Category: Season 1

Professor Gryffen’s latest attempt to reactivate the device that could retrieve his family fizzles before his eyes – but as he walks away in disappointment, he doesn’t notice that it powers up again and admits a visitor to his house: an alien called a Korven. Gryffen disappears, and Darius reluctantly decides to call Jorjie and Starkey, who are hiding from Department troops with K-9. The Korven is an alien being from 300 years in Earth’s future, who will attempt to invade by terraforming the planet to provide the rest of its species with their ideal environment: bitter cold. This particular Korven intends to remove Gryffen’s memories in the hope that his scientific knowledge can speed the invasion by several centuries. The gas the Korven is using to keep its immediate surroundings cold is not only freezing K-9’s human companions, but it’s affecting K-9’s computer brain – leaving him a very limited time to heat up the rescue effort.

written by Tim Pye
directed by Karl Zwicky
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Todd Levi (Medowin), Matthew Renner (Korven), Stephen Sourkis (Dept. Technician), Josh Norsend (CCPC), Jason McNamara (CCPC), Eugen Bekaford (CCPC), Dane Paltman (CCPC)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

After spending a long day trying to retrieve some of K-9’s lost memories, Professor Gryffen grudgingly gives in to Starkey’s idea of taking K-9 for a walk to jog those memories. While out, the two pass an out-of-control ferris wheel surrounded by Department guards – and Inspector Drake is standing by, claiming that a dissident bomb well go off if the ferris wheel is slowed down. But Starkey and K-9 suspect that Drake is stalling until more news cameras arrive before he disarms the device, and they do it themselves and win the dissident movement a little bit of positive publicity in the process. The time portal in Gryffen’s lab is activated remotely, and a bounty hunter emerges from the year 50,000, hot on K-9’s trail. When he spots K-9 and Starkey in the news coverage of the ferris wheel incident, the hunter decides to make the Department an offer that it can’t refuse: if the Department will make its manpower and technology available, the bounty hunter can rein in a robot dog who’s wanted for murder in the future.

written by Ian McFadyen
directed by James Bogle
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Brad McMurray (Bounty Hunter)

Notes: There’s no indication of where in K-9’s timeline the incident with Zanthus Pia falls, but since the heads-up display from K-9’s point of view shows the post-regeneration K-9, it may – paradoxically – be from K-9’s future – either that, or it’s a memory recorded by the pre-regeneration K-9 and the HUD is merely showing K-9’s current form as a default. The “news ticker” at the bottom of the Department-approved TV news broadcast includes a reference to “NX-2000” making its first test flight; this may or may not be an in-joke for SF fans of a certain age, who would know that NX-2000 was the original registry number of the brand-new U.S.S. Excelsior in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. Maybe K-9 has slipped into more of an alternate universe than we imagined – one in which a ferris wheel is controlled by an early 1980s-model television production switcher.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

With the Jixen still at large on Earth, and still following a biological marker that will lead them to Starkey, K-9 may not provide enough of an advantage to keep Professor Gryffen and his friends alive. They learn that the Department – the totalitarian government whose oppressive rule Starkey opposes – has been infiltrated by the Meron, sworn enemies of the Jixen. K-9 warns against pinning too much hope on the Meron, since their ongoing clashes with the Jixen have laid entire innocent civilizations to waste, and goes to the Department’s headquarters to investigate. Starkey and Darius follow K-9, and wind up being thrown in the alien prison themselves – and then they discover that Jorjie’s mother is one of the Department’s chief operatives. Worse yet, the Jixen follow Starkey’s scent to the prison, where they can easily corner him…

written by Shayne Armstrong & S.P. Krause
directed by David Caesar & David Napier
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Jared Robinsen (Thorne), Rob Horton (Dept. Field Officer / Meron #1), Michael Thompson (Dept. Field Officer / Meron #2), Josh Norbido (CCPC), Jason McNamara (CCPC), Michael Donnet (CCPC), Edgen Bekafigo (CCPC), Tyler Rostedt (CCPC), Janardan Kewin (Jixen), Simon Preston-Barnes (Lochnessy Alien), Noel Sheridan (Mr. Whiffy Alien), Paul Tams (Mr. Whiffy Alien), Leah Tilney (Geisha Alien), Sam Tromans (Geisha Alien), George Pikusa (Alien), Jessica Field (Alien), Nick Burgess (Alien), Amy Verwayen (Alien), Hayley McFarlane (Alien), Vince Holland (Alien), Billy Shannon (Alien), Cathey Burgess (Alien)

