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K9 Picture History

Started by exleo, Jun 22, 2010, 09:28 pm

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exleo

The first replica exhibits that were pulled for Longleat and Blackpool did have the stunted head and there were two dummy props made around the same time for exhibits but both disappeared, so there is a good chance the private owner had one of these, although they were never screen used just exhibits, they were replaced by the more accurate versions created for MOMI and for the USA tour

The Lomgleat animatronic was built specifically for the exhibit, based on the original moulds so yes had the stunted head, it sat on a small track and repeated a set of movements and phrases with head nodding, tail wagging and ears turning ( the Blackpool exhibit was the same). Due to a short circuit the exhibit caught fire. At the time it was placed inside the console room exhibit in a glass case, luckily this glass protected the Console from too much damage (mostly smoke damage), but sadly the rear of his display area backed onto those of other displays and as a resault a great number of Original costumes and props were either damaged or completely destroyed including Cybermen, Daleks, Cleaners, a Nimon, Gundan robots and the Pharos project telescope model from the story Logopolis.... The giant space station from the Trial of a Timelord was also damaged and numerous older one off costimes completely destroyed...... As to the K-9 exhibit itself, it was a molten lump of melted scrap, totally unrecognisable!

With Regards to the screws within thee K.9 logo on the hero prop, you are quite correct they weren't there originally and the steel pieces were bonded to the fibreglass shell, but over the course of time (remember this prop was built to last for a two week filming period and instead has now been around for 39years) the degrading of the fibreglass has caused the panel to slowly warp and curl out of shape and to bubble resulting in the logo dropping off and the fiberglass no longer being stable enough to be bonded onto. So gradually over the years the logo has gained more and more screws to hold it on, at one point the 'dot' was lost and was replaced by a blob of paint, eventually being replaced when 'School Reunion' came around.... he started off with two screws in the 'K' and slowly that number has grown and they also appear on the '9' now..... but this is the Original Hero Prop from 1977 and the Original K9 logo.. only the Dot has been replaced....

exleo

Oh and in reply to the neck Gator; The one on the original prop actually came from a an old Tractor and has been out of prodction for around 30 years. There are companies that make these Gators still as bellows for the medical industry but to get one made privately would cost around £1000 as it would be seen as a one off special part...
The original prop version was black rubber, this received a coat of silver paint for 'K-9 and Company' but this paint was found to flake off when the neck was stretched, so it was cleaned off and the neck has remained black ever since... Considering the age of this Gator it is amazing that the rubber has not expired by now

warmcanofcoke

The Invasion of Time Episode 2 : almost at the end of the episode
k9%20time%20001_zps0ubuj4no.jpg
k9%20time%20003_zpsmosykihu.jpg
k9%20time%20002_zpszdednory.jpg
The Gun-nose looks like it is made of clear plastic with a little paint added. Maybe the gun was originally meant to light up.
why doesn't the Guide mention them? - Oh, it's not very accurate.
Oh? - I'm researching the new edition.

galacticprobe

Feb 17, 2016, 05:02 am #48 Last Edit: Feb 17, 2016, 05:08 am by galacticprobe
Exleo, thanks so much for the rundown on the details surrounding that fire. Sad business, that. It reminds me of the fire that happened in 1995 at Old Tucson Studios where my mum works - she didn't work there at the time, but she started just a few years ago. I do have a book on the history of Old Tucson where it details things. The fire was arson, and aside from some old TV western and movie sets that were lost, the entire costume library, except for I think three costumes, from 'Little House on the Prairie' was lost. Even more sadly they never caught the bull-buggering buffoon that started it. Also thanks for the history on the original K-9 prop and that logo with the screws; too bad they couldn't think of a way to set that logo back without having to "hole" it like that.

And those are some really great close-ups of the original prop, Nate! Amazing detail in those, especially with regards to the placement of his eye aerial/antenna. Thanks for sharing them. It looks much higher up than it does on later versions; probably something that resulted in repair/refurb that was necessary. As for the nose laser - could be clear plastic/perspex tubing that was intended to light up... one more thing that either wouldn't work right, or they didn't have time to put in place. It would have made sense if it was supposed to light up; like the phasers in the original 'Trek' series the light was a cue for the VFX people in post-production to know when to start and stop the beams. The early ST: TNG phasers used the same lighted-emitter-cue for their VFX people, but as the production got better (and the lighting proved to be troublesome) they did away with the emitter lights in Season 2 when they introduced a new model phaser with a similar look. So maybe it's a combination of the two: they couldn't get K-9's nose laser to light up when it had to, and they ran out of time to sort it out; so they just scrapped the idea and painted the clear tubes black.

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

fivefingeredstyre

Feb 17, 2016, 06:55 am #49 Last Edit: Feb 17, 2016, 06:56 am by fivefingeredstyre
Quote from: exleo on Feb 16, 2016, 11:37 pm
The first replica exhibits that were pulled for Longleat and Blackpool did have the stunted head and there were two dummy props made around the same time for exhibits but both disappeared, so there is a good chance the private owner had one of these, although they were never screen used just exhibits, they were replaced by the more accurate versions created for MOMI and for the USA tour
Sounds to me like he has one of these. He's done a bloody good job of making it more accurate though, both inside and out.

