(663) Delta and the Bannermen - Part 2

You know how I was saying that with the serial being three episodes it means that there is less padding and more opportunities for the pace to pick up. Well this episode pretty much blows that theory up in to thousands of pieces. This episode is about 90% padding and 10% relevant narrative. For the first time in a few episodes, Bonnie Langford wasn’t the most annoying aspect of the episode. But that is because of the facts that she had very little to do and also the fact that there were far more obvious annoying aspects of the episode.

The baby that looked gross at the end of the previous episode looks even worse when it sitting in Delta’s arms. There is a scene where Billy walks in and seems to accept the situation when he walks in. A few minutes later the baby had turned into a real baby that has the bad luck of having its face painted green. It’s the acceptance that Billy has that is something that doesn’t make any sense. I like the character of Delta and Belinda Mayne plays the role very well and I believe that she is a Queen. It’s just a shame that she is forced to spend the episode being mother and having to deal with Billy who is one of the worst characters in the entire serial and possibly even one of the worst supporting characters in Doctor Who.

I think the root of the problem with this serial is that there is an uneven mix of humour and non-humour. Weismuller and Hawk continue to be annoying in this episode and their only good moment comes when they meet Gavrok. Sadly Gavrok doesn’t wipe them out. Speaking of Gavrok, I think that Gravrok saves this episode and Don Henderson was a masterful piece of casting. His final scene where he is munching away at a piece of meat is a great moment in the episode.

Of the central performances, Sylvester McCoy has the better time but only just. He spends a little bit of time showing Burton inside the TARDIS for no real reason. Then he gets on Rachel’s bike and spends an awfully long amount of time riding around looking for Delta and the dopey one. His best moment comes when he encounters Goronwy played by the wonderfully delightful Hugh Lloyd. I wonder if Hugh Lloyd counts as stunt casting considering he appearing in countless episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour and lots of other shows between 1957 and this point.

The final scene with the Doctor and Gavrok is by far the best scene in the entire episode. It’s the first time that I have felt that it was Doctor Who which is a worrying thing considering that the show is suppose to be showing its good side. There seems to be way too much time given to bike trips and nonsensical relationships. At least there is only one episode left.