K9 “Liberation”

Well, here I am with a second episode of this K9 show…and I don’t think I like it very much.

That’s almost hard to say.  I like the character of K9, but this version is, well…cute.  And he’s also kinda…useless.

OK, K9’s general usefulness in the past was always limited by how much the old series could get the robot to do.  Factor in as well that, as near as I can make out, this show only really had the rights to K9 himself and nothing else from the greater Doctor Who universe.  No mentions of the Doctor, the TARDIS, or any other characters or concepts associated with the parent show.

All that means is, in this episode, when the robo-cops arrest Starkley and Darius and take them to prison, a special prison where every alien that ever came to Earth or at least London has been locked up because…well, the woman running it is kind of a dick.

She’s also Jorjie’s mother, and neither June nor Jorjie knew what the other was doing.

So, let’s see…aliens in prison?  Sounds like Torchwood.  A mother that is probably not going to be a good ally?  Pretty much all of the mother characters for any companion to the Ninth or Tenth Doctor.  A daffy professor with a time machine that doesn’t work?  Gryffen basically is the Doctor.

That leaves Starkley, a rebel against whatever there is, and Darius, a helpful assistant that argues with the rebel because someone has to.

So, yeah, the group goes looking for an alien whose race are the mortal enemies of the Jixen, there’s some scuffle at the prison as the teens lead the prisoners to freedom, they do find an alien to fight the Jixen but he’s not friendly either.  And K9’s power levels were so low he couldn’t really do much.

Man, this is gonna be a long slog for another 24 or so episodes of this stuff.