K-9 (TV series)

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K-9
Logo from the title sequence
Format	Science Fiction Comedy
Created by	Bob Baker Paul Tams[1]
Country of origin	Australia  United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer(s)	Grant Bradley Jim Howell
Producer(s)	Richard Stewart Penny Wall Simon Barnes
Running time	30 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	Network Ten
Original airing	Early 2010[2]
Chronology
Related shows	Doctor Who K-9 and Company The Sarah Jane Adventures

K-9 is a forthcoming British/Australian 26-part comedy/adventure series focusing on the adventures of the robot dog K-9, achieved by mixing computer animation and live action.^[3] It is due for broadcast in early 2010 on Network Ten.^[2]

[edit] Production and development

Each episode of K-9 will be 30 minutes long, made by Jetix Europe and London-based distribution outfit Park Entertainment. The project is being overseen by K-9's co-creator Bob Baker,^[4][5] assisted by Laurie Booth in the UK.^{[citation needed]} Baker is also writing the series, along with Australian writers Shayne Krause, Shane Armstrong and Jim Noble.^[6][7] The series will be produced by Penny Wall and Richard Stewart of Stewart & Wall Entertainment Pty Ltd, and Simon Barnes.^[6] The executive producers are Grant Bradley of Daybreak Pacific and Jim Howell.^[8]

According to a report in Broadcast magazine, the BBC opted out of involvement in order to focus on their own Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood. BBC-owned characters like the Doctor will not appear in the series, due to rights considerations.^[9] A broadcast date for the series has not been officially announced.^[10][9][11]

In July 2007 it was confirmed that the Australian Film Finance Corporation had approved funding for the series, and that the programme had been pre-sold to Network Ten.^[6] The Pacific Film and Television Commission (PFTC) will also provide additional financing.^[12]

In June 2008, PFTC stated in a news release that production was "due to commence next month" (that is, in July).^[13] In November 2008 a Brisbane company, Limelight International Media Entertainment, stated that pre-production on The K9 Missions had begun in September.^[14]

The title of the project has changed over the years. Newspaper reports and Jetix press releases in 2006 and 2007 referred to the series as K9 Adventures.^[3][4][5][9] However, reports from the Australian Film Finance Corporation and PFTC in 2007 and 2008 referred to the series simply as K9.^[6][12][13] Limelight International Media Entertainment has referred to the project as The K9 Missions.^[14]. Paul Tams has confirmed that the title is simply K-9.^[1]

Production of the series has begun in Brisbane, Australia, shooting on location around the city and on a set built in a warehouse in West End.^{[citation needed]}

A logo for the series was released on February 27, bearing some similarities to the original font seen on the casing of K-9.^[15]

A trailer produced to promote the series at MIPTV was released on 2 April 2009. As it was produced early on in production, the music, titles, and voice of K-9 are not the final ones that will be used in the programme.^[16]

[edit] Concept

Promotional Poster from early development

According to pre-production plans by Park Entertainment, the programme would (prior to re-tooling) be set in outer space, and Jetix was planning a range of interactive toys to accompany the series. A promotional blurb on Park Entertainment's website said that the main setting would be the Platte, "an old Prairie-class spacecraft" once used for asteroid colonization. In addition to K-9, the characters would include Slocum, a thirty something "space gypsy" and Djinn, "an overactive computer module in the shape of an attractive young woman".^[17]

After production started, the Park Entertainment website was updated to say that the series was set in near-future London, with 14-year old characters Starkey and Jorjie, alongside a Professor Gryffen, who is experimenting with a Space-Time Manipulator, and an "artful dodger" 15-year-old Darius who runs errands for Gryffen. K-9 Mark I follows the villainous reptilian warrior Jixen who came through a space-time portal created by the professors experiments and saves the Londoners. While protecting them, K-9 is forced to self-destruct, but is able to give Starkey instructions to rebuild and regenerate himself into a more futuristically designed form. K-9 and the humans then form the front line defence against alien menaces from outer space and other times.^[18] The Brisbane Times reports that the series is set in London in the year 2050 and Professor Gryffen is employed by a clandestine government agency, "The Department".^[2]

The design of K-9 is noticeably different from that seen in Doctor Who because although Bob Baker owns the character rights to K-9, the designs are held by the BBC. An image of K-9 as he will be seen in the series was revealed on the Doctor Who News Page on 10 March 2009.^[19]

[edit] Episodes

K-9 hovering as seen in the MIPTV trailer

26 episodes have been commissioned. A list of episodes found on a website designed for use by the production team revealed the following episodes, which were shot out of intended broadcast order:^[20]

[edit] Casting

Remi Broadway has been cast as Robin Hood in episode 4.^[21] Philippa Coulthard plays Jorjie.^[2]

[edit] Connections to the Doctor Who universe

As this is not a BBC production, direct references to Doctor Who are not possible for rights reasons. However, Paul Tams, the series co-creator, is quoted as saying: "K-9 will, however, be recognisable to fans new and old as the K-9. And to clear up the identity of which mark K-9 this is, to quote Doctor Who itself he is the original you might say!"^[1] A later elaboration from Bob Baker specifies that this is the very same K-9 last seen in the possession of Leela, and will in the pilot undergo a sort of "regeneration" process from which a new, more sophisticated and futuristic K-9 will emerge.^[22]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• K-9 at the Internet Movie Database
• MIPTV trailer