S08.E03: Robot Of Sherwood

[AudienceofOne]

My problem is not that the Doctor is gruff and uncaring. My problem is that I've now seen three different versions of him. This is the most mis-characterised I've seen the character. I had my problems with Tennant's emo-Doctor and Matt's slapstick-Doctor but I knew who thy were and how thy were going to react right from the first episode. Ignoring Capaldi's acting, which is what is currently keeping this together, the Doctor we saw in this episode was completely different from the Dalek one who was different from the first episode. Make him dark or sociopathic or alien or uncaring. Just decide and stick to it.

[Florinaldo]

Every season seems to include at least one episode that can be characterised as an inconsequential and forgettable romp; this certainly fits the bit. Enjoyable, as long as you can ignore the wonky science (gold is a very good conductor, but here it functions as an actual source of energy when the arrow is fired into the spaceship), the silly pissing contest between alpha roosters Robin and the Doctor and some stupid cliché choices by the characters (the best place for a duel is never over a vat of boiling gold).

 

The best thing in the episode is still Capaldi; I love a good cranky, opiniated Doctor, and he certainly delivers. I loved how he was vexed when his expectations as far as Robin being a myth were disproved and we learned that he was real, but has simply been supplanted by his legend.

 

Whoever is in charge of make-up was sleeping on the job; Robin's blonde affair was bad enough, but the Sheriff's beard looked like a discard from Anthony Ainley's turn as the Master that had been tossed aside and left to grow and fester in some unhealthy soil.

[Amelia]

Capaldi swordfighting with a spoon was dumb, but I liked how irritated he was all the time at the Merry Men and Robin laughing. It was stupid, I know, but I thought it was funny!

[miles2go]

This episode inspired me to re-watch "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (the Errol Flynn movie).  Also found the county library had the Douglas Fairbanks silent film "Robin Hood", and I watched that, too.  And I've started reading Ivanhoe, so I've been pretty saturated with Robin Hood this week.

 

Whatever it's failings, "Robot" does a pretty good job of recreating the ambience of these old-fashioned stories (with a bit of parody, of course).  Tom Riley really does a good job of channeling the Errol Flynn Robin, and uses some of his mannerisms (e.g., laughing with head thrown back).  I'm not so sure there isn't a touch of Douglas Fairbanks in there as well.

 

And I did like the episode much better on second viewing.  So, on to the next one . . .

[elle]

 

Capaldi swordfighting with a spoon was dumb,

It was, but it prompted me to say, out loud, Spoon! in a dramatic manner.  I can't be the only one to remember "The Tick"?

[paramitch]

I dont think any Classic Doctor that I have seen was ever such a complete ahole and buffoon the way Capaldi was for most of this last episode. 

 

I know this is a common refrain, but I disagree, and can't help but wonder if Capaldi's age is what isn't giving the Doctor a pass here when his occasional past grouchiness and assy behavior before maybe came across as 'cuter' with Nine, Ten and especially Eleven, who was pretty much a constant raging ass when he wasn't being adorable (for me there was very little in between).

 

The Doctor here was a little jerky, exasperated and impatient with what he instantly and correctly sniffed out to be a manufactured situation (robots, gold, mean Sheriff, etc.). But for me this is perfectly in line with his past behaviors, from Nine yelling about "stupid apes" and being an ass to Mickey, to Ten also being an ass to Mickey and various others from Earth to Mars on occasion, to Eleven being a crotchety old man all the time in spite of his sexy cuteness, including most of season five (to the extent that many viewers instantly picked up that it was a later Eleven helping Amy against the Angels early on, precisely because the actual Eleven of that time period was a much bigger asshole).

 

And keep in mind, I'm not complaining. I love every one of the Doctors and don't expect them to always be likable. I don't think a person over 1,000-2,000 years old and with occasional godlike powers would necessarily be all that likable. The eccentricities would be legion, especially near the beginning of the regeneration. So as long as I can still find things to love, I'm fine. And for me, Capaldi has already bought my goodwill for the season. I love him, and FWIW loved the snarkiness here -- his genuine upset that legend was fact.

 

I do think he's being given charming moments. I loved the whole bromance with Robin because the arguments were obviously so much fun for both of them. And as a kid I would have adored that spoon/sword battle forever.

