Rate and Discuss: Delta and the Bannermen

[SiHart]

The Doctor and Mel win the grand prize at Tollport G715- a Nostalgia Trip Tour to Disneyland, Planet earth in 1959... but things go wrong and they end up in South Wales instead.

What are your thoughts on this 3 part adventure?

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

Delta and The Bannermen Part One was the first episode of Doctor Who I ever sat down to watch. Previously I found Doctor Who too frightening! I finally watched parts two and three after having watched practiaclly the whole rest of the old series - nearly twenty years later.

It's not a great story though. There are elements that are done really well, paticularly the battle scenes in part one, but in parts two and three I found the whole thing became unbelievable. I can suspend my disbelief a long way, but for some reason Delta seems to me to be too much like a bunch of actors in a field with a video camera.

The story is quite enjoyable, but there's a lot of incompetence on display. It's OK to be incompetent if you can't really notice it, but here it's too obvious. Bad lighting, McCoy wearing his glasses, the awful uniform for the Toll Booth Attendent, the 'Tomorrow People' style costume for the natural Navarino and the whole look of the thing just push it a shade too far.

[duncan]

Not great but a definite improvement on the two previous efforts of this season.

[Larry]

I watched this for only the 2nd time when I bought the dvd, and have to say I really enjoyed it as for the character Ray (- Sara Griffiths) I think she'd of made a great companion and it's a pitty we ended up with Ace, instead of her,

[Andrew Curnow]

I like it! But then, you probably knew that already!

[MacNimon]

My initial impressions of the first two stories of the season were so bad that this was the first story I deliberately make the decision not to watch. It actually took me over 15 years to actually get around to watching it (I even remember posting about it here at the time, although I've got a feeling it was in the latter ezboard days) and I've got to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It wasn't a classic by any means, and the leads performances weren't quite as bad as I'd long expected them to be. The story itself, although I can't remember much about it, was pretty enjoyable too although as I said already, it's no classic. It's the only S24 story that I'd buy on dvd though, and what it does get is a season-topping 5/10 score from me!

[SiHart]

Delta is the best story of the season, which perhaps doesn't mean a great deal considering the competition. It's bright and summery and fun. It's not demanding, it's free from any referencing of the past and just exists as a Doctor Who adventure. Those are good things.

Again, whay struck me about it was the uneven tone. Things should have turned a bit darker after the bus is destroyed with all its passengers on board. That's a mightily brave, dark decision in a story that's broadly a comedy, and i think they got it wrong by not playing that as a huge stake upping turning point. It should have been. As is stands, it's very likely Bonnie's best ever moment in the show. She's actring her socks off and is brilliant. In fact she's rather good in this all round.

There's a good cast- with Don Henderson standing out as a rather evil and nasty villain. He's very good and very meancing- love the way he spits out the raw meat in disgust ast the Doctor's offer of fair play amd justice! Great stuff.

They should ahve given Ken Dodd a less glitzy costume. That was inexcusable.

Flawed but fun.

Si xx

[Terry Leptil]

It’s been a while since I saw Delta and the Bannermen. I felt it was okay, not brilliant but not bad. However, there are a few silly moments in the story. 6/10