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The return of K9

I’m sorry to all my overseas friends (and possibly those of you under 30) who probably won’t have the faintest clue what I’m talking about, but the BBC Doctor Who web site last week announced the return of the Doctor’s once faithful dog, K9.

I’m sorry to all my overseas friends (and possibly those of you under 30) who probably won’t have the faintest clue what I’m talking about, but the BBC Doctor Who web site last week announced the return of the Doctor’s once faithful dog, K9.

Not just any old bone chewing, stick fetching dog you understand, but a chess playing, trundling around (slowly) on wheels kind of robot dog who is possibly the most irritating memory of Doctor Who’s gone by.

The Ninth Doctor

After so many years on BBC shelves, the most recent season of the time-travelling hero was eagerly anticipated in our house and by and large it didn’t disappoint. Sure, some episodes proved stronger than others, but a brilliantly chosen cast headed by Christopher Ecclestone and terrific writing made Saturday night TV watchable again for the thirteen weeks.

Christopher Ecclestone’s season was a paradox in many ways. His Doctor was both funny and troubled with an undercurrent of guilt (he is the last surviving Time Lord) and anger (towards his arch enemies the Daleks). The writer’s were neither afraid to expose the Doctor’s darker side nor afraid to play jokes with established Doctor Who mythology. But at no time did the acting nor writing descend into farce.

I for one was very disappointed that Ecclestone would not return for a second season but I was confident that the creative team would continue to make a great show in the next season with new Doctor David Tennant and Billie Piper as Rose.

Who is your Doctor?

It’s been said that every generation has his or her Doctor and being on the lighter side of forty, mine was the third Doctor Jon Pertwee. Pertwee was for me the classic Doctor and between 1970 and 1974 he wielded the sonic screwdriver across episodes including The Sea Devils, Planet of the Spiders and The Green Death.

After the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, I felt that Doctor Who deteriorated into pantomime and with Peter Davison, Colin Baker and the truly awful Sylvester McCoy, the show lost it’s appeal.

The return of K9

K9 was a ridiculous invention of the Doctor Who writers, even for the 1970s. (Yes I know you’ll be wondering how a time travelling police box or a sonic screwdriver which can apparantly do anything from open locked doors to store 2,000,000 MP3s can be less ridiculous, but bear with me.) K9 was an awful waste of molded plastic.

Pooper scooper

Doctor Who producer Phil Collinson might disagree.

It is great to be welcoming K9 back to Doctor Who. A whole generation fondly remember him as an ever faithful companion and best friend to Tom Baker’s Doctor. I hope the new generation of viewers will fall in love with him in the same way. I’m sure he’s going to prove an invaluable help to the Doctor in the fight against intergalactic evil.

K9 added little more than irritation and light relief. He was for me the turning point on which the show lost it’s edge. I only hope that the return of K9 does not mark another turn in fortunes for the show and that the writers will treat him with comic distain, another in joke.

I suppose we will all just have to wait and see.

Comments

  1. #1 On September 1, 2005 12:59 AM Peter said:

    Ouch. What a real shame. Just as I thought they were trying to give the new series just a bit more depth and edge… I was already finding some of it just a bit toooo silly (the perpetual game shows ending in death) and now this - K9 - is really going to stretch my patience! Unless he’s learned to travel upstairs (taking aleaf from the Daleks) or actually do something vaguely useful of course!

  2. #2 On September 1, 2005 01:37 AM Matt Robin said:

    Out of the loop on this one a bit as I don’t watch TV anymore, but I think a return of K9 would be a good thing! :)

  3. #3 On September 1, 2005 01:40 AM Mikkel Malmberg said:

    I have no idea of what this is about, but that dog sure looks silly!

  4. #4 On September 1, 2005 01:44 AM Matt Robin said:

    Mikkel: Brit TV institution….(and then there’s also ’Doctor Who’)

  5. #5 On September 1, 2005 02:04 AM Ben said:

    I have some memory of watching some John Pertwee repeats as a child, and being fairly fond of the Doctor for tea-time viewing.

