The Doctor takes a university student on a trip to Ancient Greece—and discovers that even when the locals say “the gods are angry,” it’s probably just a family of murderous space flatulence enthusiasts.
Short Synopsis
The Tenth Doctor, flying solo and probably bored out of his brilliant skull, gives history student June the field trip of a lifetime—to Ancient Greece. But between the mysterious disappearances, strange lightning storms, and a suspiciously sulfuric smell, it’s clear Olympus has been invaded… by the Slitheen.
Extended Storyline
The Doctor, fresh from heartbreak and Time War guilt (as usual), decides to distract himself with a little light tourism—specifically, by crashing a university lecture. He meets June, a bright and curious student who’s been researching unexplained ancient disasters. The Doctor, in his usual “why not” fashion, offers her a hands-on demonstration of archaeology by taking her there. And by “there,” he means several thousand years ago.
They land in Ancient Greece—sun, myths, marble, and people who haven’t yet invented reliable plumbing. June is ecstatic; the Doctor is immediately suspicious, because the skies are filled with strange energy surges, and there’s a faint whiff of something… cabbagey.
It turns out the “angry gods” of Greek legend aren’t gods at all—they’re the Slitheen, back on their nonsense again. This time, a clan of the gaseous green grifters has set up shop in a sacred temple, posing as deities and convincing the locals to worship them in exchange for protection. In reality, they’re harvesting atmospheric energy to power their ships—and if that accidentally causes mass extinction, well, that’s just good business.
Cue the Doctor doing what he does best: charging into a “temple” shouting about alien interference while June tries not to faint from the smell. Together, they uncover the Slitheen plot and attempt to shut down their energy siphon, which is turning the sky into a storm of radioactive thunder. The Doctor, of course, gets himself captured and nearly skinned (again), while June has to step up and outwit the Slitheen using her historical knowledge and some surprisingly effective amphorae.
The climax involves the Doctor reverse-engineering ancient Greek tech into a feedback bomb—basically, Zeus’s lightning meets Raxacoricofallapatorian plumbing failure. The result? A light show that would make the Parthenon proud and a family of fried Slitheen sent back to the smelly beyond.
June, meanwhile, realizes that history isn’t written by the victors—it’s rewritten by time travelers with questionable fashion sense.