I'll do my best to have things up on time since I'm still recovering from surgery I had a few days ago on Friday. Please bear with me. There's something every single day this week on Patreon, including: Doctor Who 8x4 "Listen" Full Reaction available on Wednesday Early Access available on Saturday. Scream 5 Extended Reaction available on Tuesday Early Access available on Thursday Full Unedited Reactions (Over 195!) / Early Access to Videos Extended Movie Reactions / Extended Wrestling Reactions / Watchalongs All of the notes (Over 500!) / Uncensored Stuff / Bonus Patron Only content and more over at: www.patreon.com/phivemind
Glad you didn’t hate the story, Phil, especially as it was written by your fav writer, Mark Gatiss lol. One thing I need to pick you up on, is you saying that Doctor Who is a “kids show,” when it has always (right from the very first episode back in 1963) been seen as, and produced by, the BBC’s Drama department, and not the BBC’s Children department! Fun fact: the scene where the images flashed up on the screen, showing different versions of Robin Hood through history, the very last image showed a black and white photo of an actor playing Robin Hood, and that actor was Patrick Troughton, the 2nd Doctor! This was a 1953 UK mini series and was the first ever production of Robin Hood on TV anywhere in the world!
I like this story as it sort of deconstructs the somewhat often light and silly Doctor Who historical eps of this run. A love song to the old school Hollywood portrayals of Robin too, I love how he’s there calling out all the tropes and cliches and rallies against it, being agitated and sarcastic, like Blackadder interacting with his world. Love it.
First off, best wishes for a good recovery. This story and about 3 other stories in this seasons are leftover s7b drafts, and you can tell because all of them are used as examples when people call 12's character inconsistent. and whilst i don't like this episode or 1 of the other episodes that was a leftover s7b draft. and the third one was actually pretty decent sort of underrated. i still think its pretty fun. however it does suffer from it's very clear s7b ness.. you can clearly tell it was written with later 11 in mind and they just made the dialouge a bit grumpier and it ended up fitting decently well in the framework of series 8 with the doctor questioning themselves. regardless i think it's a pretty aight episode surrounded by 2 episodes i considered to be very good. with episode 4 in perticular being one of my favourite stories in the show. the whole introspective vibe they give to this era of who really works with this character piece imo. this episode originally featured a full on decapitation but it was edited out at the last minute due to an actually decaptiation of a british jounralist about a month before the episode aired. the scene only survives because of a major leak that basically released the first 4 episodes of series 8 3 months early. the black and white image of robin hood was actually patrick troughton, the second doctor. i love how the ending fully cements the idea that the doctor is just space robin-hood. the gentleman theif of the stars. it's always the interpretation of the character i liked most i think the episode serves its placement in the arc of the series well, but given it was written as a series 7b episode the 11 and clara pairing would have worked for this yeah. the spoon vs sword thing is commonly cited as a reason behind why some hate series 8, but honestly i dont mind it, it's very 3rd doctor which capadli was very inspired by. i enjoy you being more negetive tbh. you know how oversaturated overly positive very surface level reaction/review content is? i guess its because poeple go to reactions to see people watchthings they're very attached to, but still, it's refreshing to see someone with a more realistic outlook.
A light hearted story where the Doctor gets a chance to shine with his dark wit humour. Thanks for a nice reaction and review. My wishes for a fast recovery.
I'll always love this episode. Yet another to add to my 'episodes I really like that apparently many people dislike' list lmao. Made sense to me, other comments explain some things. I don't care all that much for Robin Hood the story or whatever either. But that didn't matter here for me. This Robin character was great! And contrasted the Doctor really nicely. (writing this part before I've finished listening to your discussion) Was I feel is very underrated, and rarely talked about, is that final conversation between Robin and the Doctor about heros and stories. It's so significant to character building. "I'm just as real as you are." I loved that so much. Puts it up there for me with the final monologue to the camera by that one guy from Love and Monsters, and the "dream lord" from Amy's Choice. Why some (there are some also which do the same and are beloved) of the best character-specific/focused/centric/building moments for the Doctor seem to be inside some of the least loved episodes is too bad. Instead of those moments, I'll hear instead from people only about where the episodes failed.
Much of the comedy content that had been filmed but cut had to be reinserted literally the day before this episode’s initial broadcast, because the BBC insisted that a big part of the climactic battle, which included a beheading, was removed from the episode, after ISIS murdered US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff in the same manner two days previously. Regarding the spoilery aspect of the title, the initial story had The Doctor’s theory about Robin being fake as a smokescreen to the reveal that it was The Sheriff who was actually the robot of the title. Although this IS revealed in the finished episode you watched, it’s garbled quickly in dialogue and moved on from immediately . The pre-edits episode would have shown, through the aforementioned beheading, The Sheriff’s true nature uncovered. Had the BBC not been so sensitive to the real-life news (although I understand fully why they were) the comic aspects of the episode (specifically the Doctor and Robin’s bickering) wouldn’t have been so much to the forefront as they now are.
