i should warn you, it's 70% plot out there

[vanitashaze]

Review for Doctor Who: 4.2 The Fires of Pompeii.

• So we start out in ancient 'Rome' with Donna and her Doctor, who jump into things so fast we all wonder if we've missed the first five minutes by accident. (I'm still not convinced I didn't.) Was there actually some sort of bridge between this episode and the last, or did Donna just drop her bags on the Doctor's foot and say, "I want to go Rome, Martian Boy. Hurry up and get a comb while you're at it"?
  
  
• This may be just me, but I actually found the Welsh thing funny. You know, for the first - oh, ten times? Then it just started to get tedious.
  
  
• And, what do you know: the Doctor got it wrong again. They are not in Ancient Rome; they are in Ancient About-To-Blow-Sky-High Pompeii. One would think that in all his nine hundred-plus years, the Doctor might have learned a more efficient way of navigating, but no. Apparently, that old saying about men and directions transcends species.
  
  
• TARDIS, Time Lord, think so."
  "Donna, human, NO."
  
  Ah, Donna. How we all love you. It's nice to have a companion with strong opinions and enough guts to voice them. (And, you know, no raging crush to impede the delivery.)
  
  
• After this, we have PLOT PLOT PLOT hot priestesses in weird make-up PLOT PLOT - Cameron? What is she doing there? Oh, wait, it's not Cameron, just someone with her remarkably model-like bone structure (read: cheekbones). Too bad; I would have liked to have seen House limping around Pompeii in a toga.
  
  Speaking of which: the toga that Donna wears is not a toga. Chitons are for women; togas are for men and prostitutes. Trying to tell us something there, RTD?
  
  
• Ha, the priestess has decided to cut off Donna's breasts as well as her heart tongue head whatever other organ necessary for survival. I wonder if she's jealous?
  
  
• "Oh, that's alright, just us girls then." If I even have to explain why this is funny, the world is a very, very sad place.
  
  
• So, we have the Prophesy Smack-Down and some other stuff which I really can't be bothered about. Instead, let's play a fun game of Spot That Allusion! Today's allusion: the volcano scene with the family of Not-Cameron - "Positions!". The correct answer is A, reference to Mary Poppins. (I suppose this makes the Doctor Mary and Donna either Bert or the talking umbrella.) There's also the "I'm Sparticus." "And... so am I" scene, from the movie Sparticus, and my favorite, the Doctor explaining Donna's general nuttiness with "She's from Barcelona". Fawlty Towers shout-out for the win!
  
  It now appears that Donna is a talking umbrella who has a pet rat with a time machine.
  
  
• Okay, the Doctor is being angsty, so it's serious time now. (Snooort. Giggle.) Okay, it's passed. Now it's serious time!
  
  
• Bla, bla, I'm a Time Lord and I'm the last one - say, is it just me or does anyone else think the Pyrovile look remarkably like the bastard children of movie-Transformers and those little Bionic action figures?
  
  
• I loved that Donna pushed the lever down alongside the Doctor, instead of just letting the Doctor heap it on himself because he's got a thing for survivor's guilt; she shared the guilt, and that's an admirable trait we haven't seen much of so far. It may just be because she's a wee bit older, but despite her squealing and slapping, so far she seems to be the most emotionally mature of all his New Who-companions.
  
  
• And then the Run Away From Danger scene. We hadn't had that in a while; I was worrying it was going to be missed, but no fear. Team Double-D -no pun intended - must get their exercise somehow. And blimey, what an emotionally damaging way to do it. The bit with Donna standing there screaming that they have to save someone, and then trying to grab that toddler - Wow. That bit broke my heart.
  
  Donna, dear, never change. Stand up to the Doctor for what is right; cry and look a bloody awful mess while doing it. Pompeii may have been an allegory for Gallifrey but not everything is all about him. And don't let him take the credit for the rescue - he may have had the time machine but you were the one who made him use it. Because he's right. He does need someone, and you're doing a smashing job so far.
  

Next on: Pop-art business presentations, the Ood kill people with desk lamps from IKEA, and the Doctor and Donna are very busy being not married. Never. Never ever.

Comments

[x-bluerose-x.livejournal.com]

Actually I'd love not just arguing but more realistic portrayal of relationships/crushes. People CAN love the Doctor and fall in love and still argue like hell with him. Why can't the series see that and do both so people don't get annoyed at having one but not the other?

But anyhow... yeah. Pompeii was part of the Roman Empire. It wasn't ROME but it's too easy to generalize, especially if you're used to dealing with companions who aren't savvy on their history.

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know, I thought Rose was okay at arguing (or at least bending him around her little finger).

To my understanding, they were trying to get Rome-the-city, not Rome-the-empire. And instead they got Pompeii, which as you said is within one but not the other. (Maybe they were reading the map upside down, who knows.) Though, yeah - I love Donna to death, but you could probably go to Athens and she'd be all set, as long as she could yell at random citizens and do a spot of hat shopping.

[agno3singer.livejournal.com]

In terms of the Doctor getting it wrong again, I like to think that the TARDIS goes where trouble is, and there's no stopping it.

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

All these do-gooder companions seem to be a bad influence on it.