Doctor Who: 'Battlefield' and 'Delta and the Bannermen'

There are loads of reasons why I'm into science fiction and fantasy and one of the oldest reasons is 'Doctor Who'. I've been watching 'Doctor Who' since I was about four or five (Tom Baker in 'Destiny of the Daleks' was my first one) and I've never stopped since.
I'm enjoying the 'new' Doctor Who but, being a child of the seventies and eighties, I'll always have a bit of a soft spot for the original series. So when I saw that my local Oxfam were selling the DVDs dirt cheap, I grabbed a few and got to watching them. A tip for any book bloggers reading, by the way, watch a few DVDs here and there between your reading, it really helps me avoid getting burnt out on reading ;o)
So a couple of the DVDs that I picked up were from Sylvester McCoy's tenure as Doctor, that time in the shows history where it was pretty close to being taken off the air. I'm not a big 'Doctor Who; historian by the way, I just like watching the show, so I'm not sure why it was cancelled but watching the following two stories, I can't help but wonder if the quaity of these stories was a sign of what was coming...


'Battlefield'

The Doctor and Ace arrive on Earth in the late 1990s where they become involved in a battle between King Arthur and Morgaine. However, these are not the heroes of Britain's past but warriors from another dimension - and they recognise the Doctor as the wizard Merlin. As usual it is down to the Doctor and Ace to save the planet, but this time they find some help in the guise of the Doctor's old UNIT ally, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

I remember being slightly bemused by this story as a kid, loads of good elements in it but the story as a whole just felt a bit... off for some reason. Watching it again, thirty odd years later, it was strangely reassuring (if you know what I mean) to feel exactly the same way.
There's a lot to like here, including a performance from Sylvester McCoy that feels a bit more like the Doctor, to me, than it did the first time round. I've never seen that much of the Brigadier either but I think I've fallen a little bit in love with his character now. He's so unflappable and just completely unphased by the Doctor's eccentricities; I'm going to have to find more DVDs with him in them.
The story itself though... Arthurian knights from another dimension should work but it just felt like there was a disconnect that threw things out. If I could get a feel for just why this battle ended up on Earth then I'd enjoy this story a lot more but I couldn't and that soured things a little for me. And how did the Destroyer tie into it all? Not neccesarily the stories fault then but one that I wasn't as invested in as I normally am.


'Delta and the Bannermen'

The time: 1959. The place: the Shangri-La Holiday Camp, South Wales. The Doctor and Mel want time out. The hedonistic alien Navarinos wants to catch some vintage rock and roll. And two CIA agents want to know what happened to their country’s missing satellite.
When the beautiful Chimeron princess Delta shows up on the scene, the murderous Bannermen soon follow in hot pursuit. The stage is set for a fiery showdown that will decide the fate of an entire civilisation.

Now this was more like it. I'm not going to lie, the Bannermen were a bit cheesy, ok... the whole thing was a bit cheesy but it was like this story realised its cheesiness and just incorporated that into the plot. What you get then is a story that flows really smoothly and more importantly, enjoys itself. I can get on board with that, even with a show that has Ken Dodd in it and a space ship that's a coach. Nothing more to say than that really, just good natured fun that I enjoyed.

I can't help but feel like I should have enjoyed 'Battlefield' (just for the concept) far more than I did 'Delta and the Bannermen' but that's the way it goes I guess. I've got a few more of these DVDs to watch so keep an eye open for more posts like this ;o)

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