This season has incredible episodes (episode 4 for example, one of the best DW episodes) And as for Capaldi, i think 12 is needed here not bc of the snark but bc of the theme this season of him asking if he's a good man Him trying to figure it out. Puting him against Robin Hood and having that final conversation with him in the end of the episode just continues the theme of Am I A Good Man I think this is a chill episode, not the best, but not bad. And it's fair to have that in a season
One thing i'd not normally suggest but would now suggest prioritising is watching the very first 1963 serial (An Unearthly Child 4 x 25 mins) as there has just occurred a rights issue that mean it might not be easy to watch in future should you decide to watch classic who - everything else should be available in the future but possibly not that first serial.
I would almost say that I hated this episode. But since I have watched other reactors watch it and enjoy it. That made me look at it a little different. I still think it is far too silly for my taste but I can appreciate now why some like it. There are some good moments.
I remember quite disliking this episode when it first aired. It particularly didn’t help that I was still as of yet unconvinced about Capaldi as the doctor. After I, much later, came to love 12s doctor (he’s now my second favorite) I rewatched it and felt very different about it. It still has its multitude of problems (accepting that the ship is somehow “powered” by gold how does a little stick of gold making contact with the outside of the ship somehow be enough to boost it into orbit when a literal vat of gold inside the engine room wasn’t enough for more than a few feet of altitude; the handheld mirrors bouncing the robots attack beam around and around until it hit the robot; the sheriff being rather “mustache-twirly”; the seemingly minor injury causing the need for the complicated collective effort to work the longbow and yet by the last scene he’s able to effortlessly fire a celebratory arrow, etc. etc. ) but I now also see it as quintessential 12. There are 2 further points from this episode I’d like to mention, but I’ll avoid discussing them due to potential spoilers since one comes back up next season/series and the other, which was an aspect I actually liked about this episode and season/series at the time, unfortunately seemed to get dropped as it goes on.
I also think that it was a shame that it was Peter’s third episode. It could have turned some people off. I think you are right that this may have been a better Matt Smith episode.
I'm with Phil on this one. I know its the stand-alone filler, light-hearted whimsical, episode after the grittier dalek one, and in hindsight perhaps the first step in Clara's next arc (no more to say right now, spoilers and all; and some might argue not the "next" arc). But, as with most of the lighter episodes, it just doesn't work for me. Its gets too silly, much like Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. The whole way the Doctor and Robin Hood interplay almost seems like a pantomime - actually, maybe it could have been a Christmas special, its that cheesy. I get why some people like it, and some of the humour lands well, it is just not one made for me. edit : After writing the above, I got to 20:28 "felt very much like a Christmas episode"
That's a silly episode, but somewhat funny. What I like about it is we get to learn more about our new Doctor's personality. I don't think Robin Hood can be the wrong match for this show, it's one of the biggest English legends. About the hernia, do you still doubt that there's someone in a real Tardis out there, watching your reactions and messing with you?
This is not a favourite episode of mine. It’s more of a whimsical distraction or a pantomime-type episode. Interesting fact, as the computer displays pictures of different representations of Robin Hood it includes a picture of Patrick Troughton - who indeed played Robin Hood but is more famous as being the actor who played the 2nd Doctor.
I agree with you about some of the episode titles giving too much away. And I'm one who's a little iffy on this episode. I like the very beginning (before the competition) and the very end (from when Robin sees the Robin Hood stiff in the ship). Almost every thing in between is hard for me. I hate the bickering back and forth. It's nice to see someone who understands that Doctor Who is a show with something for everyone. Your not going to love every episode. I just look at it as, that one was not for me, it was for someone else. Maybe the next one will be a me episode. I did like Clara's wonder at meeting a hero of legend that she admired. I put myself in her shoes when watching it. The hero I'd lose it over would be the Scarlet Pimpernel. I always connected with him over Robin Hood. It's always interesting to see who people connect with and how they differ from most people.
Series low point. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this a Mark Gatiss episode? Man can't write a good episode to save his life....ope you popped in a writer credit as I was writing this...hahaha! Yeah, not a big Gatiss fan.
![Quando Rondo - Life Goes On [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eIf3fhMXAow/mqdefault.jpg)
I'll do my best to have things up on time since I'm still recovering from surgery I had a few days ago on Friday.
Please bear with me.
There's something every single day this week on Patreon, including:
Doctor Who 8x4 "Listen"
Full Reaction available on Wednesday
Early Access available on Saturday.
