Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen - Story 150

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Delta and the Bannermen is definitely one of the most polarizing Doctor Who serials; either you love it or hate it. Its bad reputation probably comes from being sandwiched in the middle of Sylvester McCoy's first season in the lead role, which is universally written off as 14 episodes of childish, gaudy faffing about offset by hideous dialogue, cheap production values, and, of course, the rightly infamous "demo mode on Casio keyboard" music of Keff McCulloch used for all but one of the season's episodes.

Well, Delta is probably the best episode of the otherwise calamitous 24th season of the show. The first two serials of the McCoy era did not paint the character with a good quality brush; in Time and the Rani, the Doctor went way beyond his regular eccentricity and became just plain weird and often facetious; I submit the mixed metaphors he regularly spouts throughout that episode ("Time and tide melts the snowman," "Two wrongs don't make a left turn," et al.) as evidence. Paradise Towers was probably even more silly than the preceding serial, where the acting was at its absolute worst and Keff's music was channeling Speak and Spell-era Depeche Mode by way of Madonna.

Delta is different from those two. The Doctor doesn't act overly silly here (aside from the accidental sneeze that leads into part one's cliffhanger); McCoy's performance here is great, beginning to plan out the darker, moodier Seventh Doctor of the final two seasons. There's a great character moment for him towards the end, where he is seen cradling a Stratocaster and commenting, "Love has never been known for its rationality."

And the script? For a comedic episode, it's not bad. Doctor Who has always raised ire when trying to do comedy (see the late 70's disasterpiece of BBC Christmas pantomime, The Horns of Nimon, for more information), but the comedy is offset by a great deal of character scenes and some great production values for the period (this episode was almost entirely shot on location, which probably contributes to the polished look).

But the biggest subject of debate is the massive amount of 1950's rock music used throughout all three episodes, albeit in cover versions. I don't mind it so much as others; Keff's attempts at rock are better than the actual synthesized, non-diegetic music used for most of the episode, but not by much (on a side note, Keff himself makes an onscreen appearance in part one).

You've probably heard a lot of bad things about this one if you're a fan, but I suggest you give it a chance. As I said, you either love this episode or hate it; it's Doctor Who trying to be radically different, and whether it succeeds or not is entirely your perception. However, if you're someone who longs for the "good ol' days" of Jon Pertwee, complete with horrible CSO and rubber suit monsters, then go back to The Green Death and stay far, far away from this one.

As for the DVD, it includes an early edit of part one, with extended and rearranged scenes (and lacking music and sound effects), a documentary about Doctor Who comic strips, continuities from the original 1987 transmission, and the obligatory audio commentary, among other things; typical of the excellent DVD releases you've come to expect from the BBC.

Much like the first two James Bond movies after Roger Moore took over the roll, the first couple of Sylvetster McCoy episodes of Doctor Who are hit and miss affairs. There are times when you can see consistency trying to emerge, but basically all concerned with the 7th incarnation of the Doctor are trying to see what fits. However, 'Delta and the Bannermen' is probably the first real glimpse of the Doctor we are going to enjoy until 1989. The story (concerning an Enlish holiday camp in the 1950s and an invading alien race) walks the fine line between slapstick and genuine adventure. Most of the McCoy episodes did this, mixing Sylvester McCoy's talent for physical comedy and machine-gun speech patterns with his sympathetic nature and concern for his travelling companion (which would later be perfected by the arrival of Ace, an almost perfect pairing of a Doctor with a companion). There is a lot of physical comedy in any McCoy episode, but the scripts also contain genuine wit and intelligence. McCoy himself is highly likeable and the imagery contained in much of his run as the Doctor is the most arresting to be seen on television since 'The Prisoner.' And all done with a miniscule budget. Dr Who has always been a great example of script and intelligence over budget and special effects, and the McCoy run of shows is no exception. 'Delta and the Bannermen' (as well as many of the other episodes) offer funny, exciting and well-acted television. The McCoy years are filled with high-energy, and this has sometimes been confused with mere slapstick. This is not the case, though. Sylvester McCoy combined his physical comedic skills faster paced productions (these episodes can actually be called exciting)and top-notch scripts to deliver two memorable seasons. I agree, he took some time finding his feet, but once they landed firmly on 'Delta and the Bannermen', there was no looking back for the 7th Doctor.

