Doctor Who, the Romans and Us

Penelope J. Goodman, University of Leeds

www.weavingsandunpickings.wordpress.com

All images © the BBC unless otherwise stated

Romans at the traffic lights: The Wedding of River Song

MALOKEH:Not too many late nights in Gaul, I hope.

CHURCHILL:Just the one. I had an argument with Cleopatra. Dreadful woman. Excellent dancer.

NEWSREADER:Crowds lined the Mall today as Holy Roman Emperor, Winston Churchill, returned to the Buckingham Senate on his personal mammoth...

Pterodactyls: 65+ millions years ago

Egyptian pyramids:2nd millennium BC

Julius Caesar: 1st cent BC

The Holy Roman Empire: medieval Germany

Wars of the Roses: 15th century

Montgolfier balloons: 18th century

Steam trains: 19th century

Charles Dickens: 19th century

Winston Churchill: World War II

CHURCHILL:What happened? Explain to me in terms that I can understand. What happened to time?

Flashes from the past: Julius Caesar’s invasion of Gaul

“He saw that it would be very dangerous to the Roman Province to have a warlike people, hostile to Rome, established close to its rich cornlands.”

Caesar, Gallic Wars 1.10

Coin image of the Gallic leader Vercingetorix

“Out of all the many provinces he selected Gaul as the most likely to enrich him and furnish suitable material for triumphs.”

Suetonius, Caesar 22

“First one war broke out against him of its own accord, and then another was added, so that his greatest wish was fulfilled of waging war and winning success for the whole period of his command.”

Cassius Dio, History 38.31

CHURCHILL:What happened? Explain to me in terms that I can understand. What happened to time?

Romans at Stonehenge in The Pandorica Opens /

The Big Bang

RIVER:They're not real, they can't be. They're all right here in the story book, those actual Romans, the ones I sent you, the ones you're with right now. They're all in a book in Amy's house, a children's picture book.

DOCTOR: Plastic Romans. Duplicates, driven by the Nestene Consciousness, eh? Deep cover, but what for? What are you doing? What's in there, eh? What's coming out?

SOLDIER:Welcome to Britain. We are honoured by your presence.

DOCTOR:Well, you're only human. Arise... Roman person.

RIVER:They're not real, they can't be. They're all right here in the story book, those actual Romans, the ones I sent you, the ones you're with right now. They're all in a book in Amy's house, a children's picture book.

DOCTOR:History has collapsed. Whole races have been deleted from existence. These are just like after-images. Echoes, fossils in time. The footprints of the never-were.

The Lanuvium Marbles, Leeds City MuseumSource: http://newsfeed.leedsvirtualnewsroom.co.uk/2010/10/roman-marbles-return-to-leeds-city.html

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! I'm here... in Rome. Donna Noble in Rome. This is just weird. I mean, everyone here is dead.

STALLHOLDER: Hello, sweetheart. What can I get for you, my love?

DONNA: Veni, vidi, vici.

STALLHOLDER: Hunh? Sorry? Me no speak Celtic. No can do, missy.

DONNA:Wait a minute! One mountain... with smoke... which makes this...

DOCTOR:Pompeii. We're in Pompeii... and it's Volcano Day!

DOCTOR:The people of Pompeii are turning to stone before the volcano erupts. But why?

Plaster casts of victims trapped in the ash produced by the eruption

of Vesuvius, AD 79

STALLHOLDER: Hello, sweetheart. What can I get for you, my love?

DONNA: Veni, vidi, vici.

STALLHOLDER: Hunh? Sorry? Me no speak Celtic. No can do, missy.

DOCTOR:I can avert the system, so the volcano will blow them up, yes, but... that's the choice, Donna. It's Pompeii or the world…If Pompeii is destroyed, then it's not just history, it's me. I make it happen.

The Lanuvium Marbles, Leeds City MuseumSource: http://newsfeed.leedsvirtualnewsroom.co.uk/2010/10/roman-marbles-return-to-leeds-city.html