K-9 (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
K-9, or K9, is the name of several fictional robot
ic canine
s (the name being a pun on that word) in the long-running British
science fiction television
series, Doctor Who
, first appearing in 1977. K-9 has also been a central character in three of the series television spin-offs: the unsuccessful K-9 and Company
(1981), The Sarah Jane Adventures
(2007–2011) and K-9 (2009–present). Although not originally intended to be a recurring character in the series, K-9 was kept in the show following his first appearance because he was expected to be popular with younger audiences. There have been at least four separate K-9 units in the series, with the first two being companions
of the Fourth Doctor
. Voice actor John Leeson
has provided the character's voice in most of his appearances, except during Season 17 of Doctor Who, in which David Brierley
temporarily provided the character's voice. The character was created by Bob Baker
and Dave Martin, to whom rights to the character still belong; consequently, Baker's spin-off series K-9, which is not BBC
-produced, cannot directly reference events or characters from Doctor Who, though it attempts to be a part of that continuity.
Within the series' narrative, K-9 is a robot dog acquired by Doctor Who' s title character in the 1977 serial The Invisible Enemy
. The first two incarnations of the character travelled alongside the Doctor, then in his fourth incarnation
(portrayed by Tom Baker
) until 1981. In these stories, K-9 proved useful for the powerful laser weapon concealed in his nose, his encyclopaedic knowledge and his vast computer intelligence. By 1981, each of the two models of K-9 which travelled alongside the Doctor had been left with one of the Doctor's female companions. The character subsequently transitioned into spin-off territory. Producers hoped K-9's popularity with children would launch the series K-9 and Company, led by actress Elisabeth Sladen
in the role of companion Sarah Jane Smith
alongside a new K-9. In 2006, K-9 reappeared in the revived series of Doctor Who. Although the character's appearances in the 2007 spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures were hampered by the concurrent development of the K-9 spin-off, the character began to appear full-time in both K-9 and The Sarah Jane Adventures, depicting adventures of the original K-9 Mark I and of Mark IV, respectively.
) in the year 5000. K-9 subsequently traveled with the Fourth Doctor
(Tom Baker
) and Leela
(Louise Jameson
) as a companion
of the Doctor in his adventures in time and space until The Invasion of Time
(1978). In this serial, K-9 decides to remain on the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey
with Leela. Immediately afterwards, Doctor Who would introduce a second incarnation of K-9, played by the same prop; the last scene of The Invasion of Time shows the Doctor unpacking a box labeled "K-9 Mk II". Although the first incarnation of K-9 does not appear again in televised Doctor Who media, he is the star of the 2009 K-9 television series, in which he undergoes a sort of "regeneration" process from which a new, more sophisticated and futuristic K-9 emerges; in the first series of K-9, the character is transported to London c. 2050 by Professor Gryffen (Robert Moloney). Though on regeneration the character loses his memory of his adventures with the Doctor, he assists Gryffen and several teenage companions against a dystopian
regime of "The Department". The upgraded K-9 has new specifications, sporting a sophisticated head-up display
, the ability to fly, and more powerful laser weapons.
K-9 Mark II first appears in The Ribos Operation
(1978). More mobile than his predecessor, Mark II exhibited the ability to sense and warn others of danger. He travels as a companion alongside the Doctor and Romana
(Mary Tamm
, later Lalla Ward
). Around the time of Romana's regeneration (the transition from actress Mary Tamm to Lalla Ward), the character was explained as suffering from "laryngitis
" to accommodate Leeson's departure from the series at the start of the 1979-80 season; for this time, he was portrayed by David Brierley, until Leeson's return for the 1980-81 season. When the Doctor and Romana travel to the parallel universe of E-Space, K-9 is severely damaged, in Warriors' Gate
(1981). The damage was such that K-9 could only function in E-Space; when Romana decided to stay and forge her own path, the Doctor gave K-9 to her. The character makes subsequent appearances in remakes of the unfinished serial Shada
, alongside the Eighth Doctor
(Paul McGann
); the 2003 Shada audio play and webcast
depict K-9 Mark II as having returned to Gallifrey with Romana, now Lady President of the Time Lords, where the Doctor visits them.
K-9 Mark III first appeared in the character's spin-off series, K-9 and Company
in its 1981 pilot "A Girl's Best Friend". In this, the character is presented to former companion of the Doctor's Sarah Jane Smith
(Elisabeth Sladen
); together, the two embark on a number of adventures. Only the first of these is depicted on screen; several are shown in comic book and audio play adaptations, and others are alluded to by the television series. Mark III made a brief cameo alongside Sarah Jane in the Doctor Who 20th anniversary ninety-minute The Five Doctors
(1983), before appearing properly and for the final time in the revived series' episode "School Reunion
" in 2006. By the time of that story, Mark III has fallen into disrepair and eventually sacrifices himself to stop a plot by the alien Krillitane and defeat their leader, Lucas Finch (Anthony Head
). In the episode's conclusion, the Doctor presents Sarah Jane with a new K-9 to encourage her to continue investigating alien activity; the Doctor "rebuilt" him after the Mark III's sacrifice, implying that he had the same mind and memories as his predecessor while still being a "brand new model".
