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DELTA AND THE BANNERMEN

3 episodes. Approx. 73 minutes. Written by: Malcolm Kohll. Directed
by: Chris Clough. Produced by: John Nathan Turner.


THE PLOT

The TARDIS lands in a galactic toll booth, and the Doctor prepares for
some fast talking to get out of paying. But the Tollmaster (Ken Dodd)
has news for him: He is the toll booth's ten billionth customer, and
so he and Mel have won a trip with Nostalgia Tours to Disneyland,
1959.

The trip goes astray when the tour bus collides with an American
satellite, and the travellers crash land in the right year but the
wrong place. They are in Shangri-La, a run-down Welsh holiday camp.
Still, they determine to make the best of things, and the Doctor and
the bus driver quickly convince Burton (Richard Davies), the camp's
owner, to allow them lodging.

But two members of the tour are not what they seem. The reclusive
Delta (Belinda Mayne) is the last of the Chimeron, a race that was
hunted to extinction by the evil Gavrok (Don Henderson) and his
ruthless Bannermen. Also aboard is a bounty hunter - and he has just
reported Delta's presence.

Gavrok is on his way, and the siege of Shangri-La is about to begin!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Sylvester McCoy remains best in his quieter moments:
Reflecting over a dead mercenary that "violence always rebounds on
itself," or reacting nonverbally as young Ray (Sara Griffiths),
crestfallen at rejection from Billy (David Kinder), grabs the Doctor
for a dance. All of these moments are terrific ones for McCoy, who
seems absolutely in his element here.

However, the end of Episode Two showcases his greatest weakness as the
Doctor: His difficulty conveying anger. The face-down with Gavrok is
meant to be a climactic moment, one in which this Doctor finally shows
his full authority. But McCoy just doesn't pull it off. His rage isn't
convincing, and his authority flatly isn't there. When he orders the
Bannermen to release their prisoners and they comply, I'm wondering
why they don't just shoot him and have done with it.

Mel: Bonnie Langford's best performance in Season Twenty-Four. This
is, admittedly, not saying much. Still, Malcolm Kohll's script
deserves credit for highlighting the most appealing aspects of Mel's
character: Her compassion, her instinctive desire to help. Langford
seems very much at home here, and simple unforced moments such as Mel
enjoying herself at a dance go a long way toward making both actress
and character genuinely work for a change.

Ray: Or the companion who might have been. Sara Griffiths is
appealing, but I think the production team ultimately made the right
decision. Griffiths is charming, but Ray is fairly bland in what would
have been her establishing story. I suspect she would have receded
completely into the background had she been part of the series on an
ongoing basis.


GAVROK AND THE SEVENTH DOCTOR'S SECOND BIRTH

At the end of Episode Two, the Doctor confronts the story's principle
villain, Gavrok (Don Henderson). Gavrok is no Davros, no Master, no
Harrison Chase even. He isn't articulate, he doesn't have any grand
vision. If he even has a motive for wiping out the Chimeron, we aren't
told what it is. He doesn't even seem to take much satisfaction in his
misdeeds. He kills not for pleasure, but simply because he can.

As he chomps on a piece of raw meat, the Doctor comes to him under a
white flag of truce. Any of the Doctor's usual enemies would respect
that flag. It would only be civilized, after all, and his usual foes
never miss a chance for some urbane gloating. Gavrok sees him coming
and takes a potshot - not at the Doctor but at the flag, showing his
disdain. The Doctor snaps, appalled at everything that Gavrok is, by
his own admission going "a little too far" in castigating the villain
from a position of powerlessness.

Call it my private fan theory, but I think this is the moment at which
the Seventh Doctor's persona shifts. The cheerful little man we've
been watching will soon be scouring time and space, no longer content
to simply defeat evil as he stumbles across it but instead seeking it
out. From the Second Doctor's "Evil must be fought," the Seventh
Doctor will instead declare through his actions that "Evil must be
sought." And I think it's here - staring into the basest, ugliest,
most brutish face of evil - that this shift in attitude and focus
begins. Seeing evil with no civilized veneer to mask its ugliness, the
Doctor becomes angry. The rage ends quickly, but the disgust lingers,
changing him for the rest of this incarnation's life.


THOUGHTS

Delta and the Bannermen is the story that most perfectly encapsulates
Season Twenty-Four, both its failings and its virtues. It is a unique
story in the series' run, and the one most representative of the 1987
season as a whole.

Delta and the Bannermen has many charming moments. Most of them are
packed into the story's first half. I love the Doctor's awkward
attempts to comfort Ray in Episode One, for example. When Ray throws
her arms around him and starts sobbing into his chest, the look on
Sylvester McCoy's face is priceless - It's exactly the kind of
nonverbal comedy McCoy is best at.

More good moments occur in Episode Two. With the Bannermen on their
way, the Doctor must quickly convince Burton that he isn't insane. He
does so by showing the man his TARDIS. The holiday camp owner's
reaction is perfect: "Can we take her for a bit of a spin?" Burton
then lines up his staff and insists they go to safety for a couple of
days, carefully avoiding telling them the truth lest he make himself
look crazy. As his staff leaves, he tells Mel that he has misgivings
about sending them away, but he "cannot risk (his) staff." These are
all good scenes, all utterly charming.

Episode Three still has a sense of fun to it, but it is by far the
weakest installment. The reason? This is the only episode to be
significantly concerned with the plot. And the biggest problem with
this is Gavrok. While I like the idea of Gavrok, an evil force who is
simply a brute with no charm or charisma, he doesn't quite work in
practice. Part of the reason has to do with the character's stupidity.
The Doctor sets up an obvious trap for him midway through Episode
Three, luring him and his men into an ambush by bees. Gavrok doesn't
even hesitate, doesn't show the slightest sign of shrewdness. He just
runs headlong into the trap, with the kind of tactical genius that is
usually reserved for clumsy puppies.

Another problem is the violence. Near the end of Episode Two, Gavrok
destroys a bus that is full of likable side characters. Mel is
appalled... for the space of about thirty seconds, after which this
massacre is never even mentioned. Again, I love the idea of having a
moment of such brutality in the midst of such a whimsical story. This
moment should have been a jolt to the audience, a reminder that while
this universe might be fun, it is never safe. But the execution fails.
The effect is limp, the other characters barely react, and the whole
thing is forgotten even by the audience within minutes of occurring.

Still, if Delta and the Bannermen doesn't always work, it is at least
trying. It's probably the most ambitious story of the season: A light
tone, stuffed with charming character moments and period detail, all
acting as backdrop for what is at its core a very grim plot. The craft
isn't there to make it work: The Bannermen should clash with the light
tone, instead of being laughably ineffectual and thus swallowed by
that tone. But the charming moments are worth the trip, and at three
episodes it doesn't outstay its welcome.

Seriously flawed by the most generous measure, but enjoyable on its
own terms. I wouldn't say I'd recommend it, as such. But it's not
quite like any other Doctor Who story, and it is the one serial I
would show to completely answer the question, "What is Season Twenty-
Four like?" For that alone, I can find no hate in me for this silly,
messy little concoction.


Rating: 5/10.

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