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K9 (TV series)

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This article is about the TV series. For the Doctor Who character, see K-9 (Doctor Who). For other uses, see K9 (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with the single episode of K-9 and Company, broadcast in 1981
K9
K-9 title card
Created byBob Baker
Paul Tams[2]
Developed byShayne Armstrong
SP Krause
StarringJohn Leeson
Philippa Coulthard
Keegan Joyce
Daniel Webber
Robert Moloney
Theme music composerMichael Lira
Country of origin Australia
 United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersGrant Bradley
Jim Howell
ProducersPenny Wall
Richard Stewart
Simon Barnes
Running time30 min.
Production companiesDisney Europe
Park Entertainment
Stewart & Wall Entertainment
Screen Australia
Original release
NetworkNetwork Ten (Australia)
Disney XD (UK & Ireland)
Channel 5
Release31 October 2009[1] –
3 April 2010
Related
Doctor Who
K-9 and Company
The Sarah Jane Adventures

K-9 is a British/Australian comedy/adventure series focusing on the adventures of the robot dog K-9 from the television show Doctor Who, achieved by mixing computer animation and live action.[3] The first episode aired as a sneak preview of the series on Halloween 2009 on satellite channel Disney XD in the UK & Ireland. As of October 2010, the full series has commenced airing on Network Ten in Australia, Disney XD in the UK & Ireland; Scandinavia, Poland, Italy and The Netherlands and Disney Channel CEE in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldava, Slovakia, Hungary and The Czech Republic. A second series is in development and the first season is due to be syndicated around the globe, with two confirmed networks, Channel 5 in the UK and Cartoon Network in New Zealand, other networks have yet to be announced.[4] In the UK, Channel 5 broadcast the first season between December 2010 and April 2011.

Development

K-9's co-creator, Bob Baker, had long sought to produce a television series starring the character. Indeed, in 1997 Doctor Who Magazine announced that Baker and producer Paul Tams were producing a four-part pilot series provisionally called The Adventures of K9. The magazine stated that the pilot would be filmed that year "on a 'seven-figure' budget", and that the BBC had expressed interest in purchasing the broadcast rights.[5] However, funding proved elusive,[6] and despite persistent rumours, the series remained in "development hell" for many years.

Promotional poster from early in the series development, back when it was titled K9 Adventures

In 2006, Jetix Europe announced that they were "teaming up" with Baker, Tams, and London-based distributor Park Entertainment to develop a 26-part series, then titled K9 Adventures and set in space.[3] This announcement, timed to coincide with K-9's return to Doctor Who in the episode "School Reunion", was picked up in the British media and Doctor Who fan press.[7][8] In 2007, Park Entertainment revealed that the main setting for the series (by then retitled K9) 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".[9] This early premise was abandoned before production began in Australia.

Production

Each episode of K-9 is 30 minutes long, made for Disney XD (formerly Jetix) and Network Ten by Stewart & Wall Entertainment, in association with London-based distribution company Park Entertainment.[10] The project is being overseen by Baker;[7][8] the television series concept was developed by Australian writers Shane Krause and Shayne Armstrong, in association with Baker and Paul Tams.[11] Baker, Krause and Armstrong are the primary writers for the series; four episodes were written by Queensland writer Jim Noble.[11][12][13] The series is produced by Penny Wall and Richard Stewart of Stewart & Wall Entertainment Pty Ltd, and Simon Barnes of Park Entertainment.[12] Grant Bradley of Daybreak Pacific and Jim Howell serve as executive producers.[10] Michael Carrington, head of animation and programme acquisitions for BBC Children's, told Broadcast that the BBC had declined the opportunity to be involved in the production of a K-9 series, saying, "As the BBC is already committed to a number of spin-off projects, we concluded that a K9 series may simply be an extension too far."[14] BBC-owned characters like the Doctor will not appear in the series, due to rights considerations.[15]

In July 2007, the Australian Film Finance Corporation approved funding for the series, and that the programme had been pre-sold to Network Ten.[12] The Pacific Film and Television Commission (PFTC) (subsequently renamed Screen Queensland) also provided additional financing.[11] The first series was shot between 3 December 2008 and 8 May 2009.[16][17][18] The series is produced in Brisbane, Australia, shooting on location around the city and on a set built in a South Brisbane warehouse.[11][19] A logo for the series was released on 27 February bearing some similarities to the original font seen on the casing of K-9.[20] A trailer produced to promote the series at MIPTV was released on 2 April 2009. As it was made early in production, the music, titles, and voice of K-9 were not the final ones used in the programme.[21] A second trailer was released on 1 October 2009.[22]

Concept

K-9 is 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 15-year-old Darius who runs errands for Gryffen. K-9 Mark I follows the villainous reptilian warrior Jixen who come through a space-time portal created by the professor's 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 advanced form. K-9 and the humans then form the front line defence against alien menaces from outer space and other times.[23] 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".[19] 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 original character design is owned by the BBC.

