Sarah Jane and K9?

[Lance]

Bringing back older characters isn't intrinsically wrong IMHO, but only if they are re-introduced to the audience with an assumption of unfamiliarity (ie, don't assume the audience already know them, but still provide fanservice for those who do). A tricky tight-rope to walk. When Sarah came back in the modern series they did this rather well, but it's debatable whether K-9 And Company might have assumed too much.

My problem with K-9 And Company stems from the idea that it was supposed to be a pilot. As a pilot, it gives almost no indication of what a series would be like. If it was going to be 6-12 episodes of Sarah and K-9 investigating oddball and unusual stuff all around England, as a kind of The X-Files before The X-Files, then it would have been much more effective to have just made it a show about U.N.I.T. One thinks they were trying to go for glamour, what with Sarah being an investigative reporter and all, but the so-called 'pilot' doesn't really convey that either. It sends some very mixed messages about what sort of show it would have been.

 

[DWF]

I suppose it could be that Sarah Jane/Sladen was so popular that her profile would still have been pretty high even five years after the fact -- which would be why they wanted her in a spinoff in the first place. I suppose we'd have to know something about her standing in the media at the time, whether she was still talked about and interviewed and such. Anyone have access to an archive of the Radio Times or something from the era?

Oddly enough the series was built around K9, which is odd because it was JNT who wanted K9 off of Doctor. This from K9 And Company's Wiki article.

The programme has its roots firmly in the desire of Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner to get Elisabeth Sladen back into the TARDIS. He had wanted her to have the contract eventually awarded to Janet Fielding in late 1980. John Nathan-Turner's preferred plan for the transition from Baker to Davison was to have Sarah Jane be along for the ride from Logopolis to the second story of series 19. However, Sladen had no interest in returning simply to reprise a role and function identical to the one she had left years before.
Meanwhile, Nathan-Turner was trying to figure out what to do about K-9. The robot dog was very popular among children but was difficult to deal with technically and Nathan-Turner felt that it made the TARDIS crew almost overwhelmingly formidable. He decided that a child-orientated spin-off series with K-9 might be just the thing. However, such a series would require a human as the lead, and his prime candidate for this role was Sladen. He pitched the part to the actress as a departure from what she had previously done: she would be returning as Sarah Jane Smith, but she would do so as the heroine and not just a sidekick. This offer Sladen accepted.

It was called K9 And Company, unlike the later Sarah Jane Adventures.

 

[Lance]

JNT misjudged K-9's popularity. Having worked on the show for several years before he was promoted to Producer, he only knew the tin dog as that prop that kept breaking down on set and was being used by writers as a crutch to help the Doctor out of dramatic situations.

By some accounts, K-9 And Company was imposed on him by executive meddling, after sections of the media started up a "Save K-9" campaign and he was forced to justify removing K-9 from the show. JNT himself was usually unrepentant about having got rid of K-9 in the first place.

 

[DWF]

The make K9 And Company as a standalone pilot was a odd move for the BBC. While Gerry Anderson had done with The Day After Tomorrow pilot, normal a pilot for the BBC would get the go ahead for a series rather than be aired by itself. And really it aired on Dec. 28 so it's hard to call it a Christmas special.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

And really it aired on Dec. 28 so it's hard to call it a Christmas special.

I don't follow this argument.

 

[Christopher]

Aren't there, like, 12 days of Christmas? Or something?

 

[Timewalker]

Oddly enough the series was built around K9, which is odd because it was JNT who wanted K9 off of Doctor. This from K9 And Company's Wiki article.

