For each companion, their first true journey has been to a different time and place, but still on Earth. I think the Doctor wants to get them used to the idea of traveling throughout time and space, but with some degree of comfort.  Rose visited Charles Dickens in Cardiff, while Martha got to experience Shakespearean England. Production note:  This episode was partially shot in Rome at the same studios where the HBO series Rome was filmed.

So, we begin the adventure with the Doctor and Donna exiting the TARDIS into Ancient Rome.  Except, as the Doctor points out, it is actually New Rome, since it was new at the time they are there.  Donna picks up on the fact that she can read the signs, and gets her “new companion lesson” on the TARDIS translation circuits (or easy way to explain why all aliens on this show speak English).  She asks a question that I have actually be wondering for a while now.  What happens if you speak the actual language of the time/place?  Donna approaches a street vendor and exclaims, “Veni, Vedi, Vici,” to which the confused vendor replies, “I don’t speak Celtic.” Mystery solved!

They move on.  Rome is like Soho, but bigger.  And in a callback to the original series, the Doctor disavows any direct responsibility for the Fire of Ancient Rome.  Donna astutely notices that there are not 7 hills, but just one big mountain.  With smoke coming out of it.  The ground shakes, the Doctor looks up at the mountain and realizes:  They’re not in Rome after all.  That is Vesuvius, they are in Pompeii, and it’s Volcano Day!  

Credits.  I’ve been using “It’s Volcano Day” since season 1 when Captain Jack refers to using Pompeii as a great location for a con.  It’s been my general expression for a busy day at work when everything comes to a head.  So far I’ve managed to spread it around a little, and people who ask me about it are usually amused by the origin of the phrase.

Back to the show, and we see quick interlude of a cult of women in red robes, the Sisters of Sybilline.   They know of the TARDIS as part of some prophecy.  Donna chases after the Doctor as he rushes back to find the TARDIS, only to find that the vendor sold it off to a well-off family.  Not good.  We meet the family:  Parents Caecilius & Metella, with gifted seer-in-training daughter Evelina and slacker son Quintus. Evelina inhales some smoke from their altar and sees what appears to be a rock monster in the fiery haze below.  

Donna wants to evacuate the city and save everyone.  The Doctor tries to explain that they can’t save everyone because events like the eruption of Vesuvius are fixed points in history that cannot be changed.  Donna isn’t having any of that, and tries to stand up to the Doctor.  A Sybilline sister overhears them and we learn that they can communicate telepathically while putting their hands over their eyes.  But their hands have eyes drawn on them and it is all kinds of creepy.  We hear the voice of the high priestess who refutes their prophesy of the destruction of Pompeii via the blue box.  Oooh!  More creepy.

Another mini-quake, and the Doctor & Donna arrive at the door of Caecilius in the guise of marble inspectors.  Grasping for a name the Doctor claims to be Spartacus, as does Donna in her haste.  But they are not married, no sir.  Donna continues to protest about saving the people of Pompeii.  Meanwhile, city auger Lucius arrives with a marble sculpture tile that looks oddly like a modern memory chip.  Hmmm.  Now Evelina picks up on vibes from the Doctor and Donna, knowing of their names and that they are out of place here.  Lucius follows up her trick with the revelation of the Doctor’s lost home world of Gallifrey.  He then intently intones, “Doctor.  She is returning.”  Is that a Rose reference, or something else entirely?  “Donna, daughter of London, there is something on your back.” What could that mean?  Not to be outdone, Evelina sees deeper into the mind of the Doctor.  His true name is hidden (fact!), burns in the Cascade of Medusa (the Master mentions this in last year’s finale!) and that he is a Time Lord.

Caecilius spouts some exposition, and we learn that the soothsayers are breathing in dust from Vesuvius that allow them to actually see the truth.  But none of them have predicted eruption, which doesn’t bode well for the town.  Quintus follows the Doctor to the home of Lucius to investigate, as Donna gets a local outfit while getting girly with Evelina, whose arm is a bit stony.  Donna tries to warn her of the impending doom, and the sisters listen along via the eye hand creepy telepathy.  There is a bit of doubt now amongst the women, but the old woman scoffs it off and says that Donna must be sacrificed!  Uh, oh.

The Doctor checks out the rest of the tiles that Lucius has carved and it is declared to be an energy converter.  The Doctor isn’t sure exactly what kind of energy converter it is, and Lucius insults him for not knowing everything.  I wholeheartedly agree with the Doctor who likes not knowing sometimes.  Knowing everything takes the fun out of it all.  His number up, the Doctor offers to shake Lucius’s hand in peace but instead breaks it off.  All soothsayers are slowly turning to stone!  

Quintus and the Doctor run off back to Donna and the rest of the family.  Lucius has summoned the rock monster out of the depths below distracting the Doctor while the Sybilline sisters kidnap Donna.  This cannot be good.  In the chaos, Quintus gets suddenly brilliant and splashes some water on the giant fiery rock monster.  Which cools off and crashes down, turning to dust.  Well done!  It’s only now that the Doctor notices that Donna is missing.  So typical of the guy, really.