Scream 5
Extended Reaction available on Tuesday
Early Access available on Thursday
Full Unedited Reactions (Over 195!) / Early Access to Videos
Extended Movie Reactions / Extended Wrestling Reactions / Watchalongs
All of the notes (Over 500!) / Uncensored Stuff /
Bonus Patron Only content and more over at:
www.patreon.com/phivemind
Glad you didn’t hate the story, Phil, especially as it was written by your fav writer, Mark Gatiss lol. One thing I need to pick you up on, is you saying that Doctor Who is a “kids show,” when it has always (right from the very first episode back in 1963) been seen as, and produced by, the BBC’s Drama department, and not the BBC’s Children department!
Fun fact: the scene where the images flashed up on the screen, showing different versions of Robin Hood through history, the very last image showed a black and white photo of an actor playing Robin Hood, and that actor was Patrick Troughton, the 2nd Doctor! This was a 1953 UK mini series and was the first ever production of Robin Hood on TV anywhere in the world!
I like this story as it sort of deconstructs the somewhat often light and silly Doctor Who historical eps of this run. A love song to the old school Hollywood portrayals of Robin too, I love how he’s there calling out all the tropes and cliches and rallies against it, being agitated and sarcastic, like Blackadder interacting with his world. Love it.
To quote 11: we're all stories in the end
First off, best wishes for a good recovery.
This story and about 3 other stories in this seasons are leftover s7b drafts, and you can tell because all of them are used as examples when people call 12's character inconsistent. and whilst i don't like this episode or 1 of the other episodes that was a leftover s7b draft. and the third one was actually pretty decent sort of underrated. i still think its pretty fun.
however it does suffer from it's very clear s7b ness.. you can clearly tell it was written with later 11 in mind and they just made the dialouge a bit grumpier and it ended up fitting decently well in the framework of series 8 with the doctor questioning themselves. regardless i think it's a pretty aight episode surrounded by 2 episodes i considered to be very good. with episode 4 in perticular being one of my favourite stories in the show. the whole introspective vibe they give to this era of who really works with this character piece imo.
this episode originally featured a full on decapitation but it was edited out at the last minute due to an actually decaptiation of a british jounralist about a month before the episode aired. the scene only survives because of a major leak that basically released the first 4 episodes of series 8 3 months early.
the black and white image of robin hood was actually patrick troughton, the second doctor.
i love how the ending fully cements the idea that the doctor is just space robin-hood. the gentleman theif of the stars. it's always the interpretation of the character i liked most
i think the episode serves its placement in the arc of the series well, but given it was written as a series 7b episode the 11 and clara pairing would have worked for this yeah.
the spoon vs sword thing is commonly cited as a reason behind why some hate series 8, but honestly i dont mind it, it's very 3rd doctor which capadli was very inspired by.
i enjoy you being more negetive tbh. you know how oversaturated overly positive very surface level reaction/review content is? i guess its because poeple go to reactions to see people watchthings they're very attached to, but still, it's refreshing to see someone with a more realistic outlook.
A light hearted story where the Doctor gets a chance to shine with his dark wit humour. Thanks for a nice reaction and review. My wishes for a fast recovery.
There is a theory that this started out as a story made for 11 that got reworked for 12. That spoon bit screams 11.
“I just popped out to get my special straw. It adds extra fizz.”
I'll always love this episode. Yet another to add to my 'episodes I really like that apparently many people dislike' list lmao. Made sense to me, other comments explain some things. I don't care all that much for Robin Hood the story or whatever either. But that didn't matter here for me. This Robin character was great! And contrasted the Doctor really nicely.
(writing this part before I've finished listening to your discussion) Was I feel is very underrated, and rarely talked about, is that final conversation between Robin and the Doctor about heros and stories. It's so significant to character building. "I'm just as real as you are." I loved that so much. Puts it up there for me with the final monologue to the camera by that one guy from Love and Monsters, and the "dream lord" from Amy's Choice.
Why some (there are some also which do the same and are beloved) of the best character-specific/focused/centric/building moments for the Doctor seem to be inside some of the least loved episodes is too bad. Instead of those moments, I'll hear instead from people only about where the episodes failed.
I love Petty Doctor 😂😂😂
Much of the comedy content that had been filmed but cut had to be reinserted literally the day before this episode’s initial broadcast, because the BBC insisted that a big part of the climactic battle, which included a beheading, was removed from the episode, after ISIS murdered US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff in the same manner two days previously.
Regarding the spoilery aspect of the title, the initial story had The Doctor’s theory about Robin being fake as a smokescreen to the reveal that it was The Sheriff who was actually the robot of the title. Although this IS revealed in the finished episode you watched, it’s garbled quickly in dialogue and moved on from immediately . The pre-edits episode would have shown, through the aforementioned beheading, The Sheriff’s true nature uncovered.
Had the BBC not been so sensitive to the real-life news (although I understand fully why they were) the comic aspects of the episode (specifically the Doctor and Robin’s bickering) wouldn’t have been so much to the forefront as they now are.
