8X03 "Robot of Sherwood" Grading/Discussion)(SPOILERS!)

[Mr Awe]

Agreed, the part time companion thing wouldn't have even been possible given the whonky TARDIS of the classic series. The Doctor seems to have largely figured out how to navigate the TARDIS these days!

MR Awe

 

[The Wormhole]

I really sometimes do wish The Wedding of River Song had really been last time we saw Rory and Amy (though I do love the last couple of minutes of the following Christmas special.)

Agreed, that would have been a much better way to end their storyline.

 

[Cyke101]

Well to be honest I'm glad, RTD's series were quite repetative in that way, the light hearted opener, and ooh look it's the famouse person from history episode, regular as clockwork. Also sooner or later your run out of the really famous people from history and have to drop down to the people you'd need to google

I was one of the few that wasn't all that enamoured with Waters of Mars, but it did a nice variation on the theme: a popular historical figure from our future. That was enough to get me invested in the story. So if they run out of famous people, the show can always invent them!

 

[kirk55555]

I voted average. The episode was ok, and I liked Robin and The Doctor bantering, but overall the story wasn't anything special, just kind of standard.

 

[Worf2DS9]

I really sometimes do wish The Wedding of River Song had really been last time we saw Rory and Amy (though I do love the last couple of minutes of the following Christmas special.)

Agreed, that would have been a much better way to end their storyline.

I would have preferred the end of "The God Complex" myself, plus the nice cameo in "Closing Time." With them coming back for the first half of Series 7 it felt like, Amy & Rory are popular, so let's drag their story out even more, which only served to make some people even more tired of them than they already were.

 

[Mr Awe]

I liked Amy and Rory but I too felt that having them around for the first half of series 7 was just dragging it out.

Mr Awe

 

[The Wormhole]

I really sometimes do wish The Wedding of River Song had really been last time we saw Rory and Amy (though I do love the last couple of minutes of the following Christmas special.)

Agreed, that would have been a much better way to end their storyline.

I would have preferred the end of "The God Complex" myself, plus the nice cameo in "Closing Time." With them coming back for the first half of Series 7 it felt like, Amy & Rory are popular, so let's drag their story out even more, which only served to make some people even more tired of them than they already were.

Yes, The God Complex is the best place to end their story, but since The Wedding of River Song is primarily in an altered timeline, I could tolerate their presence there.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I voted average. The episode was ok, and I liked Robin and The Doctor bantering, but overall the story wasn't anything special, just kind of standard.

Now, why did I just picture Doctor #6 saying that?

 

[davejames]

Of the many complaints people have had about the Moffat era (more than a few I do agree with) I've never understood the one about the companions (mostly Clara) just being along for a "day trip" every week. It's not really making the show any different than it used to be, keep in mind not every episode shows the Doctor picking her up at the beginning and dropping her off at the end, and as for the ones that do, so what? Why does it matter? From an audience perspective, why does it matter if we know the companion is only there for a weekly day trip as opposed to permanently staying in the TARDIS? They're still going to get into all manner of adventures and troubles during the course of 45 minutes regardless, and that's all that really matters in the end.

It doesn't bother me as much as others here, but I do think there is something much more appealing in the idea of a companion going on one long journey with the Doctor. And watching every step of that journey as they slowly grow and develop-- instead of now where there are lots of gaps and time jumps between visits, and where the companion seems to treat the entire thing as nothing but a fun little lark or diversion (or at times, even a distraction).

Being asked to travel through time and space with the Doctor should be a huge honor and privilege, and something you should have to fully commit to. It shouldn't be treated like just a trip to the mall or movie theater, that you spend a couple hours at before driving back home again. And that's kind of the way Clara seems to regard the entire thing.

 

[Velocity]

Clara might be feeling the biological clock ticking. She won't be having a family with the doctor and maybe that's what is more important to her than running around the universe and skipping through time. After the discussion that the Doctor isn't her boyfriend, she might be wanting a real boyfriend and all that comes with that.

