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K9 Tales is a double disc set which includes K9’s first Doctor Who episode and the one off episode K9 and Company which was meant to become a series and never did, not, as most people think, because the pilot was no good, but simply because of BBC executive changes and subsequent programme planning alterations.
The Invisible Enemy is remembered as the episode where K9 came into The Doctor’s life. If you like K9, a red letter day. If you don’t, it will stand in infamy. It already does that, anyway, for the whole sequence with The cloned and miniaturised Doctor and Leela wandering around in The Doctor’s brain. The film ‘Fantastic Voyage’ made nearly ten years before is a far more realistic variation on that theme. The fact that the whole sequence was done using CSO, made it even less believable. But if you can suspend disbelief it is a bit of science fiction/fantasy fun. And it has a robot dog that predates all the cute robots from Holywood, including RTD2. 9/10
Commentary Commentary is by Louise Jameson, John Leeson, Bob Baker, (writer) and Mat Irvine (Visual Effects Designer) Matt Irvine talks very well about the special effects, since this is an episode which relies very heavily on effects. There are a lot of good anecdotes from Louise and John. Bob Baker. Matt makes an interesting point that although there is no location filming on this story, the location budget it taken up instead with all the model shots used to create the CSO sequences. They all have a good time. Mostly they are positive about the experience of working on this episode, despite the occasional effects failure and plot hole. 9/10
10/10 Studio Sweepings is a series of black and white rushes with the time counting up as the sequences with The Doctor and Leela in The Doctor’s head are recorded. It is interesting if you are really interested in how live action and CSO are mixed and how really tedious it is making a TV programme. It really goes on a bit, though. 9/10 Visual Effects. Matt Irvine talks about making Doctor Who special
effects, with his old friend, Ian Scoones. They had a reunion at an
open day at Bray Studios where they filmed a lot of the model work.
A personal voyage of discovery that is quite interesting even if you
aren’t especially interested in effects design. Matt is an enthusiastic
presenter and loves to talk about his work. Ian Scoones, his senior,
loves reminiscing about his work on Doctor Who and previous projects
like Quatermass. 10/10
CGI effects is an option that allows the viewer to see improved effects on the remastered DVD production of the story. 9/10 Trailers and Continuity – WHY! Who actually CARES about these things? 0/10 Photo Gallery – some colourful stills from the episodes. 8/10
7/10 Radio Times Listings – WHY? 0/10
8 out of 10
7/10
Commentary
8/10 The K9 Files is a documentary with Terrance Dicks, Bob Baker, John Leeson and others about the origins of K9 and his role in Doctor Who, and the spin off story K9 and Company. They freely admit that K9 is a character you either love or hate. 10/10 K9 – a Dog’s Tale is a mock interview with K9 in which he talks about the problems of being typecast as a robot dog and not being taken seriously as a Shakespearean actor. Very funny, not quite long enough. 9/10
7/10 Trailers and Continuities – WHY BOTHER! 0/10 PDF on DVD Rom – a selection of K9 stories which are actually quite diverting if you have nothing better to do. And the usual Radio Times Listings! 8/10 The Photo Gallery contains some very nice pictures of K9 and Sarah Jane on location as well as stills from the episode. 9/10 Overall, the K9 Tales boxset isn’t too bad. It was reasonably priced for a two disc set. It could have been a bigger collection with other Doctor Who episodes, possibly. But that would have been more expensive. The fact that the Invisible Enemy disc came with a fault and had to be posted back to 2 Entertain for a replacement copy rather spoiled the enjoyment for me, though 2 Entertain were very efficient in responding. My only complaint is that the free DVD they sent me in compensation was one I already have! 7 out of 10
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The
commentary is by Elizabeth Slade, John Leeson, Linda Polan who played
Juno Baker, and Eric Saward the script editor. All of them are deeply
critical of the entire episode. They are critical of the static, stage
play use of the set, the lack of action, and the sheer pointlessness
of the story. They admit that a lot of the problems might have been
ironed out if the series was commissioned and they had more time and
budget. But there is a general sense that it was a lucky thing the
series never happened. They do put to rest the idea that the series
was cancelled because of bad ratings. K9 and Company got very good
ratings and may have done well if mistakes in the pilot were taken
on board and rectified. The reason it wasn’t taken up was simply
a change in the personnel at the executive level of the BBC and different
decisions taken about programming in 1982.
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