Robot of Sherwood

"Old-fashioned heroes only exist in old-fashioned books."

Writer: Mark Gatiss

Format: TV

Broadcast: 6 September 2014

Series: 8.03

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Clara

Synopsis

In a sun-dappled Sherwood Forest, the Doctor discovers an evil plan and strikes up an unlikely alliance with Robin Hood. With all of Nottingham at stake, the Doctor must decide who is real and who is fake. Can impossible heroes actually exist?

Verdict

Robot of Sherwood was a great episode to continue my way through the modern era rewatch! This was one that I remembered pretty well despite there being a decade since my last viewing and I think part of that might be because the episode was fairly recently featured under the Fact of Fiction spotlight in Doctor Who Magazine. That breaks the episode down in painstaking detail (almost too much at times for my liking) so there wasn't too much that I welcomed here as something I was fond of seeing again after ten years. I'm really enjoying the journey to the Promised Land continuing the arc started in Deep Breath with the Half-Face Man and the Doctor noticing that is always fun. I think it's terrific to give Clara the opportunity to go wherever she would like and that's probably overdue by now. Her choosing Robin Hood is a delightful answer with this incarnation of the Doctor because he found the notion baffling and silly, whereas I think his predecessor would have been revelling at the prospect of encountering the mythical figure of history. I think it's more fun to have the Twelfth Doctor here and the comedy that came from his serious nature was brilliant. The fight with the spoon against Robin Hood's sword was a bit silly and there's absolutely no way he could have fitted under that tree ledge to then push the Doctor into the stream, but it was good comic value. The Doctor being in denial about Robin Hood's existence was perfect and I loved that Clara was able to push his buttons a little bit when it came to encountering her fictional hero. Her reaction to exiting the TARDIS in her wonderful twelfth century garb was glorious as she was face to face with the man himself! She was like a little child and that was really nice to see. I thought the threat of the Sheriff of Nottingham was strong and the robot knights as well were a good touch. I have a figurine of one and whilst they didn't play too much of a pivotal or memorable role, it was good to get an element that was robotic and not just a human actor. It added to the threat. I thought the Doctor reacting to finding the 29th century ship and referring to it as something real at last was excellent as Robin Hood found everything that made him a myth. It was quite the homage to the character and I liked seeing the Patrick Troughton take on the role from way back when. A delicious Easter egg. I've always known that there was a deleted scene in this episode that involved Robin Hood decapitating the Sheriff to show he was also a robot, and after a quick Google search I couldn't believe I found it on YouTube! It was fascinating to watch and I always thought it would be the final moment for the Sheriff, but it wasn't as he just screws it back on! The final fight scene and Hood utilising the Doctor's move to push him off into the melted gold was a good way to bring the episode full circle. The Doctor gave the nod of acknowledgement which was good and I really liked their final conversation about them both being stories. Clara could see the Doctor liked him too and his parting gift of Marian is nice, but what was she doing just chilling behind the TARDIS? I like blending history with fiction and that worked well. Unfortunately Gemma alongside me gave a slightly lower rating as she didn't think the episode massively captured her attention, but she didn't think it was bad. Overall, a very strong episode to continue the series! 

Rating: 8/10