It will definitely be a ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas this year! Not only will BBC America be airing the Christmas episode ‘Doctor Who: The Snowmen’ on Christmas Day, Syfy has just acquired the series ‘K9’ and will be airing a marathon of the show on the same day!
Whovians familiar with the Nu-Who episodes will recall K9 from the episode ‘School Reunion.’ He then went on to appear with Elisabeth Sladen in the ‘Doctor Who’ spin-off ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ from 2007-2011 and even had a pilot of his own titled ‘K9 and Company’ which was never picked up to series.
This ‘K9’, however, will be a little different than the one seen in recent years. According to Bob Baker (K9’s co-creator), the K9 in the series will be K9 Mark 1 (whereas the one in ‘Sarah Jane Adventures’ was K9 Mark IV), the same one that first appeared in the episode ‘The Invisible Enemy’ in 1977 and was last seen with Leela in Gallfrey. While Baker may have the rights to the character of K9, BBC owns the design rights to the mechanical dog so the K9 seen in the Syfy series may not look like the classic one we’ve come to know and love, but apparently this is explained in the first episode.
The show mixes live action with CG and special effects and pits the robot dog K9 and his teenage friends against a number of human and alien adversaries and lasted for one season. The new dog is voiced by the John Leeson, the same person who voiced the original K9 from the classic ‘Doctor Who’ series.
Unfortunately, since this series is not a BBC production, there won’t be any ‘Doctor Who’ references made. Apparently in this new “regeneration” model, K9 has lost his memory and has no recollection of the Doctor or his time with the Time Lord. Another bummer is that the marathon runs the same time as BBC America’s ‘Doctor Who’ marathon so you may want to make some room on the DVR.
So get ready for a lot of Whovian television viewing on Christmas! After the marathon, come back here and let us know what you thought of the series ‘K9!’
The ‘K9’ marathon begins Christmas Day, Tuesday, December 25th, from 10AM – 11PM on the Syfy channel.
UK Trailer for ‘K9:’
