Kamelion

Doctorwhocharacter


name=Kamelion
series=Doctor Who
affiliation=Fifth Doctor
race=Android
planet=Xeriphas
era=Unspecified
start= The King's Demons
finish= Planet of Fire The Caves of Androzani (cameo)
portrayed=Gerald Flood (voice)

Kamelion is a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series "Doctor Who". A shape-changing android voiced by Gerald Flood in its default form, it is a companion of the Fifth Doctor and appears (properly, see below) in the programme in two serials between 1983 and 1984.

Character biography

When first encountered by the Doctor in "The King's Demons", Kamelion is a tool of the renegade Time Lord known as the Master. At the conclusion of the Master's previous encounter with the Doctor, he was trapped on the planet Xeriphas. When the Master returns, he has Kamelion with him, calling it a souvenir he had picked up from there. Although Kamelion is sentient to a degree, it is also extremely weak-willed, and therefore open to manipulation by any strong personalities around it. The Doctor frees Kamelion from the Master's grip, and it joins the Doctor in the TARDIS. Here it presumably spends all the intervening time between its two full appearances, out of sight and mind – notably no reference is even made to the character on-screen otherwise.

Kamelion eventually falls under the Master's influence again in the serial "Planet of Fire". Kamelion finally begs the Doctor to destroy it, and the Doctor reluctantly honours that request. The Kamelion robot's last appearance is as one of the images of his companions that comes to the Fifth Doctor during his regeneration scene in "The Caves of Androzani".

Behind the scenes

When Kamelion changed shape, it was played by the actor whose character's form it took. However, when in its default form, it was a true computer-controlled robot prop. The reason why the Kamelion robot was used fully only in two serials was that it was very difficult for the "Doctor Who" production team to control. It malfunctioned frequently, and things were only made worse when its inventor died in a boating accident without leaving behind the knowledge of the complex codes that controlled it. A third appearance by the character in the serial "The Awakening", designed to bridge the gap between its appearances and to remind viewers of its existence and the fact that it had been 'hiding' all this time somewhere in the TARDIS, was cut for timing reasons and was never broadcast. Thought lost forever, this scene was eventually recovered on a video copy of an early edit of "The Awakening" episode one, in the personal archive of the late "Doctor Who" producer John Nathan-Turner. Presented to the Doctor Who Restoration Team, it is a likely inclusion on a DVD release of this story.Fact|date=February 2007

Other appearances

Kamelion is also featured in the spin-off novels "The Crystal Bucephalus" by Craig Hinton, "Imperial Moon" and "The Ultimate Treasure" both by Christopher Bulis. In "The Crystal Bucephalus" its absence from the televised stories is here explained by saying that it remains secreted deep in the TARDIS for fear of being taken over by a stronger personality and used against the Doctor. In "The Ultimate Treasure", it is stated that Kamelion is the product of a race known as the Gelsandorans. Some of Kamelion's personality survives due to interfacing with the TARDIS, and the Gelsandorans give it a new body only for it to sacrifice itself to save the Doctor and Peri.

Kamelion also features in several short stories set in the "Doctor Who" universe, notably "One Perfect Twilight" by Craig Hinton ("Perfect Timing"), where the Doctor realises that obedience and slavery are built into Kamelion's makeup, and "The Reproductive Cycle" by Matthew Griffiths ("Short Trips: Life Sciences"). In the latter story, the "child" of Kamelion and the TARDIS, who becomes a double of Peri, takes her place on Earth while the real Peri travels with the Doctor.

Television serials

;Season 20
*"The King's Demons" ;Season 21
*"The Awakening" – cut from broadcast programme
*"Planet of Fire"
*"The Caves of Androzani" – cameo only

External links

* [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Kamelion Kamelion] at [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/ "The TARDIS Index File" website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/companions/page28.shtml Kamelion on the BBC's "Doctor Who" website]

References