QuoteThe Lomgleat animatronic was built specifically for the exhibit, based on the original moulds so yes had the stunted head, it sat on a small track and repeated a set of movements and phrases with head nodding, tail wagging and ears turning ( the Blackpool exhibit was the same). Due to a short circuit the exhibit caught fire. At the time it was placed inside the console room exhibit in a glass case, luckily this glass protected the Console from too much damage (mostly smoke damage), but sadly the rear of his display area backed onto those of other displays and as a resault a great number of Original costumes and props were either damaged or completely destroyed including Cybermen, Daleks, Cleaners, a Nimon, Gundan robots and the Pharos project telescope model from the story Logopolis.... The giant space station from the Trial of a Timelord was also damaged and numerous older one off costimes completely destroyed...... As to the K-9 exhibit itself, it was a molten lump of melted scrap, totally unrecognisable!
That still saddens me, to this day. With a little care and attention there could have been so much more of the classic show on display at the Experience :(

With out going too far off topic, do you know how badly damaged the Trial space station was?

exleo

Feb 17, 2016, 02:58 pm #50 Last Edit: Feb 17, 2016, 10:55 pm by rassilonsrod
QuoteWith out going too far off topic, do you know how badly damaged the Trial space station was?


It wasn't too badly damaged considering it was made of wood, styrene and plastic kit parts, on one side it was blackened and charred and the top of the central pylon was melted along with a few of the buttresses on the scorched side.... it could have been 'fixed' without too much trouble and all the micro bulbs were still working except for those in the melted spire.... I have no idea where this beautiful model went after the exhibition closed down  :(

warmcanofcoke

MKII Shada
k9%20whole_zpsmwtolfml.jpg
k9%20whole2_zpskqwsf5ua.jpg

Observe the Eye Whole where the sensor probe comes out.
why doesn't the Guide mention them? - Oh, it's not very accurate.
Oh? - I'm researching the new edition.

galacticprobe

Feb 18, 2016, 06:12 am #52 Last Edit: Feb 18, 2016, 06:13 am by galacticprobe
In those images, it looks like his eye sensor hole is just a semicircle cut into the second "eye slat" up from the bottom (red arrow):
EyeSensorHole.jpg
It also looks like his topmost eye slat has fallen off (yellow arrow), leaving only the glue track. And maybe it's just me, but those eye slats look like they're made from clear perspex strips - possibly slightly frosted - and the red color for them (at least here) comes from the red light inside the eyes.

Nice images, Nate! Thanks for sharing!

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

davidnagel

K9 was surprisingly beat up by this point it seems!

And despite both the full size prop for the photo shoots? compared to the stunt model sprung across the beach stones, he's still as bad in "The Leisure Hive"

The-Leisure-Hive-4th-Fourth-Doctor-Lalla-Ward-Romana-K9.jpg
Regards
David

warmcanofcoke

Feb 19, 2016, 02:57 am #54 Last Edit: Feb 19, 2016, 03:08 am by warmcanofcoke
Warriors' Gate K9 Mk II
Staem%20punk%20K9%2001_zpst3jsdzs3.jpg
Steam punk innards.
Staem%20punk%20K9%2002_zps88dlcgci.jpg
Colour Button pattern.
Staem%20punk%20K9%2003_zpsgqqvzwyh.jpg

Looks like K9 was left to his own devices, when JNT was trying to kill the Dog.
why doesn't the Guide mention them? - Oh, it's not very accurate.
Oh? - I'm researching the new edition.

galacticprobe

Feb 19, 2016, 06:28 am #55 Last Edit: Feb 19, 2016, 06:29 am by galacticprobe
Heck, JN-T killed the entire Classic Series! K-9 was but one of his victims. But this does make me wonder now just how much of his own stunts the Hero K-9 did when JN-T took over, with JN-T sitting back hoping that one of those stunts would totally destroy the Hero prop and put an end to the poor old dog that much faster.

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

warmcanofcoke

Feb 22, 2016, 03:25 am #56 Last Edit: Feb 22, 2016, 02:41 pm by warmcanofcoke
K9%20in%20elevator_zpslynayygp.jpg
k9%20eye%20hole_zps2xtmo6re.jpg
noselazer_zpssudpnswb.jpg
Mk I in Sunmakers.
why doesn't the Guide mention them? - Oh, it's not very accurate.
Oh? - I'm researching the new edition.

galacticprobe

Feb 22, 2016, 05:52 am #57 Last Edit: Feb 22, 2016, 05:56 am by galacticprobe
Aside from the paint color change (to make him the mark II in Season 16), his eyes definitely show changes and the wear and tear:

K-9-Eyes.jpg
The yellow arrow shows that there was indeed a 5th red slat at the top when he was the mark I, and as we saw in "Shada", by this time the mark II had lost that slat.

The red arrow shows that on the mark I, the semicircle notch for the extendable eye sensor was on the lowest eye slat with the notch facing up, whereas on the mark II it was on the next slat up, and faced down.

And these perspex eye slats are very visibly red all the way across and out to their edges. In the "Shada" mark II, they still look like clear perspex (especially near the edges), with their red color coming from the red eye lights.

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"

meantimebob

I think the red slats were always the same material, but bodged masking during one of the dog's resprays led to the perspex gaining a fine mist of paint, making it look different.

galacticprobe

Feb 23, 2016, 04:43 am #59 Last Edit: Feb 23, 2016, 04:43 am by galacticprobe
That's extremely possible. Looking back at both the mark I and II images, the level of light passing though the eye slat perspex is much brighter when he was the mark I. The mark II slats don't look as bright, which would certainly be the case if there was overspray on them, blocking the light from the main eye.

Dino.
"What's wrong with being childish?! I like being childish." -3rd Doctor, "Terror of the Autons"