran), who demonstrate that people can still do proper Doctor Who if they try. It's only Russell T Davies who I'm done with.

Lucius says it to the Doctor, shortly after his "Man from Gallifrey" bit.

Thanks for that. I'm about to watch it again.

Enjoy. I've seen it three times already, with more to come throughout the week. :)

Alright, possibly call me late to the party if everyone else noticed this before me, but..

After watching it again to great enjoyment, I noticed how the whole little bit with the high priestess was pretty much copy and paste from the first episode.

They lost their home planet, just lost it.

The dialogue was almost the same in PiC if I remember correctly.

Is this some subtle story arc? Planets are vanishing?

Well theres plenty of people on the OG forums who hated it. I thought that you might hate the Water Pistol and Celtic bit. And therefore rate down the episode!

Oh I didn't know he meant it like that! Is their planet gone in Impossible Planet or is it just an assumption?

Possibly but the Shadow Proclamation is mentioned again so maybe there is a link between them!

Don't make assumptions about people's opinions. The Celtic thing didn't bother me at all, and I adored the water pistol stuff. Very in keeping with the old series.

I believe it's just an assumption, but to be honest I haven't watched it lately enough to recall.

Frankly I didn't notice this until it was pointed out to me, and I've watched it three times. I think it was someone here who accused them of being annoyingly obvious about this clear "planets vanishing" storyline, and while the new series has certainly used the sledgehammer treatment before on ongoing story arcs (Bad Wolf for instance), I think they're being subtle enough if I didn't notice it on my own after three viewings. I'm curious enough to see more, and I certainly don't feel like I'm having this rammed down my throat -- at least not yet. Admittedly it took most of series two for Torchwood to get annoying and until "Bad Wolf" to feel that way about the first series. So let's just see where they go with it.

Just as it comes to the brink of disaster, somebody else pulls it off from the edge.

The Water Pistol seemed very silly to me (but I liked it) and I thought it was something that Classic fans would pick up on and not like (I've seen a few who have).
I just said I'm pleased to hear you liked it! Is that a bad thing?

Maybe in Planet of the Ood we will see the planet disappear ... just a thought.

It wasn't silly at all. The Doctor is known to have random stuff in his pockets at all times. That's actually something that's been annoying me about the new series -- nowhere near enough random crap in the Doctor's pockets. In "The End of the World" when he was asked to provide a gift, he felt through his pockets and had nothing. That just annoyed me. Nice to see the random crap being brought back. A fully loaded water pistol seems perfectly in keeping with that idea.

Not really. It was more the whole assumption about me not liking it thing which was such a bad thing.

Maybe.

Rather good show this week! 9/10

What would be even more random would be one of those trick camera that shoot water.

There is still a lot of work to be done on the series, like getting rid of RTD, but this episode was definately a great step in the right direction. This weeks should be fantastic. I've bumped my grade for this up upon watching the episode again. I paid mroe attention, kudos going to the moral dilemmas The Doctor and Donna go through during the whole episode.

Well I did think that the Water Pistol might be a bit Tom Baker-ish. What other stuff has the Doctor had in his pockets. There could be a list somewhere ... anyway I know about the jellybabies and of course the celery stick!

I'll make sure I assume no more because if you assume you make ... well you all know it :D

Now he just needs to pull some Jelly Babies again and it'll be perfect.

He can't. The Master stole them!

He could have easily taken them back at the end of LoTL.