K9

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K9
Species:	Robot
First appearance:	The Invisible Enemy
Appearances:	see list
Main voice actor:	John Leeson
Other voice actors:	Roy Skelton, David Brierley

You may be looking for the TV series.

K9 models
Doctor Who models
Baker/Martin models

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, the Mistress, Sarah Jane Smith, Tom Baker, Luke Smith, Starkey, Ace, the Tenth Doctor, and the Thirteenth Doctor.

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. (TV: The Invisible Enemy) He built K9 by using the latest technology. Marius used his own medical computer, a state-of-the-art intraresponsive brain app, protective anti-radiation cladding, probes, a laser scapel, a vision and voice box and two scanning antennas. He put these parts together and created K9. (PROSE: One Man and His Dog) According to one account, the Professor copied the remnants of one of the versions of K9 created by the Doctor and given to Sarah Jane Smith. (PROSE: Tautology)

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)

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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) It is possible that the Doctor spent some time at Nest Cottage before activating him. (AUDIO: The Stuff of Nightmares)

There are accounts that this model of K9 went on missions on behalf of the Time Lords and was given control of a space vessel called K-NEL. (K9 and the Time Trap, et al)

K9 stayed with Leela on Gallifrey for many years. It was only after the disappearance of her Time Lord husband, Andred, that Leela and her K9 met Romana II and her K9. The two K9s did not get on well and competed. (AUDIO: Weapon of Choice) After Leela became Romana's bodyguard and after many important missions on her behalf, Leela's K9 was destroyed by an exploding bomb. Leela was heartbroken, but refused to have a duplicate unit built. (AUDIO: Imperiatrix)

However, K9 survived this and the Last Great Time War. He witnessed the murder of Zanthus Pia by Ahab. His Jixen henchmen fought him and were transported to 2050 Earth. K9 self-destructed to protect the humans nearby, then regenerated into a more advanced model. (TV: Regeneration, The Bounty Hunter)

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 (PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang, 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)

While caught up in a Time war between the past and the future on the planet Aoris, K9 was forced to spend a thousand years hwould aid the Doctor and Romana in bringing the war to an end, hiding behind a fake computer with a version of the TARDIS until he could return to the Doctor and Romana once the war ended (AUDIO: The Paradox Planet, Legacy of Death).

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)

K9's head about to be knocked off.

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. (PROSE: Lungbarrow, WC: Shada, AUDIO: Zagreus)

During Romana's Presidency of Gallifrey, Leela became her bodyguard, and the two K9 units were forced to work together, not always amicably. After Matthias had replaced Romana as President, he nominated her to undertake a mission to find a cure for the Free Time virus, to be followed by exile. K9 opted to remain in the employ of Matthias, fighting the infection on Gallifrey. However, Braxiatel and K9 had planned another operation. Realising that the only cure to the virus was to end the regeneration capabilities of the Time Lords, Braxiatel used a Time Scoop to collect the Time Lord bio-data archive (along with K9). Romana was asked to decide whether to administer the cure or let Gallifrey die and rebuild it from scratch with the bio-data archive. (AUDIO: Gallifrey)

K9 Mark III

K9 protecting the Tenth Doctor and the others. (TV: School Reunion)

A third model, K9 Mark III was evidently constructed by the Fourth Doctor; indeed, the Eighth Doctor did not dispute the presumption that he had built this K9. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two) Mark III travelled with the Fourth Doctor and Adric for a time. (PROSE: Inter-Galactic Cat) Eventually, however, he 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. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend)

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) K9 accompanied Sarah to an archaeological dig in Egypt. (COMIC: City of Devils) In the early 1990s, K9 assisted Sarah in investigating a supposedly haunted house. (PROSE: Housewarming)

