The series Jared Plummer vs. the Ancient World is the slightly mad adventures of a time-traveling film team. Who would choose to go to an ancient city on the brink of violent destruction? Documentary maker Jared Plummer heads off to shoot an episode on PRIME TIME POMPEII.

Previously, we learn, that Jared and company were introduced to Egyptian gods who allowed them to travel between times. They visited Ancient Egypt, where Jared stepped up to direct an episode of Ancient Encounters presented by the enterprising Derek Dees. In order to prove to studio officials that there was no trick photography involved, they are obliged to do it again. Nobody could fake-film the eruption of Vesuvius during the first century AD on his show’s budget, right? The goddess Isis was still worshipped in Pompeii, so they used her favour to visit the doomed city.  

Before heading to Pompeii, Jared, with Kara Hawkins the camera person and Ali, the Egyptian sound engineer, need to travel back to historical Egypt briefly, to collect Derek who is obsessed with the Rosetta Stone. They convince him Isis has set him up for stardom and drag him off to what seems increasingly like a bad location for a picnic. 

After that, it’s like watching the Frankie Howerd film Up Pompeii. Half the cast is gay and it seems half of Pompeii is too. Orgies allow anything to happen, provided the participants have money. The majority of the denizens are slaves or freedmen workers, and making money is high on the list of everyone’s preoccupations. This includes a self-proclaimed expert called Dr. C. Evan Spate, whom the crew drags along for extra respectability. The man makes a good point that all the scrolls and jewels and statuettes will shortly be destroyed, so who would notice if some came back to the future? But Jared insists that nothing is to be altered for fear of altering events. Filming the scrolls is fine, though.

Not just the eruption of Vesuvius, but a surprising emotional connection occurs. Jared makes good friends with the merchant Vettii and former slaves who help others. Kara spends more time than seems reasonable with a priestess of Isis, wealthy Julia Felix, given that the crew only have two days or less to record everything and get the heck out. Knowing some of the people makes it harder to leave. Neil Laird has clearly researched well and visited the ruins (as have I) and speculated as to who some of the perished might have been. PRIME TIME POMPEII is a fun gay-friendly fantasy and a great way of teaching history to enquiring minds.