The programme has its roots firmly in the desire of Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner to get Elisabeth Sladen back into the TARDIS. He had wanted her to have the contract eventually awarded to Janet Fielding in late 1980. John Nathan-Turner's preferred plan for the transition from Baker to Davison was to have Sarah Jane be along for the ride from Logopolis to the second story of series 19. However, Sladen had no interest in returning simply to reprise a role and function identical to the one she had left years before.
Meanwhile, Nathan-Turner was trying to figure out what to do about K-9. The robot dog was very popular among children but was difficult to deal with technically and Nathan-Turner felt that it made the TARDIS crew almost overwhelmingly formidable. He decided that a child-orientated spin-off series with K-9 might be just the thing. However, such a series would require a human as the lead, and his prime candidate for this role was Sladen. He pitched the part to the actress as a departure from what she had previously done: she would be returning as Sarah Jane Smith, but she would do so as the heroine and not just a sidekick. This offer Sladen accepted.

It was called K9 And Company, unlike the later Sarah Jane Adventures.

Gah.

I saw K9 and Company, and thought the only good part was the ending. John Leeson was so good at giving K9 his personality, that K9 is my second-favorite companion of all of them (Romana II is my favorite). I saw the Tom Baker edition of This Is Your Life, and Elisabeth Sladen and John Leeson were two of the guests.

I liked Sarah Jane, but honestly... when a companion leaves the show, that should be it. Bring them back for an anniversary special, sure... mention them now and then, sure... but what Classic Who did right and nuWho does wrong is that a companion's leaving was considered a big deal back then. Now it's just pretend, since the character changes her mind by the end of the episode or the start of the next one.

I'm glad Sarah didn't come back. The stories with Tegan just wouldn't have worked with any other character, and I can't imagine Sarah fitting in with the younger companions of the Davison era.

 

[DWF]

And really it aired on Dec. 28 so it's hard to call it a Christmas special.

I don't follow this argument.

Because unlike the All Creatures Great And Small Christmas special, The Five Doctors Special and the recent Doctor Who Christmas specials it doesn't appear to habe een filmed withthe intention of being shown at Christmastime. The pilot got huge ratings but still didn't make it to series.

 

[DWF]

Oddly enough the series was built around K9, which is odd because it was JNT who wanted K9 off of Doctor. This from K9 And Company's Wiki article.

The programme has its roots firmly in the desire of Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner to get Elisabeth Sladen back into the TARDIS. He had wanted her to have the contract eventually awarded to Janet Fielding in late 1980. John Nathan-Turner's preferred plan for the transition from Baker to Davison was to have Sarah Jane be along for the ride from Logopolis to the second story of series 19. However, Sladen had no interest in returning simply to reprise a role and function identical to the one she had left years before.
Meanwhile, Nathan-Turner was trying to figure out what to do about K-9. The robot dog was very popular among children but was difficult to deal with technically and Nathan-Turner felt that it made the TARDIS crew almost overwhelmingly formidable. He decided that a child-orientated spin-off series with K-9 might be just the thing. However, such a series would require a human as the lead, and his prime candidate for this role was Sladen. He pitched the part to the actress as a departure from what she had previously done: she would be returning as Sarah Jane Smith, but she would do so as the heroine and not just a sidekick. This offer Sladen accepted.

It was called K9 And Company, unlike the later Sarah Jane Adventures.

Gah.

I saw K9 and Company, and thought the only good part was the ending. John Leeson was so good at giving K9 his personality, that K9 is my second-favorite companion of all of them (Romana II is my favorite). I saw the Tom Baker edition of This Is Your Life, and Elisabeth Sladen and John Leeson were two of the guests.

I liked Sarah Jane, but honestly... when a companion leaves the show, that should be it. Bring them back for an anniversary special, sure... mention them now and then, sure... but what Classic Who did right and nuWho does wrong is that a companion's leaving was considered a big deal back then. Now it's just pretend, since the character changes her mind by the end of the episode or the start of the next one.

I'm glad Sarah didn't come back. The stories with Tegan just wouldn't have worked with any other character, and I can't imagine Sarah fitting in with the younger companions of the Davison era.

A companion leaving the old show wasn't that big of a deal many of them left in the closing minutes of a given story. But Rose's departure was huge deal and yet she came back. Still there's no reason why a companion can't come back, it's shame that many of them are left far from home and no way to get back.

