Skip to content
TARDIS Guide

Overview

Released

Monday, September 18, 2000

Written by

Steve Lyons

Runtime

104 minutes

Time Travel

Past

Tropes (Potential Spoilers!)

Pure Historical, Religion, Vegetarian

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Earth, Italy, Pompeii

Synopsis

Two thousand years ago, a cataclysmic volcanic eruption wiped the Roman city of Pompeii from the face of the Earth. It also buried the Doctor's TARDIS...

Arriving in Pompeii one day before the disaster, the Seventh Doctor and Mel find themselves separated from their ship and entangled in local politics. With time running out, they fight to escape from the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. But how can they succeed when history itself is working against them?

Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat

Edit date completed

Characters

How to listen to The Fires of Vulcan:

Reviews

Add Review Edit Review

12 reviews

This review contains spoilers!

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Delta and the Bannermen


A pure historical? With 7 and Mel? With implications about the consequences of time travel? Sign me right up. This is fantastically simple yet engaging story which manages to hold your attention in a way no lazy sci-fi explanations or poorly modulated alien voices ever could. The central conflict of this story being the Doctor giving up because he believes he's destined to die at Pompeii is a really good one, albeit I think it was resolved a bit lazily.

It's funny that there's two stories out there featuring Scottish actors playing the Doctor alongside a redhead companion set in Pompeii that deal with changing established events titled "The Fires of [something]". Makes me wonder if one inspired the other but I think the similarities are mostly surface level.

Overall a really good story, the final part being a mad dash back to the TARDIS with both Mel and the Doctor seperated was particularly good in my opinion. Really tense and dramatic stuff.


Next Story: Bad Day in Tinseltown


thedefinitearticle63

View profile


I am still surprised how much I enjoyed this Story. I think the first 50 releases (at least the ones I listen to so far) are a totally mixed bags, with some excellent ones and some more meh ones. This one on the other hand is wonderful.
Not every joke, that they make here, works, but it’s nice to see the S24 Tardis Team in a more dramatic Story rather than the campy ones, we got in S24.
While I prefer Mel and Six as a team, I think this one is a pretty good Outing for Mel and Seven, maybe not a favorite but pretty good!


RandomJoke

View profile


This review contains spoilers!

Primeira Main Range pós “Delta And The Bannermen” seguindo a cronologia – O problema dessa história está no conteúdo que preenche toda trajetória de “A TARDIS que ficou presa (o início)” e “Recuperando a TARDIS”, toda essa trajetória (esse meio) é preenchida com problemáticas e situações que para mim foram bem bobinhas não tão envolventes ou até mesmo não tão dramáticas diante de uma pré-tragédia, como por exemplo: O Doutor trapaceando em um jogo pra cima daquele cara brutamonte, havia mesmo necessidade dessa problemática dentro da história?? “Eu quero me limpar dessa vergonha, eu preciso bater no Doutor”...tipo, man 🤦🏻‍♂️... O áudio dedica um bloco inteiro para isso, fica naquela típica briga de saída de escola, dentre outras situações bobas também como o cliffhanger que soa bem aleatório de “ah ela roubou minhas joias”, tudo parece proposital para que a narrativa ficasse com um comportamento arrastado andando em círculos dando uma sensação de uma certa enrolação. Os personagens são bem estereotipados, temos um servo obediente, uma figura religiosa arrogante e etc etc. Mas mesmo com esses pontos questionáveis, o áudio tem sim seus positivos um deles é o protagonismo da Mel, mais uma vez sendo melhor utilizada do que na Série de TV. Ele também acerta na dose em criar uma certa emoção agonizante diante de toda a tragédia. Enfim, sinceramente eu achei bem Overrated, digo isso pelo fato de suas avaliações na internet serem de notas muitos altas, mas está longe de ser dispensável.


KnuppMello

View profile


Banger after banger today I fear


Rock_Angel

View profile


05.04.2022

All over the place. The timey-wimey conflict requires a few forced jumps through hoops to resolve. The slave/master paradigm is underexplored. I imagined some way cooler scenes for those purposes while listening to this play.
Once again, this one feels procedural. And that's the worst DW can be.
2/5 for some nice moments and interesting idea eggs.


kiraoho

View profile


Open in new window

Statistics

AVG. Rating186 members
3.70 / 5

GoodReads

AVG. Rating455 votes
3.71 / 5

The Time Scales

AVG. Rating256 votes
4.15 / 5

Member Statistics

Listened

317

Favourited

24

Reviewed

12

Saved

3

Skipped

0

Owned

14

Quotes

Add Quote

DOCTOR: So, this is it. The final journey. I had hoped for a while longer, time to prepare. Time’s slipping away from me. Only just arriving, but we’ve already stayed a lifetime. Too many lifetimes. Withering like roses.

— Seventh Doctor, The Fires of Vulcan

Open in new window