TEXT: The Doctor gets out of the TARDIS, pulls away a curtain and smiles. Donna steps beside him. THE DOCTOR: Ancient Rome. Well, not to them, obviously. To all intents and purposes, right now, this is brand new Rome. DONNA: Oh my God, it's... It's so Roman! This is fantastic! She hugs him. THE DOCTOR: Haha! DONNA (enthusiastic): I'm here, in Rome, Donna Noble, in Rome. This is just weird! I mean, everyone here's dead. THE DOCTOR: Well, don't tell them that. DONNA (sobered): Hold on a minute, that sign over there's in English. She points to a board advertising "Two amphoras for the price of one". DONNA: Are you having me on, are we in Epcot? THE DOCTOR: No, no, no, that's the TARDIS translation circuits, just makes it look like English. Speech as well, you're talking Latin right now. DONNA: Seriously? THE DOCTOR: Uh huh. DONNA: I just said "seriously" in Latin. THE DOCTOR: Oh yeah. DONNA: What if I said something in actual Latin? Like, "Veni, vidi, vici"? My dad said that when he came back from football. If I said "Veni, vidi, vici" to that lot, what would it sound like? THE DOCTOR: I'm not sure. You have to think of difficult questions, don't you? DONNA: I'm gonna try it. She walks to a stallholder. STALLHOLDER: Afternoon sweetheart. What can I get you, my love? DONNA: Ehm... Veni, vidi, vici. STALLHOLDER: Huh? Sorry? (gesticulating wildly) Me-no-speak-Celtic. No-can-do-missy. DONNA: Yeah. She walks back to the Doctor. DONNA:
SUMMARY:
The Doctor and Donna arrive in Pompeii one day before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 . They discover that the TARDIS was sold to sculptor Lobus Caecilius, and they search for it. At Caecilius's house, the Doctor and Donna meet the local augur , Lucius Petrus Dextrus, who has arrived to collect what resembles an oversized circuit board Caecilius has sculpted. The Doctor breaks into Lucius' house with Caecilius's son Quintus, and finds numerous circuit boards made by multiple sculptors without the others knowing. The Doctor deduces that the circuits will form an energy converter. The Doctor discovers that the Sibylline Sisterhood soothsayers are being slowly turned into stone creatures called Pyroviles . He escapes with Donna into the heart of Mount Vesuvius, and is faced with the choice of either erupting the volcano and killing Pompeii's inhabitants, or letting the Pyroviles use the converter to turn all of humanity into Pyroviles. The Doctor and Donna trigger the eruption and run for the TARDIS, leaving Caecilius and his family, but Donna begs the Doctor to go back and save them. The Doctor relents and saves Caecilius and his family, leaving them on a hill overlooking Pompeii.