Doctor Who Series 4 - Episode 2 Review - Fires of Pompeii - ryanajarrett.com Media & Technology Blog

A pyrovile After the ho-hum start of the series, this episode provided much more for us to get our teeth into. Yes, it was the obligatory “historical” episode, but this isn’t a bad thing. It was shot on the same set that was used for HBO’s Rome, and therefore looks very good. More of that later - lets start with the plot.

Donna and the Doctor land in Pompeii on the eve of the famous eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed the city. After exploring the city they return back to where the Tardis was only to find out it has been sold as a piece of art by a chancing street merchant to a wealth family. D&D track down the Tardis to the house of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus (played by Peter Capaldi), where he lives with his wife, his son and his daughter.

It transpires that Lucius’s daughter, Evelina, is being inducted into the Sybilline Sisterhood. The Sisterhood, which appear to impede the Doctor from the start, are a front for the real villains of the piece, the Pyroviles. The Pyroviles are rock creatures, seeking refuge after their home planet was destroyed (hmm, a pattern maybe?) The Pyroviles and CG and look ok - a bit Transformer-ish, but they work ok. It turns out that the Pyroviles are rebuilding their race on Earth, via the Sisterhood. By inhaling the fumes from the volcano the Sisters start to turn to rock! Bit late for moisturiser now I think!

Lucius has been commissioned (he is a marble sculptor you see) to create some marble slabs with curious tracks all over them. Somehow, when these slabs are placed together, they form a circuit board for an energy converter. The Pyroviles are using the energy from the volcano, and all the time the converter is running the volcano cannot erupt. The Doctor knows he has to initiate the eruption in order to save the world (otherwise the Pyroviles will boil the seas and overun the Earth), but by doing that he has to destroy Pompeii.

Donna convinces the Doctor to save Lucius and his family, and the final scene shows them a few months in the future, living in Rome and paying homage to their “household gods” - the Doctor and Donna.

This episode was quite good, if a little non-sensical. The Doctor manages to defeat a Pyrovile with a water pistol! Good for comedy value, but it does take the menace out of the baddies a bit.

No magical appearance by Rose this time, but some mystical sooth-saying predicted that “she is returning”. Is this Rose, Martha, the Doctor’s daughter (in a few episodes time) or even the Rani (unlikely). We’re also told that something is on Donna’s back. I have no idea what this means! One podcast suggested its something to do with giant spiders? We’ll see.

Catherine Tate is still doing better than expected as the calmer Donna, and this is further seen in the next episode, Planet of the Ood (yes, I am a little behind with my reviews!). This episode was written by James Moran, who wrote one of my favourite Torchwood episodes, Sleeper, and I hope he’ll be writing more episodes of Who and Torchwood in the future.