Oh, that's where the fun went.
It was hiding inside this episode the whole time! And good thing too, because Doctor Who is a modern day swashbuckler much like the Robin Hood stories and films of old. A lot of the garbled, too-serious-for-its-own-good nonsense from the past two episodes wouldn't have made sense in this delightful romp.
As the story goes, Robin Hood and his Merry Men steal from the rich and give to the poor all the while undermining the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham. There isn't much deviation from the classic fairy tale in this retelling either save for the involvement of Clara and The Doctor. Also the fact that the idyllic Sherwood Forest is only that way because of a downed spaceship overpopulated by camouflaging robots from space. The Doctor isn't even so keen on the nature of Robin Hood himself, passing him off as a possible automaton as well or merely a pawn in the service of his robot overlords. In the end, he finds out the rogue is, in fact, the real deal and the robots (as well as the evil sheriff) are dealt with a swift blow, verily.
This episode is quite fun for many reasons. Firstly, it's an episode where Twelve's personality really seems to kick in. It occurs to me that he is supposed to be a stick-in-the-mud and that's where much of his "whimsy" occurs. This Doctor is the straight man and when paired with a foil than some real great stuff starts to happen. In this episode, that role largely goes to Robin, who channels aspects of past doctors in his own performance. Robin, much like The Doctor, is a roguish charmer as well as a timeless hero, though he doesn't know it until later. There's a great couple of scenes where Robin and The Doctor are in prison where they bicker about which one of them is the true ringleader. The answer is actually Clara, who is the true hero of this episode. Clara is at her very best in this. She seduces the main villain without resorting to pure sexuality and proves to be more mature than any of her male counterparts. She also turns out to be correct in her acceptance of Robin Hood as being real, something which Twelve has a hard time accepting. It's always awesome when the companion outsmarts The Doctor himself.
The only real moments that fall flat in this episode are few but are worth mentioning. For one, the other Merry Men are hardly fleshed out and just serve as visual cues to fans of the lore. It would have been nice to see more of these characters but they were probably left out for time reasons. Even Maid Marian gets really nothing to do which is a shame considering Clara's prowess in the episode. The solution to destroying the robots is pretty hackneyed but fits the tone of the episode fortunately. What happens is that a single arrow is needed to boost the energy of a ship into the atmosphere so it can blow up. The process by which it could happen isn't explained very effectively and it's certainly a Chekov's gun meets deus ex machina but it's just goofy enough to almost work. All in all, this is the kind of Doctor Who that I thought was perhaps far gone and I'm glad to see it hasn't left.
Afterthoughts
- Nice reference to the classic Doctor Who serial "The Crusade" where The Doctor met Richard the Lionhearted. He also has apparently seen the size of Errol Flynn's dick which is a really weird joke.
- Love the design of the robot knights, especially their weapon crosshairs which look like little purple Templar crosses
- Another "Promised Land" reference where it appears to be a planet. A large, orange planet. Can't be Gallifrey, could it?
- The spoon-sword fight on the log was a little goofy and I became instantly aware that I was watching a children's programme for the first time in awhile
- This episode reminded me of episodes from Davies' early run of NewWho where The Doctor would meet lots of historical guest stars and bicker with them. It has the same sort of tone.
Next On: "Listen" which looks one of those super scary Who episodes that isn't for children. Can't wait.
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