Doctor Who: Robot Of Sherwood

Now this is more like it!

'Robot Of Sherwood' is the token historical figure episode of Doctor Who. We've had Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Vincent Van Gogh and now...Robin Hood?! Really? Well I guess he does technically count as a historical figure...

'Sherwood' your quintessential Robin Hood tale shrunken down to fit 45 minutes with the Doctor and Clara stumbling into the middle of it. Yes it looks too sunny, yes Robin Hood is an extreme caricature and yes everyone looks clean, but all of this is immediately poked fun at by the Doctor who spends the entire episode refusing to believe that the man in the green tights is real. He's right, there is of course a clever sci-fi twist (can we go ONE episode without aliens?) that's literally in the title of the episode. I think it's safe to say hilarious hijinks ensue, and several of the Robin Hood 'iconic moments' are evoqued. You've got it all really: a climactic hero/villain sword fight, an archery tournament, the band of merry men, the Sheriff plundering the land for it's wealth to fuel his evil schemes...a lot of it is covered here. Nothing is done is an original way (a lot of this stuff has been adapted loads of times over the years) but if you're curious about what a goofy Robin Hood themed episode of Doctor Who would be like then 'Robot Of Sherwood' is right up your alley. 

It's comes as no surprise to see that Mark Gatiss is on scripting duties here, writer of 'A Crimson Horror' from Series 7. His latest episodes revel in the slightly sillier aspects of the show, esquing the seriousness for some frothy campy fun. The tonal shift is welcome after a couple of rather bleak episodes and allows Capaldi to stretch his comedy muscles, which are sublime. 

The Doctor subtlety giving Robin Hood the finger. I love Doctor Who

They should just rename this episode to 'The Capaldi Show' because he stole every single scene he was in. Whether it was the spoon fight, the arrow contest: 'This is getting silly...' or the best buddy cop duo since Bad Boys 2 (omg the banter between the Doctor and Robin was hilarious) he excelled at being the grumpiest git around. I mean just look his facial expressions, the guy's a comedic genius. It's taken us a couple of episodes but we're finally seeing the lighter side to this incarnation. Jenna Coleman continues to be great as well, her ability to inject every scene with boundless enthusiasm is infectious and she continues to run circles around the men: Clara's shtick of getting the bad guys to reveal their evil plans seems to be her insta-win card. I mean out of the three episodes so far she's managed to outsmart the villain twice AND put the Doctor in his place on several occasions (definitely the signs of a closet control freak...). She's quickly becoming an extremely likeable and head-strong companion without resorting to the damsel in distress stereotype that even the best companions fall stray to occasionally. In short: I like her a lot better now.

Guest starring this week are Tom Riley and Ben Miller, both of them great in their roles. Riley's take on Robin is more spiritually linked to the men in tights version then the more recent Russell Crowe adaptation, with a few echoes of the Disney version sprinkled in at the arrow contest (notice the floppy hat). He's very much an idealised and larger than life depiction of the character just like Gatiss's depiction of Winston Churchill in 'Victory Of The Daleks'. Riley puts in a solid effort, and looks the part. This Robin isn't quite three dimensional though, it's a shame his character is only really explored in the scenes where he interacted with Clara. Ben Miller's Sheriff was another pleasant surprise. Right down to the facial hair he's a dead ringer for Anthony Ainleys Master and seems to be parodying him at points: 'First Darby, then....Lincoln. And then....THE WORLD!!' He's an entertaining villain that's threatening enough to at least be taken partially seriously. It's a shame they cut the *beheading scene though, I hope it will be on the DVD as it added quite a lot to his character and actually explained the title. Both of these actor's ham it up but don't quite take it to the point of ridiculousness, the script is adept enough to put a fine line just before we reach the point of absurdity.  

Filming pic: now all we need is a moustache twirl...

While the more serious Who fan in me was hoping for a more realistic approach to the legend (the tear-heavy Vincent Van Gogh episode comes to mind) this episode was so much fun and the performances where so charismatic you kinda get over it after a while. The episode is smart to provide both viewpoints through the main characters. You can side with the Doctor's viewpoint: that all of this whiffs of sterilised Disney bullsh*t, or embrace the larger than life goings on with Clara. Either way you're going to be laughing with or at Capaldi as he's essentially the straight man of the story. The plot goes halfway into explaining why everything is the way it is, suffice to say alien tampering has altered events a little. The robot beings in this story are note for note the same as the robots in 'Deep Breath': we're not told anything other than the fact that they're robots and they want to rebuild their crashed ship to escape to the promised land. It's LITERALLY the same plot, so it has to be intentional right? Where is all this stuff with heaven building to? People are apparently aware of it's existence but why do robots want to get there so much? This is utter speculation on my part but Cybermen have been confirmed to feature in the finale....cyborg/robot team-up anyone? Other than the copy/paste extra-terrestrial element, I found the resolution to be lacking. It's complete bullcrap and makes little to no sense at all but...*LOOKS AT WATCH* 'OH NOES! I'VE ONLY GOT TWO MINUTES OF EPISODE TIME LEFT! I'VE GOT TO WRAP THIS UP QUICKLY.....TIME TO DEPLOY NONSENSICAL SOLUTION THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE THE SONIC SCREWDRIVER!'

....yeah, I'm guessing that's exactly what happened. Props for making fun of the screwdriver though. 

While not exactly a classic, 'Robot Of Sherwood' is nonetheless a greatly entertaining bit of fluff to spend 45 minutes on. Quite like Gatiss's previous story 'The Crimson Horror' it's an expert blend of humour and wit wrapped up with a golden bow.

Positives:

+ 12th Doctor giving Robin Hood the finger
+ More of grumpy 12
+ More great Clara moments
+ Campy fun
+ Ben Miller hamming it up as the Sheriff!
+ Tom Riley hamming it up as Robin Hood!
+ It's really funny
+ The tournament scene

Negatives:

- The nonsensical resolution to the villain's plot
- Might have preferred a more serious take on the legend

Overall score: 9/10

*For those not in the know, Robin originally lopped the Sheriffs head off during the fight...revealing the Sheriff as a robot! His talking head (rolling onto the floor) claimed that his Robot pals had to rebuild him after their ship crash-landed on top of him, and after a brief altercation his head was then put back in it's rightful place and the fight continued as normal. It's only a minute or two and it's a shame that the recent news events prevent us from ever seeing this in the finished episode. Maybe for the Blu-Ray/DVD release?