Dr Strange on the Who Props forum generated this diagram

Since time began it has been… okay no further messing about I have finally found the holy grail of K9 BUILDERS Namely the ear dimensions. Yes after many years of searching I have been able to find the dimensions for the Ear - see attachment.

But just in case it is not showing I will try to redo it later.

How I found the dimensions was like this. On the original docs, the ears are shown along with two dimensions. One of them on closer looking was actually the dimensions for the ear base 1/2“ now using this measurement and a better picture of the ears. I was able to print out the design on paper(used a laser printer) enlarging the image until the base was exactly 1/2” in size, My theory was everything else should be to scale so measured carefully - seems like it worked as the final image looks proportional so jobs a good un.

To be fair i can only show my findings but given no other options to find these elusive measurements i feel confident that these are as good as it gets :P but feel free to change them if you want only please document the changes for the good of all.

Measurements like for the body actually work best if you use eighths of an inch (imperial UK measurement - old school) except for the thickness of ear material which is in 16ths.

Hope this is of use to all builders

the k9 font is VERY, VERY similar to a font called Westminster – Who Props forum

• https://www.youtube.com/user/ady347

This is my attempt to make sense of the details in https://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1818.0 supplemented with information from https://whoprops.proboards.com/, https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/K9 and other sources

This is a selection of pictures showing all the variations of K9 over his first 30 years from Doctor Who through to The Sarah Jane Adventures series 2.

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, Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, and Starkey.

There were four versions of K9, Mk I, II, III, and IV.

K9 addressed whoever they were given to as “Master” or “Mistress” depending upon their gender, and used the formal “affirmative” and “negative” rather than “yes” or “no”. They were programmed to be both loyal and logical, with a penchant for taking orders literally, almost to a fault. Their striped collars mirrored the Fourth Doctor’s trademark scarf.

In the script, K9 was simply described as a “personal Komputa [sic] which is like a tin dog on wheels”, and was envisaged by Bob Baker and Dave Martin to be 'performed' by a smaller actor in a dog-shaped suit. The effects designer assigned to this story, Ian Scoones, did a series of preliminary sketches, the first of which looked somewhat like a fierce armoured Doberman, but due to the heavy workload of miniatures requirements for the serial, he had to hand the final design and building of K9 to his assistant, Tony Harding.

Harding had only two weeks in which to draw up plans for the machine; his main brief was that it should not look as if there were a man inside. This meant that “the Dog” (by which the production crew affectionately referred to K9) had to be remote-controlled.

Harding’s first design sketches were not that different from K9’s eventual look. From this a rough form test model of the basic shell was made, After assessing the different requirements the Dog needed to perform for the story; e.g. tail wagging, head movement, gun and probe etc., it was realised that the motor for these functions would have to be housed in the head. The original moulded head, therefore, had to be made larger to incorporate all the electronics for this. Once the final shell was made, the electronics could be fitted. The mechanics of K9 included rotating ear probes, telescopic ‘eye’ probe, extendible Computers and Doctor Whonose, flashing lights on the top and the 'eye' panel, waggling tail antennae, and ticker-tape tongue. The head could also move up and down. The shell was painted in gold/grey metallic. Around K9’s neck was a tartan collar, from which hung a silver disk. Surprisingly there was nothing engraved on the disk, not even K9’s name!

K9 was operated by effects man Nigel Brackley using a radio-control unit. The chassis housed his battery power source, servos, and motor. One of the two steerable front wheels was connected by the chain drive to the motor. One major problem with K9’s radio control was that it operated on the same wavelength as the studio cameras, causing several delays in the studio when K9, receiving jumbled signals from the cameras, went in the wrong direction and crashed into the set!

K9 was originally driven by a chain drive. Unfortunately, this was rather noisy to the extreme that composer Dudley Simpson was forced to compose loud incidental music for scenes that featured K9. One example is in The Sun Makers, where K9 is ‘sneaking silently’ up to a guard. We, the audience, can hear the loud whine of the motor, and the crashing music while the guard stands completely unaware of the ‘danger’ behind him!

