LAST Saturday, "Star Drama Theater" came up with an unusual treat--a "reunion" episode for the Bad Bananas (Christopher de Leon, Johnny Delgado and Edgar Mortiz). It was fun seeing them together again, razzing each other and trading comic barbs all over the place, and they looked like they were having double the fun themselves (what with Johnny and Edgar's increased girth).

Trouble was, the material they were working on was too ordinary for the special reunion show. All the script could offer was a story about remembered hurts that soured the reunion of three former members of a popular band, on the occasion of Christopher's being betrothed to Amy Austria, the woman all three guys had been in love with all these years.

The script was weak because it settled the guys' teapot tempest too handily. Envious of Christopher because he won Amy's heart, the others hired a floozie to go to bed with him so Amy would feel betrayed and call off the wedding. The ploy worked, but Amy turned out to be a stronger person than the guys had thought, and accepted Christopher's abject apology.

Since the problem and solution were presented in too facile a fashion, the viewer couldn't really get into the story's theme of friendship remaining strong despite all sorts of tests, and regarded the episode as a mere diversion. Too bad, because the former Bad Bananas are too talented to be given such an unremarkable showcase, particularly on their first reunion appearance in years.

Despite the missed opportunity to come up with a memorable show, however, last Saturday's presentation was interesting on a number of points. First, the group's fourth member, Jay Ilagan, may have passed away years ago, but he was still very much a part of the Bad Bananas' reunion because he was "represented" in the episode by his beloved Amy.

Second, the director employed a creative device to go into flashbacks of the band's youthful years. It used black-and-white for the '70s footage, plus young actors playing the band members and the girl they all loved, then cut to a color sequence dealing with a similar situation, but now involving Christopher, Johnny, Edgar and Amy. In another person's hands, this device could have been awkward or too arty, but it worked well here.

Third, Amy came on strong in the episode, and thus gave the guys' feuding and fighting a solid fulcrum. Amy also does well in her comeback film appearance in "Muro-Ami," so December, 1999 is really her time to remind other producers that she's still very much around and can do a lot for their future projects.

In fact, she's better than ever as an actress, since the passing years and the sad things that happened to her have made her a wiser person and a more textured performer.

Fourth, since they were playing band members, the Bad Bananas were able to do a number of songs together. The majority were only snippets, so their impact was minimal. But the final number was longer, and the guys really got into it. The musical number brought back warm memories of the Bananas' halcyon years, and they looked like they were having the time of their lives singing together again, after more than a decade.

The episode was built around Christopher's character, since he was the one who was supposed to have won the guys' competition for Amy's heart, but De Leon's approach to his role was standard and offered few surprises.

For his part, Edgar was effective in his funny-sarcastic sort of way, but his excessive girth weighed him down and slowed down the tempo of his performance.

Johnny did better than the other Bananas because he played a less sour person and thus came across as more likable, despite his character's similarly nasty motivations.

It's good that Johnny has decided to resume acting after a self-imposed hiatus of almost six years. Without his assent, this reunion episode would never have been taped, and viewers would have been deprived of its delights, limited though they may have turned out to be.