After appearing in the closing scenes of "School Reunion", K-9 Mark IV makes a cameo appearance
in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures
' premiere episode "Invasion of the Bane
", where due to licensing issues with creator Bob Baker it is explained that K-9 is sealing a black hole and can only communicate briefly and infrequently with Sarah Jane. The character makes an heroic appearance in the first series finale "The Lost Boy
", to do battle with rogue alien supercomputer Mr Smith
(Alexander Armstrong
), demonstrating new CGI
teleportation
and hovering
features. K-9 Mark IV's interfaces include at least one universal serial bus
port. Subsequently, the character appears briefly in the Doctor Who series four
series finale "Journey's End
" (2008), wherein K-9 and Mr Smith assist the Doctor in returning Earth to its proper position. K-9 next cameos in the comedic Red Nose Day 2009
Sarah Jane mini-episode "From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love". A deal with the creators of K-9 having been struck, K-9 Mark IV became a regular character in Sarah Jane in third series story The Mad Woman in the Attic
(2009) until the series four premiere The Nightmare Man
(2010), wherein he accompanies departing series regular Luke (Tommy Knight
) to university. He appears again in series four finale, Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith
. Though he doesn't appear in the serial, it is mentioned in series finale episode The Man Who Never Was
(2011) that Luke invented a special dog whistle to summon him with.
In 1985, a series of gamebook
s featuring the Sixth Doctor
were published by Severn House under the title Make your own adventure with Doctor Who in Britain and Find Your Fate — Doctor Who in the United States. These books were actually written by scriptwriters for the television series. Martin wrote Search for the Doctor
which takes place in the mid-21st century and features K-9 Mark IV being reunited with the Sixth Doctor
long after Sarah's death.
A short story, Moving On, in Virgin Publishing's Decalog 3: Consequences anthology and the Big Finish Productions-produced Sarah Jane Smith audio play Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre (both written by Peter Anghelides
) indicate that K-9 Mark III broke down and Sarah was unable to repair it as the replacement circuits would not be invented for several centuries.
Another short story, Tautology, by Glenn Langford (Doctor Who Magazine
#194), suggests that K-9 Mark III's motherboard
will be passed down through Sarah's descendants and eventually end up in the hands of Professor Marius, who will use it to build the first K-9, creating an ontological paradox.
Jealous, Possessive by Paul Magrs
, the "Scorpio" story in Big Finish's anthology Short Trips: Zodiac
features K-9 Mark I and Mark II relaying their exploits to each other, and their veiled put-downs to each other reveal that each considers the other to be the "inferior" version. This attitude is also occasionally hinted at in the way the two units refer to each other in the Gallifrey audio series.
The Eighth Doctor Adventures
novel Interference: Book Two
by Lawrence Miles
indicates that the Doctor built a Mark IV model sometime prior to the events of that book, but what happened to this unit is not stated. In the novel The Gallifrey Chronicles
by Lance Parkin
, K-9 Mark II makes another appearance, having been trapped within the TARDIS
since the events of The Ancestor Cell
. At the end of The Gallifrey Chronicles the Doctor sends K-9 on a secret mission to Espero, presumably to seek out his former companion, the living TARDIS known as Compassion
.
featured in a series of audio plays produced by BBV
as K-9 and "The Mistress", detailing these characters' adventures in a parallel universe. As neither Romana nor E-Space could be licensed, the aliases of the Mistress and the "pocket universe" were used instead.
When Romana eventually returned to her own universe, she brought K-9 Mark II with her (presumably having repaired it) and eventually became Lady President of Gallifrey. K-9 Mark II is first seen on Gallifrey in the Virgin New Adventures
novel Lungbarrow
by Marc Platt
, alongside K-9 Mark I, which had remained with Leela. Both K-9 Mark I and Mark II appear, voiced by Leeson, in the Big Finish Productions audio
adventure Zagreus
and the Gallifrey audio series
. Leela's K-9 (Mark I) was destroyed at the conclusion of the second Gallifrey series and only Mark II appears in the third series.
adaptation of the never-completed Shada
serial was produced for the BBC's Doctor Who website, rewritten as an Eighth Doctor adventure and featuring the post-E-Space versions of Romana II and K-9 Mk II.
According to the official website for The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2007, the Doctor stored several presents for Sarah inside K-9, including a "sonic lipstick
" and a watch that scans for alien life.
and Dave Martin
. Its purpose was to have a character that could narrate while the miniaturised clones of the Doctor and Leela were inside the Doctor's body during the events of The Invisible Enemy. Martin's own dog had also been recently run over by a car, and K-9 was a car-proof tribute to it.
K-9 was not originally intended to be a companion, but producer Graham Williams
liked the concept so much that the decision was made to retain him as a regular character, in order to appeal to the younger members of the audience. The original name for the character was "FIDO" — apparently from "Phenomenal Indication Data Observation" unit — but it was eventually named K-9 .
The initial idea for realising K-9 was to use a small actor inside a robotic Dobermann costume, but that was rejected in favour of a radio-controlled
prop, designed by Tony Harding and made by the BBC Visual Effects Department. The robot suffered from numerous technical problems during its time in the series, often malfunctioning because the radio controls interfered with the cameras and vice versa. On location, K-9 also proved unable to traverse uneven terrain, and shots had to be conceived with this in mind. Workarounds included using a concealed piece of twine to pull the character along (this string can be clearly seen in a shot of K-9 on Brighton Beach), or laying wooden planks on which it could roll.
K-9's innards were redesigned twice more over the course of the series, firstly in collaboration with a company called Slough Radio Control. It allowed one of its employees, Nigel Brackley, to be seconded to the series semi-permanently to supervise the prop. Brackley, who has since gone on to a career in the movie industry, controlled K-9 for many of its studio appearances. Eventually, there came a point where the dog's inherent liabilities were outweighing his assets, and the internal mechanisms were completely rebuilt by designer Charlie Lumm. The wheels were enlarged and given independent drives for power and better manoeuvrability, and the radio controls were switched from the AM
to the FM
band to resist interference. However, by the time the improved model made his debut in State of Decay
, the first story recorded for Season 18, the decision had already been made to write the character out of the series in the adventure Warriors' Gate
.
