The fires of Pompeii (2008)

Review
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Review

This episode was first broadcast on April 12 2008. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: it's volcano day, and the Doctor must choose between two evils.

When this story is good, it's very good. Let's start by talking about when it sort of isn't:

• though the story ends with a bang - in more ways than one - it takes its sweet time getting there
• there's a lot of alien technology and physiology as well as some basics of life in ancient Pompeii that need to be explained to the audience, which means we spend a lot of time listening to characters spouting exposition at each other

And while we're at it, we may as well get a couple of 'WTF?' plot points out of the way:

• throughout the history of the series it has been established that the Tardis has some kind of technologically advanced whatever-it-is on board that makes it unnoticeable to passers-by. When the Tardis first lands in Pompeii this still seems to work, since nobody appears to pay any attention to the blue box suddenly appearing in their midst. And yet the Tardis is spotted, sold and carted off as soon as the Doctor and Donna turn their backs.
  The whole search for the Tardis feels like filler, since it happens in a part of the episode when the plot has yet to kick in. The Tardis' disappearance also conveniently keeps the Doctor and Donna from leaving once they realise they're in Pompeii rather than in Rome, and their search ends up taking them to where the action is
• in this story we encounter several people who are - spoiler ahead - going through some kind of transformation that will eventually turn them into alien stone monsters. How exactly this transformation takes place is a mystery.
  Evelina, prophetess-in-training and daughter of the man who bought the Tardis, has an underarm that has turned to stone. Her hand is normal and fully functional, though, which suggests that the stone part of her arm is somehow still alive and that blood is still flowing through it.
  The city augur Lucius' entire arm has turned to stone, and when the Doctor breaks it off (which isn't a very nice thing to do, by the way, even if Lucius isn't very nice guy) there's no blood and there doesn't seem to be any injury other than to the city augur's dignity. This implies that the arm is dead, and that circulation is routing around it.
  The high priestess of the Sybilline sisterhood appears to have entirely turned into stone, and though she's obviously mobility-impaired by her condition she's definitely alive. Whether there's still circulation going on under her stony skin is anyone's guess
• it's also unclear - beware, another spoiler ahead - why the alien stone monsters would be converting humans into their own kind in the first place. Cyborg races like the Daleks, the Cybermen and (in the universe next door) the Borg tend to do this, as do vampires and zombies, but what's in it for the Pyrovillians?

Moving on to the good things about this episode:

• the moral dilemma that the story revolves upon is presented flawlessly, and the visualisation of the main emotional climax by - spoiler ahead - the Doctor and Donna joining hands to pull the lever in order to allow history to run its course is spot-on
• this is a fantastic episode for Donna and her relationship with the Doctor
• we get a fantastic performance from Catherine Tate
• great incidental score
• great visuals

My verdict:

When this episode is good, it's very good.

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