Episode #196 - Fires of Pompeii

"Even the word 'doctor' is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord... of Time."

Episode #196:         Fires of Pompeii.
Companions:           10th Doctor and Donna Noble.
Air Date:                 12th April 2008.

The Tenth Doctor tries taking Donna Noble to ancient Rome for her first trip in the TARDIS, but seems to have miscalculated. Instead of seven hills, they find a single mountain billowing smoke — Vesuvius. They're in Pompeii, 23 August 79 AD: the day before "Volcano Day". However, something else is horribly wrong. The Soothsayers' predictions seem to always be correct... so why can't they see tomorrow's disastrous events, the eruption of Vesuvius, the death of their city? What is blocking their perception, and will the TARDIS team be able to walk away from a fixed point in time, saving no one from certain doom? Well, Donna has something to say about that!

Fires of Pompeii is an excellent example of a time travel television show and a good example of what Doctor Who can do. Here the time travelers travel back to ancient Pompeii and have some just fantastic dialogue and interaction between the Doctor and Donna that hearkens back to the 1st Doctor and Barbara in The Aztecs. The Doctor being the Time Lord knows that the events here are fixed in time and cannot be changed but Donna just sees the human side of things, concerned for the people of Pompeii. It really makes the episode.

The monsters in this story, the Pyroviles are some of the best animated creatures that the show has had I feel. Shame that the same level isn't applied to everything the BBC animate in the show. These are giant rock men type aliens with magma interiors.

The episode features two actors who will go on to feature strongly in the show. Karen Gillen who would become companion Amy Pond, and Peter Capaldi who will become the 12th Doctor.

TW #25 : Fragments / Exit Wounds

"Here's what's going to happen: everything you love, everything you treasure, will die. I'm gonna tear your world apart, Captain Jack Harkness, piece by piece. Starting now".

Episode 25 :            Fragments / Exit Wounds.
Companions:           Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, and Ianto Jones.
Air Date:                 21st March to 4th April 2008.

Captain John Hart returns to have his revenge on Torchwood and takes Jack prisoner. Jack and his long lost brother Gray don't have a good reunion. Can the rest of the team trust John?

Although Fragments is a sort of flashback episode it is also technically the first of a two part climax to the second season of Torchwood and so I am including both episodes under one heading. Fragments sets up John Hart luring the team to a location with the intent on killing the Torchwood team. Instead everyone survives but we have flashbacks to how the various team members were recruited by Jack Harkness.

Jack starts off in the late 19th century being discovered by a pair of Torchwood agents who being unable to kill him instead bring him into the organisation with the intent of using his skills to hunt down aliens and other strangeness. It follows him through to new years eve 1999 (when the 8th Doctor is saving the world in San Francisco) where the Cardiff team and killed by their leader as he feels nothing can save the Earth. This one is quite interesting not so much for Jack but more for showing us that early Torchwood is quite a nasty organisation and how the character changes from when he is abandoned on the Games Station until we see him again in the 20th century.

Toshiko's flashback reveals that she is a bit of tech genius and the things she had to do before UNIT arrested her and Jack recruited her. In Exit Wounds we also get a confirmation that it was Toshiko who the 9th Doctor spoke with during the events of Aliens of London/World War Three. Ianto is shown trying to get into the group following the fall of Torchwood at Canary Wharf and helping Jack capture the pterodactyl we saw briefly in the first season. Owen loses a fiance to some brain parasite that Torchwood couldn't help with. The reaction goes a long way to see why he is the way he is. Normally this sort of episode would be quite dull for me but seeing how these characters came together is actually worth an episode devoted to it.

When we get to the finale episode we learn that John Hart is being forced to do what is doing by Jack's brother Gray who for reasons I don't fully get wants to kill his brother. Now, I can understand that being tortured and left for dead by some unspeakably evil race can drive you a bit crazy but it doesn't feel fleshed out enough in this story for why Gray has such a hatred for Jack. I'd have liked a little bit more if I am honest. Eventually Gray is stopped and captured, being placed in cryogenic storage by Jack.

It was good to see John Hart again but once more I feel that he was underused having only appeared in effectively two and a tiny bit episodes. We needed some more time with the character then but I doubt we will see him make a return either.

In Exit Wounds it would appear that John Hurt, possibly through Gray, has the means to summon and repel the Weevils making me wonder whether their presence in Cardiff is the result of Jack's brother. Again, I'd like to have seen something more made of that.

Lastly this episode sees the deaths of two regular characters: Toshiko and Owen. Toshiko is shot by Gray and Owen is incinerated by a nuclear power surge. They get some good screen time in their last moments, which certainly brought a tear or two to my eyes, where Toshiko basically admits that she was in love with Owen. It is a sad ending but done very well.

Episode #12 : The Romans

 

"Alright? Of course I'm alright, my child. You know, I am so constantly outwitting the opposition, I tend to forget the delights and satisfaction of the gentle art of fisticuffs."

Episode 12:   The Romans.
Companions: The 1st Doctor, Vicki, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.
Air Date:        Four episodes. 16th January to 6th February 1965.

The four time travellers are enjoying a rare holiday, staying at a villa not far from Rome in the year A.D. 64. The Doctor soon becomes restless and sets off to visit the city, taking Vicki with him. In their absence, Ian and Barbara are kidnapped by slave traders.

The Romans is a historical story focusing really on Emperor Nero and the historical fire that he is supposed to have started. Of course in this tale it is the Doctor who gives him the idea to do it. As a historical story it isn't too bad. It works by splitting the companions up into two groups and each having their own adventures without interacting with the other. This by itself makes the story work.

The story does have a flaw though, and it is the introduction of a humorous element which is greatly unnecessary. While most of the story is quite serious and a little dark in places, the elements surrounding Emperor Nero come straight out of Benny Hill or the Carry On movies. In one chase sequence where Nero seeks Barbara it gets just painfully farcical.

The Romans features the first instance of a well known actor making an appearance. Derek Francis, who plays Nero, was a well known British movie and television performer at the time though I doubt any of now have ever heard of him. This is a trend however in later seasons that brings well known and household faces to the show, even if just as a cameo.

So in closing, The Romans is an OK story but let down by an infusion of unnecessary humour.