Robin Hood (TV series)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


YMMV for the 2006 BBC version of Robin Hood

  • Alas, Poor Villain: Guy.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Guy of Gisborne's perceived characterization can range from anything between misunderstood woobie to sadistic killer.
  • Angst Dissonance: Throughout season one Robin is haunted by his memories of war in the Holy Land, struggling with nightmares, post-traumatic stress, and survivor's guilt. At the end of season two his beloved Marian is stabbed through the stomach and dies in his arms, something that is only intermittently referred to in series 3, even though she dies in the Holy Land, the source of his entire first-season angst.
  • Angst? What Angst?: After Marian's murder Robin goes on a vengeance-fuelled rampage. Then...he pretty much gets over it. He's back to his cheerful old self by the next episode, in which he meets his new Love Interest.
    • As it turns out, he's always been this way. In the Whole-Episode Flashback, he's shown as a child, smiling and laughing amidst a group of cheering peasants...approximately five minutes after his father's apparent death
  • Anticlimax Boss: Although Prince John was played by Toby Stephens, which automatically makes his entire performance a Crowning Moment of Funny, it was also true that John was less menacing than the Sheriff of Nottingham and just as easily bested by the outlaws. Foppish and cowardly, Prince John is eventually run out of Nottingham with his tail between his legs.
  • Ass Pull: Where Tuck gets the explosive needed to destroy Nottingham castle from in Something Worth Fighting For is seen as this, although there was some attempt to explain it in-story.
    • The canopies (sun-visors?) on the parapets of Nottingham Castle that never existed until Robin needed one to use as a hang-glider.
  • Author Tract: The show is filled with not particularly subtle references to the War on Terror and rampant PC anachronisms.
  • Non Sequitur Scene: Kate invents CPR. Robin invents hang-gliding.
    • Maybe he learned it from Ator.
  • Cargo Ship: In season 1, the Sheriff asks Guy if he's jealous of Marian's horse. The two men are watching her from a window as she grooms it.
  • Complete Monster: Thornton, the husband that Isabella ran away from. A loathsome bastard with no redeeming features who emotionally abuses his wife and threatens to rape her. Fortunately, he earns himself a well deserved Karmic Death.
  • Creator's Pet: Kate. Her purpose in the show was to be the the Token Girl, the Damsel in Distress and the Shallow Love Interest, in that order, and in the most obnoxious ways possible. Her astounding stupidity and utter uselessness were bad enough, but the worst of it was that Kate was simply Not A Very Nice Person, despite the writers' desperate attempts to shill the contrary.
    • The writers seemed to think that if enough outlaws fell madly in love with Kate (who at various points call her: "a treasure," "a good fighter," "amazing", and "brave, compassionate and beautiful"), the audience would too. They didn't.
      • And "perfect." Don't forget the perfect, spoken before Kate joined the band (and only in the second episode with her in it!) Oh, Much.
        • She even gets to shill herself a couple of times, telling John that "I'm not some stupid girl," and Much that "I can take care of myself." Both statements are patently untrue.
        • The audio books also go nuts with the Kate shilling. The Dambusters opens with the following declaration: “Kate, what a wonderful companion, fighter, friend, wit, beauty.” Good grief.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: Robin destroys Nottingham Castle with a single arrow in the Grand Finale. Extra points for doing so whilst a lethal poison that will kill him in about fifteen minutes' time is running through his body.
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Robin waiting in Marian's room after her father's death and comforting her as she weeps before telling her that he has a horse waiting to take her to Sherwood Forest.
  • Crowning Moment of Funny: Pretty much all of the series 3 episode Do You Love Me?, including anything Prince John says or does, Gisborne and the Sheriff's suspicions that the other may have poisoned their meal, and Gisborne's gloriously camp little wave after the Sheriff accidentally hits a villager with an arrow he intended for Gisborne.
  • Damsel Scrappy: Kate. Kate. A hundred times Kate!