K-9 was a popular enough character to warrant an attempt to spin him off into his own series. In addition to K-9 dolls, there were also talking K-9 toys produced by Palitoy
, the speech provided by a miniature record inside the body of the toy. John Leeson
provided the voice for K-9 in all its appearances, except for Season 17 (which included the unfinished Shada
) when it was voiced by David Brierley. When Shada was remade by Big Finish Productions
, Leeson provided its voice.
The practical challenges of working with the K-9 prop have accompanied the robotic pooch in his return to Doctor Who. Producer Russell T Davies told SFX
magazine, "Yes, just as we expected, multiple takes when he bumped into a door or veered off to the left. Lis Sladen did warn us, and she was right!" 2009 saw two different incarnations of K-9 appear regularly in two Doctor Who spin-offs: Mark IV in the third series of BBC production The Sarah Jane Adventures, and a re-vamped Mark I in the Park Entertainment production K-9.
A proposed K-9 television series or special had been rumoured since the late 1990s, and images of a redesigned K-9 were leaked. However, nothing came of this effort until 2006.
On 24 April 2006 The Independent
, the Daily Star and The Times
confirmed, following previous rumours, that K-9 would be featured in a 26-part children's series, K-9, to be written by Bob Baker. The article in The Times also featured a picture of the redesigned K-9 for the animated series. The series will be a blend of live-action and a CGI K-9.
Each episode is 30 minutes long, made by Jetix
Europe and London-based distribution outfit Park Entertainment. According to a report in Broadcast magazine, the BBC opted out of involvement in order to focus on their own Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood
, meaning that BBC-owned characters do not appear in the series.
On 3 April 2010 the TV series K-9 began broadcasting on the Australian Television Network Ten as part of a Saturday morning line-up of children's shows. John Leeson is the voice of K-9. The first episode called "Regeneration"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325219/fullcredits#writers featured the earlier Mark I version of K-9. The "older" K-9 materializes in London in the future and in the midst of an incident where an alien species is threatening human lives. K-9 sacrifices himself in order to save the humans, but one component survives that enables his self-regeneration into the new unit. The main human cast members include Robert Moloney as Professor Gryffen, Keegan Joyce as Starkey (K-9's new "master"), and Daniel Webber as Darius. The first 14 episodes of K-9 season 1 were broadcast mid-morning on Channel 5 in December 2010 with the remaining episodes scheduled for January 2011. Trailers for the series appeared on Channel 5 from early December voiced by John Leeson. Originally, it had been planned to split the series in two halves between the Christmas 2010 and Easter 2011 school holiday schedules.
as the Seventh Doctor
and Sophie Aldred
as Ace
in an episode of the children's education programme Search Out Science entitled Search Out Space, which was included as an extra on the release of the Doctor Who story Survival
by the BBC. Another unspecified K-9 unit also appeared in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time
. In the 1998 computer game Fallout 2
, the Navarro base has a damaged robot dog known as K-9, which uses similar speech mannerisms to the Infobox Doctor Who character. If repaired, the cyberdog is willing to join the character's party as a companion. In the 1999 television series Queer as Folk (written by future Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies), a K-9 model is given to the character Vince as a birthday present. The prop used was an original, operated — as occasionally in Doctor Who — by visual effects assistant Mat Irvine
. In the second series of I'm Alan Partridge
(2002), the character of Alan Partridge
recalls how his purchase of the rights to K-9 assisted in him mentally breaking down and driving to Dundee
in his bare feet while gorging on Toblerone
. In the South Park
episode "Go God Go XII
" (2006), Eric Cartman
, being trapped in the year 2546, has acquired a robot dog called "K-10", a parody of K-9. Due to timeline alterations, he is replaced by robot cat "Kit-9" and later robot bird, "Cocka-3". K-9 appeared on a special Doctor Who-themed edition of The Weakest Link
in 2007, but was voted out unanimously at the end of the first round, despite answering all of his questions correctly. Anne Robinson
(whom K-9 addressed as "Mistress") said "I'm so sorry" before declaring him the weakest link.
The eighth track on the Trock (Or Time Lord Rock, fan music about Dr. Who) band Chameleon Circuit's first album is called "K9's Lament" and describes many of the events of K9's existance from his point of view.
Engineers at NASA
's Ames Research Center
have dubbed two intelligent mobile robots designed to explore the surface of Mars
"K-9" and "Gromit
". NASA's K-9 is named after both Doctor Whos K-9 and Marvin the Martian
's pet dog
.
Several individuals have built their own personal K-9 robots, ranging from radio controlled units like that used on the show to several levels of computerised autonomy.
On the BBC Glow site, typing the Konami code
would make appear a photo of K-9 taken during his cameo on the BBC children's show Blue Peter
.
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
ic canine
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s (the name being a pun on that word) in the long-running British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, first appearing in 1977. K-9 has also been a central character in three of the series television spin-offs: the unsuccessful K-9 and Company
K-9 and Company
K-9 and Company was a proposed television spin-off of the original programme run of Doctor Who . It was to feature former series regulars Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist played by Elisabeth Sladen, and K-9, a robotic dog. Both characters had been companions of the Fourth Doctor, but...
(1981), The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
(2007–2011) and K-9 (2009–present). Although not originally intended to be a recurring character in the series, K-9 was kept in the show following his first appearance because he was expected to be popular with younger audiences. There have been at least four separate K-9 units in the series, with the first two being companions
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
of the Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
. Voice actor John Leeson
John Leeson
John Leeson is a British actor who is best known for voicing K-9 on the television series Doctor Who from 1977 to 1979, and again in the 1980–1981 season. He was called back to do the voice of K-9 again for the 2006 episode "School Reunion" and again for the 2008 Doctor Who episode "Journey's End"...
has provided the character's voice in most of his appearances, except during Season 17 of Doctor Who, in which David Brierley
David Brierly
David Brierly , also known as David Brierley, was an English actor.Born in Yorkshire, he appeared in various television programmes but is most notable for being the voice of the robot dog K-9 during the 1979–1980 season of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who...
temporarily provided the character's voice. The character was created by Bob Baker
Bob Baker
-External links:...
and Dave Martin, to whom rights to the character still belong; consequently, Baker's spin-off series K-9, which is not BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
-produced, cannot directly reference events or characters from Doctor Who, though it attempts to be a part of that continuity.