In 1996, Sarah used K9 to hack into records and find Sam Jones' home address and later to translate Lost Boy's speech. (PROSE: Interference - Book One) K9 was briefly possessed by a malevolent entity, but was freed when Sarah accidentally electrocuted him. (PROSE: The Sow in Rut) K9 began slowly breaking down and eventually ended up deactivated in a cardboard box in Sarah's attic. (PROSE: Moving On) Hilda Winters had K9 dismantled and analysed. (AUDIO: Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre)

In early 2007, K9 was reactivated by the Tenth Doctor; Sarah Jane was unable to go to any humans for repairs prior as the parts inside K9 could change history. K9's repairs were short lived. In battling Lucas Finch and his Krillitane invasion at the school the next day, Mark III blew up a vat of Krillitane oil, which was now lethal to the Krillitanes, destroying himself and the Krillitanes in the process. (TV: School Reunion)

Seventh Doctor's K9

One K9 was pulled through time along with many other companions of the Doctor by the First Rani's scheme in 1993. Even after normalcy was restored and the Seventh Doctor and Ace returned to themselves, this K9 was left behind, (TV: Dimensions in Time) being pulled with them to another location in space (PROSE: Storm in a Tikka) and subsequently participating in a TV quiz show with them. (TV: Search Out Space)

K9 Mark IV

Having left K9 Mark III to Sarah Jane (TV: A Girl's Best Friend) following their travels with Adric in his fourth incarnation, (PROSE: Just a Small Problem) the Doctor eventually built K9 Mark IV. The Eighth Doctor mentioned Mark IV when he met Sarah Jane in 1996. He indicated that the effort in constructing Mark III was "nothing" in comparison to Mark IV. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two)

Following the destruction of Mark III in 2007, the Tenth Doctor left a K9 designated Mark IV behind for Sarah Jane. As a heartbroken Sarah Jane watched the Doctor depart, the TARDIS dematerialised to reveal Mark IV; this K9 claimed to be the same unit as K9 Mark III, saying that the Doctor "rebuilt" him with "new omniflexible hyperlink capabilities". (TV: School Reunion)

Almost as soon as he arrived, K9 Mark IV left Sarah Jane to stabilise a dangerous black hole in space which had been created in Switzerland. He could only speak with Sarah Jane occasionally via a cabinet with a space-time link when the orbit of the black hole intersected with Earth's and did not know when he would complete the job. (TV: Invasion of the Bane) However, he returned to Earth very briefly during emergencies. He did so on two later occasions in order to render vital assistance. The first time, he fought Mr Smith in pitched battle to give Sarah Jane time to upload the Armageddon Virus. (TV: The Lost Boy) The second time, he quickly uploaded TARDIS base codes to Mr Smith, assisting the Tenth Doctor in returning Earth to its correct location in space. (TV: Journey's End)

After these events, he returned to monitoring the black hole. He emerged to find a member of the Slitheen family attempting to steal him as part of a revenge plot against Sarah Jane, as she had foiled their plans in the past. K9 banished the Slitheen after reversing one of its attacks. (TV: From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love)

K9 returned when Ship used the black hole as fuel. Though Sarah Jane, Luke, Rani and Clyde were happy to have K9 back, Mr Smith was not. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic) K9 spent a lot of his time in Sarah Jane's attic at 13 Bannerman Road, Ealing, but left to defeat Travast Polong. He attended Sarah Jane's abortive wedding to Peter Dalton, where he helped the Tenth Doctor, Luke, Rani and Clyde defeat the Trickster. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith) After helping defeat the Slitheen family, Clyde brought K9 to Park Vale Comprehensive School to help him with his test. He helped defeat the Rakweed before returning home. (TV: The Gift) K9 went to the University of Oxford with Luke, but restored Mr White's original programming through a mobile phone. (TV: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith)

Unlike 25 years earlier where she appeared unconcerned with K9 Mark III being seen, Sarah Jane restricted K9 Mark IV to her Ealing house except in emergencies or when she required his services, lest she have to explain him. Her son Luke covered by explaining to a puzzled Peter Dalton that K9 was a Japanese robot toy with pre-programmed phrases. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith) Nevertheless, she sent K9 to serve Luke when he went away to the University of Oxford. (TV: The Nightmare Man)

