Aeolian (TV story)

Aeolian marked the midway point in the first series of K9, and was perhaps most notable for advancing the romantic story arc present from the initial episode. Significantly, Jorjie finally admitted to Darius that she in fact liked Starkey — thus preventing Darius from admitting his true feelings for her. The episode left open for future stories what impact this would have on Starkey's already fractious relationship with Darius, or whether Starkey reciprocated Jorje's feelings.

Synopsis
London is being bombarded by strange sound-waves that cause mass panic. K9 and Starkey are on the trail of the alien, identified by Gryffen as the last of a race called the Aeolians. Darius desperately tries to rescue Jorjie as she is trapped by falling debris. Drake is convinced Gryffen has caused the catastrophe, and not understanding the reason behind the Aeolian's musical sound waves, sets out to destroy the creature and anyone in its path.

Plot
In Gryffen's house, as Darius plays his guitar loudly, Gryffen comes in and asks if Starkey and K9 are back. The music is so loud that Gryffen has to type the question onto a notepad and show it to Darius, who shakes his head. Darius's guitar sound dampens down and he suspects Gryffen has done something, but Gryffen then tells him he hasn't. In Jorjie's bedroom, she listens to some music on her stereo as it encounters interference and turns into a loud screeching sound. June walks in talking to Drake on the communicator and tells Jorjie to turn it off. June tells her she has been called by Drake and has to go to work, leaving as a storm brews.

Outside Gryffen's house, Starkey sings a tune which annoys K9, although Starkey tells him he hummed it in his sleep. The storm increases, blowing paper all over the place, and K9 says that it is a hurricane. They go inside and join Darius and Gryffen watching the news, reporting that the storm is raging across the whole United Kingdom and the North Sea, disrupting communications across the country. They barricade the windows, and when Starkey wonders what's causing the storm, Gryffen has K9 analyse the sound waves. Gryffen tells Starkey that he thinks the hurricane is being caused by music, specifically vocal. He notes singing and music's similarity to weather. When Darius argues that music doesn't have the power to do this, Gryffen notes that sopranos can shatter crystal. As Jorjie tries to contact the others, the ceiling falls on her, trapping her underneath.

Darius refuses to believe that the storm is being caused by music, but Gryffen insists that music and weather are similar. K9 looks through his database to see what race could cause this and he finds one: the Aeolians, known to be masters of amplification, but they were were wiped out around a thousand years ago in the Centaurian Catastrophe. Gryffen pinpoints the source of the sound waves at the Holy Cross Cathedral, not far from the house. At Department HQ, Drake notes that their top scientists are baffled, Thames Valley has turned into "Cyclone Valley" and the tornado has destroyed the Royal Albert Hall and Hyde Park. Drake tells June he suspects Gryffen, as he almost single-handedly caused the Great Cataclysm. June argues that he was part of a group of scientists who all agreed with the experiment, which Drake says was crazy and irresponsible. Since it was exactly the same as the catastrophe affecting Britain, Drake decides to arrest Gryffen for being a "mad scientist".

Jorjie, still trapped in her bedroom, desperately tries to reach her dog whistle. As Starkey sings in the house, Gryffen prepares Darius for his trip outside. As Starkey suggests that he goes through the sewers to be safer, K9 warns that Earth is the perfect planet of the Aeolian's amplifictation abilities. Gryffen loads a schematic of the Cathedral for him to analyse, and finds that it has the dimensions for the perfect resonating chamber. When Gryffen shows K9 the spiral, he compares it to the cone of a loudspeaker. As this is exactly how the Aeolians work, Gryffen suggests that one survived.

Jorjie reaches her dog whistle and contacts Darius, who is searching through the sewers with Starkey and K9. Darius decides to go and help her, but Starkey says he should go while Darius argues that she called his dog whistle. K9 asks Starkey to head on with him as Darius goes. Darius finds Jorjie trapped in her bedroom, tries to lift up the debris and calls for help. When Jorjie starts feeling frightened, Darius gives her his hand to hold. June arrives at Gryffen's house to ask him if he's responsible for the storm and tells him of Drake's suspicions. Gryffen gives her something better than his word, the sound wave readings. He tells her that the chaos and destruction is the result of the mating call of a female Aeolian. When June argues thaat they are extinct, he tells her that this one has survived and wants someone to listen to her. As Starkey and K9 search, K9 detects that the amplitude of the sonic waves are increasing, a sign they are getting near to the source.

Darius tries his best to pick up the debris but fails. He apologises to Jorjie but she assures him it isn't his fault. He calls Starkey for help; Starkey can hear Darius but Darius can't hear Starkey. When Jorjie falls unconscious, Darius gets the two syringes Gryffen gave him and tries to remember which one is the reviver, red or blue? Starkey tries to tell him the red syringe is the correct one, but Darius remembers just in time what Gryffen told him and uses the red syringe. He comforts Jorjie as she reawakens. Gryffen and June are confused as to why the sound waves are so varied, as the mating call would be expected to be consistent like a bird's song. The weather briefly returns to normal. As Gryffen detects harmonics, he determines that the Aeolian will feed back on itself and vibrate the planet to dust.