 

I kept thinking throughout this episode how much better this episode would have been if it was an 11/Amy episode instead.  11's denial of Robin Hood would have come across as a bit OTT, which would have made it funny, which I think they were going for.  Him getting in a pissing contest with Hood to see who was superior, especially when frustrated, would be in character.

 

To me, this is actually a really good argument for the fact that Twelve as the Doctor is actually still recognizable. It makes me wonder if again, it's perhaps just weird for people to see him acting this way when he's no longer Matt Smith. But to me, seeing Capaldi do it brings that continuity to the character, yet also a new edge and a charm that is all his own. And I suspect that it is all part of this season's arc, and that we will see the Doctor calm down a bit. But PC plays him with this incredibly fascinating quality -- an almost visible thrum and tension, a tangible fear of getting too close (the poignant moment here when he touched his face after Marian kissed his cheek). I definitely think the Doctor's fear of closeness and friendship is going somewhere, and the little moments when he breaks down and admits need are all the more haunting for me already.

 

I agree, and I always hesitate to use the phrase 'Mary Sue' because it's so often misused, but it applies here. So does 'manic pixie dream girl'. Clara has been designed as an ideal, not as a person. She is not permitted to make mistakes - her struggle to accept the new Doctor aside, everything she does has to be perfect. They even made a minisode where the Doctor describes her as perfect for him in every way. Even her flaws are presented as cute and quirky rather than actual, you know, flaws. She isn't a person. She's a middle-aged man's ideal of what 'the perfect Doctor Who companion' should be - Moffat has admitted that's how he designs his companions, he sits down and asks himself what sort of person would be perfect for the Doctor, what sort of person would want to travel with the Doctor? And Clara is the result: a character carefully assembled from all the elements he believed would make her perfect. Trouble is, he forgot that she also needs to be a person. She never seems to struggle with anything, everything is always effortless for her, but the trouble is that it's the struggle that makes a character rootable, it's what engages our interest and empathy; if there's no struggle, there's also nothing to engage with and root for.

I so wholeheartedly agree with this. I want to like Clara (and interestingly, I did like her very much as the precursor Clara -- the Dalek Clara who baked souffles). But ever since, she's just a blank slate, a Colorforms all the rest of the time, built to plug into whatever scenario is required, and that's so sad to me because past Companions have been so genuinely rich and interesting. I loved Sarah Jane, Jack, Rose, Martha, Donna, Wilf and Rory as much for their imperfections as for their heroism. And at least Amy, while not a favorite of mine, did bring that sense of utter, stubborn, obstinacy.

 

Clara's hair bugged me too. It was somewhat shoulder length and then she comes out with hair down to there. Does the TARDIS do hair extensions?

 

Okay, this totally bugged me too. Clara does not have waist-length, curly hair, so I kept wondering, were we supposed to forget? Think she had put on a wig? But she did look adorable in the red dress and period get-up.

 

The crack in the wall (universe) that was inserted into almost every episode of Matt's first season was a perfect example of how Moffat doesn't know how to be subtle (basically hitting us over the head with a seasonal arc).  

 

See, I liked it when it was Bad Wolf because I thought RTD walked a fine line carefully there, and I loved the sense of complete understanding and illumination in the end of S1. But Moffatt has always been much clumsier at it, for one thing adopting Bad Wolf as a kind of formula, so that each season we get episodes ending on the reminder, "And now the reminder of the BIG THING HAPPENING THIS SEASON!  MYSTERIOUS CRACK! IMPOSSIBLE GIRL! PROMISED LAND!" etc. It's just so ham-handed. But I am intrigued that all of the Doctor's 'victims' appear to end up in the same afterlife of sorts.

 

Capaldi swordfighting with a spoon was dumb, but I liked how irritated he was all the time at the Merry Men and Robin laughing. It was stupid, I know, but I thought it was funny!

I loved the spoon fight. My perpetual inner ten-year-old just loved it and would happily rewatch it a dozen more times.

[Biosynth]

My idea of what this Doctor would be was he'd be this serious character, grumpy perhaps, but one of those who you don't talk back to.

 

We are still having companions talking back, telling him to shut up, and treating him like he's a moron.

 

I'm getting sick of it.  When is Moffat leaving?