Right in the middle of "Delta and the Bannermen" is a dotty old Welshman named Goronwy: beekeeper, collector of honey, student of human nature. Everything Goronwy says reflects directly on the story unfolding around him. It's he who tells us that, just as an ugly pupa becomes a beautiful butterfly, so will Delta's hideous green baby become the new Chimeron queen. It's he who tells us that a newborn bee can become queen just by the right diet. Those two sentences are the plot. On the other hand, we also get two bumbling CIA agents. Contrary to Goronwy, absolutely nothing they say advances the story at all. In fact, the story stops dead whenever they're on screen. And that's "Delta and the Bannermen" for you. Sublime and the ridiculous aggressively sewn up in the same package.

This most small-scale "Doctor Who" story -- twelve black-clad soldiers menace a Welsh holiday camp in 1959 -- is also the most hyper and frenetic the show ever got. Here we have more spaceships and motorcycles and buses and cars and other vehicles all in one place for the first time since "Planet of the Spiders". If you thought all those Season 11 chase scenes were too much to handle, try this caper on for size -- and it's half the length!

The guest cast is variable. CIA agent Weismuller is played by Stubby Kaye, the New York-born Broadway star (Guys and Dolls). Not only does he wear a Yankees jacket, but he wears the cap, too, just in case we missed the point. In 1959, the Yankees only finished in third place, and Kaye looks as tired and over the hill as Casey Stengel. But he's charming in the role and it's nice to add him to the "Who" legacy. His partner Hawk, on the other hand, has the worst American accents this side of "Dalek", and is played by someone named Morgan Deare who, if the Internet Movie Database is anything to go by, was most certainly not from New York.

The rest of "Delta" can be boiled down to vignettes that are interesting, and vignettes that are not. Ken Dodd's appearance has no impact for the American audience. Mel wears four different outfits, and that's just in the first thirty-five minutes. Much better is the rock-and-roll themed incidental music, and would-be companion Ray, who's such a cute breath of fresh air. I love how she keeps explaining to everyone that Keillor, an ill-fated bounty hunter in blue suede shoes, was "ionized".

Sylvester McCoy is also terrific. You can tell they still weren't sure where to go with his Doctor yet -- witness all those misquotes ("A stitch in time fills up space!" that were never again a staple of his character). And yet, he's gentle with Ray, and avuncular with Billy ("For a primitive piece of technology, it certainly delivers the decibels!"). His Part Two confrontation with the Bannermen leader Gavrok, staged on a rickety staircase, features great line after great line (a few minutes later, he's back to discussing honey with Goronwy).

The story wraps up about five minutes before the end of the final episode, leaving time for an extended denouement where all the (surviving) characters get something amusing to do. It ends with Goronwy telling us that, in the end, the new queen bee creates "a new hive, and a new life", and then he winks at the disappearing TARDIS.

The story's an episode shorter than most four-parters so there's more room on the DVD for vintage on-location footage; a nostalgic interview with British TV veteran Hugh Lloyd (Goronwy) taped shortly before the actor's death in 2008; and, from an ongoing 2-Entertain series, an overview of the 7th Doctor comic strip. An excellent commentary track joins the Doctor and Ray with director Chris Clough and script editor Andrew Cartmel; there are solid anecdotes from all. Also interesting is the original 30-minute edit of Part One, giving the story more room to breathe; this is untreated with visual or sound effects so a dinner gong is signified by a PA quietly saying: "Dong!". Come to think of it, they could have left the "Dong!" in the finished product and the story wouldn't have suffered one bit.

I'm one of those people who love Delta and the Bannerman. Yes there are sappy parts, but they are more than made up for by the good parts. The beginning with the purple aliens and the bus ride..not so good. Everything at the summer camp, Mel, Delta, Ray, Billie & the Bee-Keeper are all good. The actual Bannermen are horrible. The investigators, the navarino's and the background music is what gives this episode a bad name. So if you want to see an episode where the doctor dances to 50's music and rides a motorcycle, Mel is tolerable, and the doctor plays eccentric with a real eccentric, please join in. It has a different flavor than any other 7th doctor episode. If you are looking for a tight, action_packed story you probably need to move along. Best line: "I think I took that a little too farrrr."

