Doctor Who 30.02: "The Fires of Pompeii"
Apr. 15th, 2008 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperWe actually watched this on Sunday evening, but the review post is late due to yesterday's little bit of news joy. Still, though, there are few things that are not improved by the presence of the Doctor.
Unfortunately, Pompeii is one of them. ;) (ETA 4/16/08 9:37am: Removed a "not" here, because![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ravyngyngvar caught me out on an accidental double negative. Oops. I plead writing this post just before bedtime!)
This was overall a pretty fair old-school style plot, playing with issues of temporal causality--what events can the Doctor actually change, and which ones are fixed points in history? Good mileage here too with Donna finally showing more of the bullheaded attitude I was hoping she'd throw at Ten--and, at the end, a most excellent callback to their original meeting in "Runaway Bride".
But! I liked that the episode was actually set in ancient times, which is a first for the new series (at least on screen; I was pretty immediately reminded of the novel The Stone Rose as soon as I saw what this episode was going to be about). Nice to see them ranging a little farther field than the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries on Earth.
What the hell's up with Ten not realizing until after they'd landed where and when they were? He's been traditionally better at TARDIS control than that--though I do grant that we had an incident last season of his overshooting his destination by 50 years, in "Gridlock", so I'm willing to hand-wave that. It adds to the old-school, Doctor-can't-quite-absolutely-control-the-TARDIS feel of the plot, anyway.
Well done there on the Sibylline Order, there. Raise your hand if you caught that "She is Coming" reference from the High Priestess, eh? Way to sneak another Rose hint in there, muah. On the other hand, I have to admit that that whole idea of the seers of Pompeii all turning to stone as they're taken over by the aliens in the volcano gives me flashbacks to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and the episode "The Fossil Men". ;>
Loved the running gag with any Latin phrases uttered by either the Doctor or Donna coming out in Gaelic. Also interesting to note that the TARDIS handles translation of writing as well as speech.
WOW but they really went to town on the special effects for the sequences in the volcano, and with the rock-and-magma creatures. Well done there. This may be an old-school plot, but I must say, the effects budget remains thoroughly modern.
Very nice that they did indeed do the whole question of "can the Doctor actually save Pompeii?" Of course it would occur to Donna to try to save everybody in the town--and I like that this lets her live up to her name, Noble. I was pleased to see her get really cranky at the Doctor about his refusal to do anything, too, to the point that she was willing to go against his wishes and do whatever she could to save someone.
And, of course, it turned out that the Doctor had to choose between saving Pompeii and saving the world. That, too, felt very old-school, and sewed up the issue of changeable events vs. fixed ones quite nicely.
Very, very much liked that Donna begged the Doctor to save at least someone, and that he did come back for the family at her behest. Very, very much liked that he gratefully acknowledged to her afterwards that yes, sometimes he "needs someone". Great callback to how she clued in about him back in "Runaway Bride".
And, of course, the family they rescued later worshipped them as household gods in Rome. Bwahaha! One does hope that that piece of shrine art later confused the hell out of some hapless archaeologist.
All in all, entertaining episode all around. Welcome aboard, Donna, indeed.
Unfortunately, Pompeii is one of them. ;) (ETA 4/16/08 9:37am: Removed a "not" here, because
ravyngyngvar caught me out on an accidental double negative. Oops. I plead writing this post just before bedtime!)This was overall a pretty fair old-school style plot, playing with issues of temporal causality--what events can the Doctor actually change, and which ones are fixed points in history? Good mileage here too with Donna finally showing more of the bullheaded attitude I was hoping she'd throw at Ten--and, at the end, a most excellent callback to their original meeting in "Runaway Bride".
But! I liked that the episode was actually set in ancient times, which is a first for the new series (at least on screen; I was pretty immediately reminded of the novel The Stone Rose as soon as I saw what this episode was going to be about). Nice to see them ranging a little farther field than the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries on Earth.
What the hell's up with Ten not realizing until after they'd landed where and when they were? He's been traditionally better at TARDIS control than that--though I do grant that we had an incident last season of his overshooting his destination by 50 years, in "Gridlock", so I'm willing to hand-wave that. It adds to the old-school, Doctor-can't-quite-absolutely-control-the-TARDIS feel of the plot, anyway.
Well done there on the Sibylline Order, there. Raise your hand if you caught that "She is Coming" reference from the High Priestess, eh? Way to sneak another Rose hint in there, muah. On the other hand, I have to admit that that whole idea of the seers of Pompeii all turning to stone as they're taken over by the aliens in the volcano gives me flashbacks to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and the episode "The Fossil Men". ;>
Loved the running gag with any Latin phrases uttered by either the Doctor or Donna coming out in Gaelic. Also interesting to note that the TARDIS handles translation of writing as well as speech.
WOW but they really went to town on the special effects for the sequences in the volcano, and with the rock-and-magma creatures. Well done there. This may be an old-school plot, but I must say, the effects budget remains thoroughly modern.
Very nice that they did indeed do the whole question of "can the Doctor actually save Pompeii?" Of course it would occur to Donna to try to save everybody in the town--and I like that this lets her live up to her name, Noble. I was pleased to see her get really cranky at the Doctor about his refusal to do anything, too, to the point that she was willing to go against his wishes and do whatever she could to save someone.
And, of course, it turned out that the Doctor had to choose between saving Pompeii and saving the world. That, too, felt very old-school, and sewed up the issue of changeable events vs. fixed ones quite nicely.
Very, very much liked that Donna begged the Doctor to save at least someone, and that he did come back for the family at her behest. Very, very much liked that he gratefully acknowledged to her afterwards that yes, sometimes he "needs someone". Great callback to how she clued in about him back in "Runaway Bride".
And, of course, the family they rescued later worshipped them as household gods in Rome. Bwahaha! One does hope that that piece of shrine art later confused the hell out of some hapless archaeologist.
All in all, entertaining episode all around. Welcome aboard, Donna, indeed.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-16 05:48 am (UTC)I want a household gods plaque like that. :-)
Did you know that they shot this episode in the leftover sets from Rome (the HBO series)? I kept looking for Titus Pullo et al.
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Date: 2008-04-16 02:23 pm (UTC)Neat, about the sets! I didn't know!
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Date: 2008-04-16 09:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-16 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-16 04:33 pm (UTC)Yeah, that's my geeky nitpicker self trying to get out. Stay back! Must be nice! Don't point out trivial mistakes. Watch a nice episode of The Simpsons instead. What's that? Blackboard joke in the opening is: "I won't not use no double negatives." ARGH! Double negatives! The double negatives are haunting me! They're everywhere! Everywhere, I say! You mean Pompeii *is* one of the few things not improved by the presence of the Doctor, right? Right? Right?!? Muhahahaha!
Whew! Feel better now. But it was an odd coincidence that I watched that joke just as I was brooding on whether to point that out. I took it as a sign. :)
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Date: 2008-04-28 02:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 01:56 am (UTC)