In terms of TV continuity, there have been three separate K9s but in reality, there has been only one, which has been repainted and rebuilt several times over the years. K9 Mark One was written out of the series in The Invasion of Time, staying behind on Gallifrey to look after mistress Leela. There was an ulterior motive for this. The special effects designers wanted to rebuild K9 during the recess between seasons. It would have been a cheat to not explain the difference in K9’s appearance in the opening story of the following season, so a simple scene where the Doctor produces a box containing the components for a new K9 was added to the end of The Invasion of Time.

While the shell remained the same, the interior was changed. This new K9 was given a rubber belt in place of the chain drive. However, valuable studio time was lost because the drive belt tended to snap.

While the cosmetic changes were minimal (including the new metallic charcoal paint-work), in terms of series continuity K9’s character underwent a vast change. Gone was the product of 5000 AD technology, as was the case with Marius’s version. This new K9 was a product of the Doctor’s own technology and values. The gun was now only capable of stunning – not killing – and K9 now responded to a dog whistle. K9 also featured a vast memory bank, seemingly a mixture of the Mark One model, the Doctor’s own memory and knowledge, and that of the TARDIS.

K9 MI's model also built around this time was a lightweight duplicate shell. This manageable prop was a necessity for scenes where K9 was to be carried by actors because the motorised version was far too heavy. Although the Mark Two K9 had a stronger motor, on its first location filming it still had to be either placed on hidden tracks or pulled along with string. So much for an improved drive system!

The second K9 lasted until the end of Season Seventeen. The main operator was Nigel Brackley, who handed the task onto Mat Irvine for Season Eighteen. Before recording for the new season started, Irvine and his assistant Charlie Lumm undertook a complete overhaul on K9 which was why he was written out of the main story to allow time to work on the machine.

The entire inner workings were stripped once again and over two weeks a new drive and power system were installed. The new mechanics of K9 included larger wheels in conjunction with front and back-wheel drive, while the radio control was updated to be more reliable.

A year later, K9 was given a brand new coat of paint (this time a metallic blue) plus a handle on the top of the shell to make carrying him easier, for his appearance in the K9 and Company pilot, A Girl’s Best Friend.

K9’s distinctive voice was first provided by actor John Leeson. For The Invisible Enemy, Leeson's voice was treated with a modulator to give it a more mechanical lilt, but for subsequent stories, he was able to provide the required distortion naturally.

The prop had 3 colours. He was a kind of gold/grey colour from Invisible Enemy to Invasion of Time, a darker grey from The Ribos Operation to Warriors Gate and the blue/grey colour scheme from K9 and Company - A Girl's best friend onwards. – kremmen (whoprops)

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 scalpel, 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).

First up K9 Mk I a light grey-silver colour with a black back control panel as seen in the first story, The Invisible Enemy

• Doctor Who
  • Season 15
    • The Invisible Enemy
    • Image of the Fendahl
    • The Sun Makers
    • Underworld
    • The Invasion of Time
• K9
  • Series 1
    • Regeneration
    • Curse of Anubis
    • Mind Snap

then we move to K9 Mk II, the same prop but now a darker gunmetal grey in colour. The back panel is now the same colour as the body but sits a little lower in the shell.

note: The rear control panel is removable and when the K9 prop is transported it is taken out until arrival so generally it's level of it very much depends on how far it is placed during a filming session ;D

These are from the BBC Christmas Tape:

This is from The Ribos Operation, K9 Mk II's Forst Appearance…

By the time K9 Mk II leaves with Romana his rear controls are raised:

• Extras
  • BBC Christmas Tape

• Doctor Who
  • Season 16
    • The Ribos Operation
    • The Pirate Planet
    • The Stones of Blood
    • The Androids of Tara
    • The Armageddon Factor
  • Season 17
    • Destiny of the Daleks
    • The Creature from the Pit
    • Nightmare of Eden
    • The Horns of Nimon
    • Shada
  • Season 18
    • The Leisure Hive
    • Meglos
    • Full Circle
    • State of Decay
    • Warriors Gate
• Webcast BBCi
  • Shada

The following is a list of appearances by K9 Mark III.

