"...Still...if there are aliens at work in Pompeii,
its a good thing we stayed.,
Donna. Donna! Donna!?..."
PLOTLINE
Psychic powers and stone beasts run riot in old Pompeii, but can Donna dare the Doctor to change established history?
EPISODE REVIEW - PENDING
But in the meantime, another stunning episode with real jeopardy, heart & soul, spunky non-stop action, and a crisp professionalism that we have come to expect from the BBC WALES DOCTOR WHO Special Effects team lead by Danny Hargraves (and the visual CGI treatment from THE MILL).
And the Doctor's departing line, "Don't tell anyone" was pure CLASSIC SERIES.
The halcyon days of the NEW SERIES have started - or peaked?
Things to look out for...
DOCTOR WHO FOLKLORE The aliens featured are Pyrovile.
DOCTOR WHO FOLKLORE The humans influenced (having ingested the superheated dust of the Vesuvius) by the Pyrovile have the ability to read the minds of the Doctor and Donna. Lucicus mentions Gallifrey and that Donna is "Noble of London". The humans gradually become stone.
DOCTOR WHO FOLKLORE The Doctor speaks Latin, which, of course, is heard to be "Celtic" (read: Welsh) by the Pompeiians. "Oh, mortituri te salutant" (Dignity in Death).
DOCTOR WHO FOLKLORE The Doctor demands that the High Priestess reveals her "masters's" true identity by proclaiming the ratification of the Shadow Proclamation.
PRODUCTION NOTES Head Writer, Russell T Davies inserted a number of "gags" into the script influenced by his admiration for the Asterix comics/stories and O-Level Latin teaching books of his childhood.
