Doctor Who - The Fires Of Pompeii

The story was fairly predictable once past the intriguing start. Some aliens are threatening Pompeii, and the Earth, by hiding in a Volcano. I'm not exactly sure why they were hiding in a Volcano and constructing some machine, but they were, so just accept it. And I'm not sure how the Doctor and Donna survived the explosion of the volcano when the Doctor said they would never survive it. It was supposed to be a big decision, a big sacrifice, and they just walked away (well, ran actually). 

What was interesting about this episode was the talk of fixed points in time and points in flux. Yes it's a bit of a cop-out, but it could prove important to this series. It was also the first time that I could remember the Doctor changing well known human history, in New Who at least (anyone know examples of this in older Doctor Who episodes?). Donna is a useful character is showing off some other aspects of the Doctor, she seemed to act as a conscious, questioning why someone should not be saved from destruction (although the answer was the flux-fixed explanation). As a whole I didn't think Donna was a good as in the first episode though. As they filmed the episodes in a different order to the one they are shown in I wonder if it took Tate a few weeks to get better at Donna? 

Interesting facts: Romans never had a word for "volcano" before Pompeii. Is that true?! 

I enjoyed the episode more whilst I was watching it than thinking back about it. Which seems to be a regular occurrence. A fun but forgettable adventure.