Starring John Leeson
A Review by Finn Clark 18/4/14
It's the K9 show that Bob Baker and producer Paul Tams had been trying to flog for donkey's years. They first appeared in the wake of the 1996 TV movie, announcing a four-part K9 pilot that didn't happen. Then, a decade later, post-Eccleston, they announced a K9 series to be set in space that would star a "space gypsy" and "an overactive computer module in the shape of an attractive young woman". That didn't happen either.
It was presumably The Sarah Jane Adventures that got them the green light. That hit our screens in 2007 and the inevitable Baker-Tams accouncement followed in June 2008... but this time it happened. They're borrowing from their predecessor's template, mind you. Both shows have K9 living in London with an eccentric parental figure and having adventures with teenagers. The only difference is that Sarah's London is present-day, while the Australian London is a sub-Orwellian SF dystopia in the year 2050.
Obviously, they saved their necks by casting John Leeson. He kept me on board, even after the forced redesign from the iconic BBC original K9. (He looks fine, to be honest.) I like both shows, but how do they compare? Hmmm...
1. The Sarah Jane Adventures has meatier stories, being made up of two-parters that can often be startlingly rich in theme and well-written. The Australian show on the other hand is all one-parters. This works because they have an ongoing antagonist (the Department), but it tends to make their aliens forgettable.
Nothing compares with that brilliant first season of The Sarah Jane Adventures season one, obviously. However the Australian K9 isn't that far behind the later seasons, which had Gary Russell as script editor instead of Lindsey Alford.
2. The budget. Sorry to be shallow, but it's an inescapable comparison if you've watched The Sarah Jane Adventures recently. That looks stunning. It's downright lavish. K9, on the other hand, does pretty well with what it has and always looks respectable, but you'll see a lot of those standing sets.
3. The Sarah Jane Adventures's acting is more rough-and-tumble. Sladen is out of control and I love her, while her juvenile co-stars go from "unspeakable" (the beginning) to "pretty good" (later seasons). Maria's gay dad was of course brilliant, while the guest stars had some huge names who might either be superb or insulting. The Australian show, though, is... competent. They're okay. I like the ongoing villains (Connor Van Vuuren, Jared Robinsen) and the children's initial low point isn't that bad, really. My main complaint acting-wise was that, in the first half of the series, the actors weren't rising to dramatic challenges. Everyone has an off-day, even the mighty John Leeson.
In the end, of the three juveniles, it's Daniel Webber who shows the most chops. There's not that much in it though and I'm sure they'll all keep improving in season two.
4. --> THE STUPIDITY <--
Beyond staggering. Everything I've been saying so far is "except for this". If normal stupidity is the equivalent of a mild cold, this show has galloping terminal cancer, botulism, the Black Death and flesh-eating space lurgy from a leper pit in Hell. Here the Australian K9 loses sight of The Sarah Jane Adventures, not to mention sanity. The weird thing though is that this didn't stop me from enjoying the show. Even when my intelligence was being violated, I could still separate the show's charm and its likeable cast from the dumb stuff.
It's only in half the episodes, mind you. There's some subtext I hate in episode 2, but otherwise they keep things on keel throughout the first seven episodes. The show's still finding its feet to some extent, but at least it's respecting itself and the audience. After that, though, it starts headbutting the wall. It's as if someone flicked a switch. There's a solid thirteen-episode block (episodes 8-20) in which there are only three episodes that aren't so stupid that even the kiddies must have complained. 13 is half of 26, I notice. That's such a clean dividing line that in hindsight I'm wondering if they subcontracted half the season to a script editor who didn't care, or else perhaps the cleaning staff.
At first I didn't give it much thought. A lot of episodes were doing strange things, but it wasn't until episode thirteen that I noticed a pattern. After that, it was only episodes 16 and 17 that sent me into meltdown. And in case you think I'm exaggerating...
EPISODE 13 - because you can't have K9 info-dumping everything, the humans can name-drop alien species that died out a thousand years ago.
