The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)

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Synopsis

The Doctor and Donna travel to Pompeii, the night before Mount Vesuvius erupts. The Doctor and Donna travel back into ancient history, in this episode of Russell T Davies’s BAFTA Award-winning time-travelling drama. When they arrive in 79AD, however, they discover psychic powers and beasts of stone running riot in the streets of old Pompeii. The time-travellers face their greatest challenge yet – can established history be changed, or must the Doctor let everyone die?

Plot

The episode begins with the Doctor and Donna leaving the TARDIS and entering what the doctor takes to be Rome in the 1st century AD. Donna notes that the writing is in English and is sceptial about the authenticity of them being in the past, until the Doctor explains to her the TARDIS's translation circuit. However, he feels that they should have been able to see the Colosseum by now, and Donna points out there is only one hill and not Rome's famous seven, and that it is smoking. Thus - as an earth tremor rocks the streets - the Doctor realises they have arrived not in Rome, but in Pompeii, on 23 August - the day before Vesuvius's 79 AD eruption.

Returning to the TARDIS, Donna tries to convince the Doctor that he should help evacuate the city, but he tells her he cannot interfere in established events. On arriving where they left the TARDIS, they find a nearby stallholder has sold it to Caecilius as a piece of "modern art". Meanwhile, a member of the Sibylline sisterhood reports back on the "blue box"'s arrival, which they find is a fulfillment of a Sibylline prophecy. At Caecilius's house, his prophetically-gifted but sickly daughter Evelina is being prepared for the arrival of the town's augur Lucius Dextrus by inhaling volcanic fumes from their house's hypocaust. The Doctor and Donna arrive before him and, when Lucius arrives, the Doctor engages in an exchange of cryptic sayings with the Doctor. He and Donna are about to leave in the TARDIS when Caecilius unveils a stone-circuit board he has produced to Dextrus' designs. Intrigued, they stay, but after the Doctor accidentally insults Roman religion as "official superstition" Dextrus and Evelina "prophesise" truths about the Doctor and Donna, seeing their real names, naming Gallifrey and London as their true homes, mentioning the Doctor's presence at the Medusa Cascade, his status as a "Lord of Time", and Gallifrey's destruction. Evelina also states that his true name is not Doctor but is in fact "hidden" and that "she" is returning (this is possibly a reference to Rose Tyler's return), and Dextrus warns Donna that "there is something on your back".

When Dextrus has gone, Donna finds that Evelina's skin is turning into stone whilst the Doctor is shown a hypocaust system powered by hot springs from Vesuvius itself and from which come monstrous sounds from "the gods of the underworld". This system, he is told, was installed after the 62 AD earthquake on Dextrus and the other soothsayers' instructions. From that time onwards, the soothsayers have been inhaling rock dust from these hypocausts and all their predictions have been entirely accurate (though they have not predicted that Vesuvius will erupt the next day). The Doctor and Quintus break into Dextrus' house, finding a stone circuit board of components like those gifted him by Caecilius. Meanwhile, Evelina gives Donna a stola, and while talking to her about a teenager's life in Pompeii, Donna finds out Evelina cannot prophesy the eruption. She tells Evelina about the eruption, which Evelina psychically passes onto the sisterhood. They and their high-priestess decide it is false prophecy and that Donna must be killed.

The Doctor and Quintus have meanwhile been apprehended by Dextrus. The Doctor helps him assemble the circuit board correctly and, when Dextrus then threatens to have his guards kill them, breaks off Dextrus's right arm, which has turned to stone. He and Quintus then escape, but hearing underground footsteps going towards Caecilius's house, return there to find a giant humanoid stone and magma creature (summoned by Dextrus) emerging from the hypocaust. The Doctor tells Donna to go and get water while he attempts to reason with the creature, but (unknown to him) she is kidnapped by the sisterhood. Quintus throws water on it as requested, which causes it to die and collapse, and the Doctor then goes to rescue Donna, who is about to be murdered by the sisterhood. Conversing with their high priestess, he finds she has completely turned to stone. She reveals that she is being used as a host to one of the Pyroviles, stone aliens who crashed to earth, shattered into dust, and were re-awakened by the 62 earthquake, psychically linking to the humans of the town (one of their adult forms is the creature they saw at the villa). The Doctor is, however, unable to find how they are psychically seeing through time.