    The new season I saw about half of, and on the whole enjoyed. I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that I found the low budget effects initially quite off-putting (it’s fine once your get used to it, of course), although I think my objection stemmed from the visual effects team being gratuitous with less-than-impressive technology (the slow motion bullets and the reversing laser beam in the final’ were shite).

    I did like Christopher Ecclestone, he was quite enchanting and affable. The brief scene with David Tennant at the end of the series was also well done (’New teeth’’), so hopefully he’ll maintain the acting quality even if the special effects continue to miss the mark.

  6. #6 On September 1, 2005 04:32 AM James said:

    I’m under 30 and from overseas, yet I know Doctor Who very well… (geek). Actually, I’m Aussie, so we all know Doctor Who here as well.

    When I saw K9 was coming back I thought ’cool!’ and was dismayed when you started explaining your dislike of the character… but of course, then it clicked: your the Pertwee generation, I’m the Tom Baker generation. For me, he was the golden years of the show (great to see/hear him on Little Britain, too). I didn’t mind Peter Davidson, and I’d actually put Colin Baker as being worse than Sylvester McCoy, but they both sucked, so it’s fairly unimportant.

    The new series was good, but I lost interest - and I was a hardwore Who fan back in my teen days. Funny what Ben said about the ’low budget’ effects - that’s what made Doctor Who awesome in the first place. Creativity outshone the budget, and the BBC proved that ANYTHING could be created with some green paint and lots of plastic packing sheets. But low budget CG is always disappointing. Bring back the analogue sparks and crackles that leave stains on the video - and the obvious film transitions to external shows - more stuff that made Dr Who great!

  7. #7 On September 1, 2005 07:31 AM Gerard McGarry said:

    Jon Pertwee wouldn’t convince me as Doctor Who - I’m of the Wurzel Gummidge generation! "Cup of tea and a slice of cake Aunt Sally?"

    Loved the last series of Doctor Who, though. Christopher Ecclestone was brilliant. Such a shame he didn’t stretch to another series.

    By the way, my earliest memory of Doctor Who was on of those transition episodes - you know, where he changes appearance. I seem to remember this psychadelic effect going on for ages…

  8. #8 On September 1, 2005 07:48 AM Charlie B Jnr said:

    Malarkey, perhaps you can knock out a new script aiming to get rid of K9 in some bizarre ’robot dog savages child and is put down’ storyline. Dr Who was quoted as saying ’I don’t understand, he’s normally really good with kids, a nice peaceful dog, never done anything like this before’.

    Send it to the BBC and see what they think?

  9. #9 On September 1, 2005 08:41 AM Pete Smith said:

    Andy,

    Here’s a great idea…

    Ingredients.

    1 x Large Cardboard Box
    1 x Shoe Box
    3 xToilet rolls (used centres)
    1 Tin of Metalic Silver Spray Paint
    1 x Large felt tip pen
    1 x pair of scissors
    1 x Roll of sticky back plastic

    Instructions.

    1. Spray the cardboard box, shoe box and toilet rolls with the silver spray paint. Allow time to dry.

    2. Once dry, cut a circular hole in the cardboard box of approxiamtely 25cm. This should be done at the base of the box and on the narrowest side.

    3. Do the same with the shoe box but also cut two small holes out at the opposite side which will be used as eye holes.

    4. With the sticky back plastic, attach 2 of the toilet rolls to the top of the shoe box, these will be the ears.

    5. Customise the shoebos and cardboardbox with the felt tip pen. Making it unique to your tastes.

    6. Get a dog… preferably a chocolate labrodor called Donny and place the cardbaord box over his body ensuring his head is placed through the neck hole. Then lower the protective shoebox over Donny’s head.