K9 Mark III travelled briefly with the Fourth Doctor and Adric. He was then given to Sarah Jane Smith, with whom he remained.

The next is K9 Mk III as he appeared in his first story, K9 & Company, A Girls Best Friend.

Again the same prop but now painted with a hint of blue, though in this story the neck tubing also appears to be metallic blue…

• Television
  • K9 and Company - A Girl's best friend
• Doctor Who
  • Season 20
    • The Five Doctors
  • Series 2
    • School Reunion

Next, we go to an episode of Search Out Science in which the Doctor, Ace & K9 appear together.

This is still the same prop but he now appears to have a green tint, this may have been a filming error, but also the ears have been replaced with new versions that have ribs across them and the 3 inner loops have been removed

We next jump forward 18 years to 2006 and School…

The K9 MkIII in this story was in fact the original dummy prop refitted with a new head and working parts and painted in rust spotted grey blue a shade lighter than when we last saw K9 MkIII, this version also has the ear loops back in place.

We now move on to K9 MkIV Which again is the original 1977 hero prop, it looks old and a bit battered but it retains the new ears from Search Out Science, The Pint colour is back to K9 & Co Blue, though a little brighter

We finally move on to K9 MkIV in The Sarah Jane Adventures up to series 2.

This is the same prop as the school reunion and still the same original hero prop from the Invisible Enemy over 3 decades ago…

There is also a minor cosmetic change in addition to the ones already noted. For a large part, K9's ID tag appears to consist of a metal disc, but as pictured in Search out Science and the first shot you've posted from The Sarah Jane Adventures, the tag has changed to that of a dog (they actually look like they could be the same tag).

The ears are the same as last seen…

By the time we come to The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 3, the original prop had some decent money spent on it and an overhaul was done of the electrics and drive system,

• Doctor Who
  • Series 2
    • School Reunion
  • Series 4
    • Journey's End
• The Sarah Jane Adventures
  • Series 1
    • Invasion of the Bane - S01E01 ~ 40 mins
    • The Lost Boy pt 2 - S01E10 ~ 25 mins
  • Mini-episode
    • From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love
  • Series 3
    • The Mad Woman in the Attic
    • The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
    • The Gift
  • Series 4
    • The Nightmare Man
    • Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith

This is the School Reunion prop circa 2010 when it was on display at the Lands End exhibition (Notice that someone's put a Trumpet mouthpiece in place of his nose gun!).

Here is the “Hero” prop as was at Small Space 2015

One thing I noticed looking at the “Hero” prop on display at 'Small Space' was that it had screws bolting the “K-9” logo to the side panel. Those screws never appeared on any of the on-screen K-9 props; that logo was always clean and smooth with not a screw in sight. So I'm curious about that one now as to whether or not it was ever used as a Hero prop, and if not, what it was used for (and when it was made). [galacticprobe]

With Regard to the screws within three K.9 logo on the hero prop, you are quite correct they weren't there originally and the steel pieces were bonded to the fibreglass shell, but over the course of time (remember this prop was built to last for a two week filming period and instead has now been around for 39years) the degrading of the fibreglass has caused the panel to slowly warp and curl out of shape and to bubble resulting in the logo dropping off and the fibreglass no longer being stable enough to be bonded onto. So gradually over the years, the logo has gained more and more screws to hold it on, at one point the 'dot' was lost and was replaced by a blob of paint, eventually being replaced when 'School Reunion' came around… he started off with two screws in the 'K' and slowly that number has grown and they also appear on the '9' now… but this is the Original Hero Prop from 1977 and the Original K9… only the Dot has been replaced… [exleo]

[davidnagel] I saw the original pooch last weekend at the small space event, organised by Mat Irvine and took these few snaps. The only notable of interest is the back two buttons that Matt tells me is used to switch the dog on, saves opening the side door to do it instead!

[galacticprobe] Interesting place to put those. I wonder why they didn't hook those on/off switches to one of the buttons on his control panel up top. Then that panel would have actually done something.

[davidnagel] the back flap, which I was told was used/seen flapped open in a story - but this eludes me, can anyone advise?