Within the series' narrative, K-9 is a robot dog acquired by Doctor Who
The Invisible Enemy
The Invisible Enemy is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 1 October to 22 October 1977...
. The first two incarnations of the character travelled alongside the Doctor, then in his fourth incarnation
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
(portrayed by Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
) until 1981. In these stories, K-9 proved useful for the powerful laser weapon concealed in his nose, his encyclopaedic knowledge and his vast computer intelligence. By 1981, each of the two models of K-9 which travelled alongside the Doctor had been left with one of the Doctor's female companions. The character subsequently transitioned into spin-off territory. Producers hoped K-9's popularity with children would launch the series K-9 and Company, led by actress Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on...
in the role of companion Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British BBC Television science-fiction series Doctor Who and its spin-offs K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures....
alongside a new K-9. In 2006, K-9 reappeared in the revived series of Doctor Who. Although the character's appearances in the 2007 spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures were hampered by the concurrent development of the K-9 spin-off, the character began to appear full-time in both K-9 and The Sarah Jane Adventures, depicting adventures of the original K-9 Mark I and of Mark IV, respectively.
Television
K-9, retroactively "K-9 Mark I" (Leeson), initially appeared in The Invisible Enemy (1977) as the creation of Professor Marius (Frederick JaegerFrederick Jaeger
Frederick Jaeger was a German-born actor who found success working in British television.Jaeger was born in Berlin, but moved to England following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany. He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1948, and became a British citizen two years later...
) in the year 5000. K-9 subsequently traveled with the Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
(Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
) and Leela
Leela (Doctor Who)
Leela is a fictional character played by Louise Jameson in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Leela was a companion of the Fourth Doctor and a regular in the programme from 1977 to 1978...
(Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson is an English actress, best known for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Jameson has also appeared on Emmerdale , The Omega Factor Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951 in Wanstead, London) is an English actress, best known...
) as a companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
of the Doctor in his adventures in time and space until The Invasion of Time
The Invasion of Time
The Invasion of Time is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 4 February to 11 March 1978...
(1978). In this serial, K-9 decides to remain on the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
with Leela. Immediately afterwards, Doctor Who would introduce a second incarnation of K-9, played by the same prop; the last scene of The Invasion of Time shows the Doctor unpacking a box labeled "K-9 Mk II". Although the first incarnation of K-9 does not appear again in televised Doctor Who media, he is the star of the 2009 K-9 television series, in which he undergoes a sort of "regeneration" process from which a new, more sophisticated and futuristic K-9 emerges; in the first series of K-9, the character is transported to London c. 2050 by Professor Gryffen (Robert Moloney). Though on regeneration the character loses his memory of his adventures with the Doctor, he assists Gryffen and several teenage companions against a dystopian
Utopian and dystopian fiction
The utopia and its offshoot, the dystopia, are genres of literature that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction is the creation of an ideal world, or utopia, as the setting for a novel. Dystopian fiction is the opposite: creation of a nightmare world, or dystopia...
regime of "The Department". The upgraded K-9 has new specifications, sporting a sophisticated head-up display
Head-Up Display
A head-up display or heads-up display is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints...
, the ability to fly, and more powerful laser weapons.
K-9 Mark II first appears in The Ribos Operation
The Ribos Operation
The Ribos Operation is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from September 2 to September 23, 1978. This serial introduces Mary Tamm as the companion Romana. After finishing his first year as producer of Doctor Who,...
(1978). More mobile than his predecessor, Mark II exhibited the ability to sense and warn others of danger. He travels as a companion alongside the Doctor and Romana
Romana
Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(Mary Tamm
Mary Tamm
Mary Tamm is an English actress. She is best known for being the first actress to play the character of Romana in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, opposite Tom Baker as the Doctor, from the 1978–1979 season known collectively as The Key to Time.-Early life:Mary Tamm was born in...
, later Lalla Ward
Lalla Ward
Sarah Ward known as Lalla Ward, is an English actor, author and illustrator. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.-Early career:Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes...
). Around the time of Romana's regeneration (the transition from actress Mary Tamm to Lalla Ward), the character was explained as suffering from "laryngitis
Laryngitis
Laryngitis is an inflammation of the larynx. It causes hoarse voice or the complete loss of the voice because of irritation to the vocal folds . Dysphonia is the medical term for a vocal disorder, of which laryngitis is one cause....
" to accommodate Leeson's departure from the series at the start of the 1979-80 season; for this time, he was portrayed by David Brierley, until Leeson's return for the 1980-81 season. When the Doctor and Romana travel to the parallel universe of E-Space, K-9 is severely damaged, in Warriors' Gate
Warriors' Gate
Warriors' Gate is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was written by the English author Stephen Gallagher and first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1981...
(1981). The damage was such that K-9 could only function in E-Space; when Romana decided to stay and forge her own path, the Doctor gave K-9 to her. The character makes subsequent appearances in remakes of the unfinished serial Shada
Shada
Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was intended to be the final serial of the 1979-80 season , but was never completed due to a strike at the BBC during filming...
, alongside the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
(Paul McGann
Paul McGann
Paul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...
); the 2003 Shada audio play and webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
depict K-9 Mark II as having returned to Gallifrey with Romana, now Lady President of the Time Lords, where the Doctor visits them.