I guess the BBC is pacing itself on these DVD releases. There are still so many great Who stories waiting to come out but they continue to unleash dogs like this one and Timelash on us. I suppose they don't want to be stuck putting out all of the howlers at the very end of the release schedule.
I like Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker but they were ill-served by the producer and writers of that era. Through no fault of his own, every story in McCoy's first season stunk. His next season was much better and his final season was great. Stories like Doctor Who - The Curse of Fenric (Episode 158) and Doctor Who - Remembrance of the Daleks are classics. If they had jumped directly to the quality of his final season the original Doctor Who might have lasted a while longer.
I won't even go into all of the reasons why Delta and the Bannermen is unwatchable. Just stay away from it!
All of the worthwhile McCoy stories have been released (with the possible exception of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy) so the BBC should give his stuff a rest for a while. There are still a lot of great Pertwee and Tom Baker stories we need first.

The year was 1987. Forget about fictional Buck Rogers being frozen in time, to wake up 500 years later only to bad disco, spandex, scantily clad bimboids, some equally dim himbos, and of course that oddly shaped robot adored by children everywhere (it's a robot, how many kids DON'T like robots?)... if real life involved Earth being nuked and was reborn with the mission to tell these "advanced" people about boogying, I'd want to commit suicide. But that's another TV series, thankfully, so let's get back to "Doctor Who"...

At the time, 1987, my local PBS affiliate aired the "Doctor Who" episodes. I did not know that Colin Baker, my favorite Doctor at that point, was unceremoniously fired and replaced with Sylvester McCoy. When "Time and the Rani" (the season premiere) aired, I thought "Well, this is okay... looks great... a real drop in story quality... hope things get better...".

As this season, "Doctor Who"'s 24th progressed, it quickly became apparent how my hope was misplaced.

"Delta and the Bannermen" was the third of four stories to comprise the 24th season. By this point, I was wondering why I was still watching. The music was awful, the storylines had potential but were produced with as much pompous camp as could be shoved in... apparently for comedic effect, as the BBC executives did not want horror or suspense as audiences deemed such scenes "too graphic".

And right down to the new Doctor's costume- the question mark pullover vest, umbrella, calling card... ? symbols everywhere. Yuck. Just yuck. The show's a self-aware pastiche of a parody.

But back to "Delta and the Bannermen"; as further season 24 stories are released, I'll be more than happy to comment on them, and they aren't all as depressing as this story...

The story begins with some alien nasties tooting a horn and killing a bunch of people wearing green outfits. Except Delta, who's obviously a white humanoid with a great set of thighs and bad hair. (It WAS 1987...) She manages to escape the clutches of Gavrok, leader of the Bannermen, intent on committing genocide and wiping her and her people, the Chimeron, off their planet for good. (Sounds violent, doesn't it?) She's chased to a galactic starport and climbs on board an alien tour agency, that plan to go to Disneyland. The Doctor and Melanie arrive at the starport too. The starport features a machine that changes beings from their native form into human form. Don't worry, there are no relevant details to the process or for how long they remain in human form until they revert to their original form. If you watch this story, you'll see why I refuse to describe what the aliens, the Navarinos, look like. Unintentional or otherwise, it's gross.

*sigh* They take off, with the Bannermen in pursuit.

Of course, the ship hits a satellite and crash-land in Wales. No Disneyland for anybody today...

There are a couple of Americans who have been tracking the aforementioned satellite. Just think "horrendous stereotypes" and don't be bothered. Stubby Kaye guest-stars as one of these Americans. A bit of a shame, that...

There's another lady of interest in this episode, Ray. Her character was to replace Melanie as the companion. Don't worry, that never happened.

There's yet another companion named Billy. See, your typical chap from the 1950s, who sees a pretty woman giving strange food to a strange oddly-shaped baby thinks that, overhearing the exposition that eating this strange food will turn oddly-shaped babies into pretty girls, now believes that he will turn into an alien (but retain his pretty human male shape and function) by eating this magical food.

Do I really have to continue detailing this rubbish of a story?

Oh, very well:

Annoying Americans get their satellite. Billy turns into an alien (but retains human form) and he, Delta, and the baby live happily ever after and repopulate the Chimeron species. Oh, Mel's screams kill the Bannermen. Ray stays behind to play with her motorcycle. And the Navarinos... well, I'm sure they went home and were more than happy to revert into their original gross appearance too.

