Mind Snap
Professor Gryffen discovers, to his great dismay, that K-9 has been performing unauthorized experiments with the interdimensional equipment that first brought him to Gryffen’s lab. But instead of restoring K-9’s lost memories, the latest experiment renders him dangerously unstable and he even fires on Gryffen. Starkey and Gryffen have to convince K-9 to restore his own recent memories and discontinue his experiments.
written by Bob Baker & Paul Tams
directed by David Napier
music by Christopher ElvesGuest Cast: Robyn Moore (Inspector June Turner), Jared Robinsen (Thorne), Connor Van Vuuren (Drake)
Notes: a “clip show” consisting of a few “framing” scenes meant to link clips from previous episodes, Mind Snap was intended primarily to keep the production schedule on track without leaving a dent in the show’s budget. As such, the only new footage filmed for this episode features Keegan Joyce as Starkey and Robert Moloney as Gryffen, with new K-9 lines recorded by John Leeson; all other cast members (including those credited as guest stars) appear only in scenes from past episodes. This is also the first time that K-9 co-creator Bob Baker has been credited as a scriptwriter in the spinoff series.
LogBook entry by Earl Green
Notes: The CCPCs are revealed to be cyborgs – cybernetic organisms – in this episode, and mention is made of cloning centers that produce the CCPCs. Even more menacing is the fact that someone has been integrating alien biotechnology into the latest round of CCPCs cloned. As the CCPC raid on the last police precinct in London happened only two years ago, back when Gryffen’s lab was that police station, it’s reasonable to assume that Gryffen’s occupancy of the building is very recent, despite enough clutter to suggest that he’s been there for years.
In the time vortex, the TARDIS registers the presence of a swarm of life forms numbering into the billions; one of them telepathically contacts Romana as it passes, with its only message being “the sands of life.” The TARDIS materializes on Earth, which is the swarm’s eventual destination. Both newly-elected Earth President Sheridan Moorkurk and a ruthless industrialist named Cuthbert are already aware of the swarm’s approach, and are preparing in their own ways. The approaching swarm has already fouled one of Cuthbert’s R&D projects, so he’s keen to eliminate the creatures, whatever their intention might be, while President Moorkurk quickly learns, in her first day in office, that Cuthbert’s influence runs deep within the government she’s inherited. The Doctor and Romana are captured, and the arrival of two aliens ahead of the swarm arouses more than just a little bit of suspicion. Romana is taken into custody by the military, and General Vincent plans to make use of her ability to commune with the approaching creatures. The Doctor is handed over to Cuthbert, who wants to put the Doctor’s knowledge and intuition to use for his personal gain. And finally, the first of the Laan reaches Earth. A large, whale-like species whose domain is the time vortex, they have some to the Sahara Desert to spawn in the “sands of life.” The birth of each group of Laan pups releases an enormous amount of both kinetic and temporal energy – enough, the Doctor surmises, to do serious damage to Earth. Is Cuthbert right to want to declare war on the Laan?
