Three Episodes
Aired between 2nd November 1987 and 16th November 1987
Written by Malcolm Kohll
Produced by John Nathan-Turner
Directed by Chris Clough
Synopsis
On a distant planet, a group of mercenaries known as the Bannermen rage war on the last of an alien race known as the Chimerons (pronounced Shimmerons).
Delta, the last surviving female Chimeron and the last surviving Chimeron male make a break for the Bannermen's ship, finding Gavrok, The leader of the Bannermen, waiting for them. Gavrok kills the male Chimeron, but is injured and falls from the ship before he can kill Delta. Cradling her partner, Delta is given a metalic orb to keep safe. The male dies and Delta takes off, leaving the planet.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Mel have a rare stroke of luck, when a brief visit to Toll Port G715 results in the Tollmaster telling them they are the ten billionth customers and have won a trip on a fabulous 50's tour to Disneyland on Earth in 1959, courtesy of Nostalgia Tours.
Their companions will be a group of Navarino's - a species of alien that are effectively purple blobs. They pass through a transformation arch and are "converted" into humans, wearing 1950's period clothing.
The Tollmaster tells them they will be travelling on a flying bus, but the Doctor suggests that he'll follow along in the TARDIS whilst Mel can ride the bus. Just before it takes off, Delta crash-lands at the port and rushes onto the bus. The Tollmaster mistakes her for a Navarino who is a late arrival.
On Earth, 1959, two American Agents (Hawk and Weismueller) are in Wales, instructed to track the new satellite they're launching. This Satellite effectively hits the Nostalgia Tours bus, knocking it off course.
Thanks to the Doctor, he uses the TARDIS to help them land safely.
The tour soon discover they've been forced down, not in Disneyland, but in "Shangri-La" a holiday camp in Wales. The camp leader, Burton, mistakes the group as another party and invites them all to stay. The driver looks at the damage and thanks to the Doctor, has a crystal part that needs to be "re-grown" which will take 24hrs.
During this repair, the Doctor meets Billy - a local mechanic, and his biker friend, Ray (a girl who obviously is an unrequited love).
Mel meanwhile is billited with Delta and soon discovers that she's not a normal tour participant. She sees the strange orb and has a gun pulled on her in fear when the dinner gong sounds.
At dinner, Billy sits with Delta and they immediately begin to strike a rapport, much to the dislike of Ray.
After dinner, they are all invited to a dance, where Billy is a performer.
Billy dedicates a song to Delta and Ray gets upset, running off into a laundry room to cry. The Doctor goes after her to comfort her, but they run into one of the Navarino's who an informer and mercenary himself.
They catch him calling Gavrok to tell him Delta is in Wales. The mercenary spots the Doctor and Ray and prepares to shoot them, but Gavrok, having the information from the mercenary decides to eliminate him with a beam of energy.
Delta goes back to the room meanwhile and Mel sees the strange orb open and a reptile baby emerges. Billy, looking for Delta, arrives at the room and finds out she is an alien (and takes it all in his stride).
Together, Delta, Billy and the new Chimeron baby go off on his motorbike whilst Mel is asleep.
The Doctor and Ray, knocked out by the blast that killed the Mercenary, regain consciousness and find Mel, explaining that the Bannermen are on their way and that the Navarino's need to leave the holiday camp asap. They go to see Burton, being very frank about what's coming, but he doesn't believe them.
It takes the Doctor showing Burton the inside of the TARDIS for him to finally be convinced and start an evacuation of the holiday camp. With that in hand, the Doctor and Ray go off to find Billy and Delta.
Out in the countryside, Delta shows Billy that the child grows very fast.
Being a young girl already, the Chimeron child starts to emit a high pitch sound. Delta says it's a song, and a defence mechanism. Delta says that what the Bannermen are doing is illegal and if she can get a case to the brood planet, they will be punished.
The Doctor and Ray eventually find Delta and Billy, warning them what's to come.
The Bannermen arrive, witnessed by Weismuller and Hawk and a quickly take the pair hostage.
Back at the camp, the bus is repaired and ready to set off. Mel tells the driver that she will stay behind and wait for the Doctor. The Driver reluctantly agrees and sets off, only to be destroyed by Gavrok and his Bannermen. Mel, taken prisoner, bluffs that Delta was on the bus.
