K-9 (Doctor Who)

K-9, or K9 is the name of several robot dogs in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. There have been at least three separate K-9 units in the series, with the first two being companions of the Fourth Doctor.

Related Topics:
Robot - Dog - British - Science fiction television - Doctor Who - Companions - Fourth Doctor

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Debuting in the 1977 serial The Invisible Enemy, the first K-9 was the creation of Professor Marius, a scientist working for the Bi-Al Foundation which was built on an asteroid near Titan in the year 5000. A mobile computer, K-9 was constructed in the shape of a dog as a substitute for the one Marius had left back on Earth. Highly intelligent, with an extensive database and equipped with sophisticated sensors as well as a laser built into its nose, K-9 was instrumental in helping the Fourth Doctor and Leela defeat a sentient virus. At the end of the story, Marius suggested that K-9 join the Doctor on his travels.

Related Topics:
1977 - The Invisible Enemy - Asteroid - Titan - Laser - Leela - Virus - The Doctor

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All the K-9s referred to whoever owned them as "Master" or "Mistress" depending on their gender, and were programmed to be both loyal and logical, with a penchant for taking orders literally, almost to a fault.

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K-9 Mark I continued to travel with and aid the Doctor and Leela until The Invasion of Time, when the Doctor left it on the planet Gallifrey to accompany Leela, who elected to remain behind on the Time Lord homeworld. However, the Doctor had somehow obtained K-9's schematics, as he built a second K-9 unit.

Related Topics:
The Invasion of Time - Gallifrey - Time Lord

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K-9 Mark II was more mobile than its predecessor, and exhibited the ability to sense and warn of danger. It was with the Doctor and Romana when they were shunted into the parallel universe of E-Space, and was severely damaged by time winds during the events of Warriors' Gate. The damage was such that K-9 could only function in E-Space, and when Romana decided to stay and forge her own path, the Doctor gave K-9 to her.

Related Topics:
Romana - Warriors' Gate

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K-9 Mark III was a gift from the Doctor to Sarah Jane Smith, and appeared with her in the pilot episode of the aborted spin-off series K-9 and Company as well as briefly in the 20th anniversary television movie The Five Doctors. In the original outline to K-9 and Company, it would have been eventually revealed that K-9 Mark III was actually sent by and under the control of the Master, but this element never made it to the screen.

Related Topics:
Sarah Jane Smith - Spin-off - K-9 and Company - The Five Doctors - The Master

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On August 24 2005 the BBC confirmed that K-9 (voiced by Leeson once more, and presumably the Mark III) would be returning in the second series of the new Doctor Who with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, alongside Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/08_august/24/who.shtml Pictures show a more run-down and worn K-9, perhaps echoing Sarah's inability to repair him, as in the spin-off stories (see below).

Related Topics:
August 24 - 2005 - David Tennant - Tenth Doctor - Elisabeth Sladen - Below

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