Whereas Sarah Jane lifted K9 Mark III into and out of her car, (TV: A Girl's Best Friend) K9 Mark IV had a "hover mode" allowing him to negotiate the stairs of the Smiths' three-story house and bi-level attic, and to enter and exit cars. (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, The Gift) The Eleventh Doctor implied that Mark IV was not the first to have the ability to hover. (TV: The Power of Three)

Living art simulation

During an encounter with the sentient painting, the Mona Lisa at the International Gallery, a simulation of K9 Mk IV was created when Mona Lisa was tricked into animating a drawing of K9 made by Clyde inside a cloud of mystic drawing-animation energy. He subsequently defeated The Abomination, another evil painting-come-to-life, before disappearing as the Mona Lisa herself reverted to being an immobile painting. (TV: Mona Lisa's Revenge)

Tenth Doctor's Model

The version of K9 that travelled with the Doctor. (COMIC: A Rose by Any Other Name)

During his travels with Rose Tyler, the Doctor built a model which mainly stayed in the TARDIS as a pet. (COMIC: Untitled) This model was in the ship long after both Rose and Martha left, and was heavily present during the Doctor's downtime with Rose-the-Cat. Rose enjoyed making fun of K9. (COMIC: A Rose by Any Other Name)

K9 Mark V

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Information from The Wonderful Doctor of Oz needs to be added.

The Thirteenth Doctor, Team TARDIS, and Dorothy were joined by K9 Mark V during the journey in the Land of Fiction. The Doctor said this unit had been unfinished "for sometime" while he was kept in the TARDIS. (PROSE: The Wonderful Doctor of Oz)

K9 Mark 2

After Mark I sacrificed himself to destroy the Jixen warriors, Starkey retrieved his regeneration unit, which quickly activated. In a blast of white light, K9 was thus reborn as a much more advanced model, though this K9 Mark 2 could not access the memories of his previous self, which had been "scrambled". He stayed at the house of Alistair Gryffen, who ran tests on K9, but did not tell the Department. K9 tried to kill Starkey, as he was sprayed with Jixen genetic matter and so registered as a Jixen. Starkey convinced him that he was not an enemy and K9 gave him his dog whistle to summon him when needed. (TV: Regeneration) K9 and the team tracked down the surviving Jixen to Dauntless Prison and killed it. They also faced a Meron and freed the alien prisoners. (TV: Liberation) K9 travelled with Starkey when he was on the run from the Department and rescued Gryffen (who was kidnapped by a Korven). Gryffen later welcomed him and Starkey into his home. (TV: The Korven)

The refitted K9. (TV: The Eclipse of the Korven)

Later he defeated Ahab, who tried to convince him he had murdered Zanthus Pia. He became part of the K9 Unit, being made the responsibility of Gryffen and under the control of Department inspector June Turner. (TV: The Bounty Hunter) He foiled Inspector Drake's plan to control the population using Cerulium (TV: Sirens of Ceres) and experienced fear. (TV: Fear Itself) He aided in the defeat of echoes of Gryffen's family, (TV: The Fall of the House of Gryffen) Orthrus, a duplicate of him created by Drake to frame him (TV: Jaws of Orthrus) and the Bodach. (TV: Dream-Eaters) He met Nehetka and Geb of the Anubians, a race his previous incarnation liberated. He was so obsessed with regaining his lost memories that he didn't notice Gryffen, Starkey and Jorjie's takeover by the Anubians. He soon found out when the Anubians attacked the Department. With Darius' help, he defeated them. (TV: Curse of Anubis)

