Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen

Doctor Who Target Books (Numerical Order) #135

by Malcolm Kohll

As the billionth customers at a space tollport the Doctor and Mel win the Grand Prize – a place on the Fabulous Fifties Coach Tour to Disneyland, Planet Earth.

Unfortunately, they don't quite make it there ... Knocked off-course by a wayward satellite the coach party arrives instead at Shangri-la, a remote Welsh holiday camp.

But the peace and quiet of the countryside are soon shattered by the arrival of an army of marauding Bannermen soldiers, led by the ruthless Gavrok. They are tracking down Delta, the last of the Chimeron, with only one thought in mind – her destruction...

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 19, 1989

Reviews

[David T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delta And The Bannermen was another great Doctor Who story to be novelized. I do not on Earth see why people think that these episodes are so bad. Yes, they are a little weird, but that is what helps to make them so good. The creativity behind them is ingenues. Delta And The Bannermen held up really well too. The book helped to explain things a little more and give a good insight to what the characters are thinking. This can not be done in a television show so I think that it helped the book greatly. Though there are a lot of editing mistakes in this book. Many words are spelled wrong and some punctuation is off. However when The Doctor is watching Keillor it says that he was, "peeing" over at him instead of "peering." This was a little bad... though it can be overlooked. I think that the idea of a prologue was slightly useless. It would be odd if the reader did not know anything about Doctor Who at all before reading. The idea of an epilogue was good though. I liked getting to see the outcome and what happens to the people who have encountered The Doctor and had their lives changed. Though Burton did not get at part in it, that was a little odd. In all the story is a very good one that I think all smart Doctor Who fans will enjoy, just like they should with all 7th Doctor stories.

Here is the plot. Led by the evil and ruthless Gavrok the Bannermen army has invaded the planet Chumeria and has wiped out its dwellers the Chimeron. Now Delta, the Chimeron queen, is the last survivor. She must get her daughter to safety so she can rebuild her race. Meanwhile The Doctor and Mel have won a trip to 50's Disney Land! However once sent off cores by an American satellite they and the rest of their tour group must make dew and stay at Shangri-la, a remote Welsh holiday camp. Though near by two Americans are looking for said satellite and their futures depend on if it is found. Now all of the cards are set and the characters paths will cross to help save the Chimeron race and stop the Bannermen!

[David Layton · Rating 1 out of 5]

With John Nathan-Turner's directive to Andrew Cartmel to find writers who had no connection to Eric Saward, there was a scramble to find anyone who could theoretically write for Doctor Who. All three of McCoy's seasons used writers new to Who, but while things settled down a bit in the latter two seasons, season 24 was pretty much a disaster, and none were more disastrous than Malcolm Kohll's only script for Doctor Who, "Delta and the Bannermen." Kohll's novelization of his script is highly faithful to the script as shot, with just some additional coda material. To go through all the plot holes, preposterous coincidences, and misfired silliness of this story would take more space and time than it deserves. Really, not much more can be said about it than that.

[C.M. Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I watched the serialized episodes when they aired on my local PBS station back in the day. I was deeply into Dr. Who when I was young. When I saw the novel at a school book fair, I snapped it up.
The book went into detail that the series either didn't or couldn't, so it was a wonderful addition to my appreciation of the Bannermen serial

[Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who – Delta and the Bannermen, by Malcolm Kohll, Target 1989. Number 135 in the Doctor Who Library. 142 pages, paperback. Cover art by Alister Pearson. Original script by Malcolm Kohll, BBC, 1987.

This adventure features the 7th Doctor and Mel.

SPOILER WARNING
This review contains spoilers including revealing the ending of the book.

SUMMARY
While traveling through a particular region of space, the Doctor realizes their route will take the TARDIS through a tollport. Landing the TARDIS to pay their toll, he and Mel find what appears to be an abandoned station only to be surprised when they are congratulated as the ten billionth customers to tollport G715. Their prize is a week in Disneyland in 1959. Deciding that a vacation is in order, Mel takes the space and time traveling tour bus while the Doctor follows in the TARDIS.

In another part of space, the Bannermen, led by Gavrok, have destroyed all but one of a race of people called the Chimeron. Delta, last of her race, escapes in a Bannerman fighter craft with an orb. Her flight takes her to the tollport where she abandons the craft and just makes it on board the tour bus as it departs. The Bannermen arrive right behind her and Gavrok kills the stationmaster. They continue to follow Delta to Earth.

When the bus hits an Earth satellite, the Doctor saves it and the passengers but they are knocked off course. The bus lands in 1959 but near a Welsh holiday camp called Shangri-La. Murray, their bus driver, drops the crystal that would have repaired the navigation system and strands the holidaymaking Navarinos. The Doctor offers to stay while growing a new crystal. They decide to make the best of it when camp leader Burton welcomes them.

