Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - Delta and the Bannermen [VHS]

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Hiding in plain sight in the middle of "Delta and the Bannermen" is a dotty old Welshman named Goronwy. He's a beekeeper, a collector of honey, and a student of human nature. Script writer Malcolm Kohll clearly had something different in mind for this character. Everything Goronwy says reflects directly on the story unfolding around him. He's a living, breathing, Basil Exposition. 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 Billy -- and us -- that a newborn bee can become queen just by the right diet.

On the other hand, Kohll also sees fit to include a pair of bumbling CIA agents named Hawk and Weismuller. Contrary to Goronwy, absolutely nothing they say advances the story at all. In fact, "Delta and the Bannermen" stops dead whenever they're on screen. And that's "Delta and the Bannermen" for you. The sublime and the ridiculous, all aggressively sewn up in the same package.

This most small-scale of "Doctor Who" stories -- twelve evil black-clad soldiers menace a Welsh vacation resort in 1959 -- is also the most hyper and frenetic the show ever got. The whole thing is a gigantic car chase. I mean, 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 75-minute caper on for size!

The guest cast is variable. Let's go back to Hawk and Weismuller for a minute. Weismuller is played by Stubby Kaye, the New York-born Broadway star ("Guys and Dolls") who somehow wound up living in England, trapped in the middle of Season 24. Not only is he wearing a New York Yankees jacket, but he's wearing a Yankees cap, too, just in case we missed the point. In 1959, the Yankees only finished in third place, and Kaye looks tired and over the hill, just like 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 accent this side of "The Chase", 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. Resort director Burton gives a totally pointless speech to his staff before he evacuates them. You'd have thought, to hear that speech, that the entire staff was about to get blown up by Bannermen! A few minutes before that, Burton's assistant clears his throat directly into the camera and sings "When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along". Yes, this is 1959, we get it. 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, the ill-fated bounty hunter in blue suede shoes, was "ionized". Sylvester McCoy is also terrific in this. 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, avuncular with Billy ("For a primitive piece of technology, it certainly delivers the decibels!"), and devastating to Gavrok. His Part Two confrontation with the Bannermen leader, cleverly 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, leaving time for an extended denouement where all the (surviving) characters get something amusing to do. Even that much free time wasn't enough for Kohll, who added five or six scenes on top of that for his novelization. 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.

There is almost something profound in the middle of all this silliness, but it all went by so fast that maybe I didn't have time to realize that it was a lot more silly than it was profound. Or vice versa.

I hadn't seen this one in a while, as the later Dr. Who seasons didn't get shown much in my area. This is from Sylvester McCoy's first season. During this time Dr. Who entered a bit of a silly period, and I expected not to like this one but I did. The juxtaposition of a holiday camp in Wales in 1959 and invaders from outer space made for an odd little story. Even though it did get a little silly at times, it also would turn on a dime and get serious. It's not one of the best Dr. Who adventures by any strech of the imagination, but one that i found highly enjoyable and entertaining.

This episode was cheesier than Cheddar, England, but I loved it!
The Doctor and Mel win a trip to Disneyland in the 1950's, and, of course, as always happens whenever the Doctor tries to take a holiday, everything goes wrong!

They have to save an alien queen and her baby, and prevent the destruction of an entire race! But first they have to fix the bus.

That is what I most love about this story, it isn't all gloom, doom, and machiavellian machinations. It takes place in a simple 1950's holiday camp, complete with hula-hoops and bouffant hairdos.

And we learn some interesting things about the Doctor, such as: he doesn't like to pay a toll any more than the next person, he's always willing to lend a shoulder to cry on, and there's a standing bounty on his head. And he can dance, if he's surprised into it.

All in all this wasn't one of the deep, thought provoking stories. But it had it's surprises. After all, this was the first time I'd ever seen someone boobytrap the TARDIS! Which, really, you would think someone would have done before!

After seeing this, I've officially seen all of Sylvester McCoy's Dr. Who stories. This one, while having some serious elements in the plot, veers into light-hearted moments, in particular the 1950's rock-and-roll sounds and moments at a holiday resort in Wales. The Bannermen, a band of cold-hearted mercenaries led by the evil Gavrok commits mass genocide on the Chimeron planet, leaving only Delta, the queen. Then there are a pair of Mutt-and-Jeff U.S. government agents assigned to track an American satellite.

The Doctor and Mel become the ten billionth customer to stop at G715 toll port and win a Fabulous 50's tour to Disneyland in the year 1959. Mel decides to go aboard a spaceship, disguised as a tour bus, which also has Navarinos onboard. The pieces come together early in the story: Delta manages to land her ship at the toll port, fleeing aboard the Navarino tour bus. A bounty hunter with Elvis-like sideburns reports Delta's position to Gavrok, bringing the Bannermen to Earth. However, en route to Earth, the American satellite collides with the Navarino craft, deflecting it to a Welsh holiday resort run by the affable Burton. The American agents, the grumpy Hawke and laid back Weismuller, are searching for the missing satellite.

