…for a joke that sucked I sure spent a lot of time laughing at it. In fact I think I laughed from the moment the spoon appeared right up until the end of the fight. And I don’t think the smile left my face for the rest of the episode.
I sit corrected. Thank you for fighting my ignorance.
My only problem with the spoon fight was it was clearly referencing Robin’s meeting with Little John…a fight that involved quarterstaves, not swords.
As predicted on one of the review podcasts I listen to, this one’s dividing the fans. There’s a certain subset of the fanbase that simply does not like the sillier side of Who, I think; pretty much every time the show gets silly, there’s a bunch of unhappy fans. Personally, it’s part of the overall Who blend–if it got out of control and was all the show did, I’d be unhappy, but the occasional wacky romp is fine with me.
Which is not to say that last night didn’t have some problems–both of the sort that could be remedied by not thinking about them too hard (or at all), like the entire golden arrow thing, and plot threads that either went nowhere or came from nowhere. For the former, we’ve got the merry men independently coming up with the whole gold thing and then never quite going anywhere with it–I think they also were planning to bust Rob out and never quite got around to it, though I may be just forgetting. For the latter, we’ve got Maid Marian–if they ever told us that the lady the Doctor was in the dungeon with was Marian, I missed it. 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.
To the side, am I correct in understanding that, in addition to the beheading scene, all Doctor Who episodes are edited for length before being shown on BBC-A? I know that when, say, Ripper Street was running last year, the eps generally ran 1:15 rather than the straight hour, which I assumed was making room for more ads here in the States than in the UK. I also seem to recall some previous season of Who doing the same, but I could be mistaken. Might explain why I felt things were a bit choppy.
Finally, I would’ve expected something later on out of the Golden Hand, but they done blew the shipcastle up real good, didn’t they? OTOH, maybe a Golden Sheriff will show up (somehow) in the Promised Land by the end of the season.
I didn’t get that at all. I thought the Doctor was just mocking storybook-like duels.
I ‘got it,’ if only because both were duels on bridges, at least that’s how I remember the one with Little John.
You do realise the show is essentially for children?
It’s family viewing.
Did my 7 year old daughter complain about how predictable certain plot points were, or how silly the whole gold arrow thing was?
No - because she’s 7.
Lighten up and watch the show the way it’s intended.
They didn’t. The scene where she reunites with Robin was meant to be a surprise reveal.
Good point on the divide.
As a litmus test in my case, I find the Adipose episode, one of the silliest of the modern run, to be one of the greatest episodes ever. This is Doctor Who at its finest.
You and me both. Loved that one, loved this new one. The Doctor has always had a silly streak. As long as they don’t get it out of hand, it’s refreshing to see it occasionally.
Shouldn’t the fact that it’s intended for children suggest a higher standard, not a lower one?
Anyway, Doctor Who has an excellent track record of making shows that are both appropriate for children and really well written. It’s fair to point out when they fail to meet their own standards of quality.
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?
Well, I enjoyed it. I agree with someone above who said the show needs to keep a balance; if every show was like this, it would get old - just like if every show was a dramatic, serious “end of the UNIVERSE and ALL OF TIME” type thing.
I am, however, really looking forward to this week’s episode - it’s shaping up to be top-notch nightmare fuel. Hands under the bed grabbing your ankles? Hell yeah.
Well, there is a long-running joke going back to the days of Classic Who about how kids fondly remember watching the show while hiding behind the couch and peeking around the edge.
So far our family is loving this season. So much better than the confusing muddle of The Impossible Girl, and the interminable Farewell to Any and Rory. Robots of Sherwood was a fun romp that bodes well for the new Doctor.
[QUOTE=Miller]
Shouldn’t the fact that it’s intended for children suggest a higher standard, not a lower one? {snip}
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But, really, so what?
I found myself raging about the dumbness that frequently pervaded this show until I finally got it that this is a kid’s show. Now, I enjoy it as such and just let the plot holes and character faults wash past me. If I want to watch thinking-person’s TV, I’ll rewatch “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”.
Doctor Who, scaring the shit out of British children since 1963. 
But it’s a good kind of scare, I think. It certainly never did me any harm twitch
[QUOTE=Baron Greenback]
Doctor Who, scaring the shit out of British children since 1963. But it’s a good kind of scare, I think. It certainly never did me any harm twitch
[/QUOTE]
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 series of books was published and the TV show 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?!?!?!?!?”
And it’s true, too. I distinctly remember doing it myself.
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.
(Also, FWIW, I didn’t care for the Adipose–though they were, at least, better–so much better!–than the Slitheen. But then, we all have our own lines, and we draw them in different places; my own personal worst Who was… well, I won’t open that can of worms here.)