S8E3: Robot of Sherwood (SPOILERS)

I've heard good things about this story from a friend who has already seen the episode, so I'm looking forward to seeing this one!

That first picture of the thing with the blue eyes isn't from ROS

Another great episode !!!

beep wrote:

That first picture of the thing with the blue eyes isn't from ROS

I... I feel so betrayed...

This was filmed at Caerphilly Castle in Wales, in case anyone was curious. They've used it numerous times in the past, including the Rebel Flesh story from a couple years ago.

Saw the trailer for this on the BBC's Facebook.

Looks like they're pulling out the Doctor's old swordsman skills and putting them to use.

I refuse to know too much, haven't watched any of the leaked stuff, and do enjoy being surprised. That said, this is something I'm sure won't happen in the episode but which I'd think would be a great twist...

That it's true, there is no 'Robin Hood' as the Doctor states. However, it's the Corsair, using Earth legends as inspiration (an in turn, creating the legend), to build a fighting force to combat the robot threat / Sheriff of Nottingham. S/he's visited Earth on many an occasion, has had no quibble being admired by Earthlings publicly and making a spectacle of himself, and is quite the adventurous type.

Looking forward to this one. Is it me or does the guy playing the Sheriff of Nottingham kind of look like Anthony Ainley? I also really like the purple (metallic maroon?) shirt with the jacket on the Doctor.

Just under 15 minutes to go here!

OK story.

Capaldi just gets better & better! A Glaswegian Doctor!.....PERFECT!


Next week looks good n creepy.

very good story, lots of action, fast paced, Capaldi is getting more awesome every episode and some great funny lines/scenes had my family in stitches!

This was quite a fun episode and it made me smile throughout! Some great lines from the Doctor. I wonder if the spoon will be the 12th Doctor's thing, like bowties, jellybabies and cricket? He also had a Battenberg I loved that he had a Battenberg in his pocket, too. Wonder if that will also be his new favourite food? Loved the 3rd Doctor references, too, with the reference to miniscopes (Carnival of Monsters) and the "HIAK!" scene. I really hope the Pertwee traits are consistent in the 12th Doctor's run. I'm really enjoying seeing more of his character, how he dislikes laughter and banter, his stubbornness, his competitiveness with Robin. Really enjoyed the Doctor in this one!

Anyone else notice the Patrick Troughton cameo on the screen with the Robin Hood photos, too? Loved that! The only way that this can fit in with canon however is that Patrick Troughton is real in the Whoniverse and the 1st Doctor met him and remembered his face when he regenerated, like the 10th Doctor and Caecilius. I like that a lot.

Robin Hood was great. Funny, lively and all that good stuff. And he was a great analogy of the Doctor, too! He's a legend, but he's as real as we want him to be, too.

The robots were actually pretty cool. I really liked the design! Unfortunately they were underused and they were just another bland 'evil robots taking over the world' but the designs are really cool and would make for great action figures.

Overall, this is a really fun story and pretty humourous and enjoyable throughout. My only complaint would be that it is pretty cheesy - that doesn't make it un-enjoyable, but it does hinder it a little bit. All in all though, I really quite liked this story. Voted 'Good' and I'd give it a 4/5.

I loved this episode! A lot of fun, and the robot designs were great.

Also, I forgot to add that I love the chalk board in the TARDIS! Very cool idea, can't believe no one thought of it before!

This episode was fun. Not very deep, but fun.
I loved the Doctor's rivalry with Robin Hood.
The spoon duel was awesome.
The Sheriff was Ben Miller, who is actually a not the same person as Rob Brydon.
The scene with the prisoners fighting back with mirrored plates wasn't set up well.
There was a decapitation scene that was cut.

Evil Monkey Pope wrote:

There was a decapitation scene that was cut.

Due to recent murderous beheadings in Iraq of innocent people this week, so it's understandable that it was cut, especially due to how tongue in cheek the scene apparently was.

Because the entire context of the scene was so different from the tragedy the censorship felt unwarranted.

Did not like this episode much at all - too silly.