I will say the story has a couple of bright spots:

* The 7th Doctor's true personality starts to appear
* At least the agony is only three episodes in length
* Keff McCulloch's recreations of 1950s-era music are done VERY well indeed (and the announcer in the story makes an obvious in-joke to this fact as well)
* The whole thing does have a 1950s whimsy feel to it -- if you like such a feel
* All of the actors play their roles seriously. That really is a plus. They let the viewer decide if it's campy or the best-ever episode or anything else
* The special effects are passable, but it's the star port set that took me by surprise - 22 years on, it still looks like money was put into it

Given the BBC's mandate to tone down horror and violence, it's amazing that a story centered around genocide even made it past their censors before heading into production. The 50s-jovial attitude of the production, combined with incidental music that, when not recreating 1950s songs, helps shroud the grim concept. But made another way, with more grit and fewer scenes featuring dumb people doing really dumb things that make zero sense, it otherwise would have escaped the holder of "Worst episode ever".

This story is either loved or loathed by fans. I obviously loathe it. It's silly, tacky, pretentious, serious ideas let down by a pantomime, self-parody of a feel to the proceedings (again, at least the actors play it straight -- if they broke the 4th wall with antics, it'd make this story 0 stars at best). It deserved to be so much more.

For the technical side, DVD compression is good, as usual, for a WHO release, and the video and sound quality are very good indeed. Excellent remastering, as usual. More TV shows deserve the same level of treatment and care.

And now to answer the question you're all thinking of: The reason why I gave it more than one star is because of the amount and quality of included extras - including an original 30 minute edit of part one, archive interviews, a great commentary, and some outtakes. And more. The extras alone make this DVD worth a purchase, even for the most ardent fans who otherwise loathe this scribble of a story.

And, indeed, ignore the gaffes in the story's logic, campy tone of the incidental music (save for the 1950s songs, which were very well realized), and just roll along with it with ZERO expectations, I can see why some people love this story. There is an atmosphere of "fun" to it. It's garbage, but it's fun garbage. At least for those who can find the fun in it.

Oh, an epilogue: Fortunately, the story that followed "Delta and the Bannermen", known as "Dragonfire", was a decent improvement, with the 25th season showing the show had plenty of life left in it. But that's a discussion for another time...

I have to admit I'm developing an appreciation of Sylvester McCoy's Doctor Who. At first, I intensely disliked his characterization; but as I've watched more episodes of the McCoy era, I'm rapidly changing my opinion of him. He rarely gets ruffled and almost never deviates from his plan, even when conditions change. And I find his distinct costume far less clownish than, say, Tom Baker or Colin Baker's - even with his ever-present umbrella. This particular episode, "Delta And The Bannermen," seems like the quintessential Sylvester McCoy vehicle. The story is quite good; and, like others of the McCoy era, quite unique: a genuine "stand-alone" episode. You don't know immediately which are the "good guys" and which are the "bad guys," so that alone engages your interest from the very start. And each step of the way, as the peril grows, there's enough busy-work to keep your interest. Plus, the very notion of a literal "time-share" vacation is, in itself, interesting. All in all, a great episode - McCoy's sidekick Mel notwithstanding.

This show set in a 1950's british summer tourest camp is just that camp, yet a lot of fun. It poles fun at every aspect of everyday life of the 1950's, and keeps everyone smiling from the start to end. For all the heavy episodes done by the series at this time, this one is a breath of freash air and just a lot of fun that the crew had fun making you can see it in their faces.

I grew up watching Dr. Who. There isn't a Doctor that I didn't like--no LOVE. Until....until McCoy. I tried so hard to like him, but episodes like this made me loathe the man, and where he took the series. This may be the worst episode of Dr. Who I have ever seen. There is nothing redeeming about this one. I own the entire Who series, and I am passing on this, because the thought of having to endure this episode again causes me physical pain

When I was putting Delta and the Bannermen into my dvd player I had very low expectations for the story. The BBC is known to do the best period pieces and Doctor Who is no exception. Now this takes place in 1959. Not a time I was around for but the feel of the story went with the era I thought. Trying to pull off 50's style rock with 80's synthesizers was a bit of a challenge but it was passable. What I really liked about this story was the pacing of it. The story moved right along from the opening action sequences. It felt like the story never let up from beginning to end. Is this one of the best written Doctor Whos of all time? Absolutely not. Is this a fun adventure the keeps moving forward from beginning to end? Definitely! I think the story also being only 3 parts helped make the action move a lot quicker than most other stories. I thought Sylvestor McCoy played a strong Doctor in this story and when face to face with the enemy to tell him how it is he shined.