Original Title: Feast Of The Meron

Notes: Liberation is effectively the second part of Regeneration, the first episode of the series; both episodes have a darker tone (and much darker lighting) than most of the rest of the series, with the Department experimenting on captured alien life forms and Inspector June Turner exhibiting more ruthless behavior (and more advanced technology) than in the remainder of the series; also, Jorjie seems to know nothing of her mother’s day job, whereas by The Sirens Of Ceres she seems to take it for granted. There’s also more overt violence than the rest of the series: Darius orders K-9 to use “lethal force”, and the kids use a grenade-like device to deal with the Jixen. In-joke references to other SF series abound: Starkey appears to be wearing a T-shirt with a stylized version of the masks worn by Berg Katse’s guards in the anime series Gatchaman (better known to the English-speaking world as Battle Of The Planets), and the Department’s operating room uses Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s tricorder sound effect. The K-9 series isn’t allowed to refer overtly to the Doctor Who universe beyond K-9 himself; none of the aliens seen in the Department’s alien prison compound are from the Doctor Who, but intriguingly (and entirely coincidentally), the Meron bear some resemblance to the unnamed fishlike humanoid cornered by Torchwood in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. The changes in tone and storyline between Regeneration / Liberation and the rest of the first season is probably a symptom of a major rethink of the show’s premise after the pilot was shot, making the Department less of an all-conquering Orwellian enemy and changing many of the dynamics between the main characters, all in an attempt to make the series more kid-friendly; this may also explain why the episode had yet – as of its Australian premiere – not appeared on Disney XD in the UK, which also did not repeat Regeneration after its “sneak preview” premiere in 2009. Series co-creator Paul Tams gets in front of the cameras here – see the cast list above.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

When she, Starkey and K-9 catch a glimpse of police brutality in action, Jorjie takes action. At Inspector Drake’s command, the CCPCs try out a new weapon derived from an alien substance, but K-9 makes sure that it misfires badly and suffers serious damage while protecting his friends. In the meantime, Jorjie’s mother, Inspector June Turner, is put in a precarious position within the Department, and enrolls Jorjie in a private school for her own protection. What she doesn’t realize is that the school is just another of Drake’s secret weapons – one which works on the same principle as the one that backfired catastrophically.

written by Deborah Parsons
directed by Daniel Nettheim
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Sophia Emerson-Bains (Vibeka), Cathy Tucker (Malena), Natalie Stephenson (Hilena), Britt Henderson (Kalena), Michael Coglan (CCPC #1 / School CCPC), Josh Norsend (CCPC #2), Manuel Saubie (CCPC #3), David Pawsey (CCPC #4), Catarina Hibbard (Teacher)

Notes: The CCPCs are confirmed to be completely robotic in this episode, rather than uniformed guards. Signage seen at the school identifies it as both the “Magdalene Academy” and the “Magdalen Academy,” even before Starkey interferes with the school’s systems. (The logo seen on-set on various computer screens was probably made by the scenic art department, while the signs that Starkey hacks outside the school were probably the responsibility of the visual effects department.) In a throwback to his days in 1970s Doctor Who, K-9 is sidelined for much of the story for repairs, affording his human co-stars a larger share of the action. Somewhat confusingly, references are made here to events in the episode Liberation, which had yet to air in the UK – even though it had aired in other territories, and effectively serves as part two of the pilot, Regeneration.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Fear and panic grip London, as rioting and fires break out across the city. At the heart of it all is a battered old wardrobe hidden away in a warehouse, guarded by CCPCs and Inspector Drake. Darius is shoved into the wardrobe, and discovers that it’s bigger inside than out, with a seemingly bottomless pit where its floor should be. He escapes, and brings his friends back with K-9 – and they quickly find that Drake is as terrified of what’s in the wardrobe as they are. Drake is certain that there’s an alien inside the wardrobe, something causing irrational fear to ripple through the city. K-9 is determined to discover what’s hiding inside, but his investigation may only prove Drake right.

