When it comes to Doctor Who characters, K9 may not be the most fearsome warrior of them all. This small robot dog has been popping up in the show since the late 1970s, and fans immediately fell in love with him. His charming robotic voice and slight movements have become synonymous with Classic Who, and the vast majority of fans wouldn’t want him any other way.
Back in 2010, this iconic character received his own spin-off series, but it left a lot of viewers wondering why it was ever made in the first place. The show gave K9 a brand-new look and a set of pals, both of which felt incredibly out of place. But what went wrong with K9, and why is it not linked to the rest of the Doctor Who canon?
K9 Gives the Robot a New Set of Youthful Friends
K9 centers around the famous robot dog and his teenage friends, Starkey and Jorjie. The dog also hangs around with Professor Alistair Gryffen, a Nobel-prize-winning scientist who is busy working on a new vortex manipulator. Strangely enough, the Professor also works alongside Darius, his 15-year-old assistant. Together, they spend their days in 2050 London, trying to defeat a large reptile that has slipped in via a space-time portal. In order to save his new friends, K9 is forced to self-destruct but gives Starkey the instructions to help rebuild him, so the gang can keep on going on a ton of space-age adventures.
Professor Gryffen is the first Canadian character to appear in the Doctor Who universe.
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Overall, K9 seems like a typical teen sci-fi drama, but the characters themselves are very shallow and don’t quite fit in with the kids typically seen throughout Doctor Who. For example, they tend to suffer a lot of trauma and negativity, which can sometimes make the whole series a tad unrealistic and depressing. In Season 1, Episode 3, “The Kroven,” Starkey becomes homeless and is forced to lean on the professor and K9 to ensure that he can get back on his feet. Though Doctor Who and its various spin-offs tend to deal with a lot of big issues, including grief and loss, seeing a kid on the street seems a bit much for a heartfelt show aimed at 11 to 15-year-olds.
Bob Baker, the creator of K9, also worked on a handful of Wallace and Gromit films, including The Wrong Trousers .
Admittedly, some fans feel it’s unfair to compare K9 to The Sarah Jane Adventures because the latter obviously had a much larger budget and better links to the original show. However, it’s very hard not to draw comparisons because The Sarah Jane Adventures also includes K9 and shows him more as her best friend rather than an ultra-modern contraption. Plus, the cast of K9 feels very disjointed, mainly because they have nothing connecting them to the original lore of Doctor Who. While Sarah Jane comes across more as a guardian to her group of young companions, Professor Gryffen seems to be more of a liability and probably shouldn’t be looking after a group of misguided teenagers. In turn, K9 just didn’t sit right with viewers and is possibly one of the main reasons the show struggled to tap into mass audiences.
Copyright Issues Forced to Show to Break Ties With the Doctor
Longtime fans of Doctor Who will know that K9 has appeared in a handful of spin-offs, including the TV pilot K9 and Company. Yet, in the 2010 series, the tin dog was given a whole new look, mainly because of copyright issues. Though Bob Baker created the character of K9, Doctor Who owned the rights to the dog’s likeness. As such, in order to give this notable character a new lease on life, Baker was forced to alter his appearance. In K9, the dog is a bit smaller and has a lot of softer features, such as rounded ears and legs. Though it would be wrong to say that this is an unattractive design, it makes this archaic robot seem more like an interactive toy from the early 2000s. So, whilst Sarah Jane was running riot with the real K9 in her much-loved spin-off, Starkey and Jorjie looked like they were interacting with the knock-off version.
Initially, K9 was meant to be called Pluto, after Mickey Mouse’s dog, but Disney refused permission.
Doctor Who is ramping up to a new spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea and fans have plenty of things to look forward to.
Another big problem with K9 was that it wasn’t linked to the BBC. The show was developed by Shayne Armstrong, an Australian filmmaker best known for working on dramatic titles like Bait and Acolytes. Admittedly, the show did get some funding from the UK, but overall, K9 is considered to be an Australian production. Though there’s nothing wrong with this, it meant that the show wasn’t broadcast on the BBC and was instead shown on more obscure channels like Disney XD. The main problem with this was that many viewers had to pay for an additional subscription in order to access these niche channels, so they often had to wait for them to be shown on terrestrial television like Channel 5 or Network 10.
When the team was first developing the character, designer Tony Harding suggested that an actor dress up in a small Doberman costume.
Bob Baker had been trying to produce a K9 spin-off for many years and had even told Doctor Who Magazine in 1997 that he had secured a seven-figure budget for his idea. But, when the BBC sought more information, the funding turned out to be a tad elusive, forcing the major broadcaster to cut ties altogether. In turn, it’s clear that K9 is Baker’s passion project, but with its obscure broadcasting schedule, strange character designs, and hyperbolic cast, many fans can’t help but feel that the show was a way to get back at the BBC, but failed to match up to audiences’ expectations.
Bob Baker Was Keen to Keep K9’s Legacy Alive
K9 tends to receive a lot of criticism from modern Doctor Who fans, especially now that the parent show is blessed with a large special effects budget and a ton of universal acclaim. Yet, audiences must remember that this humble tin dog would not exist without the brainpower of the formidable Bob Baker. Though the spin-off never managed to match up to The Sarah Jane Adventures, Baker certainly worked hard to make the new version of K9 as authentic as possible. John Leeson, the original voice of the tin dog, reprised his role in the spin-off, which definitely helped to give the character a sense of familiarity and nostalgia. Not to mention, in Australia, K9 premiered on the same day that “The Eleventh Hour” was released, helping to subtly join the shows together and raise interest among avid fans of Doctor Who.
K9 was the first character in the Doctor Who special of The Weakest Link back in 2007.
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K9’s ratings were fairly decent, and the show was presented in a plethora of bustling countries. Plus, it should be noted that some fans found the spin-off quite charming and appreciated that this long-running sci-fi show was finally getting a breath of fresh air. Yet, after just 26 episodes, the story concluded and faded into obscurity. But, Bob Baker and his team weren’t going to give up that easily and promised fans a second season back in 2014. Though that idea never came to fruition, Baker was allegedly working on a K9 feature-length film before his unfortunate passing in 2021. A statement from the official K9 X account reveals that
Bob had recently completed scripts for both a new K9 Film and TV series, which will continue in tribute to Bob and his legacy.
Although Bob Baker never managed to bring K9 to the big screen, it’s apparent that his professional legacy is integral to the essence of Doctor Who. Without K9, The Doctor wouldn’t have met Adric, and Sarah Jane would be without her best friend and companion. Though K9 hasn’t appeared in Doctor Who since “Journey’s End,” fans still adore his presence in audio dramas and comics. With a new season of Doctor Who arriving on Disney+ next year, there’s no reason why the Fifteenth Doctor can’t be reunited with his pet dog.
