From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   THE FIRES OF VULCAN (BF AUDIO)   
      
   4 episodes. Approx. 102 minutes. Written by: Steve Lyons. Directed by:   
   Gary Russell. Produced by: Gary Russell.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   Pompeii, 79 AD. Exactly one day before the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius,   
   which will wipe Pompeii from the Earth, killing thousands of people.   
   Those people, oblivious to their fates, are going about their   
   business, obsessed with their own concerns and ambitions.   
      
   The High Priestess Eumachia (Lisa Hollander), representing the "pure"   
   Roman gods, is resentful of the acceptance and popularity of "the   
   foreign goddess," Isis. She sees that the masses embrace Isis over   
   Jupiter and needs a way to discredit the goddess to advance her own   
   station. She finds what she needs in the form of two strangers, who   
   have arrived in a mysterious blue box and have been hailed as   
   messengers of Isis. A perfect chance to discredit the goddess by   
   destroying the two strangers.   
      
   For the Doctor and Mel, Eumachia's machinations are a minor concern.   
   They are all too aware of the imminent eruption, particularly when the   
   TARDIS is buried under rubble after one of the city's frequent   
   tremors. Mel wants to find a way to recover the timeship, but the   
   Doctor reacts with resignation. He tells Mel that in 1980, the ongoing   
   excavation at Pompeii uncovered a most unusual artifact: A police   
   telephone box. Time has already spoken. The TARDIS was fated to   
   disappear in Pompeii, not to be seen again for almost 2,000 years!   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: One challenge this story faced was in making a "serious"   
   7th Doctor fit at least somewhat into the Season 24 characterization.   
   I think the story succeeds in this. There are some (occasionally   
   awkward) bits of physical business referred to in the audio,   
   particularly in the Doctor's humiliation of the gladiator Murranus   
   (Steven Wickham). There's also an attitude of a generally ineffectual   
   Doctor, one who reacts with philosophical resignation to his apparent   
   fate. This seems to fit the Season 24 Doctor, who is not yet fully   
   formed, more than the later McCoy Doctor. McCoy is at the top of his   
   game, though his difficulty at conveying anger mars his confrontation   
   with Murranus at the end of Episode Three.   
      
   Mel: I've never shared the Mel hatred - it's clear even in her weakest   
   outings that Bonnie Langford is a far better screen actor than, say,   
   Matthew Waterhouse - but she did suffer from poor (often nonexistent)   
   characterization on television, featured in arguably the weakest run   
   of stories in the entire series. As the first audio to feature the   
   character, this story not only had to use her well - It had to   
   rehabilitate her.   
      
   Mel's major traits here are the same as in the television series:   
   She's earnest, emotional, and compassionate to a fault. But writer   
   Steve Lyons tones down Mel's, ah, enthusiasm, and highlights her   
   compassion by giving her a friendship with the young slave Aglae   
   (Gemma Bissix). Mel gets herself into trouble when she rushes headlong   
   into a confrontation with Eumachia - but she does so to protect Aglae   
   from this genuinely horrible woman, and so her headstrong acts make us   
   like her more, rather than less as was often the case on television.   
   Langford's performance is outstanding from start to finish, and it's   
   little surprise that this one audio did so much to change her   
   reputation among Big Finish listeners.   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   The Fires of Vulcan is one of Big Finish's early audios, #12 in a run   
   that now encompasses hundreds of stories across multiple Doctor Who   
   ranges. Revisiting it in the wake of all that followed, it does stand   
   out how much simpler the sound design was. Effects are basic, with   
   usually only one or two background effects occurring at a time rather   
   than the complex soundscapes that would develop later. This is an   
   audio play and, like the stage, background effects are there to   
   suggest atmosphere rather than to fully recreate the place and time.   
   In contrast, many of Big Finish's later efforts would be audio movies.   
   One approach isn't inherently superior to the other, but it can be   
   relaxing to revisit this simpler approach.   
      
   The Fires of Vulcan largely follows the format of an Irwin Allen   
   disaster movie. There's a natural disaster on the way that will kill   
   off most of the characters we're spending time with. But before that   
   disaster strikes, we spend a lot of time watching (listening to) the   
   characters indulge their own agendas, with a lot of scheming and   
   conniving to complicate the simple survival goals of our heroes. Only   
   in the final part does the disaster finally strike, at which point we   
   revisit the major characters to see which ones get a chance to escape   
   and start anew and which ones will receive their just desserts.   
      
   The structure may be familiar, but Steve Lyons' script is good.   
   Eumachia may be a bit of a one-note villain, but other characters have   
   more to them. Celsinus (Andy Coleman) is introduced in a way that   
   suggests he will be a villain as well. However, despite Mel labeling   
   him "the local creep," his character emerges as a sympathetic one.   
   Murranus seems for most of the story to be a cliched violent thug. But   
   an exchange in Episode Three allows us to see the reasons for his   
   obsessive wrath at the Doctor, and his reasons make sense within the   
   context of his background and circumstances. As a result, Murranus   
   momentarily becomes a sympathetic figure - though once he becomes   
   violent again in late Episode Three/early Episode Four, that sympathy   
   quickly vanishes.   
      
   Overall, The Fires of Vulcan is a good story. The sound design may be   
   much sparer than later audios would offer, but the effects and music   
   are well-used to create atmosphere. The regulars are on very good   
   form, with Langford reinventing Mel for Big Finish listeners within   
   the space of one story. A much-maligned companion is made into a   
   likable and relatable figure, and a tragedy is brought to life and put   
   into context by the 1980 bookends. Some of the conniving among guest   
   characters is a bit theatrical, but it's balanced out by moments of   
   reflection and genuine maturity.   
      
   Even after all these years and a myriad of later releases, this still   
   stands out as an audio while worth a listen.   
      
      
   Rating: 8/10.   
      
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