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"The Fires of Pompeii" is the second episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was broadcast on BBC One on 12 April 2008. Set shortly before and during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, this episode depicts alien time traveller the Doctor (David Tennant) and his new companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) on a trip to Pompeii, where they uncover an alien invasion. Their clashing worldviews present an ethical dilemma for the Doctor. The episode was filmed in Rome's Cinecittà studios, and was the first time the ''Doctor Who'' production team took its cast abroad for filming since its revival. The production of the episode was impeded by a fire near the sets several weeks before filming and by problems for the production team crossing into Europe. Critics' opinions regarding the episode were generally mixed. The premise of the episode—the moral dilemma the Doctor faces, and Donna's insistence that he save a family from Pompeii—were widely praised. However, the episode's writing was criticized, in particular, for the characterization of the supporting cast: The dialogue was described as "one-dimensional"〔 and Peter Capaldi and Phil Davis's dialogue as "whimpering and scowling".〔 == Plot == The Doctor and Donna arrive in what the Doctor believes to be Rome in the first century AD. After an earthquake and witnessing a nearby mountain begin to smoulder, he realises he has in fact materialised in Pompeii one day before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. When he and Donna return to where the TARDIS landed, he discovers that a local merchant sold it to sculptor Lobus Caecilius. The Doctor and Donna go to Caecilius's house to retrieve it. Unknown to them, they have been followed by a soothsayer who reports to the Sibylline Sisterhood that the prophesized man in the blue box has arrived, and the Sisters fear the prediction that his arrival brings fire and death. At the house, the Doctor is surprised by Caecilius's daughter Evelina, who seems to have extrasensory perception (ESP) and knows personal details about the Doctor and Donna. They are interrupted by the local augur, Lucius Petrus Dextrus, who has arrived to collect a sculpture he commissioned. The Doctor is intrigued by the sculpture, which resembles a segment of an oversized circuit board. Lucius Petrus reveals that he also has powerful ESP and calls out the name of the Doctor's home planet, Gallifrey. The Doctor wishes to learn more about the sculptures and enlists Caecilius's son Quintus to help him break into Lucius Petrus' house. Inside, the Doctor deduces that the circuits will make an energy converter, but he is caught by Lucius Petrus. The two escape, but Lucius Petrus beckons a large stone creature to attack and kill them. The stone creature appears in Caecilius's house and attacks them, but Quintus saves them by dousing the creature in water and killing it. In the confusion, the Sisterhood kidnap Donna, and the Doctor sets off to rescue her. He meets the high priestess of the Sisterhood, who is revealed to be transforming into a stone creature. The Doctor discovers that they are being controlled by the Pyroviles, volcanic creatures whose home planet of Pyrovilia was lost (see Story arcs in Doctor Who#Medusa Cascade). The Doctor is attacked by the Sisterhood, but he escapes with Donna into an underground tunnel that leads into the heart of Mount Vesuvius. The Doctor discovers that the volcano is being used by the Pyroviles to convert the human race and conquer Earth. The Doctor realises the volcano will not erupt if the energy converter is running, and tells Donna that the volcanic eruption is a fixed point in time and must always happen. The Doctor and Donna get into an escape pod and together press a lever which overloads the converter and triggers the eruption, killing the Pyroviles and launching the pod clear of the blast. The Doctor and Donna run for the TARDIS and the Doctor coldly leaves Caecilius and his family cowering in their home and dematerialises. Donna begs him to go back and at least save one person, and the Doctor finally relents and goes back for Caecilius and his family. He leaves them on a hill overlooking the destruction, and together with Donna slips out quietly as the family mourns Pompeii. The Doctor comments to Donna that she was right, and he does need someone to stop him. Six months later in Rome, Caecilius's family are shown to be successful. He is running a profitable business, Evelina has a social life in comparison to her seclusion in Pompeii, and his son Quintus is studying to become a doctor. Before Quintus leaves, he pays tribute to the family's household gods (in marked contrast to his disrespectful attitude towards them at the start of the episode), a bas relief depiction of which are in the form of the Doctor, Donna and the TARDIS. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Fires of Pompeii」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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