So the robot isnât a guy in a suit, itâs an animatronic/puppet thing, and it wasnât built for the show. In fact, no one knows who built it, one of the producers just FOUND IT ONE DAY in a building near the studio. It had apparently been built for another production that was cancelled and then just left to gather dust. So they thought âoh cool, letâs make this dumb robot the Doctorâs new companion, itâll look neat and weird, everyone will have a gas with it.â NOPE.
Kamelion was incredibly complicated to operate, so they assigned a guy named Mike Powers to figure out the best way to go about it. Apparently he did a great job streamlining Kamelionâs operation, and then he promptly died in a boating accident (which is where the âcurseâ idea comes from.) He didnât leave any notes or instructions, and the show was already behind schedule, so they had to rush Kamelionâs scenes into production with no idea how it worked. It was a gigantic pain in the ass to use, took forever to set up, and needed constant upkeep and repairs. Everyone hated working with the prop, to the point that before Kamelionâs first episode even aired, they had already decided to kill him off later in the same season.
Peter Davison, who played the Fifth Doctor, had the most scenes with Kamelion, and absolutely hated it. When Kamelion dies, the Doctor is really sad, but Davison said later that it was one of the best acting jobs of his career, because in reality, he was absolutely giddy with joy at being rid of the thing.
