It seems like every season Dr Who brings us a time period piece
like this past week’s episode, "Robot of Sherwood". We have met
William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, Winston Churchill, Richard Nixon, Vincent
Van Gogh and now we finally meet Robin Hood. I enjoy these types of episodes
very much. It puts the Doctor and his companion in a situation where their
knowledge and technology is far beyond what the locals could imagine. They have
to be careful not to alter the future.
This is a fun episode of Dr Who.
It's not meant to be too dark and has a very lighthearted feel throughout the
whole episode. The highlight for me was seeing the Doctor fight Robin Hood with
the most unlikely weapon, a spoon. This episode also did a great use of robots.
They made them an extension of the one controlling them, which is why I
disliked "Deep Breath" so much. That is how you use robots. It kind
of reminded me of the "Androids of Tara", a medieval setting with
robots and sword fighting. That episode was broken into 4 weeks and this one
was wrapped up pretty quickly. Can you imagine spending a whole month watching
"Robot of Sherwood"? I mean, yes it's a good episode, but you would
really have to drag out the story to get a month’s worth. Of course back then
the segments of the episode were only a little over 18 minutes. As a Classic
Fan, it does make me reminisce about the old days. I think some of the new Dr
Who episodes should be expanded into more than one episode, but some like
"Robot of Sherwood" are just about right.
I was also really impressed with the
acting. Ben Miller who played the Sheriff was fabulous and he kind of reminded
me of the Master. He has the evil quality about him and would make a wonderful
Master. Tom Riley played Robin Hood was also fantastic, but I think we all
secretly wanted Jonas Armstrong who played Robin Hood in the BBC television
show.
So, no Missy, no Mr. Pink, no
wondering if the Doctor is a good man, just a Dr Who episode that stands alone
and has certain of a classic feel. I give this episode, 3 out of 5 Tardis's.