Kamelion

[The Doc]

Kamelion was a shape-changing android. Initially used by the Master, he went on to travel as a companion to the Doctor.

Kamelion was the tool of an invader of the planet Xeriphas. When the Master was trapped on that planet, he discovered Kamelion and used him in his next encounter with the Doctor. Although Kamelion was sentient to a degree, it was also extremely weak-willed, and therefore open to manipulation by any strong personalities around it. The Doctor freed Kamelion from the Master's grip, and it joined the Doctor in the TARDIS.

Kamelion eventually fell under the Master's remote influence in Lanzarote and assumed the shape of Peri's loathed stepfather Howard Foster and then the Master himself. In the end, Kamelion begged the Doctor to end its life. The Doctor reluctantly honoured that request

[Exterminate]

More than anything else, this story is guilty of the crime of bringing in this hump of junk. Kamelion was such a waste of space!

[poprockgeek]

I think the idea behind a character like Kamelion was probably a good one, and if done properly it could have been great. Unfortunately, based on this showing, it wasn't. He didn't do enough to actually bother me though, so I'm avoiding a totally negative opinion of him.

[Peri-Peri]

I think the idea behind a character like Kamelion was probably a good one, and if done properly it could have been great. Unfortunately, based on this showing, it wasn't. He didn't do enough to actually bother me though, so I'm avoiding a totally negative opinion of him.

I think the idea behind the character was it's downfall. JNT was looking for something to be a sort of successor to K9 and happened to see the prototype for the robot that would become Kamelion, so immediately wrote it into the story despite other people involved in the show being highly skeptical and not wanting to use it. Then when it came to actually using it, it never really worked properly and held up filming a lot because it would break down, which is why it was rarely seen.

Personally I always thought that the character was a big mistake and they shouldnt have rushed into bringing it onto the series, certainly not as a companion.

[poprockgeek]

Ah see, I didn't know that.

[Peri-Peri]

There's a whole featurette about it on the DVD. Some of the guys have been talking about it in the Bonus Features thread. It's worth watching if you can find it somewhere

[Peri-Peri]

I just had a quick look to see if it was online somewhere but I couldnt see it. You might have more luck though because I was only brief. Its called 'Kamelion - Metal Man'

[poprockgeek]

Ok, no worries. I'll have a look. I plan to start getting some of the DVDs anyway so if not I'll see it then. Kind of thinking of tying my purchases in with the ones I've watched in the Quest, depending on price of course 

[Saber]

I suppose this is sort of a good 'try before you buy' scenario. A lot of the DVDs are worth the price for the extras alone.

As for Kamelion, I was never really a fan. I think the best thing they did was to write the character out because it just didn't work

[Nyki]

Neither of the Kamelion stories are really ones I know well.  I thought it was a lot better used in Planet of Fire than here (the Master can alter his appearance, so why didn't he impersonate the King?) but it clearly just seemed like a good idea at the time.  Would probably come top of a "companions you'd least want to see return" poll.

[TheDoctorDonna]

One of the biggest wastes of space that the show has ever produced. The reasoning behind bringing the character in should have been enough of a warning sign that it was a bad idea. They should have done something similar with it to the TARDIS and made it stick in one of it's appearances. It at least would have made it more useable

[Tardis-Console]

I thought he was funny. I thought it was the acting at first, but I am guessing the frustration on everyone's faces was genuine

I don't think I would want to see him too often though.

[Exterminate]

I thought he was funny. I thought it was the acting at first, but I am guessing the frustration on everyone's faces was genuine

I don't think I would want to see him too often though.

I think he is only in 3 stories, maybe 2, and they aren't one after the other, so luckily we won't be seeing much of him anyway

[Aneurin]

So basically JNT brought it into the show, regardless of whether it would work, because he liked the look of it? Smart move! I didn't find him too annoying to watch, but I imagine it would have been a nightmare to work with

[Dame Roger]

I actually quite like the idea of a shape-shifting robot companion. If it had been properly used they could've just had one scene with the robot in the TARDIS at the start of each story, then had it shape-shift, and thus had a different guest companion for every story.

The problem was that it was done in such a ham-fisted way. The robot looked terrible, didn't work, and was almost completely immobile. It seems as if JNT wanted a robot companion so much that he completely ignored the fact that the technology to make it work just wasn't there.

Also, if it had been used more, I'm not sure that the idea of it being susceptible to the will of anyone who happened to be nearby would have worked. In one or two stories it makes for an interesting plotpoint, but if Kamelion had become a regular companion I think it would've just got in the way.