K9 Mark I

K9, as he appears in The Invasion of Time

**K9 Mark I**, was a portable computer originally owned by Professor Frederick Marius, who considered the robot dog his "best friend". Together, they conducted advanced medical research at the Bi-Al Foundation. When the Fourth Doctor and Leela arrived at the Foundation, Leela quickly became enamoured of the dog. The professor eventually gave the dog to the time travellers as thanks for defeating the Swarm. (TV: *The Invisible Enemy*)

The Mark I was particularly associated with and protective of Leela. Therefore, when she elected to remain on Gallifrey, he also chose to stay behind with her. (TV: *The Invasion of Time*)

He eventually came into the service of Lady President Romana II when Romana tapped Leela as her personal bodyguard.

Later models — or *marks* — of K9 were based on this one, with K9 Mark II and K9 Mark III in particular being almost identical in outer appearance to the Mark I.

## Biography

### Creation

When he first met Leela, Professor Marius said only that he "had K9 made up" — *not* that he "created" or "designed" the unit — because weight restrictions did not allow him to bring his real dog from Earth into space. (TV: *The Invisible Enemy*)

### Meeting the Doctor and Leela

In the year 5000 AD, K9 aided Marius in scanning the Fourth Doctor for the Swarm inside him. He later fought off the humans infected by the Swarm on Bi-Al and on Titan Base, saving the Doctor and Leela's lives on several occasions. Marius offered K9 to the Doctor to travel in the TARDIS as weight restrictions made him unable to take K9 back to Earth with him. (TV: *The Invisible Enemy*)

### On the TARDIS

Shortly after being taken aboard the TARDIS, K9 was damaged. The Doctor sought to repair him and kept referring to him as an "it", much to Leela's chagrin. His repair work got interrupted by the Doctor and Leela being intercepted to Fetch Priory via a Relative Continuum Displacement Zone. (TV: *Image of the Fendahl*)

K9 became repaired and often played chess against the Doctor, frequently winning. When the TARDIS landed on Pluto, K9 became caught up in affairs and assisted the Doctor and Leela in taking down the Collector and the Company. He led the assault on the Correction Centre to rescue the Doctor and became an integral part in the eventual uprising. (TV: *The Sun Makers*)

When the TARDIS landed on the *R1C*, K9 was plugged into the failing systems of the ship in order to reboot it. He helped the Doctor and the Minyans uncover a conspiracy by the Oracle to rule over the Minyans as a god. He participated in the defeat of the Oracle. (TV: *Underworld*)

K9 participated in the Doctor's plan to put the Vardans in a time loop. In order to effect this, the Doctor had himself inducted as Lord President on Gallifrey. He had K9 destroy the transduction barrier, allowing the Vardans to travel along wavelengths and partially materialise on the planet. When the Vardans, and the Sontarans who followed them, were defeated, Leela chose to stay behind, having fallen in love with Andred. K9 chose to stay with his "mistress" to look after her. She asked him if the Doctor would be lonely without them, but he could only reply that there was "insufficient data", which saddened both. (TV: *The Invasion of Time*)

### On Gallifrey

K9 was among who arrived at the House of Lungbarrow following some strange goings-on, meeting the Eighth Doctor alongside his successor.

## Personality

K9 was often left behind in the TARDIS and so he saw journeying out as a treat. (TV: *The Sun Makers*) Despite his claims that he was not programmed to feel emotion, he did show a capacity for feeling. He sulked when Leela insulted him, and would only talk to her again after she apologised.

The Doctor described him as overbearing, arrogant and insufferable, after K9 told him there was only a 1% chance of the Doctor having a better explanation for something than him.

Andred claimed "If [he] had a dog like [K9] in [his] unit, [he'd] make him a sergeant". (TV: *The Invasion of Time*)

## Features

The mechanics of K9 Mark I included rotating ear-probes, telescopic "eye" probe, extendable nose, flashing lights on the top and the "eye" panel, waggling tail antennae, and ticker-tape tongue. The head could also move up and down. The shell was painted in gold/grey metallic. There was a monitor screen on his left flank, though K9 rarely used this during his travels with the Fourth Doctor. Around K9's neck was a tartan collar, from which hung a silver disk. (TV: *The Invisible Enemy*)

## Behind the Scenes

* In an early draft of *The Invisible Enemy*, K9 was called FIDO, for "Phenomenal Indication Data Observation". (INFO: *The Invisible Enemy*)
* The original K9 model was designed by visual effects designer Tony Harding. One early concept was to have a small actor in a large Doberman-shaped costume; however, Graham Williams vetoed this, saying that the robot should not look like a person in a costume. The eventual design was closely based on Harding's third concept sketch. (DCOM: *The Invisible Enemy*)
* K9 Mark I was the first in a seven-year run of non-human televised companions who inhabited the TARDIS, ending with the departure of Turlough in 1984. Others included K9 Mark II, Romana I, Romana II, Adric, Nyssa and, nominally, Kamelion.
* The numbers appended to K9's "marks" have *narrative* origin — unlike, say, Romana *I*, which is actually a fan *assumption*. *The Invasion of Time* ends with the Doctor pushing a box labelled "K9 MII" into the console room, which implies that the model that stayed with Leela on Gallifrey was "K9 MI". However, based on televised stories alone, there was no indication that this designation was programmed into the two units. *Nothing* has ever clearly indicated that the Mark I was truly "the first K9 ever built, anywhere in the universe". The designation is relative to the Doctor's perception, or to relative age amongst the K9 units eventually resident on Gallifrey.

## Appearances

### Season 15

* *The Invisible Enemy*
* *Image of the Fendahl*
* *The Sun Makers*
* *Underworld*
* *The Invasion of Time*