1. What was with the TARDIS door being open / closed / open with interior visible
2. Too much Clara again. Sorry but I want more Doctor (really love Capaldi) and wound up FFing on some of Clara's scenes.
3. Did we really need the 'merry' men scene discussing the bloody so-called gold arrow which seemed to have to weight to it all
4. They must have really good dry cleaners because Clara was clean as ever after her and Robin's fall into the water
5. Too distracted by Miller's Ainley / Master makeup to really take notice of his actual role as the Sheriff. All he needed was Ainley's evil laugh and he would have been set for a King's Deamons rehash
6. Robin's laugh was also getting on my nerves at how often he was doing it.
7. The bantering between the Doctor and Robin in the cell was beyond childish with Clara being the clearheaded one - I could do with less of these kind of scenes

As for this year's unnecessary overreaching plot of the Promised Plan, we are given another hidden spaceship. Is there any correlation when the Doctor's writings. He was trying to work out something in the first episode as he did in this episode.

It was nice to see the pic of Troughton at least as one of the Robin Hoods. And was the Doctor giving Robin the finger for just a brief moment when he was putting on the glove?

As mentioned in other online reviews, this did seem like a Smith script modified for Capaldi but not well enough. I am really hoping next week's episode is when the quality of the show finally picks up because it seems that the writers are in a rut (or even better, maybe it's time for a fresh set of writers altogether). Before, Love and Monsters was my least fave story; this one just topped it. Don't expect the AI rating to be low once again when it comes out Monday even though the premin UK rating was in line with last week.

I have many casual viewing friends that are not fans of the show looked we are but tune in for some family t.v. time. They are all loving this series.

I liked this episode, a nice one off. Silly, but Capaldi's Doctor really shines. It's nice to have both a grumpy and funny Doctor. Very much a Pertwee inspired set of stories so far. Yet another "Carnival of Monsters" reference. And some nice nods to The First Doctor. (I was hoping with the Sheriff's resemblance to Ainley - man what a missed opportunity! - we'd at least get a "King's Demon's" reference.) Great robot design, too.

Sure, it's a bit of fluff, but you need that after the first two episodes. I liked the guy who played Robin, he was hammy and silly which lead into that "Is he a Robot?" thing. I really got a kick out of the Clara telling them to shut up, she's the boss thing.

It does sort of feel like a repurposed episode. In fact, it feels like the script to that long-fabled Doctor Who/Robin Hood (2006-2009) crossover episode. There are a couple things that line up with it. The Doctor calls Robin a Hoodie at one point, but the Robin in the episode doesn't actually have a hood! Certainly it's been updated, but it does feel a little... off.

Capaldi's really going to be a phenomenal, memorable Doctor, though.

I have a question for thos who watched it in England. Did it jump from saying we need to get out of here to all of a sudden they are outside? On BBC America, it broke for commercial when they were inside with an it's time to go moment and once the commercial was over, they were outside staring at the castle. It felt very choppy to me and I was wondering if something was cut for time.

Yeah, there were some weird edits/cuts on BBCA. Robin and The Doctor escape their cell and are holding the cement block with the hook from their cell without any explanation of how they got the block out of the ground. I have the iTunes season pass, I'll try and take a look.

(I'm also slightly surprised the beheading scene was excised from the international broadcast versions.)

Yeah. The handcuffs thing seem awkward to me as well. At least the full version will be on the blu rays.

I don't recall the choppy cut you referred to, D84, but the one you mentioned, TinDogRory, was present in the full version, too. There was no explanation about the block or how they unchained themselves from it. I guess there doesn't really need to be though; it's the Doctor after all, he'd have found a way.

Yes, isn't that Anthony Ainley playing the Sheriff?
The Doctor may be as unlovable as "Twin Dilemma", but he's fun to watch.
Cringed at the magic powers of the golden arrow. Let's not even use pretend science.
As the episode ended I really felt "dang, these 45 minute stories really cheat us out of any depth that the Classic series used to have". Not that the Classics were "deep, character driven pieces" but at least they didn't fly by so fast.