# Doctor Who Revival S8E3 -- Robots of Sherwood (boxed spoilers until it airs on the West Coast) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639 "2014-09-06T06:13:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/81 "2014-09-10T02:00:04Z")
> [@Toucanna](#): > > I’ve heard it argued that DW’s pacing and feel are more like a horror than SF show. Nu-Who as they call it (2005 on) does have a lot of horror episodes. I like that about the current incarnation of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/82 "2014-09-10T02:04:13Z")
[QUOTE=LawMonkey] Well, it was a surprise. Maybe it’s just that I’m a touch faceblind, but I definitely didn’t draw a line between the dungeon girl and the Marian revealed when the blue box left. {snip} [/QUOTE] There was a very slight hint at the beginning of the episode: When the robo-knights are dragging off a young woman from a village they are pillaging, an older man (“Master Quayle”) cries out to them, “I beg you! Stop! Stop this! Please! By all that’s holy. Take our monies. Our treasure. But spare my ward!” “In 1938’s _[The Adventures of Robin Hood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Robin_Hood_%28film%29)_, [Marian] is a courageous and loyal woman…and a ward of the court, an orphaned noblewoman under the protection of [King Richard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_the_Lionhearted).” Source: [Maid Marian - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maid_Marian) ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/83 "2014-09-10T03:12:57Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] {snip} The Doctor was annoyed by the merriness of the Merry Men straight from minute 1. Why? {snip} [/QUOTE] Because–according to Moffat–he’s Scottish now and anger is a major characteristic of Scottish people. (Once, again, according to Moffat, not me!) [QUOTE=Sage Rat] Everything was skipping straight to the punchline, without bothering with the setup. If they’d bothered to show that the doctor is a cranky old bugger, then having him be annoyed by merriment makes sense. They didn’t really do that. If they showed that the Doctor was upset by Clara turning her attention from him to Robin, we might understand his side of things - though it remains unclear what Robin’s issue would be, since he wanted Marian, not Clara. It all just ended up as random nonsense, for no good reason. [/QUOTE] 1. The Doctor’s crankiness-as-defining-character-trait was set up in Episode 1 (as stated above). 2. The Doctor was annoyed that Clara was acting all fan-girl over what he _knew_ was a fictional character even after he told her RH was fictional. This was set up in the cold open when the Doctor snarled, “He’s made up!” when Clara asked if they could go back in time to meet RH. 3. According to the Robin Hood mythos, one of Robin Hood’s defining characteristics is his “roguish charm”. So, while he loves and wants to be with Marian, he’s still gonna put on a show for the ladies. 4. As for the sword/spoon fight, this was also set up in the cold open, when we saw the Doctor lick yoghurt off the spoon and then fumble with it, trying to put it away so he could retrieve a Polaroid\* picture from his pocket. \*A photograph of the “Tumescent Arrows of the Half-Light”. You know those humorous throwaway lines Moffat likes to sprinkle throughout his scripts? Those _seemingly_ throwaway lines such as, “the crash of the Byzantium”, “the final resting place of the headless Monks”, “the Papal Mainframe”. Those lines you chuckled at and then forgot until the reference was made real in a later story? I’m calling this one right now. Place your bets on how soon the Tumescent Arrows of the Half-Light will show up and what they’ll be. ---
**Author:** ![MG1692](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@MG1692](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MG1692)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/84 "2014-09-10T03:43:28Z")
Seriously dumb episode that made no sense on any level other than for the writers to be told. We need a Robin Hood episode and we need it now. For about half the episode I thought I was watching a Colin Baker re-run ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/85 "2014-09-10T08:44:33Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > I keep hearing this, and it shocks me every time. British kids must be made of sterner stuff. If my 7-year-old watched Doctor Who, she’d be terrified. Those cyborg guys from the premiere? The sycorax? The Silence? The Family of Blood? The Weeping Angels? Kids actually watch this show and don’t grow up scarred for life? I’m currently working through NewWho with my 9-year-old son. Let’s just say that we shouldn’t have shown him \*Blink \*on the evening before the first day of school, and leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/86 "2014-09-10T09:34:07Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > I keep hearing this, and it shocks me every time. British kids must be made of sterner stuff. If my 7-year-old watched Doctor Who, she’d be terrified. Those cyborg guys from the premiere? The sycorax? The Silence? The Family of Blood? The Weeping Angels? Kids actually watch this show and don’t grow up scarred for life? As others have said, that’s the way it is. You’re not British until you’ve had the living shit scared out of you by Dr Who. They refuse you a passport and everything. Having said that, I disagree that it is a “kid’s show”. It is a family show, meaning it should try to entertain the family, not just children. This Robin Hood episode was awful. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/87 "2014-09-10T09:48:53Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I ‘got it,’ if only because both were duels on bridges, at least that’s how I remember the one with Little John. Both also end with Robin being knocked into the drink, after putting up a good showing. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/88 "2014-09-10T18:18:09Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > I keep hearing this, and it shocks me every time. British kids must be made of sterner stuff. If my 7-year-old watched Doctor Who, she’d be terrified. Those cyborg guys from the premiere? The sycorax? The Silence? The Family of Blood? The Weeping Angels? Kids actually watch this show and don’t grow up scarred for life? They grow up British, stiff upper lip and whatnot. Also, I pegged the girl as Marian when they first showed her being taken by the Sherriff and then continued to show her off and on. I’m surprised it didn’t seem that obvious to others. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/89 "2014-09-11T23:35:42Z")