 

[DWF]

Clara might be feeling the biological clock ticking. She won't be having a family with the doctor and maybe that's what is more important to her than running around the universe and skipping through time. After the discussion that the Doctor isn't her boyfriend, she might be wanting a real boyfriend and all that comes with that.

Clara's in her early 20s how can she feeling her biological clock ticking?

 

[davejames]

Actually according to Strax's little device, she's 27.

 

[PorthosShadow]

Of the many complaints people have had about the Moffat era (more than a few I do agree with) I've never understood the one about the companions (mostly Clara) just being along for a "day trip" every week. It's not really making the show any different than it used to be, keep in mind not every episode shows the Doctor picking her up at the beginning and dropping her off at the end, and as for the ones that do, so what? Why does it matter? From an audience perspective, why does it matter if we know the companion is only there for a weekly day trip as opposed to permanently staying in the TARDIS? They're still going to get into all manner of adventures and troubles during the course of 45 minutes regardless, and that's all that really matters in the end.

It doesn't bother me as much as others here, but I do think there is something much more appealing in the idea of a companion going on one long journey with the Doctor. And watching every step of that journey as they slowly grow and develop-- instead of now where there are lots of gaps and time jumps between visits, and where the companion seems to treat the entire thing as nothing but a fun little lark or diversion (or at times, even a distraction).

Being asked to travel through time and space with the Doctor should be a huge honor and privilege, and something you should have to fully commit to. It shouldn't be treated like just a trip to the mall or movie theater, that you spend a couple hours at before driving back home again. And that's kind of the way Clara seems to regard the entire thing.

I really like the idea that Clara has a life that doesn't involve The Doctor and likewise for him.

 

[Marsden]

I want to vote "good" on the poll, but my favorite choice is "The Doctor is Not a merry man"

 

[Cyke101]

Clara might be feeling the biological clock ticking. She won't be having a family with the doctor and maybe that's what is more important to her than running around the universe and skipping through time. After the discussion that the Doctor isn't her boyfriend, she might be wanting a real boyfriend and all that comes with that.

Clara's in her early 20s how can she feeling her biological clock ticking?

Actually according to Strax's little device, she's 27.

Yep. Funny enough, Marisa Tomei was also 27 when she popularized the term "biological clock" for the masses in My Cousin Vinny. It seems that 27 is a magic number.

 

[R.Data]

I like this episode, so I voted Good, it was very funny and I love Robin Hood. It was a classic episode of Doctor Who.
The Doctor is improving, I like him.

 

[Ithekro]

This episode feels like something the Fourth Doctor would be involved with. He could be quite grumpy and cross with people as well when he thought something was off. It could also be off about what was off and that would get to him as well. The only thing missing was the smile and the scarf.

Clara could easily have been Sarah Jane in this, or possibly even Romana ("Fred"). She was too clever to be Leela, who would probably just stab her way out of things.

 

[Gov Kodos]

He did expect Leela would have loved Agincourt.

 

[Cutter John]

I would have enjoyed it a lot more, but the ending, with firing a gold arrow into the ship to give it the power to boost itself into orbit just didn't make a lot of sense.

 

[Nightowl1701]

I would have enjoyed it a lot more, but the ending, with firing a gold arrow into the ship to give it the power to boost itself into orbit just didn't make a lot of sense.

: Even melted down, gold would be a very poor chemical propellant. I can only surmise the gold acted as a medium or conduit for some kind of advanced gravity drive, perhaps of a type that projects a mini-gravity pull in the direction desired. Much in the same way the TARDIS console requires (or required) liquid mercury as a conduit for its advanced systems. While capable of lifting the vessel, its gold stores at takeoff were just barely insufficient to provide the field energy required to achieve orbital speed. The gold arrow (likely supplemented with a tracking device identical to what the Doctor used at the archery tournament) directly interacted with the energy field enveloping the vessel's outer hull on contact and provided the 'spark,' if you will, to achieve escape velocity.