He helped Starkey fight the Oroborus, (TV: Oroborus) free the Medes (TV: Alien Avatar) and help one of the last Aeolians find her mate. (TV: Aeolian) He saved a Centuripede and her young from being killed by Drake (TV: The Last Oak Tree) and absorbed the Hunger swarm which threatened to devour Earth. (TV: Black Hunger) He and Starkey went through the STM to 1963, where they rescued Jorjie and saved Darius' great-grandfather William Pike from arrest and Darius from erasure from history. (TV: The Cambridge Spy) He enlisted the help of the Ukkan librarian Yssaringintinka to rescue Starkey, trapped on the planet Urlic. (TV: Lost Library of Ukko) He helped Birdie, a CCPC whith implanted human DNA, escape from the Department. (TV: Mutant Copper) He discovered the last of the Etydions (TV: The Custodians) and taught Taphony how to be a friend. (TV: Taphony and the Time Loop)

Either Inspector Thorne or Lomax found out about K9's regeneration unit and decided to acquire it. Thorne joined forces with Freddie Maxwell, owner of Crashclub involving old robots being made to fight. K9 went undercover as a gladiator and made friends with the robot clowns Chuckles and Boris. He was called to fight the Pain-Maker, who was laced with the explosive solarmite. When he was set to self-destruct, K9 detected this and fled the explosion. (TV: Robot Gladiators) To regain his memory and find out his connection to the STM, K9's archive was scrambled. Directives from the STM almost caused him to self-destruct and lose all his memory. However, with Gryffen and Starkey's help he overrode the directives. (TV: Mind Snap) He helped Gryffen find the STM's temporal stabiliser from the fallen angel crash site in Canada, where it was revealed to be Korven technology. (TV: Angel of the North) He stopped haywire CCPCs when The Last Precinct's plan backfired. (TV: The Last Precinct)

After this he was tricked by Thorne to give him his regeneration unit for a lost memory chip. This turned him into a bomb to make him self-destruct on encountering Jixey. Starkey helped him disarm himself. (TV: Hound of the Korven) K9 Mark 2's brief life was almost cut tragically short when after the fall of the Korven invasion force, Thorne sent the Trojan to kill K9, who defeated it by burning out his power core and exhausting all his energy. As his regeneration unit was in the Trojan, K9 seemingly died at the mansion after his companions bade him farewell. However his regeneration unit homed in at the last minute and resurrected him, giving the frisky pup a new lease on life. The regeneration unit restored his old dog collar so he could celebrate the joyful occasion to the full as he flew off to more adventures, bristling with life. (TV: The Eclipse of the Korven)

Someday K9 saved the people at the Aurora from being killed by a Federation war cruiser. (PROSE: Peaceniks) When K9 wanted to help a space ship navigating back to New Earth he met Interstitials. These creatures were living in a state relating to the space or time between things. K9 helped them pass into another existence where it was better for them. (PROSE: Interstitials)

When being imprisoned by the Sporraxx they tried to access K9's memory core. Memories that K9 had assumed to be erased were slowly coming back and the Sporraxx got to know more and more about K9's past. They reprogrammed K9 to protect a small spherical marauder bomb, that would destroy Earth. However K9 was able to break free of their control, because deep in his memories a sense of right and wrong prevailed. He took the bomb back into the Sporraxx space ship where it exploded. (COMIC: Short Circuit)

10800 years after the Punch and Judy shows were created and performed by ltinerant children entertainers, K9 was hired by Professor Peabody to protect her son Lukran Peabody. Lukran got kidnapped by the Pyxians but was saved by K9 who returned Lurkan to his mother and stopped the Pyxians. (PROSE: Stranger On The Train)

Hypothetical models

Whilst on Trenzalore, the elderly Eleventh Doctor considered amends to future versions of K9, which he sketched in his modifications to How to be a Time Lord. One was a version of K9 with eight legs, which the Doctor acknowledged some would see as "overkill", but he maintained that the "old boy" be given some legs, pointing out the potential in fetching a stick. Another "unusual" K9 would be fitted with a microwave with one ear giving out ketchup and the other giving out mustard, making him a "moving snack machine". (PROSE: How to be a Time Lord ^[+]Loading...["How to be a Time Lord (novel)"])

