Doctor Who S30E02: The Fires Of Pompeii [Spoilers]

[Admiral Valdemar]

In over an hour.

[Dartzap]

Anyone willing to lock up Barrowmen in a garage for a year or so? The bugger is everywhere these days, heh.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

I wanted to ask this about the first thread, but isn't the new Doctor Who series Series Four, rather than Three?

[Lost Soal]

your missing the zero

[El Moose Monstero]

Looks like I'm catching the repeat tomorrow or watching it on iplayer. Still stuck in t'lab.

Guardian reviews were favourable though, although I seem to recall the Times's Sunday paper last week not giving it an amazing write up. It is about volcanoes, maybe I can claim it as on-the-job training.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Anyone willing to lock up Barrowmen in a garage for a year or so? The bugger is everywhere these days, heh.

Tell me about it! Talk about flavour of the decade.

I wanted to ask this about the first thread, but isn't the new Doctor Who series Series Four, rather than Three?

Woodlouse made the same mistake. Call yourself a purist?

EDIT: LOL, Ofcom complaint.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I'm Spartacus!

[Siege]

Whoa. That's one hell of a blown up mountain. Is it just me or did the special effects budget triple again this season?

[Zac Naloen]

That was sooo much better than I was expecting it to be.

Is it my imagination or is this series going to be about the doctor finding his humanity again?

[Crazedwraith]

That ws better than it had any right to be from the previews. Serious Curse of the Timelord vibes. Although the basic plot seemd to be uncannily alike to last weeks. Only much much better.

So are Rose, Shadow Proclamations and blown up homeworlds this season's watchwords?

[Jon]

I really, really enjoyed that episode... I thought the last 15 minutes was epsecially poignant. Good stuff.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Whoa. That's one hell of a blown up mountain. Is it just me or did the special effects budget triple again this season?

The BBC finally got out of the old "We can keep cutting the budget" trend they used to have. I figure today's shows, with their effective CGI and prosthetics etc., mean the bar has to be raised. I especially liked the Vulcan like soldiers.

That was sooo much better than I was expecting it to be.

Is it my imagination or is this series going to be about the doctor finding his humanity again?

It seems that will be a part of it. The whole explanation about how he sees time is interesting. It gets over the whole time-travel problem with predicaments coming up that are part of our history which are fixed and so on.

I was expecting them not to save that family, but I guess I can forgive that little softening up given that Pompeii still got smothered by Vesuvius, as it was destined to anyway.

The Shadow Proclamation seems to be a recurring trend too. I'm thinking something linked to the overarching plot.

[Lord Woodlouse]

So are Rose, Shadow Proclamations and blown up homeworlds this season's watchwords?

That's what I'm getting, so far.

I liked this episode a lot, though I was interrupted as the thing was beginning. The effects seemed pretty decent, and of course they were filming on the set of Rome, so it all looked pretty funky to go with the fairly mature story.

[NecronLord]

Whoa. That's one hell of a blown up mountain. Is it just me or did the special effects budget triple again this season?

I think they paid for it in having to do the 'there's loads of them' scene with only two Pyrovale.

[Crazedwraith]

Also does anyone keep hearing phrase of music reminiscent of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy theme from the Tv Series? (and to a lesser extend the movie, where it's appearance as well as the original marvin costume and Simon Jones cameo were the only worthwhile things)

[Zac Naloen]

But I wonder if there is anything in the Breeder World's destruction. The Doctor being surprised by it could be for joke sake, but it would be interesting if it is a harbinger of one of the seasons threats heading at Earth.

This post from Odysseus brings up an interesting issue.

Two episodes in a row a race has been severely hurt and the Doctor wasn't aware.

[Crazedwraith]

It seems that will be a part of it. The whole explanation about how he sees time is interesting. It gets over the whole time-travel problem with predicaments coming up that are part of our history which are fixed and so on.

This bit also carries on from why he finds Captain Jack so hard to be round nowadays. Jack being never changing point of time in his eyes. Although that doesn't explain why Jack's getting older. (an excuse for the actor to get older I suppose.) and turn into Boe.

[Admiral Valdemar]

This post from Odysseus brings up an interesting issue.

Two episodes in a row a race has been severely hurt and the Doctor wasn't aware.

If that's the case, then there could be more races being weakened and forced to run or exterminated before Earth is in the firing line. I don't think it's the Sontarans, since they have a two-parter and don't strike me as a major threat. A new race for once, perhaps? Revamping old villains is fun, but the Daleks, Cybermen and Master were all I really cared for (and The Candyman, but we shan't talk of that).

[NecronLord]

I'd hope for some original doom threat, this time.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Likewise. It would be nice to see something that is new and able to really scare the Doctor and try and be unique too. Not another cyborg army or evil genius, but something you'd usually only see in hard SF novels.

Personally, the image of multiple races being decimated and forced to become refugees reminds me of the Inhibitors.

Also, a threat that doesn't go for Earth then get stopped and banished to cameo appearances later. Something that stays as a threat in the background, again, like the Inhibitors and similar OCPs.

[NecronLord]

I wouldn't think anything like the Inhibitors would be likely. There is no Great Silence, in this setting. The world has been fully aware of (and perhaps interacting with) alien species for at least fifty years. And the Doctor is an OCP.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Oh poo. Candyman it is, then.

[NecronLord]

Heh. I do like the idea of a mysterious force ravaging planets without anyone even knowing what it is, until it meets the Doctor, mind you.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Indeed. Something ominous in the background, tying most of the episodes together in some way through time and space, would make for a good set-up. Even better when the Doctor is totally clueless about it.

With the Time Lords and Daleks out of the picture, I imagine all sorts of other races have started flourishing to fill in the void.

[Dartzap]

I thought the end was great, although they do seem to have nicked the CGI from Super Volcano.

Next week's episode looks a smidgen ood, though.