K-9 Mark III first appeared in the character's spin-off series, K-9 and Company
K-9 and Company
K-9 and Company was a proposed television spin-off of the original programme run of Doctor Who . It was to feature former series regulars Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative journalist played by Elisabeth Sladen, and K-9, a robotic dog. Both characters had been companions of the Fourth Doctor, but...
in its 1981 pilot "A Girl's Best Friend". In this, the character is presented to former companion of the Doctor's Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British BBC Television science-fiction series Doctor Who and its spin-offs K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures....
(Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who. She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976, alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades, both on...
); together, the two embark on a number of adventures. Only the first of these is depicted on screen; several are shown in comic book and audio play adaptations, and others are alluded to by the television series. Mark III made a brief cameo alongside Sarah Jane in the Doctor Who 20th anniversary ninety-minute The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...
(1983), before appearing properly and for the final time in the revived series' episode "School Reunion
School Reunion (Doctor Who)
"School Reunion" is the third episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It first aired on 29 April 2006. The episode's narrative takes place some time after the events of "The Christmas Invasion"...
" in 2006. By the time of that story, Mark III has fallen into disrepair and eventually sacrifices himself to stop a plot by the alien Krillitane and defeat their leader, Lucas Finch (Anthony Head
Anthony Head
Anthony Stewart Head , usually credited as Anthony Head, is an English actor and musician. He rose to fame in the UK following his role in television advertisements for Nescafé Gold Blend , and is known for his roles as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Uther Pendragon in...
). In the episode's conclusion, the Doctor presents Sarah Jane with a new K-9 to encourage her to continue investigating alien activity; the Doctor "rebuilt" him after the Mark III's sacrifice, implying that he had the same mind and memories as his predecessor while still being a "brand new model".
After appearing in the closing scenes of "School Reunion", K-9 Mark IV makes a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
Invasion of the Bane
-Sladen and Doctor Who:Elisabeth Sladen, who previously played Sarah Jane between 1973 and 1976. In 1981, she was offered the role again to ease the transition between the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, which she declined, but agreed to star in the pilot for the spin-off series K-9 and Company, which...
", where due to licensing issues with creator Bob Baker it is explained that K-9 is sealing a black hole and can only communicate briefly and infrequently with Sarah Jane. The character makes an heroic appearance in the first series finale "The Lost Boy
The Lost Boy (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
The Lost Boy is the sixth story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It forms the ninth and tenth episodes of the show's first series...
", to do battle with rogue alien supercomputer Mr Smith
Mr Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Mr Smith is a fictional extraterrestrial computer voiced by Alexander Armstrong which appears in the British children's science fiction television series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, with further minor appearances in the final two episodes of the fourth series of Doctor Who...
(Alexander Armstrong
Alexander Armstrong (comedian)
Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong is a British comedian, actor and television presenter.-Early life and career:Armstrong was born in Rothbury, Northumberland, the youngest of three children, to Henry Angus Armstrong and his wife Emma Virginia Peronnet Thompson-McCausland, daughter of Lucius...
), demonstrating new CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
and hovering
Levitation
Levitation is the process by which an object is suspended by a physical force against gravity, in a stable position without solid physical contact...
features. K-9 Mark IV's interfaces include at least one universal serial bus
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
port. Subsequently, the character appears briefly in the Doctor Who series four
Doctor Who (series 4)
The fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 25 December 2007 with the Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes aired, starting with "Partners in Crime" on 5 April 2008 and ending with "Journey's End"...
series finale "Journey's End
Journey's End (Doctor Who)
"Journey's End" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who first broadcast on BBC One on 5 July 2008. It is the second episode of a two-part crossover story featuring the characters of spin-off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane...
" (2008), wherein K-9 and Mr Smith assist the Doctor in returning Earth to its proper position. K-9 next cameos in the comedic Red Nose Day 2009
Red Nose Day 2009
Red Nose Day 2009, was a fund raising event organised by Comic Relief, broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Two from the evening of 13 March 2009 to early the following morning. It was part of the "Do Something Funny For Money" campaign...
Sarah Jane mini-episode "From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love". A deal with the creators of K-9 having been struck, K-9 Mark IV became a regular character in Sarah Jane in third series story The Mad Woman in the Attic
The Mad Woman in the Attic
The Mad Woman in the Attic is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 22 and 23 October 2009. It is the second serial of the third series.-Part 1:...
(2009) until the series four premiere The Nightmare Man
The Nightmare Man (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
The Nightmare Man is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which broadcast on CBBC on 11 and 12 October 2010. It is the first story of the fourth series.-Part 1:...
(2010), wherein he accompanies departing series regular Luke (Tommy Knight
Tommy Knight
Thomas 'Tommy' Lawrence Knight is an English actor best known for playing Luke Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures.-Personal life:...
) to university. He appears again in series four finale, Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith
Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith
Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 15 and 16 November 2010. It is the sixth and final story of the fourth series.-Part One:...
. Though he doesn't appear in the serial, it is mentioned in series finale episode The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
The Man Who Never Was is a two-part series finale of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 17 and 18 October 2011. It is the third and final story of the fifth and final series.-Part One:...
(2011) that Luke invented a special dog whistle to summon him with.
Literature
K-9's co-creator Dave Martin wrote a series of four children's books entitled The Adventures of K9, published by Sparrow Books in 1980. K-9 is travelling on his own in these stories for reasons not explained.In 1985, a series of gamebook
Gamebook
A gamebook is a work of fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making effective choices. The narrative branches along various paths through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages...
s featuring the Sixth Doctor
Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...
were published by Severn House under the title Make your own adventure with Doctor Who in Britain and Find Your Fate — Doctor Who in the United States. These books were actually written by scriptwriters for the television series. Martin wrote Search for the Doctor
Search for the Doctor
Search for the Doctor is a Seven House adventure book written by Dave Martin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Sixth Doctor and K-9-Plot:...
which takes place in the mid-21st century and features K-9 Mark IV being reunited with the Sixth Doctor
Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...
long after Sarah's death.
