It was a weird day of viewing today. Usually I watch two 25-minute episodes per day, and usually the stories have an even number of episodes. In fact, prior to today the last time there was a story with an odd number of 25-minute episodes was with The Dæmons all the way back in the Third Doctor's second season. With Delta and the Bannermen only being three episodes, I had originally intended to just watch part three of that story today and fill the rest of my time with special features or something. But then I realized two very important details: the next story was also a three parter, and if I started that today instead of waiting until tomorrow, then I could make Mel go away a day sooner.

So let's talk about the end of one story and the start of the next.

Delta and the Bannermen - Part 3, Dragonfire - Part 1

(TARDIS Data Core recap of Delta and the Bannermen, TARDIS Data Core recap of Dragonfire)

Delta and the Bannermen maintains its madcap surreality right up to the bitter end. The Doctor and Ray lead the Bannermen on a series of wild goose chases while Mel does literally nothing worthwhile. The Chimaron Princess continues to grow at an accelerated pace. The biker mechanic rockabilly dude eats royal jelly to become a human/alien hybrid and to start a new family with Delta. The two American CIA agents finally find their lost satellite. The bad guys all get either blown up or captured.

It's a happy ending for everyone, aside from the entire population of human-sized poop emojis in human disguise, who were slaughtered entirely bot nobody seems to much care. I can't say as I am surprised. Damn tourists.

Tragically, Ray is left behind with a sweet motorcycle and no boyfriend. 

Off to the next adventure, the Doctor and Mel travel to the planet Iceworld where the Doctor decides to go on a quest to find a legendary dragon. Mel sits around and does nothing worthwhile.

That's fine, though, because Ace shows up and blows the doors off the joint. Literally. She has her own concoction of specially-distilled nitroglycerine that she calls Nitro-9, and she is perfectly content to blow shit up. I like her a lot.

There is also a group of bad guys with an evil overlord building a mercenary army preparing to rule the galaxy or some such thing, and his second-in-command is played by none other than Patricia Quinn. If you aren't familiar with that name, let me give you a visual clue:

You're lucky, he's lucky, I'm lucky, we're all lucky!

If I don't love this story quite as much as the previous two, it's only because it's in such strong company. The Seventh Doctor totally rules, and I am increasingly bummed that I only get to spend two more weeks with him.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Seventh
Companion(s): Mel
Episode(s): Delta and the Bannermen - Part 3, Dragonfire - Part 1
Steps Walked: 7,573 today, 2,414,178 total
Distance Walked: 4.27 miles today, 1,250.22 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 7 today, 45 total
Weight: 247.40 lbs (five day moving average), net change -59.90 lbs