The theme thus far in Doctor Who ’s eighth season seems to be “ deconstructing hero , ” most notably the Doctor . The Doctor ’s questioning whether he ’s a respectable mankind , but also the validity of his battle against iniquity . It ’s fairly relentless hooey — until this week ’s Robin Hood sequence , when it sprain swashbuckling and hilarious .
spoiler ahead …
Given how many times the Doctor ’s been to Atlantis and met some version of the Minotaur , it ’s kind of astonishing he ’s never met Robin Hood before . But “ Robots of Sherwood ” has a moderately clever spin on the Robin Hood mythos — the Doctor does n’t actually believe Robin Hood ever existed , even after the two hero sandwich play .
A few way this is fantabulous
There are a few really brainy thing about the fundamental interaction between the Doctor and Robin Hood :
1 ) The interpersonal chemistry between Peter Capaldi and Tom Riley ( who plays Robin ) is just spot on , and the rivalry between the two piece is completely wonderful . Starting with the sword - spoon fight , and carrying on until through the archery challenge where the Doctor upstage Robin . It ’s great to see the Doctor actually faced with a competition , who has in some ways an equal title to legendary status , and Riley act a laughing , merry venturer ( with a wellhead of hidden lugubriousness ) perfectly . And for once , the Doctor ca n’t employ his transonic screwdriver , and he ’s stuck relying on natural action - movie clichés . Which brings us to …
2 ) A batch of the funniest bits are when they explicitly deconstruct all of the figure of classic activity - adventure ( peculiarly when they ’re lock up and head for the hills through all of the usual gambits ) . The whole “ get interrogate and turn over the tables ” thing , and the “ pretend to be sick so the jailer will descend in ” thing . These are soft target , but the episode deal to make them reinvigorated and uproarious again — and the episode demonstrate how they ’re partially about the sub ’s self-importance , but also how heroism is made out of wonderfully silly clichés . The clichés are what make heroism fun and also part of the mechanics of it .
3 ) The Doctor takes an atrocious long sentence to stop doubting Robin Hood ’s reality . And the show pulls a middling keen fake - out . You sort of assume , from the episode ’s claim and the setup , that Robin Hood and his Merry Men are really robot themselves , and the whole matter is some sort of scheme . Or holograph . Later , the Doctor suspects that Robin Hood is somehow in collusion with his foe , the Sheriff of Nottingham , because what better than a false hero to give the downtrodden peasants trust ? The Doctor demonstrate Robin Hood his own fabled range from the databanks of the golem ’ spaceship , to establish that he ’s just made up from whole fabric — when in fact , what it show is that Robin Hood has passed into legend . ( I half expected the final barb of the episode to be Robin Hood move out his camouflage to uncover he ’s a robot after all . )
In fact , the robots in “ automaton of Sherwood ” are the Sheriff ’s knights . ( And the Sheriff himself is some variety of bionic woman , he claims at the conclusion . ) The robots have crashlanded in Medieval England , and they ’re gathering enough gold to get renovate their spaceship engine , while seek to commingle into the local culture . But they do n’t touch on the engine enough , and they ’re give way to blow up and ruin one-half of England . It ’s pretty similar to previous historic romps by author Mark Gatiss , including “ The Unquiet Dead ” and “ triumph of the Daleks , ” but it ’s elevated by the competition between the two expectant heroes .
The heroism matter
This instalment is explicitly using Robin Hood to remark on the Doctor and his own status as a fantasy adventure Heron . And the Doctor ’s whimsy that Robin Hood is in some means defend the condition quo by opposing it comes from the same place as the idea that Batman produce the Joker ( or thatthe Doctor makes the Daleks worse . )
What ’s So Bad About Hating The Daleks , Anyway ?
It ’s the theory that we create our own opposite , but also that we tone up thing by play off them . And also , that larger-than-life story just provide an escape from realness , rather of actually hit a difference in the real reality . And that you ca n’t escape being part of the system , even if you fight against it . It ’s all the stuff that mass employ to knock down things like Doctor Who , in fact .
This installment make a case that the Doctor and Robin Hood are both the same — both rebels who give up prerogative to fight for the oppressed . And the Doctor ’s refusal to believe in Robin Hood is sort of part of his reluctance to believe in himself these mean solar day . He ’s not sure that he ’s really a good guy , and that he can know up to his own billing ( which makes a Brobdingnagian change from the Tennant - and - Smith - era “ ego - promotional speechifying ” trope . ) Clara points out that the Doctor spare people from bad thing every minute of every Clarence Day , and he says he ’s just passing the time .
In the end , this week ’s resolution to the Doctor ’s angst is similar to last hebdomad ’s : last week , Clara sound out that if the Doctor tries to be a good valet , that ’s what depend . This hebdomad , Robin Hood says that as long as he and the Doctor make to be heroes , perchance they ’ll prompt others to be desperate in their name . And that plays into the idea that they ’re good off being caption and tale , rather than real people , because stories can make you fly .
It ’s in reality a marvelously upbeat take on Hero of Alexandria and legends , and you have to admire the deftness with which this episode satirise some of the Doctor ’s own tropes and foibles — like the over - trust on the sonic screwdriver — while still reaffirm that saving people is awesome and you may make a difference .
And after several year of the Doctor being shown in hero airs , with the floodlight and the flatus motorcar and the smoke machine and the striking speech , he actually seems like a greater Hero of Alexandria when he ’s depict as a fallible mortal , with green-eyed monster and other mannerism . Capaldi has enough gravitas to make the Doctor slightly the butt of the trick without losing his height , so allow ’s desire this is the rootage of a flake of a style .
Oh , and the ship of robots was on course of study for the Promised Land , which is our one nod to the on-going plotline with Missy and Paradise and so on this week . Sadly , when the Sheriff of Nottingham falls into liquified gold and dies / is deactivated , we do n’t get to see her join up with Missy — maybe because he does n’t sacrifice himself willingly ?
Doctor WhoDoctor Who RecapRobin HoodTelevision
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