"But you can't rewrite history! Not one line!" –The First Doctor
"Or can you?" -- Donna Noble
Sarah -
Ensconced in the TARDIS, Donna is on her first trip to the past in what is meant to be Rome, but turns out to be Pompeii -- the day before volcano day.
Harry -
"Ancient Rome!"
"Oh my God, it's so Roman!"
Donna reacts how the rest of us probably would. Wide-eyed and reveling in the opportunity to see the past and experience an ancient culture, which, as the Doctor points out is the present-day for the locals.
Following his own advice, the Doctor walks around like he owns the place. Donna interacts with people and tries out her Latin.
The "Roman Holiday" is short lived, as our friends spot a great mountain on the outskirts of the city. It's Vesuvius, and it's beginning to emit smoke, and they both realize in horror where and when they are.
Sarah -
Wherever the Doctor thought he was going, the TARDIS had other plans. Donna, being Donna, is ready to lead the evacuation of the town but the Doctor explains that no one would listen, assuming she's a complete nut job. It's also an opportunity for the Doctor to deliver his eternal sermon -- that there are fixed points in time that cannot be changed, no matter how awful they may be. Unsurprisingly, Donna is not on board.
Harry -
Right away Donna asserts her excellence in wanting to protect every single person in Pompeii from what is about to happen. The Doctor's hands-off aloofness angers her, establishing the story-long debate that they will engage in. Up to this point in New Who, we have seen the Doctor's companions generally willing to follow his lead, but Donna's bluntness in challenging him is a fresh change.
Sarah -
This is why I love Donna so much. She’s a grown-ass woman who isn’t going to do what the Doctor tells her without understanding why. Total breath of fresh air.
Harry -
She represents a clean break in the show. Amy and Clara definitely follow the Doctor-companion template established by Donna.
Sarah -
Always the trailblazer, our Donna!
Speaking of Amy, did you recognize the mysterious woman observing the Doctor-Donna argument in the street? Of course you did. It's Karen Gillan, who will become Amy in a couple years! It's also Peter Capaldi's first appearance in Doctor Who, following Colin Baker in appearing in the show before becoming the Doctor. I was already a fan of Peter Capaldi and was so excited to see him on Doctor Who. I imagine Capaldi, a life-long Doctor Who fan, saw this as the pinnacle of his career, with no idea of what was yet to come!
Harry -
In a story filled with seers, auguries and visions of the future, it was sublime to catch glimpses of future Who woven into the fabric of the episode. A month after this story was first broadcast, Steven Moffat was announced as Doctor Who's next showrunner. I can't help but wonder if this story brought Gillan and Capaldi front and centre to Moffat, or if he already had them in mind for his iteration of the greatest show in the galaxy.
Sarah -
I’m sure it was all part of his puzzle-box master plan.
Harry -
In the role of marble merchant Caecilius, Capaldi is among many excellent guest actors. He, Tracey Childs, Francesca Fowler and Francois Pandolfo form an upwardly mobile family with ambitions for their business and for the two teens. Caecilius is also a collector, and he's just scored a piece of "modern art" from the local market. It's the TARDIS, and it soon brings the Doctor and Donna to his door pretending to be marble inspectors. At the same time, the arrogant city augur Lucius arrives to collect a sculpture he commissioned from Caecilius.
Sarah -
They’re a lovely little family, but I’m more than a little creeped out by Evelina’s prophecy abilities. The Whole Sibylline Sisterhood makes me uncomfortable, to be honest. I don’t care for true believers of any stripe, which leads us to Lucius. Phil Davis was the perfect actor for this part; I was uncomfortable every moment he was on screen!
Harry -
The only other thing I remember Phil Davis from is the star-studded 1984 version of The Bounty. Even back then he played a sneering authority figure as one of the ship's officers. So he definitely found his niche early on.
Sarah -
You’re forgetting his excellent performance as Jud on Poldark!
Harry -
And he sneered through most of that too.
His character Lucius goes above and beyond the true believer. He is aiding and abetting some unseen side. The work he commissioned from Caecilius turns out to be stone carvings of electronic circuitry. Naturally, this grabs the Doctor's attention, and he follows the plot back to Lucius, where an entire array of stone circuitry has been assembled piece by piece. The technology will power an energy converter built by the Pyroviles, an alien race that wants to conquer Earth and destroy humanity.
The story kicks into gear as the Doctor escapes from Lucius' place to find the Sibylline Sisters, who have kidnapped Donna and plan to execute her for heresy. The heresy was merely Donna attempting to make them understand that Pompeii was in imminent danger.
Sarah -
Heresy, facts; potato, potahto -- it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Donna, of course, does not go quietly!
Harry -
The Doctor saves Donna with the clever use of a water pistol, and we finally get to the killer plot twist. In order to stop the Pyroviles, their energy converter must be destroyed. In doing so, it will trigger an explosion under Mount Vesuvius -- the explosion that destroyed Pompeii.
Sarah -
I always have mixed feelings about these sorts of plot twists -- Adric kills the dinosaurs, the Tenth Doctor feeds lines to Shakespeare, and the Fifth Doctor lets a fire in Pudding Lane become the Great Fire of London. Part of me loves them and the other part rolls my eyes.
Harry -
He's like a Meddling Monk with the best of intentions. Eventually every fixed point in Earth history will have been caused by the Doctor. What will he/she/they do then?
Seeing the story through Donna's eyes, it's devastating. All this time the Doctor has rebuffed her pleas to warn the people of Pompeii, and now the stunning realization: the disaster of Pompeii will be caused by the Doctor, and for the good of the entire planet, it has to happen.
Sarah -
It’s a heartbreaking moment when Donna begs him to save one person if he can’t save the city.
Harry -
Even knowing what was coming, this scene is really gut-wrenching. Donna went from giddy time tourist to tormented witness to history in the space of a few hours. I did love that she took on a share of the responsibility and she and the Doctor threw the fatal switch together.
Sarah -
The Doctor relents and saves the Caecilius family, taking them to the hills above the city.
Harry -
Despite the overwhelming weight of his actions and the urge to cut and run, he performed one small act of kindness. It's a moment that will reverberate through the Doctor's future timeline. Having lost so much, from Gallifrey to Rose, in a moment of total chaos he still found it in himself to be kind to total strangers in distress. Sure, this Doctor will go on to storm the universe wreaking vengeance as the angry god, but this moment will come back and reignite the will to goodness that was almost buried within.
Donna did this. She is bloody brilliant. She saved both the Doctor and the Caecilius family.
Sarah -
Six months later, the family has relocated to Rome, where their new household gods bear a striking resemblance to our TARDIS team.
"The Fires of Pompeii" is a solid and pacey story. It was fun to rewatch it after many years.
Harry -
Great story, great acting and great design work. The fire monsters were a bit clunky, but that's a minor complaint.
Sarah -
Best Line: “You must excuse my friend, she's from Barcelona.”
Favorite Moment: Donna asking the Doctor to save just one person.
Lasting Image: The family home and its modern-art TARDIS
7/10
Harry -
Best Line: the TARDIS team's closing exchange. Quiet and meaningful.
DONNA: Thank you.
DOCTOR: Yeah. You were right. Sometimes I need someone. Welcome aboard.
DONNA: Yeah.
Favourite Moment: the Caecilius family leaping into position every time a tremor rocks their house.
Lasting Image: the survivors observing the destruction of Pompeii.
7/10
Our marathon continues with Story #191: Planet of the Ood...
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