  • Die for Our Ship: Whether Marian was better off with Guy or with Robin is a debate that still rages in forums to this day, despite the fact that all three characters are now dead.
    • There was also some squabbling over the Will/Djaq/Allan Love Triangle, and who was the best partner (if any) for Kate.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Guest-star Carter, a crusader looking for vengeance...then redemption (which unfortunately came in the form of Redemption Equals Death).
    • Also Meg. Also killed.
    • Will and Djaq. Managed to survive the carnage by being Put on a Bus.
      • In fact, many - if not most - of the one-shot guest stars ended up being more popular than many of the main characters, including Matilda, the German Count, Meg, Carter, Queen Eleanor, the Fool, Benjamin Palmer, Davina, Eve, and Sir Jasper.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Guy of Gisborne and Isabella.
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: In an early first season episode, reluctant hero Allan-a-Dale asks: "What is the point of all of us dying?" as a way of getting out of a rescue mission. In season three he dies the most pointless, meaningless death imaginable.
    • Foz Allen and Dominic Minghella are on record for stating that Friar Tuck was omitted in seasons one and two because they "didn't want a comic relief character". When Tuck is finally introduced, he ends up being utterly humorless.
  • God Mode Sue: Archer. Well, there's his name to start with, in honour of the super-special arrowhead-shaped birthmark on his stomach. He's introduced as the long-lost brother of not one, but two of the most important characters on the show. He's irresistable to women, and one of his first scenes involves him bedding another man's wife. He's travelled in the Orient and returned with knowledge of Eastern warfare, which is ultimately used to blow up Castle Nottingham. He's as good an archer as Robin, fights with two katanas, and also chucks ninja-stars at people. He's forgiven instantly by his brothers after he's left them to die in a collapsed tunnel, and is given the leadership role of the gang by Robin himself. The BBC character profile describes him as a master of all weapons.
    • The show was cancelled three episodes after his introduction, possibily because our television sets simply couldn't handle all this concentrated awesomeness.
  • He's Just Hiding: There were quite a few "Marian's not dead" theories floated following the series 2 finale.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Anyone who has seen The Vicar of Dibley will know that this is not the first time Richard Armitage has been punched in the face at the altar on his wedding day.
  • Ho Yay: Much, much? Plus the Sheriff and Guy to a considerable extent.
    • And Guy and Allan in series 2.
    • Prince John.
    • Robin and Guy, combining the trope with Foe Yay, as this proves.
  • Informed Attractiveness: Kate, although this has less to do with the attractiveness of the actress as it does with the sheer amount of unwarranted attention Kate got. Much falls in love with her at first sight and Allan pursues her for reasons that are never particularly clear. Robin hooks up with her after telling her she's "brave, compassionate and beautiful," and her presence alone is suggested to be a factor in Archer deciding to join the outlaws (this is a character that seemingly has no interest in the two half-brothers who have just saved his life). She is threatened by no less than three villains because they are sexually interested in her (this includes the Crown Prince of England) and even Little John jumps on the bandwagon when he calls her "a treasure" and warns Robin not to let her slip through his fingers. Even Isabella of all people says "the prettiest things are the most fragile" in regards to Kate. Yet the fact that Kate is just a dim-witted peasant girl makes all the adultation directed at her come across as rather silly, especially when compared to her predecessors, who on top of being a stunning noblewoman and an exotic Saracen, were given personalities and a level of intelligence that would make the average guy actually want to hang out with them.
  • In Name Only: That guy is Tuck? OK, if you say so...
  • It Was His Sled: Gisborne kills Marian
  • Jerk Sue: Kate. She also had the usual Purity Sue traits, and was even something of an Anti-Sue. In her first few episodes, the writers seemed aware that they’d given her an abrasive, reckless personality (leading to Allan calling her “ungrateful” and Tuck reprimanding her on at least one occasion); however, as the show went on the outlaws began to adultate her despite there being no visible improvement in her haughty attitude.
