The Fires of Vulcan

This was just excellent. Thoughtful, interesting, and a something that has ultimately become a very cool companion piece to the Fires of Pompeii. Mel really gets to shine here with the Seventh Doctor and the story was a lot of fun. I liked a lot of the supporting characters here like that Murranus guy or even the basic set-up of finding the TARDIS in Pompeii. A really great audio on the whole. Sure, this is less thoughtful than some other historicals, or even the show version of Pompeii, in my opinion, I still had a good time, even if I wasn't quite as invested in it as I was in Fires of Pompeii.

✅84% = Great! = Strongly recommended!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! This time: Seven and Mel visit Pompeii, while Ten and Donna are there (but they, and we, don’t know that).

The Fires of Vulcan builds a simple but compelling mystery about the TARDIS found in modern-day Pompeii, buried under layers of ash and lava. We understand that something will go very wrong at some point, but not when, how, or why. This is what builds the basic timey-wimey fixed-point narrative that runs through the entire adventure.

This is a pure historical drama filled with political intrigue and an overwhelming sensation of dread and anticipation, as we quickly learn that the Doctor and Mel arrived in Pompeii one day before the faithful eruption of Vesuvius. Unable to take any action, they try to flee before it's too late, only to become entangled in the local politics as the clock ticks down.

The script and performances capture the era and setting pretty well—perhaps too well. Some of the dialogue and performances from the guest cast can feel a bit pretentious.

Nicky Goldie (Winter for the Adept) and Gemma Bissix are both good.

Dramatic tension is maintained through the Doctor trying to figure out how to escape his fate without spoiling the surprise for all the poor Pompeiian souls or creating a paradox.

The political scheming isn’t very interesting in itself, though it showcases the thinking of this era well.

Sylvester McCoy presents a softer, more emotional Seven, which I like. Bonnie Langford is really good as Mel, and I like how she gets involved with the people and feels bad for not being able to tell them what's going to happen. This story allows her to show a more humane and emotional side, quite different from the more colourful aspects of her TV appearances.

In the Part 1 cliffhanger, Seven reveals his usual side, stating that they are unable to leave Pompeii due to his knowledge of the TARDIS's discovery in the ashes in 1980. Part 3's cliffhanger is another standout, with Vesuvius poised to erupt and the Doctor facing a sword duel.

The music and apt sound design occasionally paint a pretty cosy atmosphere, even if disaster looms in the background. Part 4 turns everything sinister and dramatic, as the sound design effectively brings the destruction to life.

The story's conclusion instills a strong sense of urgency, keeping us suspenseful about the resolution of the initial dilemma, which is both clever and horrifying. The last few moments are a wildly dramatic and sad affair that makes you feel sorry for all these poor souls.

The Fires of Vulcan sees the 7th Doctor and Melanie arrive in Pompeii a short while before the eruption of Vesuvius. The Doctor is aware that the TARDIS is destined to be discovered buried in the ash of Pompeii by archaeologists in 1980. He concludes that this means this is his last trip as something must have prevented him from leaving. Thankfully, Mel is less doomladen and determines to discover a way out of this predicament and with a little timey-wimey tinkering at the end, the Doctor and Mel are able to leave Pompeii alive and yet still allow the TARDIS to be discovered in 1980.

This audio marks the first time that Big Finish worked with the character of Mel. Much maligned on TV (unjustly, in my opinion), Big Finish sought to round her out into a proper character and actually allow Bonnie Langford to prove she is a capable actress. The television version of Mel was sullied by prejudiced fan opinion of the time. The insult of ‘panto’ was levelled at the series, and Mel’s character in particular, time and time again. It was an insult wielded by people who clearly have no understanding of pantomime. Pantomime, an historic theatre tradition, is a passion of mine and therefore, rather than view it as insignificant and laughable as many people do, I see it as an intricate art form which it takes real talent to perform properly. It is seen as the last refuge for washed up comedians, soap stars and the like, but is actually a microcosm of good theatre.

Doctor Who, however, has never been ‘pantomime’. It has never included the requisite elements to be a panto (and the series has dallied with many different formats over the years so it isn’t as if it couldn’t have if it wanted to) and the ‘panto’ criticism is really just a euphemism for ‘this is a bit stagey and embarassing’ – an opinion I couldn’t be further from agreeing with in regards to 80s Who.

The Fires of Vulcan is ‘set’ slap bang in Season 24: the season of ‘panto’ as far as some fans are concerned. Delta and the Bannermen, in particular, received fan wisdom will tell you, is generally disliked by much of fandom . The Fires of Vulcan couldn’t be more different to these tales which, ‘panto’ accusation aside, are light-hearted, glossy and at some times, admittedly, silly.

Big Finish clearly set out to give us a serious story which would demonstrate the talents of McCoy and Langford at delivering more sombre material than Season 24 would traditionally suggest. It’s difficult to imagine this story as part of the same season as Paradise Towers and Time and the Rani, and yet the characters of the Doctor and Mel are not a million miles from their TV counterparts. They are just showing a different aspect. Gone is the Season 24 clown of a Doctor and in is the darker version McCoy began to evolve in Season 26. Bonnie Langford gets to play the characteristics of Mel which were already present on screen – her honesty, her tenacity – with a better script and this rounds Mel out into a believable character. I never had the issues many fans had with Bonnie being cast as a companion as I have long been an admirer of her ability. Big Finish simply allows Bonnie to work with scripts that give Mel that bit more depth, whilst not compromising the original character.

In The Fires of Vulcan she is great: determined to prove the Doctor wrong, standing up to people like Celsinus and Eumachia; battling through the devastating effects of the eruption to find the TARDIS and only really giving up when all seems completely lost.

The Doctor, in turn, is melancholy and sombre but also cheeky and manipulative (his game-playing with Murranus the gladiator, for example). This allows both facets of the 7th Doctor to shine through and is one of McCoy’s best performances.

The supporting cast are very good with Gemma Bissix as Aglae standing out in particular. Steven Wickham’s Murranus doesn’t quite sound right to me, his tones are too plummy for a hardened gladiator, but this is a minor complaint in a uniformly good cast.

In the spirit of the 60s historicals, the Doctor and Mel are visiting a ‘famous’ historical event – the eruption of Vesuvius. This horrific event is superbly depicted in audio – explosions, screams, rocks and some good dialogue which describes but never feels unnatural. The fact that the fates of all the Roman characters are left unsaid is quite powerful and allows the Doctor to surmise on the fact that, for once, they will never know if Aglae, Valeria or the others survived.

Other aspects of Roman culture are thrown in here and there including the acceptance of ‘foreign’ gods into everyday life (in this case, the goddess Isis). We have the same Roman staples present and correct as we saw in The Romans: gladiators, slaves, banquets along with a few extra, more salacious aspects such as the local pub, gambling and the local brothel – with a prostitute (Aglae) being one of the main characters – and paired up with the whiter-than-white Mel for most of the story!

This side of history is something which the TV series, obviously, could never really address, but Big Finish, with it’s ability to hint subtly at things and not actually need the actual visuals, takes full advantage in being able to show all aspects of history.

Quite a bit of Roman vocabulary is thrown here and there including words like tepidarium, stola and decurioni and apparently the names of the characters are all based on real people from Pompeii based on graffiti from the uncovered ruins.

The Fires of Vulcan is one of Big Finish’s earliest successes and will probably stand as one of their best plays ever. It holds the important position as the beginning of Mel’s renaissance and continuing the Big Finish revival of the pure historical story. This is a wonderful exploration of an important historical event.