In celebration of @MrColdStream 's birthday I am watching “Delta and the Bannermen” 
(That and it was the next one up on my Classic rewatch 
)
Just finished part one 
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In celebration of @MrColdStream’s birthday I am watching “Delta and the Bannermen”
(That and it was some weird promise I made months ago )
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Don’t forget to rate it 5 stars when you’ve finished.
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I remember he rated it 5/10. How sad
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I already did, that was the second part of my promise 
I might need to update my review though…
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Nothing escapes me! @MrColdStream
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I told you I need to update my review 
That’s a five-year-old review that I’ve ported over but the rating is from a few months ago when I made a fun promise and I rated it 10/10 without rewatching it, so kept the review unchanged until my rewatch, which is today!
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It's even better in the novelisation
‘Before you do this,’ she said, ‘I want you to swear something.’
‘Swear what?’ I said. What could matter now?
‘You know the sound that the TARDIS makes, when it lands? That wheezing, groaning?’
‘Yes.’
‘I love it. Don’t you.’
‘Of course I love it.’
‘Then swear this,’ she said, taking my hand. ‘Swear that wherever that sound is heard, it will bring hope.’
‘I swear it.’
Her grip on my hand was tighter now. ‘No, swear it and mean it. Swear that anyone, anywhere, who hears that sound will turn and look, and know they’re not alone.’
I smiled at the thought. It was such a good dream. I could hear the TARDIS engines roaring in my head. The Doctor, in the TARDIS, riding through the stars to the rescue. I could never be that man, of course, but I could set him on his way.
‘I swear it. I swear on both my hearts, and all my lives, that whoever hears that sound will know they are not alone.’
She smiled. ‘I believe you. And I know you mean it. And above all, I know you will keep your word. So, my dear little breakable mortal … you have earned this.’
‘Earned what?’
She leaned towards me, and her voice was a whisper. ‘Turn, Doctor,’ she said, ‘turn and look.’
I turned. I fear, in that moment, my eyes were hot, and my face was wet. I confess I may have trembled.
The sound of the TARDIS engines had not been in my head: not one, but two, beautiful, blue police boxes stood at the other end of the barn, and in front of each box, stood a man who was also me.
It was the last day of the Time War. It was the worst day of my life. But I was not alone.
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I have it, still not read it!
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Ray is just so delightful. She’s the ultimate should-have-been companion. 
Why did you do her dirty Billy??? You were never good enough for her anyway 
“He’s been ionised!”
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I was unsure of what to watch today but I decided to bite and go for Doctor Who and the Silurians. The reason why I’ve been a bit hesitant to watch it is because of the 7-part length. 4-part classics work the best in my opinion, though that doesn’t mean longer/shorter stories can’t work, because they do. I just prefer to watch a whole serial in one go and that’s a bit more time-consuming when it’s more than 4 parts and thus goes up to several hours long.
But yeah I decided to take it on and get it over with. And what a good decision I made. While I had some trouble with The Invasion for being too long (still a really good story), this one worked almost perfectly. I think it still could have been a bit shorter, but it’s not a big deal. As someone who really likes The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood from Series 5 and have heard about how some say that it’s just a ripoff of this story, I saw the similarities (but I don’t agree with the statement), but also got basically the same enjoyment out of DWaTS as with THE/CB.
Good political drama (though I wish that there was more than one Silurian who wanted to negotiate instead of attack), this is the fourth Pertwee story I’ve seen (others are The Dæmons, The Time Warrior and Carnival of Monsters) and he’s still great, I enjoyed Liz and thought she was a great companion, everything just flowed very nicely. It has a lot of characters and a lot of episodes but it never gets messy, nor does it feel boring outside of a few scenes that could be cut (checking samples in a microscope in real time in episode 6… lame).
I guess the only things I didn’t like that much is the soundtrack which sounded a bit off at times, again I wish there was more than a single Silurian that was more rational and willing to have peace, and that the whole pandemic subplot wasn’t wrapped up that well and it felt a little forgotten about.
Overall though, I struggle to find much bad to say about it. 9/10.
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I do think it’s important to remember that these 7 episode stories - just like all the different length classic series stories) were written and structured to be watched one episode a week - not all in one go. I think some stories suffer criticisms which only arise from fans deciding to watch them in one go. I think fans should try watching those episodes more spaced out, especially with lengthy or designated ‘slow, repetitive or boring’ stories.
Something like The Web Planet with all it’s bleeps and boops is going to get annoying across 2 and a half hours but is far less egregious in 25 minute chunks.
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This is true, actually. That’s also why there’s a lot of filler and repetitive sequences, because back in the day, people wouldn’t have remembered a lot of that across several weeks.
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Yes, yes I know. It’s just that, especially since I have the whole thing on a DVD, prefer to watch through it entirely in one go.
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I think it’s still fairly egregious. Even spaced out to an episode a day, I get fed up with the echoes, smudgy camera, Zarbi noises, and lack of any momentum. But the costumes are cool, and I like the ambition. Also the single greatest credit in the history of TV Who, “Insect Movement by Roslyn De Winter” (though “Action by HAVOC” is close)
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My current spaced out rewatch found a huge amount to like in 1 & 2. 3 and 4 are a bit less exciting and there is admittedly a fair bit of standing around in the control centre not doing very much.
But I just don’t find the bleeping and blooping very irritating. I think there is so much attention to detail with the insect aliens that I can’t help but admire it. I still maintain the story is too easily dismissed because of the smudgy camera. There is some innovative direction in it too.
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Yeah, that’s what I mean about the ambition. I understand what they’re going for, but in execution it just all makes for a tough watch for me.
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So, I watched @deltaandthebannermen. No, sorry. Delta and the Bannermen! [1]
Honestly? It’s silly and fun. Colourful characters. The 50s love with hair wax and motorcycles. Goronwy. The American guys. Gavrok. A resolution clearly inspired by Fury From the Deep. And Ray of course. What a woman! Adorable, cool, instantly likeable. She should’ve been a companion! Billy was a jerk and didn’t deserve him!
Is it a 10/10 though? Nah, not really. Quite realistically, a 7/10, maybe.
Oh, I also watched Greeks Bearing Gifts for TV Club Extra. That’s an episode that happened!
I’m not a creep! ↩︎
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