Kamelion: Difference between revisions

When the [[Tenth Doctor]] was trapped in the remnants of the Matrix by [[Es'Cartrss]], he requested that the TARDIS avatar that was assisting him transform into Kamelion to penetrate a force field within the Matrix, as he realised that Es'Cartrss's 'allies' were all his artificial enemies, deducing that robots could pass through the force fields and recalling Kamelion as an example of a non-organic companion. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Forgotten (comic story)|The Forgotten]]'')

* According to the featurette ''[[Kamelion: Metal Man (documentary)|Kamelion: Metal Man]]'', included on the DVD release of ''[[The King's Demons (TV story)|The King's Demons]]'', the robot used for Kamelion was not custom-made for the series, but was a device discovered by producer [[John Nathan-Turner]] when he was searching for a possible successor to [[K9]]. According to the featurette, script editor [[Eric Saward]] and [[Peter Davison]] were extremely sceptical that the robot would work as an ongoing companion due to its frequent malfunctions.

* Kamelion only appeared twice in the series; further appearances were impractical due to the special effects required. A scene involving Kamelion was filmed for part one of ''[[The Awakening (TV story)|The Awakening]]'', but was edited out before transmission due to the episode overrunning. As a result, there are no references to Kamelion in any episodes between ''[[The King's Demons (TV story)|The King's Demons]]'' and ''[[Planet of Fire (TV story)|Planet of Fire]]'', not even in ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'', which occurs immediately after the events of Kamelion's debut. Kamelion's software designer, [[Mike Power]], was killed in a boating accident not long after the robot was accepted to appear on the series, and as he had never made fully documented operating notes, this made operation of the prop considerably difficult. An in-universe explanation for this was provided in ''[[The Crystal Bucephalus (novel)|The Crystal Bucephalus]]'', set immediately after ''Demons'', where Kamelion's automatic 'loyalty' to strong minds causes him to be used against the Doctor, prompting him to decide to remain in the TARDIS so that he cannot be used against his fellow travellers in future. A similar decision was made by him in ''[[The Kamelion Empire (audio story)|The Kamelion Empire]]'', set after three stories in which he proved a liability.

* In their tongue-in-cheek reference book ''Doctor Who: The Completely Useless Encyclopedia'' (1996), Chris Howarth and Steve Lyons write that "An examination of Kamelion's history reveals the possible existence of a curse of ''Poltergeist'' proportions. Both [[Terence Dudley]] and [[Peter Grimwade]], who scripted the robot companion's appearances, have died. So too have Kamelion's human alter-egos, Gerald Flood and [[Dallas Adams]], who played his 'Howard Foster' form for most of ''Planet of Fir''e. To say nothing of Kamelion's software designer, Mike Power, who was killed shortly after the decision was taken to include the robot in the series. [[Eric Pringle]] should thank his lucky stars that a Kamelion sequence was edited out of ''The Awakening'' and Missing Adventure scribe [[Craig Hinton]] should start worrying." Hinton – who penned the Missing Adventure ''The Crystal Bucephalus'', which featured Kamelion prominently – later died of a heart attack, at the age of 42, in 2006.

** Even [[Robert Holmes]], the writer of ''[[The Caves of Androzani (TV story)|The Caves of Androzani]]'', which features an illusory Kamelion, died in 1986.