Billy, Burton's mechanic, falls in love with Delta, much to the chagrin of the heartbroken Ray (short for Rachel), who has been carrying a torch for him. Rachel even got interested into motorcycles just so he'd notice him, but no dice--what a jerk!

Some bits of dialogue are funny. Agent Weismuller calls from a genuine police box: "I'm speaking from Wales, in England." Uh, actually,...never mind. And the Doctor philosophically states "Love is not known for its rationality." The Doctor also launches into verbal fury against Gavrok, who agrees to spare his life in exchange for Delta. "What do you know about life? You deal in lies, treachery, and death. Life? You promise life but in the end it will be life that defeats you."

One element of the story involves Goronwy, a very accommodating and open-minded old man who raises bees. The fact that he takes Delta's green-skinned daughter without batting an eye might mean he's an alien. Speaking of Delta's daughter, she has a lovely party piece good for shattering champagne glasses.

Don Henderson plays Gavrok so seriously he walks a bit on the vile side. If he looks familiar, it's because he played General Tagge in the original Star Wars and a Simulant in the Red Dwarf episode Beyond A Joke before his death, so he's been in all three of my favorite sci-fi series.

The 1950's songs, such as "Rock Around The Clock," "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," and "That'll Be The Day," along with the poodle skirts and ponytails worn by the Navarinos, and hoola hoops, add to the atmosphere. Remember, rock and roll's all about decibels, as Billy says. Keff McCullough's synthesizer music also includes classic silent film chase music to add to the light excitement.

It would have been interesting if Sara Griffith had been picked to succeed Bonnie Langford instead of Sophie Aldred. That cute Welsh accent had some marketing potential there. I think this story will settle well with me in time.

The Doctor and Mel get mixed up in an Interplanetary Vacation Tour to 1950s Earth, only to get involved with invading Bannermen looking for the Chimeron Queen and Princess and eventually exterminate them. Delta and the Bannermen is part of the maligned and much critized 24th Season of Who. Some might say it's one of the worst and just part of Doctor Who's slide into cancellation. I have to admit that I didn't like it that much when I first viewed it. But, it's really not that bad. The problem with it is it doesn't know if it wants to be out-right silly or serious. There is some terrible dialogue, bad OTT acting and the 3 part format doesn't help. But there is some fun to be had. The 50s setting and score is nice, as with the entire location setting. There are a few decent effects and all the actors involved look like they're having fun(except for some viewers). This may not be every Who fans cup of tea, but there is some enjoyment when watching this silly outing. Plus, I believe McCoy's strengths are when the script has some sillieness involved with his character(Time and the Rani)rather than his mysterious portrayal in some later serials. And Bonnie langford, the most cardboard companion of the Doctor, isn't that bad either...

In retrospect, it's not surprising that the Sylvester McCoy era killed Doctor Who, with 'Delta and the Bannermen' being a prime example of why. Attempting to stage a third-rate version of 'Grease' (and failing even that), 'Delta' only succeeds in avoiding the gargantuan plotholes found in most McCoy stories (ie 'Silver Nemesis'). It's sad really, since the chemestry between McCoy and Langford had strong potential that went largely untapped until their reunion in the 2000 'Fires of Vulcan' audio adventure.

It you're seriously interested in getting into Doctor Who, DO NOT buy this video. However, if you're an old hand with the series and want something to watch with your pals at a drunken party, this is the one for you. You'll definitely be laughing at it, not with it...

I watched a new tape of this episode just a couple of nights ago, and like some other reviewers have said, this episode is just plain silly. Episodes like this one and Paradise Towers almost seem to be just a parody of Dr. Who. There are very few people who are bigger Doctor Who fans than I am, and it's hard for me to give any Dr. Who episode just 2 stars, as I'll usually give them at least 3 stars just for being Dr. Who. But, this episode is just terrible, not to mention it's just a 3 part episode, which I guess is a blessing in disguise, as at least you don't have to sit through it for very long. I don't know if Sylvester McCoy was a good doctor or not, judging by the 3 episodes I've seen him in (Time & the Rani, Paradise Towers, and this one), but he really didn't have a lot to work with in these three episodes, as they are definitely not similar in quality to previous doctors' episodes. It's not a wonder that the show didn't last too much longer, if this is the best they had to offer. I don't think I'll be buying any more Sylvester McCoy episodes, if most are like this one. So, bottom line, my recommendation is to stay away from this one. Get one of the great Doctor Who episodes from the third, fourth, or fifth doctors like "Genesis of the Daleks" or "The Talons of Weng Chiang" instead.