Are you watching K9?

[wallybee1]

we have a serial killer on our hands (serial...get it...serial!)

[Ian]

Can the single viewer give us a quick review? Maybe try to persuede some of the rest of us to give it a spin?

I'm not even sure where it is showing, but if the pilot was on I'd probably give it a spin purely out of curiosity. That's what I did with SJA, although I never watched any more. Doesn't this feature nothing from DW except K9 though? If that's the case I'm not even sure it's properly a part of the universe.

OTOH, my kids are still a bit too young for DW proper, so this might be an option for them.

[Ian]

*Tumbleweed*

Is anyone watching this?

[wallybee1]

I think we're all of a higher class

[judgefloyd]

I started watching it last week and it's not bad for what it is.  I mean, it's a pretty cheap kids sci-fi show*.  For Who fans such as myself, it's kind of annoying that the dog talks so much. The K-9 I liked wasn't so gabby and said 'Master' a lot rather than chatting away to kids by names.  I kept thinking how much John Leeson must be loving it. 
     For non-who fans, it would be reasonably watchable, I think.



*which would sum up Doctor Who itself for most of its existence

[wallybee1]

hasn't it got a bigger budget than ever though? by which i mean dr who and not SJA

[The Hand Of Omega]

hasn't it got a bigger budget than ever though? by which i mean dr who and not SJA

I don't know the budgets off hand for the three shows, but I would bet that K9 has a third or less of the budget of SJA and Dr Who. The monsters on K9 have, for the most part, looked rather ridiculous (as in, ridiculously bad).

But since the show is aimed at very young kids, it works. 

Although the "Time Snake" in K9 does look slightly better than the Mara in Kinda.

[judgefloyd]

I've watched one and a half episodes.  Here are my observations:

- K9, cute as he is, talks too damn much.  This damages our ability to imagine that it's really an episode of Doctor Who that just happens to have no Doctor in it (and a bunch of strangely accented kids, and a really lame sinister Department, and.....) and shows the character's limitations.  The actor must be loving it, but less is definitely more.  He gets emotional, which is supposed to be very involving and to tug at our heartsrings, but doesn't.
- The cast have a strange variety of accents depending on how pommy they're supposed to be - some of them sound like Australians, some sound like Australians trying to do contrived British accents (in the one I saw one of the cast did a 'hilarious' impersonation of a cockney rascal that was more annoying than British mockney) and some sound like nothing on earth, which is how Aussies used to sound in the days when nobody was broadcast without trying to sound British*
- the word 'tech' is used a lot in a vain attempt to make us think the story is down with the kids
- apart from that it's a bit of fun - might be popular with the under tens.  I say under tens because my ten year old won't have a bar of it.


*for examples of this accent, look up the old Australian tv ads or just go rent On Her Majesty's Secret Service or watch Newsfront which is a fantastic movie

[Darkglasses]

I think this show is getting a second season, but I can only go by rumour as I haven't read anything to confirm it.

[judgefloyd]

Yes, too harsh.  K-9 isn't sheer brilliance to the power of googol, but it's an alright little kids show with a bit of fun.  It's set in a weird kind of world in which everyone is Australian but pretending to be English or American, in a city with no identifying features and too many white people (ie Brisbane).  John Leeson obviously has a ball.  Some of it is fun.  It's better than Torchwood.

[Trev (DWP)]

in a city with no identifying features and too many white people (ie Brisbane)

Apparently you have never been to Brisbane

[The Examiner]

Perhaps you could devote one (or half) an episode of the DWP to the K9 series? What impact has it had in Australia, Trevor? You have kids - do they or their mates watch it? Are schoolyards full of tykes running around shouting 'Affirmative' at one another?

I just find it so bizarre that we have a DW spin-off series and we are all holding our noses and looking the other way. Tom must have some interesting views on why this is the case. Perhaps ten minutes on it before 6B gets underway?

[TomH1138]

I don't watch it because I don't know anything about it. I heard about it being in the planning stages, but I never heard when it started airing. It's never advertised; I have no idea when or where it's airing in America, if anywhere.

I thought I heard that it was animated, but the descriptions in this thread sound like it's live-action.

I'll give anything Doctor Who-related a try at least once, but BBC needs to do a better job of letting people know that the show exists.

Now that SJA is gone forever, maybe K9 could be upgraded to take its place, complete with Whoniverse villains and guest stars from the past? It would fill the void left behind: SJA covered the younger audience; DW covers the middle range (roughly 12 and up); and Torchwood is "adults only." I'd like to see something to fill SJA's role.

[The Examiner]

That's actually quite a good idea - CBBC executives take note. The quality of the programme could only improve. Sort of like Worzel Gummidge's trajectory, but in reverse.

[judgefloyd]

Apparently you have never been to Brisbane
[/quote]

I have been to Brisbane, the only Australian city to be joked about in Dr Who, once for a Who convention.  Back then the distinguishing features were a giant kangaroo with girly eyelashes outside my hotel, which was there for the Commonwealth Games.  Perhaps I was too harsh in describing it as having no distinguishing features - I remember the odd beautiful 'Old Queenslander' house