tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7735644144263744003.post4333111073342627995..comments2024-03-13T06:23:10.057-04:00Comments on Of Dice and Pen: Doctor Who - Robot of SherwoodMichael Ray Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15651916698207855060noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7735644144263744003.post-90480969855935386732022-07-27T07:24:28.422-04:002022-07-27T07:24:28.422-04:00Thank you for sharing tthisThank you for sharing tthisMarcushttps://www.marcussheppard.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7735644144263744003.post-62473351754945800492014-09-21T10:12:11.999-04:002014-09-21T10:12:11.999-04:00I can see what you mean with a lot of your points,...I can see what you mean with a lot of your points, and I'm sure our perspective on the show is different (I only watched the new show)... All I meant is that I much (much much) preferred the kind of Doctor that Tennant was. It feels more special and unique.<br /><br />When I said the Doctor is being made to look like an idiot, I meant by the script - in that scene, he is written as not smart enough to understand the situation. Clara was not trying to make him see through his arrogance, she was teaching him - I urge you to re-watch that scene with this in mind whenever you chance upon that episode again. She is very clearly speaking as a teacher would to a young student. Earlier in that episode we see her in school as a teacher, and later in the episode the Doctor complements he teaching skills. To me it seems clear that the episode was working the "good teacher" angle with her, which required Clara to teach something to the Doctor to prove herself as such.<br /><br />And as for the jail incident... I don't get how it's better that Clara is not smarter than a 2,000 years old genius, merely more mature. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13112953245821401891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7735644144263744003.post-68820709932820065042014-09-15T23:56:23.281-04:002014-09-15T23:56:23.281-04:00I can understand where you're coming from if y...I can understand where you're coming from if you're looking at it from the perspective of what Tennant's Doctor would do. He absolutely would be all giddy at meeting Robin Hood. However, the Doctor's always been an egotist. The tenth Doctor had better people skills than the twelfth has, but even the tenth was full of himself. He could praise an ally for being brilliant one moment and then immediately remind everyone that he was even more brilliant. He just did it with a smile which would put people off their guard.<br /><br />The twelfth Doctor is not the tenth Doctor, however. Unfortunately, the eleventh was not a big contrast with the tenth, and I think that's created the misunderstanding that there's much less variation between Doctors than there actually is. There are core characteristics (and arrogance is certainly one), but how much they are emphasized can vary considerably. Similarly, their actions and approaches to various situations can vary considerably. The third Doctor, for example, totally would have been up on that log duelling Robin Hood without a second thought. He would probably use his Venusian karate instead of a spoon, but otherwise, the scene would have been very similar. The seventh Doctor, on the other hand, would have merely muttered a cryptic phrase or two, gone from location to location as if he owns the place, and then revealed that he had actually arranged for the robot ship to crash there in the first place so that he could manipulate the Sheriff into joining forces with them simply so that would bring about his eventual doom at the hands of Robin Hood. The variation in the Doctor's different incarnations is part of what makes the show so special, in my opinion.<br /><br />As for Clara's cleverness coming at the expense of the Doctor's, I disagree. The Doctor isn't being made to look like an idiot. He's acting like an idiot. There's a big difference there. As I said, the Doctor's arrogance has always been a part of his personality, and he's often gone to ridiculous lengths to pretend he's not wrong--to the point of acting childish. In "Into the Dalek", it's not that he can't figure out there are ways to have a good Dalek, it's that his smugness won't let him admit that if you can have a temporarily good Dalek, then maybe you can have a permanently good Dalek. Ultimately, it's his own flaws that also result in his failure to create a good Dalek in that episode. Clara does treat him like a child, but the Doctor is acting childish, something else he does a lot (even Tennant). Sarah Jane Smith once told off the fourth Doctor for acting childish. His response: "Of course I'm acting childish! What's the point of being grown up if you can't act childish once in a while."<br /><br />And no, Clara's not supposed to actually be smarter than a 2000-year-old genius, and this episode never implies that. However, while the Doctor acts childish again for a while, the jailer identifies Clara as the brains because she's the one acting like an adult.Michael Ray Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15651916698207855060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7735644144263744003.post-51421998255724273662014-09-15T06:25:08.752-04:002014-09-15T06:25:08.752-04:00Hmm, curious. To me the Doctor's rivalry with ...Hmm, curious. To me the Doctor's rivalry with Robin Hood was by far the weakest part of the episode. Maybe that's just a thing of personal preference, but I like the Doctor when he is an adventurer that's been travelling the galaxy for thousands of years, and still has it in him to be excited by new things, to love and mourn. This mental image of the Doctor was burned strongly into my brain as I watched Tennent's 10, by far my favorite incarnation that I have seen.<br /><br />According to my inner logic, then, the Doctor should have been excited at meeting Robin Hood. Should have smiled and marveled and called him fantastic. He still should have investigated to see how and why Robin Hood exists at all, but never be so hostile and offensive towards wither Robin or the Merry Men. From the very first moment that he dueled Robin Hood I was already disappointed - why is my pacifist, clever, enthusiastic Doctor acting like a hothead from the Middle Ages?<br /><br /><br />Additionally, Clara here continues to be empowered not as her own person, but at the expense of the Doctor. In order for her to seem clever, the Doctor has to seem like an idiot. This continues what was started in the previous episode, where Clara had to teach the Doctor to think (not to feel, which is what companions usually do) in a way similar to how a teacher would instruct an 8 year old child - her exact words were "what did we learn today?". In this episode, the Doctor was so busy trying to one-up Robin Hood that he was reduced to a blubbering moron, which is why Clara was identifyed as smarter (is she seriously supposed to be smarter than a 2000 years old genius? really?).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13112953245821401891noreply@blogger.com