[galacticprobe] Possibly “School Reunion”? Sarah Jane's K-9 Mk III was broken down at the start, and the 10th Doctor had at least his side panel (with the K*9 logo on it) removed while he worked on him. Maybe that back panel was supposed to be shown open in that episode as well. (Maybe it was, but with everything else going on when the Doctor was working on K-9, we just didn't notice it because it was on the back?)

[davidnagel] I want to say the back access panel/flap was used in Armageddon Factor as I seem to recall such a thing occurring as the miniaturised main cast walked out of him?

[Cardinal Hordriss] That was a special little door on his side.

[fivefingeredstyre] yeah, I seem to remember that for the The Armageddon Factor, they fitted a fake fillit panel on his side recess to enable the door to open…

As for the rear flap, I think this was something Matt Irvine did in later refurbs (long after the prop was used in the series - possibly when Mike Tucker and Matt Irvine completely rebuilt him before Search Out Space?)

And this one is an oddity

It's the prop on display at the Doctor Who Experience (It's been around a few years as well, as it was also on display at the Lands End exhibition 6 years ago).

It's certainly not the original, however, it is definitely based on it *There are no side seams or rivets on the head).

The pictures of the Lands end display in the posts above were another of the dummy exhibition casts and not the actual 'School Reunion' prop, this can be verified by the fact you can see the screws on the side of the head in the exhibition dog, whereas the actual prop used in the show has no visible screws in the side of the head…… [Exleo]

The private owner does not own the actual dummy stunt prop, but most likely one of the original cast copies made for the exhibition back in the 70s/80.s (Most likely the MOMI exhibit as seen in the narration sections of the 'Shada' Release…) Original Exhibit models were in Blackpool, Longleat (the one that caught fire and burnt the place down), MOMI, and another that was used in the travelling exhibition of the USA in the big WHO Truck in the 80s. The Blackpool and Longleat Exhibits were animatronic, whereas the other two were just empty static casts, it is most likely one of these that is in the hands of the private owner… the second one went into an auction at Bonhams at the same time as the original David Tennant Police Box

As we all know the Original Hero Prop has always been looked after by Matt Irvine, though it is still 'officially' owned by the BBC… The original dummy/stunt prop was retained for many years by the BBC in storage and dragged out for various exhibits and eventually fell into the hands of Mike Tucker for storage. We all recognise this prop for the original shaped head that was changed at the last minute on the hero prop due to it not being big enough to hold the gun workings and the original mouth tape dispenser. It was this original stunt version that was pulled out and rebuilt for the 'School Reunion' prop, with work overseen by Mike tucker.

At the time of rebuilding a cast was taken from the hero prop to match up a new head shape. Only one side was used to create the mould and this was mirrored to make the whole head as one single piece, this meant that the 'Reunion' prop was the first ever version to have an equal balanced head shape as on the original hero prop the head is slightly flatter on one side than the other. As a newer balanced mould, the 'Reunion' head had no need for the screws/rivets on either side of the head so it has a lovely smooth surface.

During the building of the 'Reunion' prop, casts were taken from the body of the stunt prop as it was in better condition than the hero prop and these casts have now been used to produce all of the exhibition dogs that have been all around the country ( Lands End, Manchester, Scotland, London, Cardiff, All having a K-9 on exhibit all at the same time at one point)

So while there have been many copies produced for exhibition over the years the two 'Originals' are still the only ones to have ever appeared within the series onscreen, The Hero Prop is still Maintained and stored with Matt Irvine, The Original Dummy / rebuilt School Reunion prop, now Kept in Safe Keeping in Cardiff in Storage

There are of course many privately owned versions out there as were produced by 'This Planet Earth' when they had the license to produce them. These can all be identified by the fact they have the uneven head shape of the hero prop, due to being pulled from the original cast which had fallen into their hands. also, the Body cast which was a mould created by them is actually slightly longer than the original Dogs, their measurements were incorrect when producing the body casts…

And finally, the neck Gators were a half-inch narrower in diameter than the original props…

> The original style neck gator is really hard to track down, isn't it? I've found MG Midget heater ducting to be a close substitute, but still not quite the right size… [fivefingeredstyre]