Undated models

• One K9 unit attended the dream of newborn Paul Magrs, (PROSE: In the Sixties) travelled with the Master of Baker's End, (PROSE: Mrs Frimbly's Festive Diary) and befriended Jack. (PROSE: Kept Safe and Sound)
• According to Braxiatel, "a good friend" would give him a K9 model at some point. (AUDIO: Weapon of Choice)
• A K9 was taken to the Black Archive by UNIT to have his record as a companion of the Doctor taken. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
• A headless K9 model was in the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS in a room containing artefacts from his fourth incarnation's travels. (COMIC: The One)
• The Twelfth Doctor stated that he took his K9s to Garage 10 for annual service. (COMIC: The Ministry of Time)
• One of the presents left for Bonjaxx at his birthday party resembled a version of K9 wrapped in gift paper. (COMIC: Party Animals)
• An unspecified incarnation of the Doctor that used a wheelchair was once featured in a photograph with a K9 unit. (PROSE: Rose ^[+]Loading...["Rose (novelisation)"])
• One or more K9 models had become displaced in time, (GAME: When's the Doctor? ^[+]Loading...["When's the Doctor?"]) ending up in the London of a parallel Earth, (GRAPHIC: Parallel Earth ^[+]Loading...["Parallel Earth (illustration)"]) Antarctica during Ernest Shackleton's expedition in 1915, (GRAPHIC: Shackleton's Expedition ^[+]Loading...["Shackleton's Expedition (illustration)"]) the first Olympics in Ancient Greece, (GRAPHIC: Ancient Greek Olympics ^[+]Loading...["Ancient Greek Olympics (illustration)"]) at the "TARDIS graveyard" on House, (GRAPHIC: TARDIS Graveyard ^[+]Loading...["TARDIS Graveyard (illustration)"]) and on Metebelis III. (GRAPHIC: Metebelis III ^[+]Loading...["Metebelis III (illustration)"])

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. Though he often displayed feelings such as sorrow (TV: The Invasion of Time) and self-regard, (TV: School Reunion) he often stated that he had not been programmed to have emotions. (TV: Invasion of the Bane)

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, Starkey and in one instance, Clyde). 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, TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, TV: Robot Gladiators) He relished a brief chance to act as a figure of power. (PROSE: The Well-Mannered War)

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, WC: Shada, AUDIO: Shada, PROSE: Shada). Despite this, he occasionally showed a sense of humour, jokingly answering the question "What do you eat?" with "Ball bearings". (AUDIO: The Beast of Kravenos)

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)

K9 Mark 2 had some obvious commonalities with the Mark I that had preceded him. However, as he had almost completely lost his personal memories, he was forced to reacquaint himself with the world around him. Toward this end, he downloaded thousands of human movies onto his memdrive, which peppered his speech with 20th and 21st century English colloquialisms that his "brothers" did not typically employ. (TV: Alien Avatar) Despite his negative opinions of emotions, (TV: Mutant Copper) he asked questions about some, such as fear (TV: Fear Itself) and love. (TV: Aeolian) He even showed some, laughing when he saved the day, feeling fear (TV: Fear Itself) and being angry. (TV: Regeneration)

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) He was later modified to fly through the vacuum of space. (TV: Curse of Anubis)

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)

When the Tenth Doctor created K9 Mark IV to replace K9 Mark III, he added a shiny metallic blue paint job and other improvements, including an omniflexible hyperlink facility. (TV: School Reunion) Later, though, K9 reverted to his old dark green colour. (TV: Invasion of the Bane) In battling Mr Smith (and following the battle) K9 displayed a teleport facility and a laser weapon similar to the previous K9s'. (TV: The Lost Boy)

After K9 Mark I regenerated into K9 Mark 2, his design was radically altered. His ear probes were replaced with larger silver aerials. A set of blue lights on his head flashed when he spoke. Most of his body was dark silver and a silver dog bone was located under his neck. He seemed to have the same capabilities as Mark I but was presumably more advanced. (TV: Regeneration)