_Doctor Who_ alumni send up [Biggles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggles) movies: [Armstrong, Miller, Mitchell & Webb as WW2 Pilots | Comic Relief - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGp4DvFEgh8). NSFW/language “Spud”: Ben Miller, who played the Sheriff in _Robot of Sherwood_; “Chalky”: David Mitchell, who voiced Robot 1 in _Dinosaurs on a Spaceship_; “Jumbo”: Robert Webb, who voiced Robot 2 in _Dinosaurs on a Spaceship_; Senior Officer: Geoffrey Palmer, who played Masters in _Doctor Who and the Silurians_, Administrator in _The Mutants_ and, Capt. Hardaker in _Voyage of the Damned_. If you’d like to see more of Ben Miller: [Armstrong and Miller Series 3 Episode 2 (1999) - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa8c3FiY68w). Skip ahead to 5:46 for the money shot. NSFW ---
**Author:** ![Arch\_Trout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9f8e36/32.png) [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/90 "2014-09-12T12:30:02Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > I keep hearing this, and it shocks me every time. British kids must be made of sterner stuff. If my 7-year-old watched Doctor Who, she’d be terrified. Those cyborg guys from the premiere? The sycorax? The Silence? The Family of Blood? The Weeping Angels? Kids actually watch this show and don’t grow up scarred for life? It’s all part and parcel of growing up a Brit. I remember being terrified of the Cybermen and Daleks when I was growing up. Don’t think it’s caused any lasting damage. When the going gets scary my daughter just points her sonic screwdriver at the TV! ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/91 "2014-09-12T16:52:02Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Good point on the divide. > > As a litmus test in my case, I find the [Adipose episode](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partners_in_Crime_%28Doctor_Who%29), one of the silliest of the modern run, to be one of the greatest episodes ever. This is Doctor Who at its finest. Me, too - the whole scene of the Doctor and Donna mouthing words to each other across the room was hilarious. I got no problem with silly - if it’s done well. This episode wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/92 "2014-09-12T17:23:37Z")
> [@Toucanna](#): > > \*A photograph of the “Tumescent Arrows of the Half-Light”. You know those humorous throwaway lines Moffat likes to sprinkle throughout his scripts? Those _seemingly_ throwaway lines such as, “the crash of the Byzantium”, “the final resting place of the headless Monks”, “the Papal Mainframe”. Those lines you chuckled at and then forgot until the reference was made real in a later story? I’m calling this one right now. Place your bets on how soon the Tumescent Arrows of the Half-Light will show up and what they’ll be. _Doctor Who and the Planet of the 4chanians_? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/93 "2014-09-12T20:02:49Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > I’m also not entirely sure that I ever got a satisfactory explanation to why Robin and his Merry Men were so very, VERY tropey. The explanation is that those were the real Robin and Merry Men and all the tropes birthed from them. I liked the episode fine for a MoW episode. I liked the spoon fight it seemed like something an arrogant Doctor would do. Like he knows he is so much better at stuff than most people that he knows he can beat a guy at a swordfight with a spoon. I never really got into Clara when she was the Impossible Girl but I am loving her now. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/94 "2014-09-13T23:43:38Z")
> [@Toucanna](#): > > I’ve heard it argued that DW’s pacing and feel are more like a horror than SF show. FWIW, I was in my thirties when the [Goosebumps](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goosebumps) series of books was published and the [TV show](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111987/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2) aired. I wasn’t raising kids, so I didn’t read/watch them. A few months ago, I caught a few episodes of the TV show on Netflix and OMG, there was some macabre stuff in those shows! “You let your kids watch that?!?!?!?!?” 😃 Never read the unexpurgated [versions](http://www.cracked.com/article_15962_the-gruesome-origins-5-popular-fairy-tales.html) of fairy tales, did you. Disney has a _lot_to answer for IMHO. Kids need to be scared, it is part of growing up. Being scared as part of a story is a safe scare. Being scared by some guy grabbing you out of a park, not so much. [URL=“[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”] ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/95 "2014-09-14T02:06:46Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Never read the unexpurgated [versions](http://www.cracked.com/article_15962_the-gruesome-origins-5-popular-fairy-tales.html) of fairy tales, did you. Disney has a _lot_to answer for IMHO. > > Kids need to be scared, it is part of growing up. Being scared as part of a story is a safe scare. Being scared by some guy grabbing you out of a park, not so much. > [URL=“[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”] Kind of timely given “Listen.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/96 "2014-09-14T02:12:07Z")
[QUOTE=aruvqan] Never read the unexpurgated [versions](http://www.cracked.com/article_15962_the-gruesome-origins-5-popular-fairy-tales.html) of fairy tales, did you.{snip} [/QUOTE] Yes, I have, actually. In college, along with Brunvand’s scholarly (and general interest) works on myths and urban legends. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/97 "2014-09-14T08:38:59Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > The Doctor is an expert swordsman, despite never having shown this skill before. Why? The Third Doctor was an excellent fencer [_and_ ate the Master’s lunch whilst swordfighting him.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-dXZePMOX4) He took on one of Irongron’s robot knights in _The Time Warrior_, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/98 "2014-09-14T08:47:37Z")
That’s what you get for not reading to the end before you post. I liked the episode, although Robin was a little too much like Lord Flashheart. I liked the Sheriff, though: he reminded me uncannily of Jonathan Pryce’s Master. If they are ever recasting the role properly, he should be the first guy they call. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/99 "2014-09-14T08:58:25Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Talthough Robin was a little too much like Lord Flashheart. I thought the exact same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639/100 "2014-09-14T19:58:30Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > No Missy appearance this time…sort of disappointing, actually… The ship was en route to The Promised Land. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-revival-s8e3-robots-of-sherwood-boxed-spoilers-until-it-airs-on-the-west-coast/697639.md?page=6)