Donna’s splayed out on some sort of sacrificial altar, yelling at the sisters to let her go.  The high priestess seems to think she can shut Donna up, but the Doctor knows better!  Having been magically transported there by continuity faeries, the Doctor frees Donna. He surmises that since the soothsayers know not of the impending doom, there is an alien growing inside them, turning them into something entirely new.  The high priestess is almost completely stone now.  The Doctor demands to know who they really are, what planet they are actually from.  Again with a mention of the Shadow Proclamation!

Pyrovile.  We have their name now.  And the Doctor is armed!  He is usually extremely anti-gun, but apparently a water pistol is ok.  It’s a convenient weapon to have against fire creatures!  He pushes the high priestess to reveal their scheme, but she ain’t havin’ it.  And now the sisters are on to the fact that the water gun isn’t all that impressive.  But it does sting a bit!  Donna is suitably impressed that the Doctor fought the priestess with a water pistol. “I bloody love you!”  Me too, Donna, me too.

As Lucius the soothsayer is called to further the Pyrovile plan, our duo head down into the mountain. Donna presses the Doctor once again as to why he cannot prevent the eruption or save the town because of the alien influence.  It’s a tough burden for the Time Lord to carry, but he can see all of time at once, and knows what is fixed and what can be changed. He can see all 20,000 people about to die and has to let it just happen.  I adore Donna and her knack for asking the Doctor the tough questions.  They reach the heart of Vesuvius and sees Lucius, the Pyrovile and some sort of ship/pod that looks like the marble circuit tiles that Lucius made.

Now the true evil plan is revealed.  The Pyrovile planet is gone.  But there is enough energy and heat here and on the whole planet Earth to sustain them.  OK, now I am sensing a trend.  This isn’t the first planet to have gone missing recently.  Remember the Adipose nursery planet from last week?  Gone.  Consider me even more perplexed at how this will fit in with all the other recurring hints so far. I am really curious now how all this Rose, Shadow Proclamation and Medusa stuff will all come together in the end.

Now that all of the Earth is at risk, and not just Pompeii, the Doctor has the moral and practical authority to get involved.  With nowhere to go, the Doctor and Donna take shelter and get trapped in the escape pod.  The energy converter is stealing the energy from Vesuvius to convert people to Pyrovile and take over the world!  And that is why the soothsayers cannot see Volcano Day.  The Pyrovile are preventing the eruption.  But, wait!  The Doctor can revert the system and have the eruption blow them up.  The huge downside is that Pompeii will be destroyed.

And that is the choice the Doctor must make.  The Lonely Angel, the last of the Time Lords alone must decide whether to save all of humanity at the cost of the citizens of Pompeii.  And maybe himself.  20,000 people gone at the push of a lever, and he must decide.  Donna gets it now.  She really gets it, and can’t imagine the Doctor bearing the pain of that decision on his own, and takes his hand, and pushes down.  They together will share the burden of the choice, and neither will be alone.

History is changing before their eyes.  The sky is falling.  The pod is blasted into the sky and lands near the city.  They head for the TARDIS back in town and see the family of Caecilius huddled in the corner as the house is crumbling around them.  It’s at this point that I need to interrupt and point out a poignant scene that was part of the UK broadcast that SciFi cut.  It was a gut-wrenching moment for Donna as they run through the city.  She sees a child in the road and attempts to take it away to safety and at least have one good thing come of this.  But the boy’s mother interferes, snatching the child away from Donna, and she cannot save him.  It’s absolutely heartbreaking, and Donna is gutted. 

This missing scene helps add to our understanding of her anger as the Doctor fires up the TARDIS to leave.  She is crying, screaming, pleading, imploring the Doctor to go back.  “Don’t you think I’ve done enough!?!  History is back in place and everyone dies.” The Doctor is cold and distant, trying to leave that choice behind. Donna isn’t going to give up though.  She tries to play on his anguish of losing Gallifrey, but he can’t go back and save them either.  If he can’t save his own people, why should he save anyone in Pompeii?  Is that fair?  Man, is Catherine Tate good.  Who knew she could be such a wonderful dramatic actress?  

We return to the family, holding each other and waiting to die.  The TARDIS vworps in.  A bright light shines as the door opens and a hand is outstretched.  “Come with me” says the Doctor.  The whole thing makes me think of Terminator 2.  “Come with me if you want to live!”  The family is safe on the valley edge away from the city.  They watch the city below become covered in ash.  The destruction of Pompeii has also taken Evelina’s visions. Caecilius concludes that only an enraged god Vulcan could be responsible for something like this.  The eruption is a Volcano!  And thus a new word is born.

Donna and the Doctor go back in the TARDIS, as Donna thanks the Doctor for saving them.  She is right, sometimes he does need someone.  All is forgiven and they vworp away.  

Up Next:  The return of the Ood!