Review: With the help of cast members John Leeson, Elisabeth Sladen
and Louise Jameson, former producer John Nathan-Turner, and
such Doctor Who fan experts as David J. Howe, the history of
K-9 as concept, companion, and marketing icon is explored,
as well as the robot dog's bright future in his own
adventures.
This amusing little documentary is a nice history of the
Doctor's faithful robot dog, with tongue planted firmly in
cheek (particularly with regard to K-9's "extermination" of
ex-producer John Nathan-Turner, who ended the dog's reign
on Doctor Who and has remained a target of fan scorn since
the series ended in 1989). The actors' memories of the
character range from fond to frustrated, with Lis Sladen
taking up most of the latter end of the spectrum due to her
playing second fiddle to K-9 in 1981's K-9 and Company,
the only official BBC-produced spinoff of Doctor Who. (For
the first time, some of the other plans for K-9 and Company
as a potential series are revealed by Nathan-Turner and
writer Terence Dudley, as well as an in-depth retrospective
on why the popular pilot episode didn't catch on like
wildfire.)
Also intriguing are the glimpses into the potential future
of the K-9 franchise, particularly the all-CGI-animation
pitch reel voiced by none other than Tom Baker himself.
(Baker, the only Doctor who shared screen time with K-9 in
"official" Doctor Who, is conspicuous by his absence in this
production, represented only by vintage film of a convention
appearance at Longleat in 1983.)
Some of the guests who reminisce about K-9 are a little out
of place. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred only starred
alongside the mechanical mutt in 1993's generally-ignored
charity reunion show Dimensions In Time, and yet they're
interviewed at length about the frustrations of acting
alongside the radio-controlled dog.
Overall, though, the light tone of K-9 Unleashed saves the
show from annoying viewers too much with its minor
discrepancies. And truthfully, it's startling that no one
made a documentary about K-9 until 2000, given the popularity
of the character in its late 1970s heyday. It's a good, fun
look at a facet of the Doctor Who story which has remained
largely unexplored from the behind-the-scenes angle.