As Darius waits for help, Jorjie tells him that when the ceiling fell on her, her life flashed before her eyes and she felt that she has left many things unsaid, such as thanking her mother for taking care of her and telling people how much she likes them. This makes Darius (who has feelings for Jorjie) curious. She goes on to say that there are people she's gotten close with recently, a person she saw at the mansion whom she's fond of. Darius tells her he's had the exact same feeling. She finds it strange as they are completely unalike, but as Darius states, opposites attract. Darius tells Jorjie about a girl he likes who's secretive with an outside layer but mysterious underneath. Jorjie tells him how those are the most interesting type of people and you have to dig deep to find out who they really are. But Darius' problem is that he and his special girl aren't together long enough to talk. Jorjie tells him how she has the same problem, mostly remaining silent while bursting to ask them out. When Darius says they both have to be braver, Jorjie dares him to tell her. Darius tells her to go first; she decides to tell him when they get back to the mansion. When Darius asks who, she replies "Starkey", shocking Darius. When Jorjie asks the name of Darius' girlfriend he makes one up: "Jorjette", a really lovely French girl. The CCPCs then arrive to help.

Starkey cannot bear the music much longer, and K9 decides they have to go to a tunnel which doesn't concentrate the sound. The CCPCs lift the debris off of Jorgie and Darius helps her out of the bed. She thanks him for standing by her and they hug. Starkey and K9 find a ladder, which Starkey climbs up and K9 hovers up. They arrive in the cathedral where they find the Aeolian playing the organ. Starkey asks K9 to tell her to stop; K9 speaks to her in Aeolian. She tells K9 that she lost her mate in the Centaurian Catastrophe which destroyed her memory and left her alone in the universe. The music continues even though she has stopped playing, and she tells them that since her energy is low she has initiated a self-replicating feedback loop which derives its power from harvesting gravity, but this sound will smash the Earth like a hammer smashing an egg. Starkey argues she's going to end six billion lives, but she replies that Aeolians, like humans, will do anything to survive so it seems a fair trade. When Starkey asks if there's any way to stop the feedback loop, she replies it can only be stopped if she is answered by her mate, but she fears he is dead.

At the house, Gryffen detects an incoming signal from the Orpheus constellation: the Aeolian's mate. However, the female Aeolian has to get the exact sequence right or her husband won't recognise her. She soon becomes frustrated as the signal is scrambled. Suddenly, Drake and four CCPCs arrive. Starkey and K9 tell him she's an Aeolian merely looking for her mate. Despite their objections, Drake orders the CCPCs to stun her. They fire at her, knocking her out. K9 tells Drake that as the feedback loop hooks up with gravity, the Earth will shatter like a wine glass, but Drake refuses to listen to a "robot dog and a juvenile delinquent". In an attempt to contact the Aeolian's mate, Starkey plays the organ with the tune he's been humming. Drake orders the CCPCs to take the Aeolian out, but when K9 threatens to "liquidate" him and his "gangsters" he orders them to stand down. The Aeolian's husband arrives, the couple is one again. The Aeolian thanks Starkey for the music and leaves with her husband. The weather is returned to normal.

K9 and Starkey return to the mansion and meet up with June and Gryffen, who congratulates Starkey on a successful mission. Darius and Jorjie then arrive, with Jorjie implying to her mother that her room might have been literally turned into a "disaster area". Starkey tells Jorjie he's glad to see her in one piece and he'll be with her in minute; Darius tells Jorjie "I'm available". K9 then tells everyone he's puzzled as to "what is love?" and everyone hesitates to answer. K9 sarcastically thanks them for clearing it up and they all laugh.

Cast

 * K9 Mark 2 - John Leeson
 * Starkey - Keegan Joyce
 * Jorjie Turner - Philippa Coulthard
 * Darius Pike - Daniel Webber
 * Professor Alistair Gryffen - Robert Moloney
 * June Turner - Robyn Moore
 * Drake - Connor Van Vuuren
 * Aeolian - Liam Nunan

Production crew

 * Writer - Dave Warner
 * 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

Story notes
to be added

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * Daniel Webber's guitar fingering at the beginning of the episode doesn't match the music he's trying to play.

Continuity

 * K9 is again curious about human emotions, as in Fear Itself. This time he inquires about the nature of love, but no one can give him even a rough idea of what it is.
 * Drake mentions Gryffen and the team of scientists who accidently caused the Great Cataclysm in an experiment. This group of scientists was previously mentioned by Medowin as the creators of a device to cool the Earth that was misused. (K9TV: The Korven)
 * The Great Cataclysm was previously mentioned in K9TV: Sirens of Ceres.
 * The playing of a cathedral organ to save the day previously occured in DW: The Lazarus Experiment.

Home video releases
This episode is featured in the Series One complete boxset.