written by Everett DeRoche & Graeme Farmer
directed by Daniel Zwicky
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Brian Vaughan (Tramp #1), Nick Neilo (Tramp #2)

Notes: The new K-9 has apparently added a tractor beam to his capabilities, and it sounds remarkably like a long phaser blast from the original Star Trek. Professor Gryffen mentions the Great Plague of 1665, an event which history says culminated in the Great Fire of London – but history seems to be unaware of the Doctor’s role in events. The wardrobe – bigger inside than out (though seemingly only in a vertical sense) – might be a TARDIS; given the wardrobe’s resemblance to a certain sinister grandfather clock, could this be an experiment of the Master’s gone horribly wrong?

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Department’s plan to implant microchips into every citizen of London meets with a rowdy protest – one at which K-9 appears, fires on Drake (non-fatally), and causes even more very public commotion. Inspector Drake immediately applies for an arrest warrant for K-9, but Gryffen’s initial examination of K-9’s memory seems to show that K-9 didn’t attend the rally… and certainly didn’t do any shooting. But even K-9 himself finds the accusation disturbing, and prepares to turn himself in to the authorities, even though it’s almost surely an elaborate ploy on Drake’s part to dismantle the robot dog.

written by Lindsay James
directed by James Bogle
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake)

Note: Orthrus – K-9’s “evil twin” – is named after the treacherous twin brother of the mythical dog Cerberus in Greek mythology.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Starkey, Jorjie and Darius all experience vivid, disturbing dreams of being pursued by Jixen, of K-9 turning against them, being surrounded by sinister clowns, and of being captured and goaded by a strange creature. And they’re not alone: all of London is sleeping and having similar nightmares, but no one can wake up. Jorjie ventures out into the city and returns quickly when the creature about whom they’ve all dreamed appears. Gryffen confirms that this being is no hallucination: it’s very real. Is this a new alien attack that has overpowered the Department’s defenses, or is someone from the Department involved?

written by Jim Noble
directed by Daniel Nettheim
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

An unknown object approaching Earth gets the Department’s attention, and Inspector Drake’s first instinct is to blow it out of the sky. When it disappears before he can unleash all of the Department’s firepower on it, it’s assumed to be a meteor. But K-9, Starkey and Jorjie, out for a walk, see an enormous, pyramid-like spacecraft appear in the sky, while soldiers dressed as ancient Egyptian gods appear out of nowhere, with enough firepower of their own to overpower CCPCs. When the alien soldiers move to take Starkey prisoner, K-9 intervenes… and is promptly worshipped as a god. The soldiers even follow K-9 back to Professor Gryffen’s home, where they begin redecorating the lab as a shrine, supposedly to help jog K-9’s memory. Gryffen begins to worship K-9 as well. Starkey and Jorjie discover more about the aliens’ true plan, but then they are captured and brainwashed into serving K-9’s every whim. Only Darius remains unchanged… and now saving the world is up to him.

written by
directed by Karl Zwicky
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Michael Turaine (Nehebka), Matthew Reimer (Geb), Todd Levi (voice of Nehebka), Josh Norbido (CCPC), Jason McNamara (CCPC), Eugen Bekaford (CCPC), Dane Paltman (CCPC), Stephen Sourkis (Dept. Technician)

