Doctor Who - Robot of Sherwood Review

I have to say, I wasn't looking forward to this one. It just looked a bit... silly. And I was right. But for some reason, it was still a good episode.

Well, a good episode of something. Whether or not that something was Doctor Who is a question that must be asked. I think this story was very much more in the style of olden days Doctor Who than the Doctor Who we've seen since its reboot in 2005. That said, it still made for an entertaining 45 minutes of television.

Peter Capaldi, as always, was amazing. This week really showed his Doctor's versatility, as well as Mark Gatiss' versatility as a writer. If Doctor Who was ever going to do a Robin Hood episode, this was it.

I didn't really notice the direction or the music this week. I think that's because they were fitting and adequate. They definitely weren't bad, or I'd have noticed. But the same goes for them being good, I suppose.

A big problem with the episode was the ending - shooting golden arrow at the spaceship to save the world was a nice idea, but even in the world of Doctor Who, it didn't really make much sense and was just a little ridiculous.

But perhaps it was the ridiculousness and humour which made this episode so enjoyable. It was a nice break from the "into darkness" idea that this series has created without completely turning away from it. I also felt that, while issues about the Doctor and his status as a hero were mentioned, the episode didn't head too much into the territory of self consciousness, as I thought it might do last week. It would be nice, in the future, to see a little more character development for the Doctor. But I think by the end of the series we'll definitely be satisfied - if not after next week. The episode also didn't feel rushed at all, which was very reassuring.

Overall, "Robot of Sherwood" (Why not "Robots"? I don't think we'll ever know...) was an entertaining episode which did many things very well. It was a little ridiculous and a bit different, but still enjoyable.

6.5/10

Next week... well we don't really seem to have any idea. But it looks pretty awesome.