Fear Itself (TV story)

Fear Itself was the sixth episode of Series 1 of K9. It featured K9's curiosity about emotions.

Synopsis

London is out of control. Riots are erupting. An irrational fear fills the air. The focus of the paranoia is an old junkyard where a strange, alien consciousness is at work. K9 discovers the emotion of fear for himself in his bid to thwart the unknown. Drake finally shows his weakness and will go to any lengths to find his fears, including releasing a massive bomb.

Plot

Darius is in a junkyard when he is approached by two strange vagrants. They say the junkyard belongs to them and tell Darius to leave, then lock him in a wardrobe. He grabs onto a bar in the wardrobe and finds himself holding on for his life over a bottomless pit. Back at the mansion, Gryffen and Starkey are frightened for no clear reason. They are not the only ones feeling this. There are news reports of mass stampedes and riots across London. Darius arrives at the mansion, terrified after his ordeal.

Darius is shocked to find the junkyard is on the news and the two vagrants are being interviewed. Drake interrupts the interview when they start talking about a monster. Darius says there is an alien in the hole. K9, Darius, Starkey and Jorjie go to the junkyard, only to find CCPCs are patrolling it. K9 distracts the CCPCs by alerting them to a violation of Department Regulation 29d: use of unapproved sandwiches at a picnic.

The CCPCs are gone when Drake arrives. They decide to hide in the wardrobe anyway. Darius refuses because of his earlier experience. They understand his fears when he again holds onto the bar and nearly falls. K9 saves him. Drake agrees with K9, asking them if they saw the alien. As they leave, Drake shouts to the alien, refusing to acknowledge his fear. Back at the mansion Gryffen shows the team news items about the spread of fear. Gryffen tells the team that Darius is claustrophobic.

At Department HQ, Drake tells June about the alien in the wardrobe. Back at the mansion, Starkey and Jorjie futilely try to scare K9 to make him understand fear. At the junkyard, June finds nothing in the wardrobe. Drake insists there is an alien. When Starkey investigates the wardrobe, he determines "Your own fear makes you see the hole". He is taken away by two CCPCs to a cell where he is met by Drake, who starts to show signs of paranoia though still refusing to acknowledge his fear.

K9 decides they have go to the junkyard and prove the fear isn't real. K9 goes to the hole and finds nothing, but Starkey and Gryffen temporarily lose contact with K9. He sees a Jixen but registers no data; Starkey tries to convince him it's not real. Drake decides to arm a bomb and destroy the wardrobe. K9 believes the Jixen is not real, and it vanishes. Starkey and Jorjie return to the mansion to warn Gryffen to tell K9 to get out, but they feel the explosion. K9 escapes. Drake tells the creature he has won and destroys the wardrobe with his mechanical hand.

K9 reveals he felt the bomb was coming, and Jorjie congratulates him on experiencing a feeling. The team have a group hug.

Cast

Production crew

Writer - Everett DeRoche, Graeme Farmer
Director - Karl Zwicky
Producers - Penny Wall, Richard Stewart, Simon Barnes
Executive producers - Jim Howell, Grant Bradley, Steve Robbins
Associate producers - Bob Baker, Paul Tams
Supervising producer - Dale Bradley
Co-Executive producer - Mark Blythe
With special thanks - Sam Tromans
Line producer - Pam Collis
VFX Director - David Napier
Series Production Designer - Jon Dowding
Episodic Designer - Adam Head
New K9 Design by - Paul Tams, Alex Kubalsky
Series Director of Photography - Ben Nott
Episodic Director of Photography - Tony O'Loughlan
Music by - Christopher Elves
K9 theme music by - Michael Lira
Editor - Russell Maggs
Casting - Faith Martin and associates
Episodic casting - Lisa Maloney
Drama/Dialogue coach - Peter Kent
Story Producer - Greg Walters
Script Adaption - Michaeley O'Brien
Production Accountant - Pru Donovan
1st Assistant Director - Peter McLennan
Script Supervisor - Sue Ketchington
Costume Designer - Joanne Thompson
Makeup Designer - Sharon Robbins
Puppeteer - David Pawsey
Location Manager - Charles Boyle
Sound Recordist - Ian Grant
B Camera Operator - Dan Maxwell
Gaffer - Steve Monk
Key Grip - Billy Harmer
Special thanks to - Space Furniture, Shredox, J. Barbour & Sons Ltd, Heath Williams at Firefly Lighting, Videopro
Safety Supervisor/Stunt Coordinator - Danny Baldwin
Transport Manager - Alister Ward
Unit Manager - Graeme Suhr
Post Production Facility - Cutting Edge Australia
Head of Post Production - John Lee
Sound Design - Warren Pearson

References

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Story notes

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Ratings

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Myths

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Filming locations

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Production errors

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Continuity

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

A wooden box that is bigger on the inside in a London junkyard is reminiscent of the Doctor's TARDIS in DW: An Unearthly Child.
A Jixen last appeared in K9TV: The Bounty Hunter.
Alistair Gryffen refers to the Great Fire of London in September 1666. Unbeknownst to him, it was caused by the overloading of a Terileptil weapon. The resulting explosion destroyed a bakery in Pudding Lane, triggering the fire. The Fifth Doctor played a major role in these events. (DW: The Visitation) The Doctor had visited London during the Great Fire on two earlier occasions in his personal timeline. During the Doctor's first incarnation, the TARDIS had materialised in London, specifically outside the burning house of George Mortimer, shortly after the Great Fire began. The First Doctor proceeded to rescue George, his wife Helen and their children Ida and Alan and took them on a trip to the Andromeda Galaxy in the far future. (DWAN: Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space) Arriving shortly before his future self's departure, the Fourth Doctor, in the company of Sarah Jane Smith, was wrongly accused of having starting the fire. It is possible that, for a brief period after the First Doctor's arrival in 1666, that there were three separate incarnations of the Doctor co-existing in the same timeframe and in close promixity to one another. (DW: Pyramids of Mars, ST: The Republican's Story) The Doctor's involvement in the fire remained a source of embarrassment for him in his sixth incarnation. (BFA: Point of Entry, BFA: The Marian Conspiracy, BFA: Doctor Who and the Pirates)

Home video releases

Official Boxset Cover.

This episode is featured in the Series One complete box set, released in Australia on 29 September 2010. [1]
This episode is featured in a "vanilla" DVD called The Bounty Hunter, along with Regeneration, Liberation, The Korven. Sirens of Ceres and Fear Itself, released in Australia on 29 September 2010. [2]
This episode was released along with episodes 1-12 as "K-9: Series 1; Volume 1" on 31 January 2011. [3]

External links