30.02: Fires of Pompeii

[Lenny]

Psychic powers and stone beasts run riot in old Pompeii, but can Donna dare the Doctor to change established history?

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Haha! Caecillius - anyone learn Latin from the orange Oxford Press books? Because I did in Year 7. And obviously James Moran did at some point.

First of all, Donna. I have to say, at the beginning she was kinda annoying, but after about ten minutes she settled into things.

The episode was good, I thought. It's rare that we see the 'dark' side of the Doctor, and his involvement in causing the eruption of Vesuvius was done well. It's also rare that we (or at least I) see him in his Time Lord role, too. Usually, I just think of him as a fella running around time. This episode showed him all Time Lordy.

Oh, and a quick guess at the theme for this series - last week he told Supernanny off for something that was against the Shadow Proclamation. In this episode, he demanded the name of the Pyrovire (vyre?) under the Shadow Proclamation.

All in all, a good second episode.

EDIT: Before I forget - water pistol in his coat pocket? Haha! Has he got a TARDIS in the inside pocket or something?

[The Ace]

Loved the water-pistol. I think they handled it pretty well too, the Doctor cares about what happens but, faced with the deaths of 20,000 or an entire planet, grits his teeth and gets on with it.

[PTeppic]

Noticed the second mention (of the series) of the Shadow Proclamation. Also, one of the seers said "she's coming back", again an obvious repeat message.

I thought it was being a little bit panto when it started but it got serious quite well. And yes, some very good "it's my fate to watch people die" stuff...

From the "Confidential", I think it's RTD who has the Latin sense of humour, though actually it's Asterix based.

[Dave]

I enjoyed this one too.

Originally Posted by PTeppic

I thought it was being a little bit panto when it started but it got serious quite well.

Agree with that, and about Donna not being so annoying.

I thought the Shadow Proclamation had been mentioned before. I could be wrong; does anyone else remember? Maybe to do with the Face of Boe?? If not then I apologise in advance.

[pyan]

I'm pretty sure that it goes all the way to Rose, 27.01, when the Ninth Doctor invoked it to try to get the Nestene Consciousness to go away and leave Earth alone...

[chopper]

...and also in that one with the olympic torch, again in series 1.

[Tillane]

And Rose tries to utilise it herself in The Christmas Invasion...

[pyan]

After a bit of searching...the Tenth Doctor invoked it against the Sycorax, in The Christmas Invasion, and again in Fear Her, 28.11 (the one you were thinking of, Chopper), this time against the Isolus.

Quite a long arc....over three seasons, and two Doctors.

Edit...you're quite right, Till - it was Rose. not the Doctor, in TCI.

[Lenny]

Help! We're surrounded by anoraks!!

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Also, one of the seers said "she's coming back", again an obvious repeat message.

I was going to mention it, but my poor, birdy brain obviously only retains one important thing at a time.

At the end of the last series, we saw a hand, with red fingernails, picking up The Masters ring from his funeral pyre. The general thoughts were that it was an old female nemesis. Beginning with "R", I think.

EDIT: Spooky! I used nearly the exact same phrase in the thread at the time - "...and how we saw a hand, with red fingernails, picking up The Masters ring."

Oh, and The Rani was the name that popped up.

EDIT2: Short term memory is a no. Looks like long term is somewhat broken, too! I can't even remember what happened a week ago, it seem.

[Tillane]

Originally Posted by Lenny

Oh, and The Rani was the name that popped up.

Hope so. But will it be Kate O'Mara?

[chopper]

Originally Posted by Lenny

Help! We're surrounded by anoraks!!

ah, Anoraknophobia!

[Foxbat]

Humour, pathos, and adventure is enough for me to say that this was much better than last week's episode. An interesting explanation on fixed and flux time on the lack of effort to save pompeiians (is that a word?) helped fill a possible hole in the plot.

Katherine Tate's character seems to be evolving into as good a foil as the Doctor has had in the past.

[Dave]

I believe they even got the Geology and History correct, which should be applauded. Though it is likely that more than one family was able to escape before the Pyroclastic flows struck: Volcanic Phenomena at Pompeii

[SpaceShip]

So - all in all it's very exciting and brilliantly put together by everyone.

[byrney123]

I'm going to jump back to the stuff about the Shadow Proclamation since I'm getting ever so slightly obcessed with it. RTD said in a statement that this series wouldnt have an "arc word" but that the arc would be something somehow mentioned in every episode that was seeded from the very begining.

The Doc mentions the Shadow Proclamation in "Rose" the very first episode

It gets mentioned twice in series 2

Never in series 3

And its been mentioned twice in this series and sounds much more important. Miss Foster is afraid of what the Shadow Proclamation with do if they know she is breaking the law then the doctor seemed to imply last night that every single species has its own designation under "the univeral ratification of the Shadow Proclamation"

I'm starting to wonder if maybe they are what took over from the Time Lords after the War or if they are some kind of universal UN.

Although the Sycorax dont seem to fear the Shadow Proclamation, at least not when Rose mentions it.