Notes: In Egyptian mythology, Anubis was edged out by the god Set (who, in some interpretations of the mythology, was Anubis’ father) as the Egyptian god of the underworld. Set was also known as Sutekh. Sutekh figures into Doctor Who mythology as the last of the alien Osirans, godlike beings who occupied the planet Mars until internecine conflict wiped out most of their race. Sutekh survived long enough to be defeated by the fourth Doctor in Pyramids Of Mars, though the Egyptian mythology elements in this episode appear to be a coincidence. In the scene where Jorjie and Starkey look at the book containing the Anubins’ history, two aliens from classic Doctor Who episodes can very clearly be seen: Alpha Centauri (The Curse Of Peladon / The Monster Of Peladon) and a Sea Devil (The Sea Devils / Warriors Of The Deep). If the notion of an alien playing the role of an Egyptian god, hovering over Earth in a pyramid ship, isn’t familiar to you, you probably haven’t watched enough Stargate SG-1 – a show in which K-9 star (and Canadian actor) Robert Moloney has also appeared.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Professor Gryffen’s dimensional gateway activates by itself, something which should be impossible; before forcing it to shut down with brute-force firepower, K-9 is able to determine that an outside power source is the cause. Strange jumps in time begin occurring, but only Starkey notices them. An inflamed area on Starkey’s arm also begins to itch, and a blood test reveals alien matter causing Starkey’s immune system to go into overdrive. Gryffen recognizes the alien material, remembering an incident in which a couple of scientists implanted themselves – and their young son – with alien DNA. The dimensional gateway reactivates, and Starkey remembers how to close it again, but this isn’t a new incident: it’s the same incident repeating itself… but only K-9 believes him.

written by Deborah Parsons
directed by Daniel Nettheim
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Starkey tries to take K-9 fishing, only to find that the fish are apparently frying of their own accord, covered with an unknown substance. Starkey brings a sample back to Gryffen’s lab, where it’s identified as an alien substance. Inspector Turner makes a similar finding: Inspector Drake is holding an alien spacecraft, and has authorized extreme measures to get its crew to reveal the technology aboard. When she deduces that Drake is working on turning the alien technology into a surveillance device of unlimited range, Inspector Turner decides that even the Department shouldn’t have that kind of power, and turns to Gryffen and K-9 for help.

written by Graeme Farmer
directed by Karl Zwicky
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake)

Notes: Starkey reveals that K-9 has 5,000 movies “on his hard drive,” which accounts for the casual, colloquial speech of this K-9 model. (It’s possible that Starkey’s just guessing about the hard drive and doesn’t have a better technical term to explain K-9’s memory.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A freak hurricane seems to appear out of nowhere, and Professor Gryffen immediately formulates a theory that the severe weather is the product of unusual music that can be heard outside. The combined force of the weather and the vibrations of the music bring the roof of Jorjie’s home down on her, and while Darius tries to free her from the debris, K-9 and Starkey go to see if the alien Aeolian behind the disaster is taking requests – namely, to avoid destroying Earth.

written by Dave Warner
directed by Karl Zwicky
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Liam Nunan (Aeolian)

Notes: Oddly, both K-9 and Inspector Turner know of the Aeolians and their extinction. Also, the Aeolian’s signals are conveyed as music, therefore it would seem logical that the signals travel at the speed of sound… and yet, the reply to those signals arrives within the running time of the episode, from 10,000 light years away. Clearly, the Aeolian is using something with a bit more power than an average tube amp.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The last oak tree in England is stolen from a museum, cutting short Starkey and Jorjie’s participation in a virtual reality exhibit claiming the tree to be the only survivng piece of Sherwood Forest. K-9 quickly spots a webbing made of alien mucus, and cuts a sample loose for Professor Gryffen to analyze. Inspectors Drake and Turner arrive from the Department, also acquiring a sample of the strange substance, though Turner suspects that, with K-9 on the case, Gryffen’s investigation will be far ahead of her own. K-9, Starkey, Darius and Jorjie have already started tracking down the source of the mucus: a near-extinct alien creature protecting the eggs of her young. But why did she need the tree, and how far will Drake go to make the endangered creature extinct?

written by Jim Noble
directed by Dale Bradley
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Gabriel Egan (Postman Pat), Remi Broadway (Robin Hood)