Connections to Doctor Who

As this is not a BBC production, direct references to Doctor Who are not possible for rights reasons. However, Baker and Tams have confirmed that this K-9 is the original K-9 Mark I, who appeared in Doctor Who from The Invisible Enemy (1977) to The Invasion of Time (1978).[16] This model was last seen in the possession of Leela on Gallifrey; in the first episode, the robot dog is damaged and undergoes a "regeneration" into a new, more advanced form capable of flight. He then explains that most of his memory was damaged, as he cannot remember the Doctor.[16] In "The Curse of Anubis", when Starkey and Jorjie steal the Anubians book and in the book is a list of drawing of creatures the Anubians have enslaved which include a Sea Devil (as seen in The Sea Devils and Warriors of the Deep), a Mandrel (as seen in Nightmare of Eden) and an Alpha Centauran (as seen in The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon). While K-9 and the Professor perform diagnostic tests on K-9's damaged memory drive in episode 1, "Regeneration", K-9 plays a three-note cue from the Doctor Who theme, but cannot identify the music. Much like the TARDIS exterior appearance as a 1963 police box, the Professor's laboratory & home is in a disused police station, still bearing its police lamp next to the front door. In the episode, "The Cambridge Spy", Starkey and K-9 follow Jorjie into the past to when the lab was still a police station - specifically to the evening of 23 November 1963,[24] the evening when Doctor Who premiered with "An Unearthly Child". The same evening had been visited by the Seventh Doctor and Ace in Remembrance of the Daleks. The principal adult character, Professor Gryffen holds comparable academic rank to the Doctor and is likewise nearly always addressed by his honorific, "Professor". In the pilot episode, K-9 Mark I gave his own life by self-destructing in order to kill the hostile aliens and save humans in London, just as K-9 Mark III did in "School Reunion".

The decision to launch the show in the UK on 3 April, the launch date for Doctor Who's The Eleventh Hour, which introduced Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, was interpreted by the Gawker Media blog io9 as a way of taking advantage of the latter show's popularity to boost interest in the new show.[25]

Episodes

Main article: List of K-9 episodes

26 episodes have been commissioned. The first episode, titled " Regeneration", was broadcast on UK satellite channel Disney XD on 31 October 2009, intended as a prelude to the series broadcast in early 2010.

Casting

John Leeson reprises his role as the voice of K-9.[26] Brisbane native Philippa Coulthard plays Jorjie Turner, a rebellious 14-year-old whose mother works for the mysterious "Department".[19] 19-year-old Keegan Joyce plays Starkey, a 14-year-old orphan rebel; and 20-year-old Daniel Webber plays Darius Pike, an assistant to Professor Gryffen, who is played by Canadian character actor Robert Moloney.[16] Recurring cast members include Robyn Moore as Jorjie's mother June Turner, and Connor Van Vuuren as Drake. The guest cast includes Remi Broadway, who has been cast as Robin Hood in episode 14.[27]

Broadcast

Country / Region Network(s) Premiere
United Kingdom United Kingdom Republic of Ireland Ireland Disney XD (UK & Ireland)
Channel 5 [28] 		(Disney Original Run) 31 October 2009 (Episode 1)
(Disney Original Run) 3 April 2010 (Full Series)
(Channel 5 UK premiere) 18 December 2010 (Full Series)
Kalmar Union Scandinavia Disney XD Scandinavia 11 January 2010
Poland Poland Disney XD Poland 6 February 2010
Bulgaria Bulgaria
Romania Romania
Moldova Moldova
Slovakia Slovakia
Czech Republic Czech Republic
Hungary Hungary 		Disney Channel CEE 6 February 2010 (double episode)
Australia Australia Network Ten
Cartoon Network 		3 April 2010
Italy Italy Disney XD May 2010
Netherlands Netherlands Disney XD 2 June 2010

DVD Releases

Series Release name Australian release date (region 4) UK release date (region 2) North American release date (region 1) Notes
1 The Complete First Series 27 September 2010 [29] 11 December 2010 (Exclusive)[30] TBA Contains the Complete Series 1, Episodes 1-26
The Bounty Hunter 27 September 2010 [31] n/a TBA Contains Series 1, Episodes 1-6
Alien Avatar 1 December 2010 [32] n/a TBA Contains Series 1, Episodes 7-12
Series 1 Vol. 1 n/a 31 January 2011 [33][34] TBA Contains Series 1, Episodes 1-12.
Series 1 Vol. 2 n/a 18 April 2011 [35][34] TBA Contains Series 1, Episodes 13-26.