Oh and in reply to the neck Gator; The one on the original prop actually came from an old Tractor and has been out of prodction for around 30 years. There are companies that make these Gators still as bellows for the medical industry but to get one made privately would cost around £1000 as it would be seen as a one-off special part…

The original prop version was black rubber, this received a coat of silver paint for 'K-9 and Company' but this paint was found to flake off when the neck was stretched, so it was cleaned off and the neck has remained black ever since… Considering the age of this Gator it is amazing that the rubber has not expired by now [exleo]

The new Rubber Bumpers were added for Series 3 of the SJA when it was decided K9 would have a regularly featured role in each episode this was to try and make him more reliable. His Drive system was once again updated with newer RC and speedier power systems… the head and body were also given a touch-up with filler and resin to try and smooth out some of the 'Bubbles' that had started appearing through the age of the FiberGlass.

The head screws were replaced with Rivets so that they looked more 'designed', and a sequencer was put into the eye lights so they would flash during dialogue to give a visual clue to viewers as to who was speaking.

An On/Off switch and a charging socket were fitted into the under rim of the rear recessed panel to allow for easy charging without the need to get inside… this was also the point that a small LCD monitor was permanently placed into the 'screen' casing ;D

It is suspected that new ears were made to the original 3-hoop design.

The School Reunion prop has 5 lengths of red plastic for eyes as did the original prop right up until K9 and Company and now the Hero prop doesn't have this at all, it only has 3 and a half.

My guess is when they “refreshed” K-9 to mark IV at the end of “School Reunion” they purposely changed the eye-slots arrangement to make the difference noticeable. Speaking of “K-9 and Company”, that's when the Doctor (4th) left the mark III for Sarah Jane. He next appeared, very briefly, in “The Five Doctors”. Is the eye-slots arrangement still the same? (I'm guessing it is since it was the same in “School Reunion”.)

This is a closeup of the MK1 K9 from the episode Sunmakers.

The yellow arrow shows that there was indeed a 5th red slat at the top when he was the mark I, and as we saw in “Shada”, by this time the mark II had lost that slat.

The red arrow shows that on mark I, the semicircle notch for the extendable eye sensor was on the lowest eye slat with the notch facing up, whereas on mark II it was on the next slat up, and faced down.

And these perspex eye slats are very visibly red all the way across and out to their edges. In the “Shada” mark II, they still look like clear perspex (especially near the edges), with their red colour coming from the red eye lights.

Dino.

This is a close-up of the MK2 K9 from the episode Shada.

It also looks like his topmost eye slat has fallen off (yellow arrow), leaving only the glue track. And maybe it's just me, but those eye slats look like they're made from clear perspex strips - possibly slightly frosted - and the red colour for them (at least here) comes from the red light inside the eyes. [galacticprobe]

I think the red slats were always the same material but bodged masking during one of the dog's resprays led to the perspex gaining a fine mist of paint, making it look different. [meantimebob]

That's extremely possible. Looking back at both the mark I and II images, the level of light passing though the eye slat perspex is much brighter when he was mark I. The mark II slats don't look as bright, which would certainly be the case if there was overspray on them, blocking the light from the main eye. [galacticprobe]

Trying to track down when K9's Red Eye slat broke off, and when K9 bottom red-eye slat was sprayed silver. [warmcanofcoke]

Creature from the Pit - No Problems.

Nightmare of Eden - (Silver paint but no breakage.)

Horns of the Nimon.

Taking another look at the Horns of the Nimon pics I can just see some silver paint on the bottom Eye Slat - but for whatever reason it isn't as visually pronounced.

So the dog was sprayed before Nightmare and broken before Shada.

I have noticed that the collar tartan does change between stories, but using stills from the story, Invasion of Time, I have been able to match at least one collar tartan to the Buchanan Modern Tartan. I have, however, noticed that the Ancient version of the tartan is used in several other versions of the collar. I am not sure if other tartans are used, people with a Scottish/ Celtic background could tell me better, but that is what I have noticed. Also sometimes the collars look faded on the outside, but you can tell the original tartan must have been brighter by looking at the rim and inner part of the collar. – https://izzy-k9.blogspot.com/search/label/collar

Buchanan tartan ribbon is available from Amazon (https://amzn.to/3jB4yPY), this is 40mm wide, by 25 meters long, which means it should be enough to make a fair few collars.