A short story, Moving On, in Virgin Publishing's Decalog 3: Consequences anthology and the Big Finish Productions-produced Sarah Jane Smith audio play Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre (both written by Peter Anghelides
Peter Anghelides
Peter Anghelides is an English author and dramatist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC television series Doctor Who.-Work:...
) indicate that K-9 Mark III broke down and Sarah was unable to repair it as the replacement circuits would not be invented for several centuries.
Another short story, Tautology, by Glenn Langford (Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
#194), suggests that K-9 Mark III's motherboard
Motherboard
In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...
will be passed down through Sarah's descendants and eventually end up in the hands of Professor Marius, who will use it to build the first K-9, creating an ontological paradox.
Jealous, Possessive by Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs is a writer and lecturer. He was born in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, England, and now lives in Manchester with his partner, author and lecturer Jeremy Hoad.-Early life:...
, the "Scorpio" story in Big Finish's anthology Short Trips: Zodiac
Short Trips: Zodiac
Short Trips: Zodiac is a Big Finish original anthology edited by Jacqueline Rayner and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Stories:-External links:*Reviews...
features K-9 Mark I and Mark II relaying their exploits to each other, and their veiled put-downs to each other reveal that each considers the other to be the "inferior" version. This attitude is also occasionally hinted at in the way the two units refer to each other in the Gallifrey audio series.
The Eighth Doctor Adventures
Eighth Doctor Adventures
The Eighth Doctor Adventures are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. 73 books were published overall...
novel Interference: Book Two
Interference: Book Two
Interference: Book Two is an original novel written by Lawrence Miles and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles is a science fiction author known for his work on original Doctor Who novels and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox...
indicates that the Doctor built a Mark IV model sometime prior to the events of that book, but what happened to this unit is not stated. In the novel The Gallifrey Chronicles
The Gallifrey Chronicles (2005 novel)
For the John Peel book of the same name, see: The Gallifrey Chronicles The Gallifrey Chronicles is a BBC Books original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin is a British author, best known for writing fiction and reference books for television series, in particular Doctor Who and Emmerdale...
, K-9 Mark II makes another appearance, having been trapped within the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
since the events of The Ancestor Cell
The Ancestor Cell
The Ancestor Cell is a novel by Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole, based on the science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor, Fitz Kreiner, Compassion and Romana III- as well as a brief appearance of the Third Doctor in a ghost-like state due to the Faction's...
. At the end of The Gallifrey Chronicles the Doctor sends K-9 on a secret mission to Espero, presumably to seek out his former companion, the living TARDIS known as Compassion
Compassion (Doctor Who)
Compassion is a fictional character in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels based upon the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Compassion was originally from a people known as the Remote, a splinter group of the time travelling voodoo cult Faction Paradox...
.
Audio plays
In the spin-off media, K-9 Mark II remained Romana's faithful companion for many years. In the early 2000s, John Leeson and Lalla WardLalla Ward
Sarah Ward known as Lalla Ward, is an English actor, author and illustrator. As an actor, she is known for playing the part of Romana in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is married to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.-Early career:Ward's stage name, "Lalla", comes...
featured in a series of audio plays produced by BBV
BBV
BBV is a video and audio production company specialising in science fiction drama, known for its links with the British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
as K-9 and "The Mistress", detailing these characters' adventures in a parallel universe. As neither Romana nor E-Space could be licensed, the aliases of the Mistress and the "pocket universe" were used instead.
When Romana eventually returned to her own universe, she brought K-9 Mark II with her (presumably having repaired it) and eventually became Lady President of Gallifrey. K-9 Mark II is first seen on Gallifrey in the Virgin New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
novel Lungbarrow
Lungbarrow
Lungbarrow is an original novel written by Marc Platt and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Marc Platt
Marc Platt
Marc Platt is a British writer. He is most known for his work with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.After studying catering at a technical college, Platt worked first for Trust House Forte, and then in administration for the BBC...
, alongside K-9 Mark I, which had remained with Leela. Both K-9 Mark I and Mark II appear, voiced by Leeson, in the Big Finish Productions audio
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
adventure Zagreus
Zagreus (Doctor Who audio)
Zagreus is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This audio drama was presented on three compact discs, and was made by Big Finish as their primary release to celebrate forty years of Doctor Who.-Plot:Following directly...
and the Gallifrey audio series
Gallifrey (audio series)
Gallifrey is the umbrella title of a line of audio plays set in the Doctor Who universe, produced by Big Finish Productions, featuring Louise Jameson as Leela, Lalla Ward as President Romana, and John Leeson as two K-9 units, Mark I and Mark II...
. Leela's K-9 (Mark I) was destroyed at the conclusion of the second Gallifrey series and only Mark II appears in the third series.
Online media
In 2003, a webcastWebcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
adaptation of the never-completed Shada
Shada
Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was intended to be the final serial of the 1979-80 season , but was never completed due to a strike at the BBC during filming...
serial was produced for the BBC's Doctor Who website, rewritten as an Eighth Doctor adventure and featuring the post-E-Space versions of Romana II and K-9 Mk II.
According to the official website for The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2007, the Doctor stored several presents for Sarah inside K-9, including a "sonic lipstick
Sonic screwdriver
The sonic screwdriver is a fictional tool in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spinoffs. It is a multifunctional tool used by The Doctor. Its most common function is that of a lockpick, but can be used to perform other operations such as performing medical scans,...
" and a watch that scans for alien life.
Conceptual history
K-9 was the brainchild of writers Bob BakerBob Baker
-External links:...
and Dave Martin
Dave Martin (screenwriter)
David Ralph Martin was an accomplished television and film writer. He was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, England and contributed numerous scripts for the Doctor Who television series between 1971 and 1979 including:...