EPISODE 14 - If you ever find yourself imprisoned by a cocoon in a slimy cavern full of foot-high alien eggs, there's no need to worry. No egg-laying alien could possibly be dangerous!
EPISODE 16 - If Russian documents were to be found in a taxi in 1963, this would be enough evidence to have the taxi driver sent to prison for treason.
EPISODE 19 - K9 ignores the possibility of time travel, despite being the Mark One who travelled with the Doctor and then was left behind on Gallifrey. Also these days he lives with a professor who keeps an uncontrollable time machine in his living room.
EPISODE 20 - if a temporal attack fast-ages a middle-aged man into an old-age pensioner, this change will become irreversible on his birthday.
I really want to cite episode 17 too (Lost Library of Ukko), but unfortunately the stupidity there is so all-encompassing that it takes half a review even to make a dent in it. And then, after that thirteen-episode run, the stupidity vanishes and the show returns to normality. Episode 26 has major problems, but that's because it's trying impressively hard to be a Russell T. Davies finale.
The aliens are a mixed bunch. Sometimes they're cheap, silly-looking refugees from Power Rangers. Other episodes contain some of my all-time favourite Whoniverse aliens, for sheer boldness of design. There's some glorious stuff in the middle episodes, from the Celtic and Egyptian frolics to the Grant Morrison Doom Patrol aliens. (Calibration warning: I also like the Slitheen.) However the show's refusal to do multi-part stories means that any given monster is unlikely to make much impact and the season's supposed Big Bad in particular left less impression on me than a feather duster.
Would I recommend watching this? Yes, I would. Even at its most brain-damaged, I enjoyed this show. It has charm and a light touch that lets you forgive the frankly disgraceful script-editing. It's witty. It has fun villains.
If nothing else, you could cherry-pick. This isn't a plot-heavy season and it has 26 episodes to choose from, so it shouldn't be hard to tailor something to your taste. Possibilities include:
(a) 1-7, 21-26 - the "blunt instrument" approach.
(b) 1-3, 23-26 - the core plot. What's more, those first few episodes have big clues as to what's coming later. A whopping close-up of Robinsen's hand, K9's trigger-happiness when he thinks Starkey's a Jixen, etc. On rewatching, one realises that it hangs together surprisingly well. That would be a good, satisfying run.
(c) as above, but also including 4, 7, 10, 13, 15 and 21. Those are all key episodes in one way or another, either for season turning points, the "Gryffen's lost family" plot thread or their characterisation of K9.
(d) If you watched the first couple of episodes and thought they were rubbish, I'd suggest 7 (Fall of the House of Gryffen) and/or 10 (Curse of Anubis). "Rubbish" is a perfectly reasonable reaction. I can understand it, but personally I ended up enjoying this show a lot. These two episodes are two of my favourites, although obviously you shouldn't expect something Blink-level, and anyone who doesn't like them should probably steer clear of this show. Curse of Anubis flops with the ending, though.
(e) 13-14, 16-17, 19-20 - if you want to laugh at stupidity.
In short, I like this show a lot. Its virtues are strong and even at its most horrendous, it's entertaining. It's fast-moving, it's full of energy and the characters are likeable. I'd often be enjoying it even though the chimpanzees seemed to have been attacking the scripts. It beats the living daylights out of Torchwood. It's not ashamed to be compared with The Sarah Jane Adventures.
I'd be interested in seeing season two, if it ever gets made. There are plot elements that were clearly being held back for a follow-up year, e.g. Gryffen's family and the romance. The latter in particular offers opportunities since a few years have passed since season one and even then the "children" were 18-20 year olds playing down unconvincingly to 14-15. If the production team allowed the characters to grow up a bit, the romantic angle might even go somewhere.
Who knows? They might even be able to finangle some BBC involvement, now Sladen's passed away and Torchwood's American co-production didn't set the world alight...