Original Title: The Last Oak Tree In England

Notes: K-9 claims to have met the real Robin Hood, and also says he is invulnerable to “mere” electromagnetic interference – perhaps an in-joke on the fact that the original ’70s K-9 prop was prone to mere radio frequency interference that would send it haywire in the studio. This is the first episode since Liberation to show the airborne propaganda screens. Guest star Remi Broadway would appear in K-9 again later in the first season.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Exploring some of the underground tunnels below Professor Gryffen’s lab, Darius spots two Department scientists experimenting with a piece of alien technology… and then unleashing something alive into the air. What Darius doesn’t see, however, is that the airborne life form quickly consumes anything near it – anything alive or dead, including one of the scientists. As far as Darius knows, the scientists simply abandon their experiment and leave their equipment there, which he then gathers up and takes to Gryffen’s lab. Darius discovers the purpose behind the alien life form: it consumes anything, and can then be retrieved by the device – the perfect miracle cleaning solution, except that it’s capable of devouring human life as well.

written by Chris Roache
directed by James Bogle
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Jared Robinsen (Thorne), Scott Tilly (Worker #1), Anthony Kidd (Worker #2), Stephen Sourkis (Dept. Technician), Josh Norsend (CCPC), Jason McNamara (CCPC), Dane Paltman (CCPC)

Notes: There’s a fairly interesting piece of rather major character development in this episode, as Inspector June Turner admits that Jorjie’s involvement with K-9’s adventures does represent a conflict of interests for her work with the Department, but she also says that she stays with the Department to keep the likes of Drake from winding up in charge. There’s also a major Doctor Who reference here, as K-9 says he’ll evacuate his fuel cells when he next visits the planet Atrios, which has “no carbon-based life forms” – presumably the Atrios-Zeos war didn’t come to a conclusion that favored the survival of any life there.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A violent storm strikes London, and Starkey and Jorjie are marooned at Professor Gryffen’s house. When the power goes out, Darius, Jorjie and Starkey spot two children in the house – Darius recognizes them as Gryffen’s children, who disappeared with their mother during one of Gryffen’s space-time experiments. Gryffen’s wife appears as well, though she seems to be focused on forcing Gryffen to forget his friends. K-9 is unable to repel the advance of Gryffen’s family, but they’re more than capable of putting him out of commission. Have they really returned, or have bloodthirsty aliens taken their place… and either way, can Gryffen bring himself to stop them?

written by Shayne Armstrong & S.P. Krause
directed by Daneil Nettheim
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake), Sarah McIntosh (Eleanor Gryffen), Rachael Everett (Mina Gryffen), Joshua McIvor (Jacob Gryffen)

Notes: Starkey reads from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”, while the episode plays off of the title of Poe’s “Fall Of The House Of Usher”. When K-9, Starkey and Jorjie first see the children, the scene is very reminiscent of the appearance of the twins in the classic horror movie The Shining. Scheduled by the producers to be shown seventh in the season, The Fall Of The House Of Gryffen was the third episode shot – and, to date, hasn’t aired in the UK at all. (The airdate for this episode guide entry reflects the Australian premiere date.)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Jorjie uses VR glasses to access a virtual encyclopedia during a storm – at exactly the same time that Professor Gryffen is attempting another time-space experiment. Jorjie finds herself in the same place – the site of Gryffen’s lab used to be a London police station – but in a different time, namely 1963. At the height of cold war tensions, Jorjie finds herself in the company of Bill Pike – a dead ringer for his great-grandson, Darius – who is being accused of spying for the Russians. But history doesn’t record his arrest or imprisonment until now, at the same moment that Bill Pike’s future changes, Darius begins to vanish. Now it’s up to K-9 and Starkey to take a very risky trip into the past to free Jorjie and restore the history of Darius’ family.

written by Jason Bourque
directed by Mark DeFriest
music by Christopher Elves

Guest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Jared Robinson (Agent Barker), Daniel Murphy (Burley Constable), Corey Robinson (Myles)

Notes: In a sly nod to the origins of the series that spawned K-9, William Pike is shown in a photo to have been booked by police on November 23rd, 1963 – the date of the premiere of Doctor Who. Considering that a Dalek incursion was taking place in and around Shoreditch at the same time, the clumsiness of the MI6 detail assigned to finding and interrogating Bill Pike is understandable; this activity may also explain the lack of immediate official concern about the disappearance of schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. Coincidentally, 1963’s Agent Barker bears a striking resemblance to new Department boss Inspector Thorne (both are played by Jared Robinsen).

LogBook entry by Earl Green