K9

K9
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**K9** — occasionally written as **K-9** or **K•9** — was the designation given to a series of intelligent, dog-like robots who served as companions of Professor Marius, the Fourth Doctor, Leela, Romana, and Sarah Jane Smith.

Most models of K9 addressed whoever was directing them as "Master" or "Mistress" depending upon gender, and used the formal "affirmative" and "negative" rather than "yes" and "no"; and when unable to answer a question would say "insufficient data" instead of "I don't know". They were programmed to be both loyal and logical, with a penchant for taking orders literally, almost to a fault. Their striped collars, which sported a blank dog-tag, mirrored the Fourth Doctor's trademark scarf.

## Biography

### K9 Mark I

Professor Frederick Marius, who invented the first K9 in the year 5000 while working on the asteroid K4067, described him as "my best friend and constant companion." Marius had a dog on Earth, but weight requirements did not allow him to bring his real dog into space, so he built K9.

The Professor offered K9 to the Fourth Doctor as the same weight requirements made him unable to take Mark I back to Earth. (TV: *The Invisible Enemy*) After adventures with Leela and the Doctor, Mark I decided to stay on Gallifrey with his "mistress". (TV: *The Invasion of Time*).

The Fourth Doctor and K9 Mark II spent an indeterminate period of time together. However, the Doctor appeared to be activating K9 Mark II, implying that no significant time had elapsed since leaving Gallifrey. (TV: *The Ribos Operation*)

### K9 Mark II

Before this, the Doctor obtained or constructed at least one backup model of K9. Immediately after leaving Mark I behind with Leela, he unpacked K9 Mark II. This version of K9 accompanied the Doctor and his new companion on their quest to locate the segments of the Key to Time, (TV: *The Ribos Operation*) but the swampy terrain of Delta III made it impossible for him to join them on the planet. At the conclusion of the quest, the Shadow turned K9 to his evil will, giving K9 a sinister personality. (TV: *The Armageddon Factor*)

The Fourth Doctor found that K9 had contracted laryngitis and had lost his voice as a result of this. K9 was left in the TARDIS while the Doctor and Romana II battled the Daleks and Davros. (TV: *Destiny of the Daleks*) During a later adventure, he remained patiently in the TARDIS, which would imply that his voice had not yet returned. (TV: *City of Death*) After his voice returned, it sounded quite different and remained so for a while (TV: *The Creature from the Pit*) before the familiar voice returned. (TV: *The Leisure Hive*)

This K9 exhibited the ability to sense and warn others of danger. He was also more mobile than his predecessor, despite his problems with the swamps of Delta III, able to lift himself up on small support rods so that he could climb stairs (TV: *The Power of Kroll*, *The Armageddon Factor*) The Doctor often used a glib remark to disarm those who were surprised by K9's appearance, such as "They're all the rage in Trenton, New Jersey." (TV: *The Stones of Blood*)

K9 travelled to E-Space with the Fourth Doctor and Romana II, where they met Adric. He had his head knocked off while trying to defend Romana, Adric, Varsh, Tylos and Keera. (TV: *Full Circle*)

Damaged by the time winds, K9 Mark II could not cross back into N-Space with the Doctor as he would no longer function there. He decided to stay behind at the Gateway with Romana II to help her free the remaining Tharils from slavery. (TV: *Warriors' Gate*) Eventually, Romana II and the presumably repaired K9 returned to their own universe and K9 Mark II came to live on Gallifrey. (TV: *Lungbarrow*)

### K9 Mark III

K9 Mark III was shipped in 1978 to Sarah Jane Smith at the home she had shared with her Aunt Lavinia in South Croydon during her companionship of the Third and Fourth Doctors. (TV: *A Girl's Best Friend*) Since parting ways with the Doctor (TV: *The Hand of Fear*) however, Sarah Jane had already gone away and was travelling extensively. The following year, Lavinia purchased a manor house and market garden in Moreton Harwood, Gloucester, and took the still crated K9 with her. On 18 December 1981, Sarah Jane and her foster brother Brendan Richards arrived at Lavinia's home for Christmas, but Lavinia had left early for her lecture series in the United States. Sarah Jane opened the crate and received her new companion.