Creature from the Pit - The last Time the Buchanan Tartan Collar was used.

K.9 MK IV, Aussie K.9 and Movie K.9 :D

What have they done to K.9?! Unlikely he'll appear in Doctor Who again as he is with Sarah Jane (who can't just turn up with the actress being dead and all) so unless they write it off as the Doctor made a new unit this is the only K.9 we're getting from now on, I mean… It isn't K.9, and although I don't believe it was started in any Who but K.9 could Hover, SJA has a line where he says 'Activating Hover Mode' when he was getting out of Sarah's car (which must be cannon as the Doctor does say in an episode that I completely forget the name of where he goes to stay with Amy and Rory while waiting for them cubes to do something he says 'Is that all you can do? Float around? I had a robot dog that could do that“).

Yeah, also the series script writing was weak, god knows what the film is going to be like…

ANNNND my rant is over :D

tbh, I do like the changes they've done to K.9 for time quake (over the one from the K.9 tv series) [d0ct0r200004]

The middle image is the design the Aussie series used because the BBC owns the rights to the K-9 image on the left. Not sure why they didn't or couldn't work something out so the Aussie series could use K-9 as he was, but maybe someone else has some insider info on that. [galacticprobe]

Hey at least the Time Quake K-9 has better ears than the new K-9 from the recent K-9 series. [handofmega]

I read about a year ago that there was a new series of the Aussie 'K-9' in production, with the creators using feedback from fans to tweak K-9's design because a lot of the viewers did not like the design they were using. Word was that once they got the design sorted they were going to start the production of Series 2 of 'K-9 Adventures' (or depending on where you live, simply 'K-9').

Maybe this is like the Series 2 premiere. I'll be curious to see how long it takes to get to the US. Series 1 aired on DisneyXD (which we weren't watching at the time), but on Christmas Day - and I forget which year - SyFy Channel ran the entire Series 1 in a day-long marathon. Needless to say I recorded everything on the DVR and watched it at our leisure. But now that DisneyXD has 'Star Wars Rebels' (and 'Star vs. the Forces of Evil'), we are watching, so we'll be on top of this one if it is Series 2 going into gear. [galacticprobe]

The Invasion of Time Episode 2: almost at the end of the episode

The Gun-nose looks like it is made of clear plastic with a little paint added. Maybe the gun was originally meant to light up.

Interestingly, looking back through the thread, when the prop appeared in the show, the nose was hollow. Present day, the nose is filled in. I wondered when that happened?

[galacticprobe] That was the look of the nose for K-9 Mark I (who stayed on Gallifrey with Leela), Mark II (who stayed in E-Space with Romana), and Mark III, who was a gift to Sarah Jane and first appeared in the spin-off pilot “K9 and Company”.

I know the eyes, and initially the ears, were different between Mark III and IV (like the nose), but I never noticed the whole bottom half of the head being different before. He's still got his little tape readout “mouth” slot. Now I'm interested in seeing more of the head - profile pics and the like - of the Marks I-III and IV to see just how much different the head is. If might indicate whether or not they made a completely new head for the Mark IV.

[maddavros] K9 started off with a filled in (or blocked) nose, some when after Invisible Enemy this was changed