Lmao the Mark Gatiss title card cuts 😂
great reaction!! love this story actually! keep up the great work!
Gatiss strikes again 😂
This season has incredible episodes (episode 4 for example, one of the best DW episodes)
And as for Capaldi, i think 12 is needed here not bc of the snark but bc of the theme this season of him asking if he's a good man
Him trying to figure it out.
Puting him against Robin Hood and having that final conversation with him in the end of the episode just continues the theme of Am I A Good Man
I think this is a chill episode, not the best, but not bad. And it's fair to have that in a season
Yes, putting 12 against a more traditional hero is a perfect way to show their differences!
One thing i'd not normally suggest but would now suggest prioritising is watching the very first 1963 serial (An Unearthly Child 4 x 25 mins) as there has just occurred a rights issue that mean it might not be easy to watch in future should you decide to watch classic who - everything else should be available in the future but possibly not that first serial.
Far better than Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.
I would almost say that I hated this episode. But since I have watched other reactors watch it and enjoy it. That made me look at it a little different. I still think it is far too silly for my taste but I can appreciate now why some like it. There are some good moments.
8:34 Doctor #2 Patrick Troughton.
I remember quite disliking this episode when it first aired. It particularly didn’t help that I was still as of yet unconvinced about Capaldi as the doctor. After I, much later, came to love 12s doctor (he’s now my second favorite) I rewatched it and felt very different about it. It still has its multitude of problems (accepting that the ship is somehow “powered” by gold how does a little stick of gold making contact with the outside of the ship somehow be enough to boost it into orbit when a literal vat of gold inside the engine room wasn’t enough for more than a few feet of altitude; the handheld mirrors bouncing the robots attack beam around and around until it hit the robot; the sheriff being rather “mustache-twirly”; the seemingly minor injury causing the need for the complicated collective effort to work the longbow and yet by the last scene he’s able to effortlessly fire a celebratory arrow, etc. etc. ) but I now also see it as quintessential 12.
There are 2 further points from this episode I’d like to mention, but I’ll avoid discussing them due to potential spoilers since one comes back up next season/series and the other, which was an aspect I actually liked about this episode and season/series at the time, unfortunately seemed to get dropped as it goes on.
I think they were robots
I also think that it was a shame that it was Peter’s third episode. It could have turned some people off. I think you are right that this may have been a better Matt Smith episode.
Not the biggest fan of this episode but not a bad one either, some good chemistry between Twelve and Robin Hood
I'm with Phil on this one. I know its the stand-alone filler, light-hearted whimsical, episode after the grittier dalek one, and in hindsight perhaps the first step in Clara's next arc (no more to say right now, spoilers and all; and some might argue not the "next" arc). But, as with most of the lighter episodes, it just doesn't work for me. Its gets too silly, much like Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. The whole way the Doctor and Robin Hood interplay almost seems like a pantomime - actually, maybe it could have been a Christmas special, its that cheesy. I get why some people like it, and some of the humour lands well, it is just not one made for me.
edit : After writing the above, I got to 20:28 "felt very much like a Christmas episode"
That's a silly episode, but somewhat funny. What I like about it is we get to learn more about our new Doctor's personality. I don't think Robin Hood can be the wrong match for this show, it's one of the biggest English legends.
About the hernia, do you still doubt that there's someone in a real Tardis out there, watching your reactions and messing with you?
This is not a favourite episode of mine. It’s more of a whimsical distraction or a pantomime-type episode. Interesting fact, as the computer displays pictures of different representations of Robin Hood it includes a picture of Patrick Troughton - who indeed played Robin Hood but is more famous as being the actor who played the 2nd Doctor.
I agree with you about some of the episode titles giving too much away. And I'm one who's a little iffy on this episode. I like the very beginning (before the competition) and the very end (from when Robin sees the Robin Hood stiff in the ship). Almost every thing in between is hard for me. I hate the bickering back and forth. It's nice to see someone who understands that Doctor Who is a show with something for everyone. Your not going to love every episode. I just look at it as, that one was not for me, it was for someone else. Maybe the next one will be a me episode. I did like Clara's wonder at meeting a hero of legend that she admired. I put myself in her shoes when watching it. The hero I'd lose it over would be the Scarlet Pimpernel. I always connected with him over Robin Hood. It's always interesting to see who people connect with and how they differ from most people.
This was a bit meh! Next one is one of my favourites, gonna be interesting to see what you two make of it 😎
A bit of fluff, harmless and quickly forgotten.
Series low point. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this a Mark Gatiss episode? Man can't write a good episode to save his life....ope you popped in a writer credit as I was writing this...hahaha! Yeah, not a big Gatiss fan.
i'm not a big gatiss fan but i think this is easily his best episode and above average for the show even if not great.
@@dutchman8887 really? **shrugs** to each their own, I suppose.
I don't like gatiss