Lost Library of Ukko

It seems to me that the library isnt' really all that lost?

Some very fun sci-fi concepts in here though, almost reminds me of Braniac and The Phantom Zone from DC comics. Thorne's first real appearance is a suitable one for his level of villainous bureaucracy, the idea of turning this library card into a new kind of prison is an idea that's very believable, and I like his bouncing off the main cast. He's not got the camp of Drake, but he's more than a worthy replacement.

The alien design is fun if a bit weird, the makeup and headpiece look like they're meant to match but it's absolutely not seemless, mostly I was making negative comparisons to Chantho with it. It's also a bit strange that they showed up there but not to the department, and the romance(???) with Gryphen was a bit out of nowhere, but hey, those can be easily forgotten or handwaved away.

They also seem to be just pretending that Thorne was here the whole time, and no acknowledging that this is is real introduction, but I can definitely accept off-screen adventures having happened.

Overall..... I think I'm actually starting to really enjoy watching K9

5️⃣🔼 = MIDDLING!

Barking through time and space, one adventure at a time!

“I WANT THUNDER AND LIGHTNING!”

I’m intrigued by the title: “Ukko” is the God of Thunder (with "ukkonen," the Finnish word for “"thunderstorm," literally meaning “small thunder”) in Finnish mythology (and it also means “old man” or “geezer” these days).

It’s nice to get out of the mansion a little! It’s Department tour day!

Smug Face 2 appears properly here, and he looks a bit like Paul Bettany, which is distracting to me. And he’s up to no good, because of course he is!

Bad Starkey suddenly finds himself on Discount Tatooine (AKA a quarry), which is really just a futuristic library card for an alien race of librarians. It’s actually a pretty fun twist in an alien race.

When will the Department learn not to mess around with alien stuff? They keep making the same mistake in every single episode.

The alien race seen here is actually well-designed and interesting (brings Chantho from Series 3 to mind for some reason). The way she acts and talks feels a bit RTD-era Who to me.

The latter half of the episode goes more into typical K9 shenanigans.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

The way they pronounce “ukko” throughout the episode sounds so hilarious to me.

I’m shocked. This one is good! The guy who plays Thorne is the best actor in the show, genuinely menacing. He raises the game of the general cast. I have previously singled out Deborah Parsons as the best writer on this show, she returns in fine form. Because the cast is in much better form too at this point in the series, finally this script is able to sing to its full potential. The librarian alien in a cheap 1970s alien outfit is so camp and classic-Doctor Who like. I love it!