. Its purpose was to have a character that could narrate while the miniaturised clones of the Doctor and Leela were inside the Doctor's body during the events of The Invisible Enemy. Martin's own dog had also been recently run over by a car, and K-9 was a car-proof tribute to it.
K-9 was not originally intended to be a companion, but producer Graham Williams
Graham Williams
Graham Williams was a British television producer and script editor, whose best known work was on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who....
liked the concept so much that the decision was made to retain him as a regular character, in order to appeal to the younger members of the audience. The original name for the character was "FIDO" — apparently from "Phenomenal Indication Data Observation" unit — but it was eventually named K-9 .
The initial idea for realising K-9 was to use a small actor inside a robotic Dobermann costume, but that was rejected in favour of a radio-controlled
Radio control
Radio control is the use of radio signals to remotely control a device. The term is used frequently to refer to the control of model vehicles from a hand-held radio transmitter...
prop, designed by Tony Harding and made by the BBC Visual Effects Department. The robot suffered from numerous technical problems during its time in the series, often malfunctioning because the radio controls interfered with the cameras and vice versa. On location, K-9 also proved unable to traverse uneven terrain, and shots had to be conceived with this in mind. Workarounds included using a concealed piece of twine to pull the character along (this string can be clearly seen in a shot of K-9 on Brighton Beach), or laying wooden planks on which it could roll.
K-9's innards were redesigned twice more over the course of the series, firstly in collaboration with a company called Slough Radio Control. It allowed one of its employees, Nigel Brackley, to be seconded to the series semi-permanently to supervise the prop. Brackley, who has since gone on to a career in the movie industry, controlled K-9 for many of its studio appearances. Eventually, there came a point where the dog's inherent liabilities were outweighing his assets, and the internal mechanisms were completely rebuilt by designer Charlie Lumm. The wheels were enlarged and given independent drives for power and better manoeuvrability, and the radio controls were switched from the AM
Amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...
to the FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
band to resist interference. However, by the time the improved model made his debut in State of Decay
State of Decay
State of Decay is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 22 November to 13 December 1980. The serial was the second of three loosely connected serials known as the E-Space trilogy...
, the first story recorded for Season 18, the decision had already been made to write the character out of the series in the adventure Warriors' Gate
Warriors' Gate
Warriors' Gate is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was written by the English author Stephen Gallagher and first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 January to 24 January 1981...
.
K-9 was a popular enough character to warrant an attempt to spin him off into his own series. In addition to K-9 dolls, there were also talking K-9 toys produced by Palitoy
Palitoy
Palitoy was the name of a British toy company.It manufactured some of the most popular toys in Britain, some original items and others under licence...
, the speech provided by a miniature record inside the body of the toy. John Leeson
John Leeson
John Leeson is a British actor who is best known for voicing K-9 on the television series Doctor Who from 1977 to 1979, and again in the 1980–1981 season. He was called back to do the voice of K-9 again for the 2006 episode "School Reunion" and again for the 2008 Doctor Who episode "Journey's End"...
provided the voice for K-9 in all its appearances, except for Season 17 (which included the unfinished Shada
Shada
Shada is an unaired serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was intended to be the final serial of the 1979-80 season , but was never completed due to a strike at the BBC during filming...
) when it was voiced by David Brierley. When Shada was remade by Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
, Leeson provided its voice.
The practical challenges of working with the K-9 prop have accompanied the robotic pooch in his return to Doctor Who. Producer Russell T Davies told SFX
SFX magazine
SFX is a British magazine covering the topics of science fiction and fantasy.-Description:SFX magazine is published every four weeks by Future Publishing and was founded in 1995. The magazine covers topics in the genres of popular science fiction, fantasy and horror, within the media of films,...
magazine, "Yes, just as we expected, multiple takes when he bumped into a door or veered off to the left. Lis Sladen did warn us, and she was right!" 2009 saw two different incarnations of K-9 appear regularly in two Doctor Who spin-offs: Mark IV in the third series of BBC production The Sarah Jane Adventures, and a re-vamped Mark I in the Park Entertainment production K-9.
K-9 (2010 spin-off series)
A proposed K-9 television series or special had been rumoured since the late 1990s, and images of a redesigned K-9 were leaked. However, nothing came of this effort until 2006.
On 24 April 2006 The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, the Daily Star and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
confirmed, following previous rumours, that K-9 would be featured in a 26-part children's series, K-9, to be written by Bob Baker. The article in The Times also featured a picture of the redesigned K-9 for the animated series. The series will be a blend of live-action and a CGI K-9.
Each episode is 30 minutes long, made by Jetix
Jetix
Jetix was a worldwide children's television programming brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The Jetix brand was used for blocks and channels featuring action-related and adventure-related live-action and animated programming. It was also what Disney eventually turned Fox Kids into...
Europe and London-based distribution outfit Park Entertainment. According to a report in Broadcast magazine, the BBC opted out of involvement in order to focus on their own Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood
Torchwood
Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
, meaning that BBC-owned characters do not appear in the series.
On 3 April 2010 the TV series K-9 began broadcasting on the Australian Television Network Ten as part of a Saturday morning line-up of children's shows. John Leeson is the voice of K-9. The first episode called "Regeneration"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325219/fullcredits#writers featured the earlier Mark I version of K-9. The "older" K-9 materializes in London in the future and in the midst of an incident where an alien species is threatening human lives. K-9 sacrifices himself in order to save the humans, but one component survives that enables his self-regeneration into the new unit. The main human cast members include Robert Moloney as Professor Gryffen, Keegan Joyce as Starkey (K-9's new "master"), and Daniel Webber as Darius. The first 14 episodes of K-9 season 1 were broadcast mid-morning on Channel 5 in December 2010 with the remaining episodes scheduled for January 2011. Trailers for the series appeared on Channel 5 from early December voiced by John Leeson. Originally, it had been planned to split the series in two halves between the Christmas 2010 and Easter 2011 school holiday schedules.