On Earth, American government agents Hawk and Weismuller have lost track of the satellite they were in charge of tracking. They do see the Bannerman ship land. They are captured but don't know anything yet Gavrok lets them live.

At Shangri-La, a young handy man named Billy falls in love with Delta, not realizing his friend Rachel, Ray as she prefers, is in love with him. Mel makes friends with Delta and learns her secret just as the orb cracks and a baby Chimeron hatches out. Billy steals a tube of the superfood Delta has been feeding the baby, which growing at an incredible rate, and eats the food, changing himself into a Chimeron.

All things eventually lead to a confrontation between the Doctor and the people of Shangri-La and the Bannermen. Gavrok is determined to wipe out the Chimerons. Using Billy’s sound system, they pipe the young Chimeron girl’s (she was a baby just hours before) song through the speakers, and paralyze the Bannermen. Gavrok is killed by the trap he set on the TARDIS.

All ends well with Billy leaving with Delta, giving his motorcycle to Ray, to bring the Bannermen to justice and to repopulate the Chimeron homeworld with Chimerons that were hidden on a brood planet. The Doctor and Mel leave for another adventure.
I found this one to be a bit campy but not so much that I didn't enjoy the story. It was fun, if the love story plot seemed somewhat contrived and sappy. I was horrified when Gavrok destroyed the bus full of Navarinos. I thought using the honey and the bees with a little over the top. This story was both silly and humorous. So Delta and the Bannermen is a funny, campy adventure with a good mix of real threat to keep it interesting. I thought it had a good pace. Malcolm Kohll wrote a good narrative with fun characters. I think I like this more than I expected to. Happy reading!

IMAGE SOURCE
The Doctor Who Reference Guide http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_7f.htm

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between a 4 and a 5 - another fun story for me, which also manages to pack in some good emotional punches at times as well. Not quite the adventure that Paradise Towers was, but at the same time a bit more to the actual plot this time around.
The Doctor and Mel in good form here, and a great cast of one off characters as well, some of which you can see could easily have become companions in their own right, but all contributed well to the story.
Some sad parts at times, but otherwise some good humour in there as well, and a fun setting for it to be mainly based in as well.
Overall, a really enjoyable read for me.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doctor Who : Delta and the Bannermen (1989) is the novelisation of the third serial of season twenty four of Doctor Who.

The Doctor and Mel are the billionth customers at a space tollport. They win a trip to Wales in the 1950s where they meet Delta, who is the Queen of the Chimeron who is on the run from the Bannermen soldiers led by Gavrok. There are also American agents in the area sent to track an American satellite. Also in the town is Billy, a local biker and a Ray, who is smitten with Billy.

I quite like this one. It’s pretty silly but it mixes sci-fi and a slightly different historic setting.

[Jeff Granger · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I enjoyed most about this book was that it was a very faithful adaptation of the televised story. Sure the story wasn't perfect, but other than a few background details for some characters it was pretty much a shot for shot recreation. The author did add an epilogue of events that weren't in the televised story, but since Malcolm Kohll wrote both the script and the book, that was probably just to wrap up some things that may have been cut for time and/or money.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very odd adaptation. Kohll seems to realize he has the musical comedy of Sylvester McCoy's first season as the 7th Doctor, but it's a very experimental book that doesn't quite know what tone it wants to take. It's certainly not a straightforward adaptation, and it's an interesting read...but it seems to be pulling in too many directions at once.

[Julian White · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite, or perhaps because of, the extremely short chapters this was a bit of a slog. Not one of my favourite stories anyway - there seem to be lots of plot inconsistencies... and this novelisation wasn't very engaging.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I vaguely remember this episode. The book version is fairly interesting. It definitely makes me want to rewatch it. Mel is an underrated companion. I don't feel like I really know her all that well and wish there was more content I had access to.

[Tracy Smyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/1077520.html#cutid5[return][return]Alas, Kohll doesn't really augment what is already a weak story in his adaptation. The writing style is too childish, the Stubby Kaye plotlkine appears even more irrelevant (despite his attempts to give it more background) and one is left feeling that while the author thinks it's funny the rest of us don't really get the joke. Indeed the whole setting just doesn't seem Whovian.[return][return]However it does pass the Bechdel test reasonably well, with Mel, Ray and Delta conversing about numerous things other than the Doctor or the Bannermen.

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ambitious story, in that it pairs manifestly serious themes (not least, genocide) with a feel-good, late-1950s rock ‘n’ roll vibe. Kohll opts for blithe exuberance in the novelisation, and, regrettably, not to excise the American agents. Langford’s reading is pure Mel.

[The Flooze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bonnie Langford's reading is delightful, but this episode is as much of a challenge in book form as it was on TV!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining audiobook read by Bonnie Langford. Not one I enjoyed too much, but a pleasant way to pass an afternoon.