Monday, September 08, 2014

Yikes and away - it's Robin Hood!

This weekend's episode of Doctor Who fell directly into the 'light and fun' category. There are spoilers ahead...

Robot of Sherwood

Clara, given the choice of where they should go, insists they visit Robin Hood. The Doctor, of course, claims there was never any such person, that he's just a legend, but that doesn't stop him from fighting the Earl of Loxley on a log over a creek. With a spoon.

See, turns out he's real. Or is he? The Doctor is immediately suspicious, Robin Hood was never real, so what's going on? This isn't a real sandal! Oh wait, yes it is. They all laugh too much, maybe they're robots? And the weather's too nice. But there's the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, and wait, there's the famous competition to see who's the best in the land. The Doctor and Robin get caught in a hilarious one-upmanship loop until, finally, we find out what's going on. Sort of. The Sheriff's men are, in fact, robots - and they're collecting an awful lot of gold, and people too.

Throughout the episode, we're hit in the face with the Doctor/Robin Hood similarities, about the world needing legendary heroes and how similar they are. It's not very subtle. But it's still nice. And Clara gets to shine again, taking control of the Sheriff situation while still having a giddy good time.

Overall, while it wasn't perfect (Mark Gatiss stories never make 100% sense to me), I enjoyed it - although I liked the first two stories this season more. A few thoughts:

  • Can we please visit the Tumescent Arrows of the Halflight? They sound like fun.
  • The Sheriff looks like The Master of old, was that on purpose?
  • There were a lot of fun insults in this one, and I loved the Doctor spending the entire episode trying to prove he was right about Robin Hood.
  • Golden Arrow pierces the edge of the spaceship and suddenly there's enough power to get into orbit? Surely circuitry doesn't work that way.
  • Seriously, what was up with that spoon? Was he making frosting before they went?
  • Erroll Flynn had an enormous... ego.

What did you think?

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