    7. Finally lower the 3rd toilet roll over the dogs tail.

    You now have a fully function K9.

    Or Don9.

  10. #10 On September 1, 2005 08:55 AM Tim said:

    You have to love Dr Who!

    I disagree with some of your points though Andy:

    1. The last good Dr Who (apart from Ecclestone) was Peter Davidson (even though the series took on a rather strange 70’s campness at this point).

    2. All the episodes in the new series that were written by Russell T Davies were awful.

    However, I do agree that it’s a shame that Christopher Ecclestone didn’t stay longer. He was a GREAT Dr…

    Bring on David Tennant!

  11. #11 On September 1, 2005 09:10 AM Gerard McGarry said:

    I’m not sure about David Tennant. Looks like a bit of a lightweight…

    I thought Billie Piper was leaving?

  12. #12 On September 1, 2005 09:23 AM Tony Bittan said:

    I seem to be one of those few who didn’t think Eccleston was all that great. He was OK. But so was Sylvester McCoy. I agree with James who said Colin Baker was the worst.

    When I were a lad we watched Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, can’t decide which of these two is my favourite. I’m not convinced I like this Tennant geezer either. There was talk of David Thewlis doing it at one point, and I think he would have been perfect.

    As a teeny pop star, Billie Piper made me sick. I still can’t understand how it happened, but she’s actually a damn sight better as an actress - I find I’ve grown rather fond of her.

  13. #13 On September 1, 2005 09:28 AM Jon Hicks said:

    yep. no doubt about it. K9 coming back is a baaad thing™

    As for favourite Doctor - Tom Baker/Peter Davidson, but Eccleston was fantastic.

  14. #14 On September 1, 2005 09:30 AM Kate said:

    Secretly, I’m hoping that the "return of K9" will consist of Sarah Jane going "Oh! K9!" and lifting up a tablecloth to reveal that the lovely endtable beside her sofa is actually the long-dead robot dog everyone hated.

    As for me, I’ve only been in the country for five years, so my Doctor has to be Eccleston. However, my husband is getting more and more distressed by the fact that I keep on wanting to watch Doctor Who – it’s encroaching on his territory!

  15. #15 On September 1, 2005 10:00 AM Gazzer said:

    Okay, so I must be the oldest git currently reading Stuff and Nonsense, because I remember that young Jon Pertwee chap taking over from Patrick… (no… it’s gone again!) and wondering if he was going to be up to the job!

    However, being only slightly on the wrong side of 40, Pertwee is still the Doctor as far as I am concerned. I have to confess that I have avoided watching this series (can’t have my kids seeing me hide behind the sofa!) but the snippets I have seen have intrigued me.

    As for K9, I feel the same way now as I did then - I hope he runs out in front of an intergalactic bus and is squished beyond repair!

    Hang on… Troughton! Patrick Troughton! That’s it. Why was I talking about him?! Nurse! I’ve spilt my soup on my pyjamas again! Ooh, Question Time’s on BBC2 later… (continue rambling ad infinitum)

  16. #16 On September 1, 2005 10:04 AM Gazzer said:

    WHAT?! Bernie Eccleston is Doctor Who?!

    That explains so much!

  17. #17 On September 1, 2005 12:19 PM Bruce said:

    I’m looking forward to the series after next, which I can exclusively reveal will have a new doctor will be played by Jeffrey Zeldman, with Molly Holzschlag as his glamorous assistant. They will travel in a new, impoved, vehicle called the xTardis.

    Their first enemy is the "anigifs", hideous shapeshifting creatures from the Planet Geocities.

    It’s gonna rock.

  18. #18 On September 1, 2005 12:40 PM Dean Edwards said:

    I always had a thing for Leela. It must have been the skimpy outfit she always wore…

    Oh, and Billie Piper drinks in my local pub… ;-)

  19. #19 On September 1, 2005 01:57 PM Malarkey said:

    @ Charlie Bass Jnr: ".. robot dog savages child and is put down storyline…" ? How about robot dog foolishly trundles into Welsh sheep field and gets blasted by Dai The Flock?