Bob Baker retains the Character Rights on K9 having created him with his Writing partner Dave Martin for 1977s 'Invisible Enemy'. But the Design of the Original K9 is Soley owned by the BBC as it was Designed by Tony Harding while he was an employee of the corporation. Bob Baker tried several times to get a solo show for K9 off the ground, with some lovely CGI test footage carried out for the second attempt where the show was to be CGI animated, but funding failed and this never got beyond the test phase. Eventually he sold the idea to an Australian Network, and deals were made and worked out, but sadly the Ausralian producers had taken it for granted that Mr Baker owned the entire character including design and failed to include the BBC in those early deals. When it was eventually discovered that the BBC owned the Design, attempts were made to secure the rights, but The BBC felt they should have been included in negotiations from the beginning before deals were signed, and as a result they felt 'squeezed' out from having any say in how the character might be used with regards to portraying a positive view of Doctor who or any of the copyrights they owned within it. As a result the BBC exercised it's right to deny use of the dogs original Design (or anything that could be considered a rip off) ad also to deny any link in name or history to anything that The BBC owned in Doctor Who, so Gallifrey or any mention of the Doctor or TARDIS or numerous other links were completely off limits, they could only use things owned by Bob Baker or if they negotiated rights with other copyright holders over other individually held Charcter Rights. The Daleks were considered as they were owned by the Terry Nation Foundation, but utimately the TN Foundation also refused rights (and were considered too expensive by the Australian Prodcers anyway). The producers plowed on creating their own design for K9 and casting what they thought was a good new voice for the Dog ( sounding like an electronic Chip'n'Dale), but initial test viewings found this voice annoying and the lack of any link to Doctor Who to be off putting. Bob Baker ultimately contacted his good friend John Leeson and pleaded with him to revoice the Character and to see if he could pull any strings with the BBC…. As it was John Leeson found himself free for a few weeks (originally he had turned down voicing the character has he had prior work commitments that clashed with the K9 filming), Now filming was over and so was his prior commitment, John Leeson agreed to record the voice in post production and replace what had been previously recorded… he also set about asking favours of his BBC contacts.

Eventually the BBC agreed that the original design could be used for a 'regeneration' scene to start the series, but the design could appear for no more than 2 minutes of total screen time. They also made it clear that although reference was being hinted at this being K9 Mk1 as last seen in the invasion of time, they would consider this completely uncanon along with the entire series itself, and as far as they are cocerned the original K9 is still on Gallifrey with Leela. Of course around the same time the BBC had allowed the rights to Gallifrey and the Timelord Civilisation along with Leela and Romana and the Tardis to be used by Big Finish Audio for the 'Galifrey' Series. In return for his persuading the BBC to let the Original design be used briefly, John Leeson requested the return favour from Bob Baker that K9 as a Character could be used by Big Finish within the 'Gallifrey' audios… This was all agreed as Bob Baker felt the appearance of the original Design in the tv show, albeit briefly, would secure the character in viewers minds that the series was canon, regardless of what the BBC said, but he also felt allowing the Character to be used within the Big Finnish Audios, would keep the character within true canon BBC events so they would happily use it again rather than turn their back on the character and deny it future possible tv use within Doctor who or any spin off.

Due to the success of K9 within the Big Finish Audios and the subsequent desire to use the Character more, not only in the 'Gallifrey' series, but also in a new series of 4th Doctor adventures now that Tom Baker had Surprised everybody by agreeing to record a series, K9 found himself being a 'goodwill' gesture where Bob Baker was allowing the character to be used and in return the BBC allowed the original design to appear in other episodes of the TV show (briefly) and historical links to be hinted at as to K9s past adventures. Although the BBC still insist that any events that take place within the K9 tv series are absolutely nothing to do with Doctor Who and it's past present or future…. So according to BBC lore K9 mk1 is still on Gallifrey with Leela and K9 mk2 is in E-Space with Romana. BUT, they retain the right to tie in with the big finish Audio 'Gallifrey' events in the future should they ever wish to. K9 mk3 was seen to be destroyed in 'School Reunion' K9 mk4 was last seen residing with Luke Smith as his companion…… [exleo]

[spoilers]K9 MK 1 was blown up on Gallifrey in the audio books. Somehow this is the same K9 in the Australian program. [/spoilers] [warmcanofcoke]

At the end of 1979 and the finale of 'Horns of Nimon' ('Shada' having been abandoned) it was decided that for K9 to continue in the series, the prop would need a rebuild of his interior to make him more reliable and to make use of new RC technology that finally see him totally free of outside signal interference. Also he had broken down and been repaired so many time his drive system was worn out. The BBC fx and Prop's department put up the money the pay for a rebuild of the mechanics (The dog was still the offical property of BBC Prop's and the production crew had to rent the dog at considerable cost from the Prop's department each and every time it was used). During this refit the ultimate dream of fitting the prop with 'Tank like' caterpillar tracks was realised, and although it was a tight fit for the system and raised him up to the point where the tracks were visible, it was hoped it would enable the prop to cover rough terrain and hopefully negate all the need for running boards and strings that had been used in the past to mobilise the dog on rough ground Initial tests were good and the prop was taken to Brighton for location filming of 'The Leisure Hive', and everybody felt the new prop tied in nicely with the new hi tech redesign of the show.