After K9 Mark 2's apparent rejuvenation, he looked similar to his predecessor, but with a bright blue coat of paint and K9 Mark I's old collar. (TV: The Eclipse of the Korven)

Known K9 units

The deactivated K9 with the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, Mickey Smith, and Rose Tyler. (TV: School Reunion)

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) Some time later, he was blown up by a bomb on Gallifrey, (AUDIO: Imperiatrix) but survived. This model came to an end when Alistair Gryffen's Space-Time Manipulator randomly pulled him to London in the year 2050. There, he almost immediately self-destructed to protect Gryffen and a group of teenagers from Jixen warriors. (TV: Regeneration)

K9 Mark II was created by the Fourth Doctor as a "backup" when it became obvious that the Mark I was becoming erratic. (AUDIO: The Time Vampire) He was left behind with Romana II in E-Space, (TV: Warriors' Gate) and apparently made it back to Gallifrey when she became Lady President of the High Council. (WC: Shada, AUDIO: Gallifrey)

K9 Mark III was a gift from the Doctor to Sarah Jane Smith. (TV: A Girl's Best Friend) This K9 was broken for many years, until he was repaired by the Tenth Doctor. This K9 also had a "maximum defence mode", as well as offensive capabilities, such as a nose-mounted laser gun. He sacrificed himself to save Deffry Vale High School from Krillitanes. (TV: School Reunion)

K9 Mark IV was a recreation and enhancement of the Mark III created by the Tenth Doctor as a second present for Sarah Jane. (TV: School Reunion) This model continued in service to his mistress, Luke Smith, Clyde Langer, and Rani Chandra and was known by Maria Jackson and Kelsey Hooper. He was left fixing a black hole in Sweden for many years, but after returning to Earth, was used sparingly, until he went to university with Luke Smith. (TV: The Nightmare Man)

K9 Mark 2 was the result of the activation of the Mark I's onboard regeneration unit. He had only very limited memories of his past as the Mark I. He had many adventures with Alistair Gryffen, Jorjie Turner, Darius Pike and his new master Starkey. (TV: Regeneration, The Bounty Hunter) Orthrus was an attempt by Drake and the Department to replicate K9, but it was of vastly inferior design. (TV: Jaws of Orthrus)

A K9 unit travelled in Ecto-Space with the Mistress. (AUDIO: The Choice, The Search)

One K9 unit's origins were unclear, but the unit eventually was broken down for scrap. (PROSE: Kept Safe and Sound)

Behind the scenes

K9 shares food with a real dog -- a promotional image from the show's run.

• 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 also a contestant on the Doctor Who special of The Weakest Link. While the other contestants were Doctor Who actors appearing as themselves, K9 remained in-character and was the first contestant to be voted off.
• 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.
• A K9 is part of the Doctor's party in the board game Battle for the Universe.
• K9 appears in the board game The Universe Marathon.
• K9 also appears in the 1990 special Search Out Space. It is not clear in the special which model of K9 this is supposed to be, although the short story Storm in a Tikka later suggested that he was a new model.
• K9's bodywork is made of lanthanum. This fact was stated when he appeared on a Doctor Who edition of Pointless Celebrities.
• Pitching the revival of Doctor Who, Russell T Davies initially suggested that K9 may be reintroduced to serve as an additional companion to the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler. Ultimately, however, this plan fell through and the K9 Mark III, as ever attached to Sarah Jane Smith, would be revisited instead. (DWMSE 11)
• There are several stories that feature multiple incarnations of K9.
• K9 is one of three classic series companions to appear in the 50th anniversary trailer.
• Exclusive to the US market, Dapol released a dusty gold Christmas variant of K9 (W004-XMAS) with "Christmas 2000" stenciled on the side.

External links

• "Affirmative, Master: All You Ever Wanted to Know about K9" by Jon Preddle
• K9 MK 2 at the Doctor Who Legacy wiki
• K9 at the LEGO Dimensions wiki