From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   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.   
      
   --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux NewsLink 1.92-mlp   
    * Origin: http://groups.google.com (1:2320/105.97)   
   --- SBBSecho 2.12-Linux   
    * Origin: telnet & http://cco.ath.cx - Dial-Up: 502-875-8938 (1:2320/105.1)