K9 along with his new system was to run alongside Romana on the pebble beach until the moment he would be swapped by the stunt prop ready to run into the sea and explode…… Marks were set and filming began…. K9s new tracks span around at speed, at which point instead of shooting forward, he instead spat out pebbles in all directions and dug himself down into a hole…… filming stopped and they tried again with the same result… on the 3rd attempt they ramped up the speed hoping the initial push would start him moving and innertia would do the rest… a bang, a puff of acrid smoke and the new drive system died completely…. Enter the trusty stunt prop on the trusty fishing wire being dragged along in all scenes, while the the hero prop was thrown into the props van for return to London.

It was these events that sealed K9's fate for John Nathan Turner and he decided he hated the prop and wanted it gone, but in order to get rid of it, it would need to appear in at least one more story so would have to be fixed, but at minimal cost and something that could be relied upon…. So his old drive system was put back together and reinstalled in the hero prop (As is typical, this old style drive system combined with the new RC electronics turned out to be the longest lasting and least problematic version created, and although his 'Who' fate was sealed, it was his good behaviour that got him the JNT reprieve in 'K9 and Company'. But in true K9 Style the Drive broke in the closing scenes of the special sealing it's fate as a one off!

As to the caterpillar drive… this was fixed and installed into one of the house robots in BBCs 'Robot Wars'. ;D [exleo]

Although this does indeed look like 3 wheels in this picture from 'Warriors Gate', The rear 'Wheel' was in fact a ball, very like a large 'mouse ball' fitted into an underside socket. This was found to work incredibly well on the studio floors giving greater movement and speed in turning and reversing, even over the metal door sills on the studio floors and up ramps such as in this shot, but sadly when on location for 'Full Circle' the socket and ball would get jammed up by grass, and leaves, resulting in dragging and slowing to a halt (in one scene Tom Baker can be seen Manually pushing the prop into camera position as it had jammed at the wrong angle and couldn't turn). So while the best device ever on the studio floors this was replaced for the next appearance in 'K9 & Company' by twin castors on a rotating plate ready for use on gravel and grass location filming… The large drive wheels and twin castors remained for the next 30+ years [exleo]

The K9 head and back plate are the original screen used pieces that were on the dummy lightweight K9 prop from 1977 onward, and continued to be used through to it's last appearance in 'K9 & Company' alongside Lis Sladen, hence the paint colour matching the prop during that one time tv special. This head was always a distinquishable different shape from the hero prop with a far shorter muzzle section making the head appear squat. Although this was designed as the original head for the hero prop it had been constructed to measurements that were too small to hold the chunky mechanics required for the nose blaster and original tickertape tongue device, so the larger head was created in time for it's first screen appearance. This left the squat head to be used on the lightweight dummy prop for the actors to carry or for any stunts requiring K9 to be thrown, dropped or exploded. The pieces remained a part of that dummy prop while in storage possibly under the care of Mike Tucker.

In 2006 the dummy prop was refurbished by Mike Tucker and the head and backplate removed to be replaced by more accurate pieces matching the original hero prop so they could be fitted with electronics, along with the body to play the battered K9 as seen in the 2006 episode 'School reunion'. The electronics in this version of the prop were more modern and far superior to the hero prop allowing for faster movement, the gun to tilt upward and the fast spinning motion as required in that episode. Once 'destroyed' in the episodes narration, the version that the Doctor leaves with Sarah Jane as the Mk IV is of course the original hero prop from 1977. [exleo]

emla2019_online.pdf

[lofiscifi]

Here's the 'new' battered head on (what was original) the 'dummy' prop's body…

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