 

[Rarewolf]

JNT also tried to get Louise Jameson back as Leela to help with the handover to the 5th Doctor.

 

[DrFrankhamstien]

Because unlike the All Creatures Great And Small Christmas special, The Five Doctors Special and the recent Doctor Who Christmas specials it doesn't appear to habe een filmed withthe intention of being shown at Christmastime.

Yes it was, hence the narrative of setting in during the Christmas week, and ending with K9 singing 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'.

And Dec 28th is still regarded as the Christmas week - usually Dec 24th to Jan 1st.

 

[DWF]

Because unlike the All Creatures Great And Small Christmas special, The Five Doctors Special and the recent Doctor Who Christmas specials it doesn't appear to habe een filmed withthe intention of being shown at Christmastime.

Yes it was, hence the narrative of setting in during the Christmas week, and ending with K9 singing 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'.

And Dec 28th is still regarded as the Christmas week - usually Dec 24th to Jan 1st.

My fault then, but they changed K9's song, from shannonsullivan's site.

Only two studio days were required to complete A Girl's Best Friend. No space was available in London, so cast and crew instead repaired to the BBC's Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham, where the Doctor Who serial Horror Of Fang Rock had been recorded in 1977. Black chose to record the episode's remaining scenes in story order, roughly completing the first half on November 29th and the second half on the 30th. In the final scene, K-9 had been scripted as reciting While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks By Night, but in the event this was replaced by the more secular We Wish You A Merry Christmas.
A Girl's Best Friend was originally intended to air during Christmas week, on Monday, December 21st. However, much to Nathan-Turner's disappointment, the airdate was delayed by a week to December 28th at fairly short notice. To make matters worse, much of the Northwest was unable to watch the programme due to an outage at the Winter Hill transmitter. Despite these setbacks, A Girl's Best Friend nonetheless secured a respectable audience of 8.4 million viewers: better than any episode broadcast during Doctor Who's eighteenth season.

 

[DrFrankhamstien]

So, they changed it from one Christmas song to another? Which only confirms it was always intended to be a Christmas episode.

 

[Timewalker]

Oddly enough the series was built around K9, which is odd because it was JNT who wanted K9 off of Doctor. This from K9 And Company's Wiki article.



It was called K9 And Company, unlike the later Sarah Jane Adventures.

Gah.

I saw K9 and Company, and thought the only good part was the ending. John Leeson was so good at giving K9 his personality, that K9 is my second-favorite companion of all of them (Romana II is my favorite). I saw the Tom Baker edition of This Is Your Life, and Elisabeth Sladen and John Leeson were two of the guests.

I liked Sarah Jane, but honestly... when a companion leaves the show, that should be it. Bring them back for an anniversary special, sure... mention them now and then, sure... but what Classic Who did right and nuWho does wrong is that a companion's leaving was considered a big deal back then. Now it's just pretend, since the character changes her mind by the end of the episode or the start of the next one.

I'm glad Sarah didn't come back. The stories with Tegan just wouldn't have worked with any other character, and I can't imagine Sarah fitting in with the younger companions of the Davison era.

A companion leaving the old show wasn't that big of a deal many of them left in the closing minutes of a given story. But Rose's departure was huge deal and yet she came back. Still there's no reason why a companion can't come back, it's shame that many of them are left far from home and no way to get back.

Maybe not a big deal in terms of how many minutes of the episode it involved, but it was a big deal in that we knew this was the last we'd ever see of the character. When Sarah Jane got dropped off in not-Croydon, nobody knew she'd ever be back for any reason. This is why it was such a treat even to see such quick clips of her and other companions saying "Doctor" when the Fourth Doctor lay dying after falling off the radio telescope, and wonderful to see so many of the old companions in The Five Doctors.

It makes sense that some of the companions left 'far from home' - in some cases they had no home to go back to. Or their families were dead. Or they found what they considered a better life. I do think Leela had an utterly stupid reason for leaving - falling for Andred, who looked dumbfounded, with a "WTF?" expression on his face.