K9 helped Sarah Jane to defeat Moreton Harwood's murderous Hecate Cult. (TV: *A Girl's Best Friend*) *Circa* 1983, K9 Mark III and Sarah Jane lived in semi-detached house where their gate bore a "beware of dog" sign and Sarah Jane permitted him outside unconcealed. Sensing danger, he advised Sarah Jane to either not go out, or to take him with her. She declined, and K9 thus did not accompany her to Gallifrey. (TV: *The Five Doctors*)

## Personality

K9 had a personality very consistent across the models with some contact with the Doctor. He was polite and formal, with pedantry bordering on condescension. He often displayed feelings such as sorrow. (TV: *The Invasion of Time*)

He did not use contractions such as "you've" for "you have" and addressed others by titles such as "Master", "Mistress", "Doctor-Master" (to refer to the Doctor) or "Young Master" (Adric). Though he did not seem to resent his subordinate status, he sided with the Doctor's companions over the Doctor and showed a dark side, regarding other artificial intelligences with contempt. (TV: *The Invasion of Time*)

He usually did not engage in computer-like literal thinking, though on one occasion he followed Romana's instructions to "forget it" to the letter and erased all knowledge of tennis from his memory banks. (TV: *The Stones of Blood*) In another he took Romana's exclamation "Blast it!" as a command, and fired his blaster. (TV: *Shada*).

With his great intelligence, he had a tendency to bore people with facts and did not stop immediately when asked, as he did to Leela on Pluto. When being told that he would have to stay behind in the TARDIS, K9 often argued, giving the Doctor reasons why he should go such as "he would be a good dog." K9 always wanted to assist the Doctor. He had great intelligence and skill at chess, claiming to be able to beat the Doctor in six moves (although this may only have been because he was programmed with all chess games since 1886). (TV: *The Sun Makers*, *The Androids of Tara*) K9 had an aggression mode. (TV: *State of Decay*)

## Features

K9 Mark I's mechanisms included rotating ear-probes, telescopic "eye-screen", an extendable "blaster-muzzle" concealing a powerful photon beam, flashing lights on the top and the "eye" panel, waggling tail antennae, and ticker-tape tongue. His head could move up and down. His shell was painted in metallic gold/grey. There was a monitor screen on his left flank, though K9 rarely used this during his travels with the Doctor. Around K9's neck was a tartan collar, (being the Family Tartan of the Clan Buchanonn) from which hung a silver disk. (TV: *The Invisible Enemy*, PROSE: *Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy*)

After K9 Mark I was left behind with Leela on Gallifrey, the Doctor had K9 Mark II in a box in storage. (TV: *The Invasion of Time*)

When the Doctor left Sarah Jane Smith on Earth, he created K9 Mark III as Sarah's companion. The new mechanics of K9 Mark III included larger wheels and a front and back-wheel drive. K9 was also given a brand new coat of paint (this time a metallic blue) and a handle on top of his shell to make carrying him easier. (TV: *A Girl's Best Friend*)

## Known K9 Units

**K9 Mark I** was created about the year 5000 by Professor Frederick Marius, who gave the dog to the Fourth Doctor and Leela. He was left behind with Leela on Gallifrey. (TV: *The Invasion of Time*)

**K9 Mark II** was created by the Fourth Doctor as a "backup". He was left behind with Romana II in E-Space. (TV: *Warriors' Gate*)

**K9 Mark III** was a gift from the Doctor to Sarah Jane Smith (TV: *A Girl's Best Friend*).

## Behind the Scenes

* K9 is a real-world homophone of canine, used to refer to working dogs in the police and military.
* In an interview, the writers said they originally wanted to name K9 "Pluto", after the Disney character; however, Disney refused permission. Another name used in an early draft of *The Invisible Enemy* was FIDO, for "Phenomenal Indication Data Observation". (INFO: *The Invisible Enemy*)
* Although John Leeson has been the primary voice actor for K9 since his introduction, two other actors have voiced the character. David Brierley voiced K9 during Season 17 after Leeson chose not to return to the series (Leeson subsequently signed up again for Season 18), and Roy Skelton, better known for his work voicing Daleks, voiced the character in *Destiny of the Daleks* when all was required of K9 was a croaking sound due to the character contracting a form of robot laryngitis.
* 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 was referenced on the American tv show *Community*, as the character Abed describes himself as a dispassionate observer in the style of various other TV/movie characters.
* K9's bodywork is made of lanthanum. This fact was stated when he appeared on a *Doctor Who* edition of *Pointless Celebrities*.