I'm not discounting his place in Beatle history. He was a means to an end and played a role in their develoment. As you said, most of the bands had subpar equipment, drums are probably the most expensive equipment to buy, but if other bands made due, and given the determination of the Beatles, they would have as well. My original post, having seen most if not all of the made for TV documentaries, Backbeat, the horrible one Pete did with Dick Clark in the late 70s, 'Two Of Us', etc., they were all lame, and one more of those (Allan Williams project) on the early days, I'm guessing would be equally lame. My point was that Pete would be the easiest to portray because he didn't say much, and had/has no charisma. You get these actors that try to portray Lennon and they are so over the top its ridiculous, and probably the thing that gets on my nerves the most is that they are works of semi-fiction. The dialogue is contrived and made up as hell, and its presumptuous at best.