Doctor Who - Robot of Sherwood Review

Doctor Who: Men in Tights!

Well now we are on episode 3 and we see that Capaldi does still get to have fun with the role and all without having to resort to man fall down jokes. Capaldi gets to play up his cantankerous old git persona and once again we now know for sure that Malcolm Tucker, all be it with a PG-13 vocabulary, is piloting the TARDIS. It is surprising how much you can like such a grump.
"That's not even funny! That's just bantering and I am totally against bantering!"That line cracked me up!
There is a solid series structure thus far, I say solid, maybe more "clichéd" is the appropriate term. We get the serious, then the funny, followed by the scary. Pretty standard Dr Who practice there. The show has one of the most diverse fan bases of any TV series ever. You've got the fanboys, the Whovians, the casual Saturday prime time viewer. Then you have the guys, the gals, the families, the old guard, for whom the Doctor has been a TV hero for decades and then you have the little nippers who buy the toys, well the fanboys and Whovians buy the toys as well...so I'll rephrase that to..."the little nippers who buy the toys and actually removed them from their factory packaging!" Little heathens!
The show has always had the perfect blend of sci-fi, adventure, humour and horror and that is what makes it so damn watchable.
This episode falls into the adventure/comedy box.Once again this is on iPlayer and only aired last night so I will not include any spoilers and more discuss why I am enjoying this new season.Well actually one spoiler, in this episode another member of the Wilhelm family tragically loses their life. When will fate look more favourably on their lineage, they have it rougher than the Kennedy's.R.I.P. Peasant Wilhelm, you will be missed hanging out in the background of shots.
Peter Capaldi's Doctor is proving he can still have that excitable energy with it toned down to be congruent with his older face. The constant digs at his appearance from supporting characters is a running gag I want to continue. By the end of this season there will be many a "Top 10 Best Insults about Capaldi's face" lists. 
So what is "Robin of Sherwood"?Well season 8 episode 3 of Doctor Who takes the TARDIS and its occupants back to "Robin Hood times" as a friend without any history qualifications once put it, they know who they are.
Clara is offered the choice to go any where in space and time and meet anyone she wants to and opts for Robin Hood. I mean most of us would have the green hooded archer of legend around the top of the list if given that same opportunity.Robin Hood is an enduring character that is perfect for a Dr Who cross over. 

Tom Riley does an excellent job of portraying an over the top swashbuckling Earl of Locksley, taking inspiration from the iconic Errol Flynn incarnation, with a nice amount of Rik Mayall's Robin Hood from "Black Adder: Back and Forth" thrown into the mix. But is he as good as Cary Elwes??? Well actually yes. I hope to see his character again in later episodes. Some people may remember Tom from the 2007, American Pie style, teen comedy "I Want Candy". 
Ben Miller delivers a truly classic villainous performance as the Sheriff of Nottingham, hitting all the right notes. Take every master mind cliché and roll them into one and boom! Ben Miller's Sheriff. This incarnation has elements of Alan Rickman's Sheriff, Roger Ree's Sheriff of Rottingham and came across very similar to Jonathan Pryce's The Master from the Comic Relief special "Curse of the Fatal death".  Since some actors have been able to be sneaky and pull off playing multiple Dr Who characters, it would be great to see what Ben Miller would do with The Master, but highly unlikely.
Once again this week we are teased with the overriding "Promised Land" arc. This "Promised Land" could easily be heaven to so many such as the Half-Face man, yet with a population of souls all of which having had their lives ended in some way, directly/indirectly, by the Doctor, then this heaven for some is looking like the ultimate Hell for our Time Lord.
As well as the action and fun so far, what is really striking about this series is the modernised retro sound production and set design. The sound department has definitely really gone back through the show and have given us plenty of little retro Sound FX Easter eggs. "Robot of Sherwood" features some classic Doctor Who set design, when it comes to the Robot's space ship, the craft had a 3rd and 4th vibe going on.The Robots themselves, having enslaved the local populous to repair their ship, had a Marvel inspired design. It was as if the Sentinels from the X-Men universe had joined the Knights Templar. Unfortunately the Robots were not given much to do other than be big shooty shooty enemies, with little back story and no personality. Yet that was all they needed to be since, Ben Miller and Tom Riley were chewing the cardboard scenery in every scene. 

"Robot of Sherwood" was not an epic or extra special episode, yet it was just fun. Capaldi busting out a "Pertwee chop" gave me a smile, the back and forth "bantering" between the optimism of Riley's Robin against the sarcastic and cynic that is Capaldi's Doctor worked a treat. So okay the ending was daft, but whatever.I for one do not need every episode of a show, especially a time travel/sci-fi one, being all Christopher Nolan every week. Being a fan of the CW show Supernatural, I have a lot of people questioning why I watch it as "it is goofy and stupid"Why so serious? I love the fun adventures that Supernatural has along side the more serious episodes just like Doctor Who does.I guess people could argue that stand alone episodes or ones very loosely linked to the main arc that are more about gags are "mainstream bait" or "filler". Well then in that case be careful about smiling or ever telling a joke or bantering, because that is just filler and you should be doing something more serious with your day.
Anyway to the McCoy&Smith Curve (2014)...

-Steve

@SteveRewind

@BoxOfficeBeyond