K-9 (Network Ten, 2010 - Present)
What's It About? In the year 2050 where London has become a police state, K-9 Mark I falls through a wormhole from Gallifrey to the home of agoraphobic scientist Professor Alistair Gryffen and joins him and a trio of young rebels working against the Department, a shadowy government organisation that is abusing aliens.
Is It Any Good? If at first you don't succeed, try again and do more or less the same seems to be the general rule of thumb when it comes to making a K-9-centric spin-off. Made in Australia with a conspicuously Australian cast despite being it set in London, this spin-off sadly falls short from being a worthy extension of Doctor Who. In terms of its broad story and structure, it's not a million miles away from The Sarah Jane Adventures, focussing on a trio of teenagers and an adult investigating alien occurrences in their local area. Except K-9's a full time character here instead of a minor recurring one. But even though it bears some broad similarities to The Sarah Jane Adventures, it's nowhere near the same level and lacks any real charm or outstanding qualities. It's not specifically bad but there's nothing exceptional in the writing or the performances that makes it better than or different from other programmes in the same genre. Its production values are also rather disappointing since a lot of the aliens (such as the turtle-like Jixen who appear in the first episode) wouldn't look out of place in 1980s Doctor Who. Maybe most of the budget went on creating a flying CGI K9. Yeah, he can fly now. And Regenerate. But production values aside, the programme's biggest flaw is that copyright law means it has to be completely divorced from Doctor Who other than K-9 being the main character. Rights issues mean that nothing connected to Doctor Who other than K-9 (since he's a character not owned by the BBC) can appear. An agreement was reached for use of a copy of the original prop in the first episode where K-9 is destroyed saving the main characters and Regenerates into a new body with no memories of his life prior to his Regeneration, because the original design is the property of the BBC. But beyond that, nothing other than the character's name, personality, and voice can be used without paying the BBC constantly. Because it literally wipes away K-9's connection to Doctor Who, it just feels like any other generic sci-fi kids' programme rather than an extension of the Doctor Who mythos. Which is a bullet in its foot alongside its general mediocrity. It's passable but lacks any real spark that you'd expect from a Doctor Who spin-off. Despite the series' lukewarm reception, a second season with another redesign for K-9 is in production. It remains to be seen if it can improve on the first season.