Written by Terence Dudley
Directed by John Black

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series that has been around off and on since 1963. The main character is known as “The Doctor” and is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. This means he travels through time to various places. One of his favorite places to visit is Earth. Typically, he has a companion traveling with him, usually female, sometimes male, sometimes one of each. He travels in a time machine known as a TARDIS, which is disguised as a British Police booth. 

A Time Lord can regenerate if fatally wounded, which has accounted for all the different actors who have played The Doctor throughout the years.

K-9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend was the first test for a spin-off from the widely popular Doctor Who series, which starred the popular companion to the Doctor, Sarah Jane (portrayed by Elisabeth Sladen).  It would actually take many years before the show would catch on, as it did in more recent times with The Sarah Jane Adventures.  This also helps bridge the story gaps as to how K-9 ended up in Sara Jane’s possession in that recent series, since during the original run the two never came in contact with each other.

When Sarah Jane’s Aunt Lavinia (portrayed by Mary Wimbush) leaves suddenly without a word to Sarah Jane, something doesn’t feel right.  She opens a box Lavinia has had for years, marked for Sarah Jane, and finds K-9 inside, a gift from the Doctor.  Together with Brendan (portrayed by Ian Sears), Lavinia’s ward, they try to figure out the mystery of Lavinia’s disappearance as well as the mysteries of the town.

Normally I would have said that this just didn’t work.  It was too convenient to put Sarah Jane and K-9 together for a spin-off when they actually shared no screen time in the original series.  However, The Sarah Jane Adventures proved that as crazy as it seemed, to have a wunderkind tin dog accompanying an investigative reporter, it could work.  So what was the problem with K-9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend?  Simply put, it seemed as if the writers didn’t know what to do with the character of K-9.  They seemed not to know what to do with him; whether to truly take him seriously or not.

This was the tone for quite a bit of K-9’s early days in the Doctor Who series. There have been divisive opinions of companions before, but never so much as “The Tin Dog,” which is why it was such a surprise when he, of all characters, was resurrected in the newest run of the series.  The surprise to everyone, earlier detractors included, was how well he worked.  One of the complications during this early run of K-9’s career was also his temperamental functioning.  There was often no idea if he would manage to do what the script called for him to do, even if it was just to enter a room and blink his lights a few times.  It made it hard for Directors to use him to the full potential of the storyline.  With the advancement in robotics and CGI, this was solved in later years, but it was an issue in stories during this time, which also likely contributed to the faltering of this spin-off attempt.

Sladen still does her best, and she was so much better than she was written in the early years.  Even here, though, the mystery that turns up in her Aunt’s home-town doesn’t seem to have the mettle of what she encountered when with the Doctor on his travels.  What was written for her was underwhelming, especially compared to what she was capable of handling.

The DVD has plenty of extras.  Even when dealing with a failed spin-off, the BBC manages to give fans enough to make it interesting.  The commentary is a lot of fun to listen to, and the featurettes about K-9 are a lot of fun.  Being on this side of the pond, I didn’t get exposed to a lot of the Doctor Who fervor that permeated BBC airwaves, so it’s nice to see his appearances on various shows and other featurettes created about him.

This set is half good. I would still watch both stories, especially for those who want to see exactly how K-9 ended up with Sarah Jane in the new series.  It closes some story gaps that needed to be closed.  Really, though, only The Invisible Enemy is a good story.  As much potential as K-9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend had, it left a lot to be desired.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Audio Commentary with Script Editor Eric Saward, Elisabeth Sladen, John Leeson, and Linda Pollard
• Info Text
• The K-9 Files
• K-9 A Dog’s Tale
• Pebble Mill at One
• Trails and Continuity
• Photo Gallery