The thing about the companions nowadays is that they leave... for a little while. It's not really leaving if they're back every few episodes. We never really did get rid of Rose, since she kept horning in on other companions' stories. First Rose, and now Clara, are like Worf in Star Trek - the character that ate the show and made some of the fans sick of seeing them.

JNT also tried to get Louise Jameson back as Leela to help with the handover to the 5th Doctor.

He didn't have much respect for the then-current cast, did he? What could Sarah or Leela have contributed to Logopolis that the others didn't?

 

[diankra]

I suppose it could be that Sarah Jane/Sladen was so popular that her profile would still have been pretty high even five years after the fact -- which would be why they wanted her in a spinoff in the first place.

When K-9 and Company was in pre-production, the Five Faces of Doctor Who repeat season scheduled for November/December was still expected to run for six stories, with Masque of Mandragora representing the fourth Doctor in addition to Logopolis. So they were expecting that one of Sarah's stories would have been rerun within the previous month.

 

[DWF]

^^^He wanted some older faces the audience could relate to, I think he liked good continuity and linking the show to the past. Each of the Davison series had some flshbacks to to earlier eras.

 

[Guy Gardener]

There's also a K9 TV series in Australia but it's not really part of the "Whoniverse" (Who/SJA/Torchwood) but I think was developed independently by K9's creators. I'm not even sure what K9 mark (There are four) it's supposed to be, or even if it's any of them. Generally it's considered pretty bad.


K9 receives a redesign for it too.

It's not bad, but it was clearly made for a very young audience.

Preteens.

Adults trying to get off on children's programming deserve what they should be smart enough to expect.

(#### you Bronies!)

I liked it.

K9 could fly.

They were using K9 mark one because that's what they had the rights to, but I also worked that out from something someone said on screen. In the first episode, K9 comes out of a time storm (portal) to save the day because the previous thing to come out of the same time storm portal was a nasty rat bastard. An absent minded professor built a wonky time machine that was really just a hamfisted time scoop that chaffed an instability in the space time fabric of his very large mansion like house, so every episode a time storm would flare up and dump a new baddie into early 22nd century London, which a dithering professor, three punk kids and K9 would have to rout.

In the first episode, K9 looks like K9, but he gets clobbered, retreats into a cocoon to rebuild himself, and looks quite different when he emerges and wins the day for his new friends... But he can't get home.

There's a love triagle between the punk kids, 2 boys and girl, and the dithering professor, is into the girl's mother, so there's stuff going on on a few levels.

22nd century London by the way is a fascist police state patrolled by robocops, in the wake of a poorly explained environmental disaster that seems to have defoliated the world.

The mother of the girl punk kid who the Professor is into is, lets say "The police commission" and in charge of the task force assigned to tracking down and dissecting K9 before the little flying tin dog goes on a rampage.

26 episodes. 22 minutes each + advertising. 1 season.

 

[Rarewolf]

see below

 

[Rarewolf]

They were using K9 mark one because that's what they had the rights to.

Not quite - Bob Baker had the rights the rights to the character as co-creator, but the visual design belongs to the BBC.

They came to an arrangement he could use the original design in the first episode, if they could use K9 in the Sarah Jane Adventures. Which is why he was largely written out of early SJA, before they came to the deal.

I think the Australian series got very good right at the end.

Bob still has hopes of another K9 series, but it will be a further reboot (the cast had the cheek to age!), probably shot in the UK.

In the first episode, K9 looks like K9, but he gets clobbered, retreats into a cocoon to rebuild himself, and looks quite different when he emerges and wins the day for his new friends... But he can't get home. .

He activates a self destruct to kill the creatures; but his previous owner fitted a regeneration device.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I was checking on the cast.

I laughed when I saw that after K9, the lead punk kid had been the Son in the Oz version of Rake, which I loved. 4 years of so much fun. Meanwhile the adorably Jailbaity female punk kid is now in something called "Alien Surf Girls" which seems to be Disney adjacent (where she's still playing a 15 year old despite being 22.).