That is quickly discovered to be a lie as the Doctor and the rest arrive back at the camp and are spotted. Gavrok instructs his men to keep Mel as bait as Delta and the others escape.
The Doctor, Ray, Billy, Delta and the Chimeron child are on the run. Guided by Delta's ability to communicate with bees, they arrive at a beekeeper's house. He is called Goronwy and allows them to stay. The Doctor tells them all to wait there whilst he goes to try and talk Gavrok into leaving Delta alone.
He does Parley with Gavrok, who lets Mel and Burton go, but as they get on the bike, the Bannermen take aim.
They don't fire, but the one's guarding Weismueller and Hawk see the bike go past and they shoot a tracking device onto the bike.
Once back at Goronwy's, they make plans. Delta feeds the child Royal Jelly from the Chimeron source. She claims that the child will grow again, soon. When nobody's looking, Billy eats some of the jelly. The guards arrive to attack Delta, but the child has grown and emits a high frequency sound that hurts the guards and blows out the windows. Delta shoots one of the guards and the other escapes, leaving them time to depart themselves.
Gavrok and the rest of the Bannermen go to the tracker, but find that the Doctor has found it and placed it on a goat instead. The surviving guard finds them and takes them to Goronwy's house but it's discovered that they have left.
The Doctor and co meanwhile, make it back to the holiday camp, finding that the TARDIS has been booby trapped. The Bannermen arrive before they can disable it, and the Doctor is forced to improvise. He rigs a speaker onto the roof of the camp building and the Chimeron child emits the high frequency sound again, scrambling the Bannermen's brains. Gavrok, near the TARDIS when this happens, walks into his own booby trap and is destroyed.
The rest of the Bannermen are tied up by the Americans.
Because Billy has eaten the Jelly, he has turned into a Chimeron male. With Delta and the Child, he agrees to take the Bannermen ship and take the prisoners with them back to the brood world to face trial.
With them departed, the Doctor and Mel say their goodbyes and leave.
Trivia
- This story and Dragonfire were filmed together as the original series was meant to end on a six part story. They used the same crew but different sets, obviously.
- This is the first story to feature the Seventh Doctor's question mark umbrella, it would stay with the Doctor for the rest of his tenure.
- The mercenary who nearly kills the Doctor is one of the Flying Pickets, a band that to this day have annual fame when their song "only you" is played on most Christmas song playlists around the UK
- Bonnie Langford had decided to leave by this point, and the writers were asked to put in potential characters to go along in the TARDIS. Ray was one of those potential characters, as was Ace in the next story. Ultimately, it was decided to go with Ace.
- Sophie Aldred originally auditioned for the role of Ray, but was cast as Ace because she stood out from the rest
- There was an idea suggested for a sequel, when Gavrok's brother turned up, but it never came to anything
- It's the last time in the series that the soldier helmets used in Earthshock are seen.
The Review
Delta and the Bannermen is one of the few stories in this era that is stand alone. Whilst that could be something to celebrate, it sort of suffers from having bonkers and frankly, improbable concepts as story hooks. Trying to move away from the old style of continuity so put in place by Ian Levine, the new crew play fast and loose with the story. Whilst on one hand it is a breath of fresh air, and does make it "fun", introducing more expanded universe links, this story feels more at home in the pages of a comic book than it does on screen. The flying bus, the purple aliens and the less we say about Ken Dodd, the better.
Thing is, as fun as it is, it does feel disappointing that they've gone too far the other way. It's blase the way that the space bus is there and offers commercially available time travel, along with the ability for purple aliens to shape change without too much effort. The effect on the universe having this kind of technology could be staggering. I mean, what if Delta simply went through that transformation arch? What if a Sontaran or other ill meaning race did? The potential for messing up the timeline is immense to the point where I find it hard to believe that the Time Lords would be letting this happen. They didn't in the Two Doctors.
Overall the story is "Blah". It's novel for the way in which it handles aliens, but everyone in it acts goofy, and a lot of the scenes are pointless. Definitely one to miss if you have better options.
Rating
4 out of 10
Re-Watchability Factor
3 out of 10
Watch this if you liked...
- Remembrance of the Daleks
- The Idiot Lantern (Doctor Who, Series 2)
- Smith and Jones (Doctor Who, Series 3)
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