    @ Pete Smith: You leave the Don out of this ;) Funny, very funny. I’ll be trying it tonight.

    @ Gazzer: It’s OK, I’ll have Dean send Billie round to give you a bed bath.

    @ Bruce: Jeffrey as the Doctor? If we’re voting for a geek to be the next Doctor, my vote’s for Jason Santa Maria!

    @ Dean: Dean me old mate… you know I love and respect you… now, which pub?

  20. #20 On September 1, 2005 05:48 PM JamesZ said:

    I have to agree with James (#6), good name! anyway… I am from overseas and of the Tom Baker generation. particularly with Adric as his companion. Although Leela, Romana2 and Tegan were very nice to look at. Just something about his goofy nature, the jelly babies and that scarf.

    I haven’t had a chance to watch any of the new Dr Who… well because I don’t own a TV currenly, so I can’t comment on the most recent Dr. Regardless, I don’t think that k9 is going to ruin the show, but I also don’t think that he will add much substance to it. Not that I watch Dr. Who for substance.

  21. #21 On September 1, 2005 10:16 PM Peter Asquith said:

    I’m firmly in the Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker demographic. I remember being enamoured with Sarah Jane Smith when I was around eight years old. I don’t have fond memories of K9 though - it always looked like something Blue Peter would have us make from cardboard and sticky-backed plastic on a rainy weekend.

  22. #22 On September 1, 2005 11:26 PM Dean Edwards said:

    Malarkey - The pub is the Sir Richard Steele in North London. I even blogged about it once:

    https://dean.edwards.name/weblog/2005/06/steeles/

    Her ex (the ginger geezer) was in the market to buy it a while back. To spot the lovely Ms Piper you will have to spend quite a bit of time there. I manage a good few hours a week. ;-)

  23. #23 On September 2, 2005 03:52 AM Jeremy Amos said:

    About 13 years ago, I attended traffic school to get the fines reduced on a traffic ticket in South San Francisco. One of the other attendees was a woman who’d been pulled over for speeding - trying to pass a police car.
    Why would she do such a thing?
    The car happened to be part of the canine unit - and had a "K-9" decal on the side.

    She was honestly hoping to get a glimpse of the robot dog from Dr. Who.

  24. #24 On September 3, 2005 12:28 PM paul haine said:

    Didn’t K-9 make a guest appearance on ’Queer as Folk’?

  25. #25 On September 6, 2005 12:58 PM LintHuman said:

    We can only hope that K9 will get a 21st (24th? 38th?) century makeover, just like the TARDIS interior. If the latest series is anything to go by, it won’t disappoint. I can’t wait for the cybermen…

  26. #26 On September 8, 2005 11:54 AM Gazzer said:

    A question - if Time Lords have the ability to regenerate instead of actually die, how come Dr Who is the last surviving Time Lord?

    What happened to all the others?

  27. #27 On September 8, 2005 02:26 PM Sally Carson said:

    hey, I’m an American under 30 and I used to watch Dr.Who. It came on the local Public Broadcasting Station. PBS serves up a surprising amount of British TV.

  28. #28 On September 9, 2005 05:21 PM LintHuman said:

    @ Gazzer: The Time Lords aren’t immortal, though they can live for a very long time. The maximum number of regenerations is twelve, so each Time Lord can have 13 incarnations. The Master (a renegade Time Lord and the Doctor’s nemesis) didn’t like this - death not being part of his evil plans to conquer the universe - and ’possessed’ someone else’s body after using up his regenerations. I believe the other Time Lords were killed by the Daleks during the Time Wars. The Doctor has now had his ninth regeneration, so the new incarnation will be his tenth.

    I can’t believe I actually know that stuff.

September 1, 2005 • Andy Clarke • design • humour