10 Classic Doctor Who Moments That Really Haven’t Aged Well
3. Kamelion The Kings Demons & Planet Of Fire (1983/4)
The Story The only two stories to feature the Doctors shapeshifting robotic companion Kamelion. The Moment Kamelion himself. Why It Hasnt Aged Well Written as an attempt to replicate the success of K-9, Kamelion was intended to be a crowning technical achievement for Doctor Who. A humanoid robot that could shapeshift and therefore serve a large number of narrative purposes as well as the prop being a technical marvel in itself. And while the robot does initially function reasonably well and have a pleasing aesthetic by 1980s standards, some very unfortunate circumstances have rendered it an aspect of Doctor Who that fans would rather forget. Kamelion was a custom-built robot operated by lines of specially written computer code that were only fully understood by its creator Mike Power. But shortly after the filming of The Kings Demons, Power was killed in a boating accident without having passed on the knowledge of how the prop worked to anybody. This left the Doctor Who production team with a robot that they couldnt operate properly and a companion that couldnt realistically appear in any episodes. An attempt was made to shoot a scene with Kamelion for the story The Awakening but it was cut for timing purposes. The character was only brought back once towards the end of Peter Davisons tenure in 1984s Planet of Fire where the problem of the poorly functioning robot was circumvented by Kamelion spending most of the story disguised as the Master. Although its an integral part of the story, Kamelions reappearance in Planet Of Fire was mainly so that he could be written out, being destroyed by the Doctor as an act of mercy at his own request. Kamelion is one of a number of Doctor Who moments that has aged poorly because of problems beyond anybodys control. Had Mike Power not died and the robot continued to function properly, we would probably be looking back at Kamelion as an amusing piece of 1980s ephemera rather than a conspicuously poor aspect of Classic Doctor Who.
JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