Cultural influence
In 1990, an unspecified K-9 unit appeared with Sylvester McCoySylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
as the Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
and Sophie Aldred
Sophie Aldred
Sophie Aldred is an English actress and television presenter, best known for her portrayal of The Doctor's companion Ace in the television series Doctor Who during the late 1980s.-Early life:...
as Ace
Ace (Doctor Who)
Dorothy Gale McShane, better known by her nickname Ace, is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
in an episode of the children's education programme Search Out Science entitled Search Out Space, which was included as an extra on the release of the Doctor Who story Survival
Survival (Doctor Who)
-Writing:Writer Rona Munro approached script editor Andrew Cartmel at a BBC scriptwriting workshop and said that she'd "kill to write for Doctor Who." The story Munro developed incorporated themes including the morals of hunting...
by the BBC. Another unspecified K-9 unit also appeared in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time
Dimensions in Time
Dimensions in Time is a charity special crossover between the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and the soap opera EastEnders that ran in two parts on 26 and 27 November 1993. It was filmed on the EastEnders Albert Square set, and features several of the stars of that programme...
. In the 1998 computer game Fallout 2
Fallout 2
Fallout 2 is a computer role-playing game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay in 1998. The game's story takes place in 2241, 80 years after the events of Fallout...
, the Navarro base has a damaged robot dog known as K-9, which uses similar speech mannerisms to the Infobox Doctor Who character. If repaired, the cyberdog is willing to join the character's party as a companion. In the 1999 television series Queer as Folk (written by future Doctor Who executive producer Russell T Davies), a K-9 model is given to the character Vince as a birthday present. The prop used was an original, operated — as occasionally in Doctor Who — by visual effects assistant Mat Irvine
Mat Irvine
Mat Irvine was born on 7 July 1948. He was a Technical Consultant and Visual Effects Designer who worked on television, primarily for the BBC, from the 1970s to the 1990s....
. In the second series of I'm Alan Partridge
I'm Alan Partridge
I'm Alan Partridge is a BBC situation comedy starring Steve Coogan, of which two series of six episodes each were produced — the first in 1997 and the second in 2002...
(2002), the character of Alan Partridge
Alan Partridge
Alan Gordon Partridge is a fictional radio and television presenter portrayed by English comedian Steve Coogan and invented by Coogan, Armando Iannucci, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring for the BBC Radio 4 programme On The Hour...
recalls how his purchase of the rights to K-9 assisted in him mentally breaking down and driving to Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
in his bare feet while gorging on Toblerone
Toblerone
Toblerone is a chocolate bar brand owned by Kraft Foods, who acquired the product from former owner Jacobs Suchard in 1990. It is well-known for its distinctive packaging, its prism shape and its ubiquity in duty-free shops.The triangular shape of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps is commonly...
. In the South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode "Go God Go XII
Go God Go XII
"Go God Go XII" is episode 1013 of Comedy Central's South Park, which aired on November 8, 2006. The episode is a continuation of the previous episode, "Go God Go"...
" (2006), Eric Cartman
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
, being trapped in the year 2546, has acquired a robot dog called "K-10", a parody of K-9. Due to timeline alterations, he is replaced by robot cat "Kit-9" and later robot bird, "Cocka-3". K-9 appeared on a special Doctor Who-themed edition of The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
in 2007, but was voted out unanimously at the end of the first round, despite answering all of his questions correctly. Anne Robinson
Anne Robinson
Anne Josephine Robinson is an English journalist and television presenter, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British consumer affairs series, Watchdog, from 1993 to 2001 before returning in 2009...
(whom K-9 addressed as "Mistress") said "I'm so sorry" before declaring him the weakest link.
The eighth track on the Trock (Or Time Lord Rock, fan music about Dr. Who) band Chameleon Circuit's first album is called "K9's Lament" and describes many of the events of K9's existance from his point of view.
Engineers at NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Ames Research Center
NASA Ames Research Center
The Ames Research Center , is one of the United States of America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration 10 major field centers.The centre is located in Moffett Field in California's Silicon Valley, near the high-tech companies, entrepreneurial ventures, universities, and other...
have dubbed two intelligent mobile robots designed to explore the surface of Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
"K-9" and "Gromit
Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series consisting of four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations...
". NASA's K-9 is named after both Doctor Whos K-9 and Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian is a fictional character appearing in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Marvin's likeness appears in miniature on the Spirit rover on Mars.-Conception and creation:...
's pet dog
K-9 (Looney Tunes)
K-9 is a green cartoon Martian dog in the Warner Brother's Looney Tunes series of animated shorts. He is closely associated with Marvin the Martian as K-9 is Marvin's pet dog and sidekick in some Looney Tunes productions.-History:...
.
Several individuals have built their own personal K-9 robots, ranging from radio controlled units like that used on the show to several levels of computerised autonomy.
On the BBC Glow site, typing the Konami code
Konami Code
The Konami Code, known in Japan as the , is a cheat code that appears in many Konami video games, although the code also appears in some non-Konami games...
would make appear a photo of K-9 taken during his cameo on the BBC children's show Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
.
External links
- K-9 on the BBC's Doctor Who website ("New Series")
- K-9 on the BBC's Doctor Who website ("Classic Series")
- K-9 being introduced on Blue Peter in 1977
- "Affirmative, Master: All You Ever Wanted To Know About K-9", by Jon Preddle ("Time Space Visualiser" issue 41, Oct 1994)
- A K-9 game, on the BBC's official Doctor Who website