Doctor Who: The Fires of Pompeii (4x02)

[fajrdrako]

I really liked James Moran's script for the series 2 Torchwood episode, "Sleeper". I hesitated to have high hopes for something similarly good with Doctor Who - but there were some bits that were exceptionally satisfying, that put that little chill up my back such as Doctor Who does at its best.

1. There is something about seeing characters whose body parts - especially their arms - were turning to stone that gets to me. Because having one's body 'turning to stone' is often the way scleroderma is described - a disease I acquired in childhood. My left arm was affected rather like Evelina's - though I'm happy to say it never turned into real stone, or turned grey, or gave me the curse of prophecy. It just seems weird to see something happening to characters in a fantasy that echoes what happened to me.
   
   
2. I loved it that the Prophecies referred to a future that wasn't going to happen - that was circumvented by the acts of the Doctor and the events of the episode. That really set up the sense of a turning point.
   
   
3. Interesting that Donna thought she could evacuate the city - even if they would listen to her, doesn't she know the old dictum I learned in Superman comics of my childhood, that you can't change the past? But this set up an interesting exploration of what and who the Doctor can save and what and who he cannot. Of course, even when he does 'save' a situation, it can be a disaster - such as the events of "The Long Game" leading to a new Dalek invasion.
   
   Moreover, why should anyone believe her?
   
   Donna's attempts to help the Pompeians seemed both naive and brave.
   
   
4. There are moments when I don't like Donna and moments when I like her very much indeed. But she makes me miss Martha and even Rose.
   
   
5. I loved the visual image of the priestesses putting their hands over their eyes with the eyes painted on their hands.
   
   
6. When the Doctor called it "Volcano Day" I felt a pang of memory for Captain Jack, pulling off his con jobs in Pompeii as "Volcano Day" approaches. He must have just left. Is it true that the Romans did not have the world "volcanus" before Pomepeii erupted? They certainly had the concept; there are all sorts of volcanoes in the Mediterranean. The Greeks called it ηφαίστειο or ifaisteio - I bet the Etruscans had a word for it, too. It always bothers me etymologically when dictionaries act as if language began with Latin.
   
   
7. I loved the visual effect of circuitry mixed up with Roman marbles.
   
   
8. Attempts to explain the TARDIS' translation techniques were fun. I loved it that Doctor kept using Latin phrases and everyone kept thinking he was talking Celtic.
   
   
9. Caecilius reminded me a little of Falco's father in the Lindsey Davis novels. He and his family didn't ring very true as ancient Romans, and where were the family slaves? But the anachronisms made for a certain amusement.
   
   
10. Loved the oracles' references to Gallifrey, the Time Lord, the thing on Donna's back (what?), and the ominous "she is returning".
    
    
11. Medusa Cascade? Should I understand that? There was a significant Medusa theme in The Sarah Jane Adventures> episode "The Eye of the Gorgon".
    
    
12. I liked the Doctor more than I did in "Partners in Crime", I think, though it's still missing something I have come to expect and look for - probably because his rapport with Donna is quite unlike that with Rose or Martha or Astrid. I'm not complaining; I know I just have to live with it.
    
    
13. I liked it Caecilius made the Doctor and Donna his household gods - yet another example of the deification of of our heroes.

I realize as I talk about it that I am more or less expecting not to particularly like series 4 - I'm already missing aspects of Doctor Who that existed in the past few years and are gone now. I'm like some sort of old fogey viewer, and really, it's only my fourth series. But in the first and second episodes of Doctor Who last year, I was just so excited about Martha and how much I loved her. It's quite a contrast in my reactions.

Part of it is that I am assured that the aspect I like most in the show - developing affection between Doctor and companion - cannot and will not happen; it's guaranteed to be static. So all I have left is the development of revelations about the Doctor's character and psychology. Is that enough to hold my interest? If it continues to be as well written as this episode from James Moran, yes, probably it is.

But I still have the sense of "my show" slipping away.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I have the feeling I wasn't watching the same episode as you! I came away thinking "wow, that got seriously dark". I can't describe any episode where our heroes choose to kill 20,000 people (albeit to save the world) and the main character walks past a family cowering in fear and begging for help and then leaves them to die as being light in tone.

I had a very similar series of conversations about "Partners in Crime" when I said it was 'light in tone'. 'Light in tone' is maybe not the right phase but I can't think of a better one. Yes, the subject matter was dark, the material was serious, and the life/death discussions were fascinating, but I still think the overall tone of the episode was light - the family of Caecilius being like a family out of a sitcom, the villains being like Jack Kirby Lava Men, and the number of linguistic (and other jokes) being greater by far than the serious moral/philosophical considerations.

Needless to say, I love it that they'd touched on dark subjects and I wish they'd done so more - I'd have liked a darker tone whether the material were lighter or not.

Keep in mind too that I watched it right after watching Battlestar Galactica. Comparitively, it barely registers as 'dark' in tone even though the subject matter - death of a population - was really quite similar.

Repeating your comment - I can't describe any episode where our heroes choose to kill 20,000 people (albeit to save the world) and the main character walks past a family cowering in fear and begging for help and then leaves them to die as being light in tone. - I can see that as the basis of a silly black comedy, and still being light in tone. A Monty Python theme, perhaps? It wasn't a silly black comedy here, it was a serious theme in a story whose underpinnings were both frivolous and serious. For me, the balance isn't quite right at the moment - possibly because I can only take Ten seriously about half the time.

but the prophecy in the Sybilline books turned out to be correct. The blue box came and there was destruction. I thought that was neat.

I thought so too.

From what I remember, the Pompeiians knew perfectly well Vesuvius was a volcano, they just didn't think an eruption would happen to them.

Yes, that was what I thought, too. (Vesuvius had, after all, erupted before.) Loved the reference to San Francisco. People do take chances because, when you look carefully, there aren't really many 'safe' places and we cope as best we can with the dangers and potential dangers.

Donna saw a much darker and more alien being from the start and so probably has a more realistic idea of what she is choosing in going with him.

That, I like. I'm doing my best to adjust to the changes but I can't help thinking "it isn't the same".

they've said Donna won't fall in love with the Doctor (which personally I think is a good thing), but that doesn't preclude them developing affection and connection.

I don't know what to expect or hope; I find the ... how to express this; I find the lack of open-endedness of the relationship depressing. Not that I want Donna to fall in love with the Doctor, more that I don't want it all to be pre-determined, and I don't like the idea that 'love' is pre-defined along certain lines. Considering that I'm having trouble relating to Donna at all, the one thing that I have loved about the show - affection and trust between Doctor and companion that is not defined in any conventional way - seems to be precluded.

Let me put it another way: I find it hard to believe that Donna can or will develop into the kind of world-saving hero that Rose became and that Martha was. The fact that she was willing to die for the Pompeians was wonderful, of course, and that's a good place to start. As is her sense of curiosity and wonder. Donna has already made great strides since "The Runaway Bride", in which she seemed to have little real curiosity at all, so I shouldn't be too depressed about this.

I really shouldn't. But I find I've sort of ... lost some of the faith I had somewhere over the past two episodes. Maybe it's just my sore foot having its effect.