Last year, writer Mark Gatiss was on a roll with his
stories for Series 7 and docudrama An
Adventure in Space and Time, so expectations were heightened slightly due
to his sole writing credit for this story - only slightly because of the state
of the series so far. However, with the inclusion of the fictional legend that
is Robin Hood being a prominent state for the story, with the Doctor's bewilderment by his existence being a mainstay for the
plotline. As such, it does limit the actual threat which exists in the first
place.
Here, I feel like I'm finally coming to grasp Peter Capaldi's Doctor, as he finally comes to show off what his Doctor can do. He does still seem to squeeze in Matt Smith mannerisms, particularly with the bridge scene early on in the episode, but at times he does manage to make them his own, which to his credit is difficult stuff. Jenna Coleman has returned to her personality state, but is done a lot better than in Deep Breath where anger and the effects of her teaching career just appeared. Here, it merges the previous reactions to previous comrades with actual initiative as seen in Deep Breath, so kudos to her.
If there is a weak point within the main cast of protagonists, it's Tom Riley as Robin Hood, who appears far too jolly for his own good. They do mention this point within the running gag, and its nature is explained, but it seems far too forced. Add the dull banter between he and Capaldi which is hit and miss in terms of quality, and his rendition of the mythical legend isn't the best to date. The Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Miller) on the other hand is a good egg, with his performance being somewhat reminiscent of that of Anthony Ainley from his 1980s run as The Master. There's a mix between chilling and pantomime in his performance, which surprisingly works for his Sheriff. He doesn't exactly get the best ending, but understandable as a scene involving him was cut due to recent affairs with the ISIS terrorist group. As for secondary characters, the band of Merry Men is just that. They just act cheery and laugh a lot, and make very little impact to the story at hand, as do the peasants featured throughout. As for the titular robot, in their plural form, they too have little impact. They may look aesthetically pleasing in design, but they weren't at all threatening. We see what they have the capacity to do all but once, before having fast disposals in the third act. They aren't given much back-story, and are mere pawns in the Sheriff of Nottingham's plan, so wasted potential there.
The same could be really said for the story. It does initially borrow from many of the tales from the legends (the bridge scene and the archery competition) with nice twists to remind viewers that it is a Doctor Who episode, but upon entering the dungeons it's sci-fi mixed with Doctor/Robin banter, dropping the historical act altogether. With that, the episode loses its specialty to previous historical stories, with the dungeon scene akin to that with the three Doctors in Day of the Doctor whereas the slavery scene similar to that of 1973’s The Time Warrior. However, in those episodes it worked as they had subsistence, whereas here it's somewhat rushed in quality. Add its fast closure for the mystery of Robin Hood's appearance, and it does squander its initial strong buzz.
Whilst Robot of Sherwood is perhaps the best of the series to date, it only just edges through thanks to stronger performances from various characters and with humour much stronger than that of last week's Intothe Dalek. With Capaldi becoming stronger and stronger and the scripts improving with each episode, Series 8 may finally be able to drag itself out of the mud and stand alongside its equals. But there's still plenty of time to screw that up. But for now, Robot of Sherwood edges slightly ahead of Into the Dalek in terms or quality, but still has plenty of issues to fix. 6/10.
Here, I feel like I'm finally coming to grasp Peter Capaldi's Doctor, as he finally comes to show off what his Doctor can do. He does still seem to squeeze in Matt Smith mannerisms, particularly with the bridge scene early on in the episode, but at times he does manage to make them his own, which to his credit is difficult stuff. Jenna Coleman has returned to her personality state, but is done a lot better than in Deep Breath where anger and the effects of her teaching career just appeared. Here, it merges the previous reactions to previous comrades with actual initiative as seen in Deep Breath, so kudos to her.
If there is a weak point within the main cast of protagonists, it's Tom Riley as Robin Hood, who appears far too jolly for his own good. They do mention this point within the running gag, and its nature is explained, but it seems far too forced. Add the dull banter between he and Capaldi which is hit and miss in terms of quality, and his rendition of the mythical legend isn't the best to date. The Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Miller) on the other hand is a good egg, with his performance being somewhat reminiscent of that of Anthony Ainley from his 1980s run as The Master. There's a mix between chilling and pantomime in his performance, which surprisingly works for his Sheriff. He doesn't exactly get the best ending, but understandable as a scene involving him was cut due to recent affairs with the ISIS terrorist group. As for secondary characters, the band of Merry Men is just that. They just act cheery and laugh a lot, and make very little impact to the story at hand, as do the peasants featured throughout. As for the titular robot, in their plural form, they too have little impact. They may look aesthetically pleasing in design, but they weren't at all threatening. We see what they have the capacity to do all but once, before having fast disposals in the third act. They aren't given much back-story, and are mere pawns in the Sheriff of Nottingham's plan, so wasted potential there.
The same could be really said for the story. It does initially borrow from many of the tales from the legends (the bridge scene and the archery competition) with nice twists to remind viewers that it is a Doctor Who episode, but upon entering the dungeons it's sci-fi mixed with Doctor/Robin banter, dropping the historical act altogether. With that, the episode loses its specialty to previous historical stories, with the dungeon scene akin to that with the three Doctors in Day of the Doctor whereas the slavery scene similar to that of 1973’s The Time Warrior. However, in those episodes it worked as they had subsistence, whereas here it's somewhat rushed in quality. Add its fast closure for the mystery of Robin Hood's appearance, and it does squander its initial strong buzz.
Whilst Robot of Sherwood is perhaps the best of the series to date, it only just edges through thanks to stronger performances from various characters and with humour much stronger than that of last week's Intothe Dalek. With Capaldi becoming stronger and stronger and the scripts improving with each episode, Series 8 may finally be able to drag itself out of the mud and stand alongside its equals. But there's still plenty of time to screw that up. But for now, Robot of Sherwood edges slightly ahead of Into the Dalek in terms or quality, but still has plenty of issues to fix. 6/10.
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