7. Robots Are Cool
Who doesn't look back over the Fourth and Fifth Doctor eras of the classic series without reserving a certain level of fond reminiscence for K-9 & Kamelion? Alright, the little tin dog did get a comeback of sorts in ' School Reunion' and The Sarah Jane Adventures, but it just didn't feel like enough. And with the technology available nowadays surely it'd be possible to knock up another Kamelion? After all, he was one of the best things about the two full stories he featured in. Watch ' The King's Demons' and just marvel at how he plays his role to perfection and subsequently develops into more than just something for the Doctor and the Master to squabble over. Plus, he plays a lute. And while he starts off as a technological stooge in the Master's bid to right royally muck up the Magna Carta, he comes to know his own mind even though stronger ones can sway him, poor lamb. All of which makes his assisted suicide in ' Planet Of Fire' possibly the only tearjerker ever to involve a humanoid robot. Clearly somebody up there liked him, though, as the Kraftwerk-indebted ( ever seen their robot doubles ' playing' live?) metal chap got to have his wicked way with the TARDIS in the snigger-worthily titled Big Finish short story ' The Reproductive Cycle', ending with the ' birth' of a child just like him who bafflingly grew up looking like the Sixth Doctor's companion Peri Brown. This makes beating the Fourth Doctor at chess in ' The Sun Makers' a bit pedestrian, though that is a great comedy moment, and demonstrates how in their own ways they were both brilliant. There was no hiding the Eleventh Doctor's little note of sadness in his stakeout of the toy shop in ' Closing Time' when he realised that however many robot pooches you have they'll never be as fun as your first. After all, however infuriating they can be, and whether they're Mark 1 or 2. I bet he regrets not taking him for that ' W-a--lk, walk!' now. He did say he'd be good, after all, and there are no records of the Fourth or Leela ever slipping on one of his ball-bearings, so he wasn't all bad. Plus he did so much more than play 'fetch' and didn't need feeding sounds like the ideal pet to us.