Awards

In 2009, Shayne Armstrong and SP Krause, writers and developers of the series for television, won the John Hinde Award for Science-Fiction at the Australian Writers Guild AWGIES for their script for the episode "The Fall of the House of Gryffen". The episode was also a nominee in the category for Best Childrens Television in that year.[citation needed]

In 2009, Shayne Armstrong and SP Krause were also nominated as finalists in the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards for Best Television Script for the episode "Regeneration".[citation needed]

In 2010, Tony O'Loughlan, Director of Photography for the show won two bronze awards at the Queensland and Northern Territory Cinematographer Awards for his work on the episodes Angel of the North and The Eclipse of the Korven.[36]

References

  1. ^ Marcus (27 October 2009). "K9 to launch this weekend". Doctor Who News Page. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
  2. ^ Bowman, John (31 January 2009). "K9 Production Latest". Doctor Who News Page. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Doctor Who veterans to create new 'K-9 adventures' with Jetix Europe". Jetix Europe. 24 April 2006. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  4. ^ "K-9 Series II - "WHO's a good dog?"". Stewart & Wall Entertainment. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
  5. ^ "He's back! K9 takes the lead in four-part pilot series". Doctor Who Magazine (253): 4. 2 July 1997.
  6. ^ "K9 prepares to slip leash!". Doctor Who Magazine (258): 4. 19 November 1997.
  7. ^ a b Milmo, Cahal (24 April 2006). "Doctor Who's K-9 sidekick is dragged into 21st century in computer-designed cartoon". The Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  8. ^ a b Sherwin, Adam (24 April 2006). "K9 is back and ready to fight in shining armour". The Times. London. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  9. ^ "Television series". Park Entertainment. 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  10. ^ a b Film Finance Corporation Australia. "2007/2008 - Children's Television Drama". Screen Australia. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  11. ^ a b c d "Robot Dog Brings Jobs for Queenslanders". Screen Queensland. April 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009. [dead link]
  12. ^ a b c "FFC Funding Approvals (July 2007)" (Press release). Film Finance Corparation Australia. July 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  13. ^ Noble, Jim. "Diary of a Screenwriter". Screen Queensland. Retrieved 16 December 2009. [dead link]
  14. ^ Lyon, Shaun (24 April 2006). "K-9 Back for Animated Spinoff - Updated". Doctor Who News Page. Retrieved 18 December 2009. [dead link]
  15. ^ Johnson, Richard (11 March 2007). "Master of the universe". The Sunday Telegraph. p. 3. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  16. ^ a b c d Blum, Jonathan (24 June 2009). "K-9". Doctor Who Magazine. pp. 8–9.
  17. ^ "Oscar Writer in QLD For New Action Series". Pacific Film and Television Commission. June 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2009. [dead link]
  18. ^ "In Development". Limelight International Media Entertainment. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  19. ^ a b c Casey, Scott (9 June 2009). "The future of London is ... Brisbane". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
  20. ^ Bowman, John (27 February 2009). "K9 Logo Revealed". Doctor Who News Page. Retrieved 16 December 2009. [dead link]
  21. ^ Rowe, Josiah (2 April 2009). "First K9 series trailer". Doctor Who News Page. Retrieved 16 December 2009. [dead link]
  22. ^ "K-9 The Series (2009)". Park Entertainment. 1 October 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  23. ^ Rowe, Josiah (12 March 2009). "K-9 news". Doctor Who News Page. Retrieved 16 December 2009. [dead link]
  24. ^ Newspaper front page shows the date as 23 November 1963 and reports the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas.
  25. ^ Alasdair Wilkins (26 March 2010). "K-9 Series Premiere Goes Up Against Doctor Who's Return". io9. Gawker Media. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  26. ^ "Look who's back once again as the voice of K9!". Doctor Who Magazine (411): 7. 19 August 2009.
  27. ^ "Film & TV Experience". RemiBroadway.com. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  28. ^ "The Doctor Who New Page: K9 comes to five". Gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.com. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  29. ^ "K-9 (2009) - The Complete 1st Series (4 Disc Set)". Ezydvd.com.au. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  30. ^ "Niet compatibele browser". Facebook. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  31. ^ "K-9 (2009) - The Bounty Hunter". Ezydvd.com.au. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  32. ^ "K-9 (2009) – Alien Avatar". Ezydvd.com.au. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  33. ^ "K9 Series One Volume One. [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  34. ^ a b "The Doctor Who News Page: K9 comes to DVD and Five in the UK". Gallifreynewsbase.blogspot.com. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  35. ^ "K9 Series 1 Vol 2 [DVD] [2009]: Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
  36. ^ Queensland and Northern Territory Awards – Australian Cinematographers Society
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