Holding off the high priestess with a water pistol, Donna and the Doctor escape down the hypocaust. Dextrus and the high priestess both declare that the prophecy of Pompeii's future empire must now advance. As they run, Donna attempts to convince the Doctor to stop the Pyrovile causing Pompeii's eruption, but he again refuses, telling her of the eruption's fixed point in history and the Time Lord ability to see the past, present and all possible futures at once (something he classes as a "burden"). Dextrus and the cult of Vulcan takes the circuit boards to the mountain and he summons forth the adult Pyrovile to hunt Donna and the Doctor down. Dextrus, Donna and the Doctor reach the centre of the mountain, and Dextrus informs him that the Pyroviles intend not to launch a rocket back home via the eruption (their home planet of Pyrovilia having been "taken"), but to remain on and conquer Earth. The Doctor and Donna then lock themselves in part of the Pyrovilian ship they have found, where they find the Pyrovilians are using Vesvuius's power to set up a fusion matrix to convert millions of humans into Pyroviles - thus the eruption is not going to happen, which is why the soothsayers have been unable to see it. The Doctor will be able to switch off the Pyrovilian circuitry and thus save the world from Pyrovilian conquest, but in so doing he will cause the eruption and the deaths of himself, Donna and 24,000 people. They choose the latter as the lesser of two evils, escaping back to the surface, to Pompeii and to the TARDIS, running past the Caecilius family.

The Doctor ignores the family's plea for help and de-materialises the TARDIS with himself and Donna on board, but is confronted by Donna, who tearfully tries to convince him to go back and save the town. The Doctor refuses, replying that history is back on track and everyone will die, but explains to her that if he could he would, just as he would if he could go back and prevent the destruction of Gallifrey. He is eventually convinced by Donna to go back and, even if he cannot save the whole town, just save the Caecilius family. They and the family watch the eruption from the surrounding hills - the Doctor explains why Evelina's visions (caused by a rift in time, akin to the Cardiff Rift, as a result of the explosion) have now stopped and promises that Caecilius and Pompeii will be remembered, and Caecilius coins the word volcano for the first time. The Doctor and Donna leave, with him acknowledging that she was right in that "sometimes I need someone" to stop and humanise him. Six months later, we find the family in Rome, with Caecilius back up in business, Evelina a healthy and happy teenager once again, Quintus having given up his dissolute ways to train as a doctor, and Donna and the Doctor worshipped as the family's household gods, with the TARDIS as their temple.

Cast

Production crew

to be added

References

Story notes

to be added

Ratings

to be added

File:Heartburn.jpg
Rock monster!

Myths

  • The pyrovile are made of stone this is later true but the Pyrovile possess people and turn there bodies slowly into stone.
  • Many believed that this episode would feature Jack Harkness. This was proved false.

Filming Locations

Rome

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

Continuity

  • The Doctor reveals to Donna for the first time that he is a Time Lord from Gallifrey.
  • The Doctor says he was here a long time ago which he did in his Seventh incarnation with Mel in the story The Fires of Vulcan.
  • When seeing the future, Lucius mentions the Medusa Cascade. That fits with what Russell T. Davies said about it playing a major part in Series 4.
  • Lucius also says that "she will return" when seeing the future. This is most likely a reference to Rose's return.
  • Evelina says that Donna has somthing on her back this will be picked up on in Turn Left

DVD and other releases

  • It will be released on the Series 4 boxset DVD in November 2008.
  • It will be released as part of Series 4 volume 1 on June 2nd 2008 along with 'Partners in Crime' and 'Planet of the Ood'.

External links

to be added

Template:Series 4

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