    • On the odd occasion, Robin himself can easily become one of these, although he is for the most part a lot more likable and sympathetic than Kate. The first episode of season 3 is one such example. He's vengeful, arrogant and treats his remaining team mates like dirt. Physically assaulting them and telling them that they're basically wastes of carbon. Even after this display of jerkassery Much gets himself arrested for trying to fight Guy in Robin's honour. Brother Tuck arrives in England just to remind Robin of how super special, awesome and important he is and he even risks Alan, Much and John's lives just to get Robin back to his old self. When all is said and done, they hold no ill will towards Robin for any of it and just accept his rather minuscule apology.
  • Jump the Shark: According to creators Foz Allen and Dominic Mingella the decision to kill off Marian was in order to "open up new storytelling possibilities". It didn't seem to occur to either of them that it's somewhat difficult to tell stories about a dead person, especially one so central to the plot they'd been building for the past two seasons.
  • The Load: Kate. Dear god, Kate.
    • As one reviewer put it: "Why don't the outlaws use Kate as a human shield? At least then she'd be useful."
  • Magnificent Bastard: The Sheriff and Prince John.
    • Isabella certainly qualifies as a Magnificent Bitch. In only five episodes as the Sheriff of Nottingham, she manages to achieve more than the old Sheriff did in two and a half seasons, and is the individual directly responsible for the deaths of Allan, Robin, Guy and Thornton.
  • Memetic Mutation: Has magnified a lot of Kate's negative traits.
    • Particularly the forehead braid (which she only had for three episodes) and the "e keeled mah bruvvah!" line (which she only said a couple of times).
  • Misaimed Fandom: A large portion (though not all) of the Guy/Marian shippers. Despite capitalizing on the actors' chemistry with some Ship Tease between Guy and Marian, the writers were very careful to ensure that Robin and Marian had a respectful and reciprocal relationship, whilst Guy's and Marian's was riddled with violence, threats, blackmail, intimidation, betrayals and hurt feelings. However, there is still a portion of the fandom that argue that Marian should have ended up with Guy, an opinion that can be divided into two distinct arguments: those that believe Guy was an accurate portrayal of a socially-awkward 12th century knight, who was therefore justified in everything he did regarding Marian (a view that requires steadfast denial of the show's Anachronism Stew), and those that paint him as a Draco in Leather Pants, who acted the way he did thanks to his Freudian Excuse, with Marian regarded as an ungrateful bitch for not appreciating him.
    • Though there are exceptions, the former group's fanfiction usually follows the basic "rape fantasy" scenario, in which Marian is forced to marry Guy against her will, only to find out that he's quite an acrobat in the bedroom, whilst the latter group either has Marian apologize for to him for her behavior, then treat him to some Redemptive Sex, or cuts out Marian entirely and pairs Guy with a self-insert Mary Sue.
  • Misblamed: Quite a few fans are keen to blame the death of Marian and arrival of new characters on the reason for the show's dropping ratings as everyone now hated the show. In truth, critical reception to series 3 was largely no different to series 1 and 2, and indeed quite a few people found the show to have improved from when Dominic Minghella was running the show. The dropping ratings were more likely down to the fact that the show was in the slot for Doctor Who (rather than its typical Autumn slot) without the popularity that show had commanded.
  • Moral Dissonance: Despite the fact that Guy killed Robin's wife, Robin teams up with Guy so that Guy can help Robin kill Guy's sister who has tried to kill each of them far fewer times than Robin and Guy have tried to kill each other. One would hope that this Makes Sense in Context, but it really, really doesn't.
  • Narm: Oh. So. Much. Actually, much of the Narm in the first two seasons (which were rather tongue-in-cheek) would probably be considered Narm Charm, but after the intense Mood Whiplash of the S2 finale in which Marian is brutally impaled on a sword, the fact that many subsequent episodes still include ridiculous scenarios results in a veritable onslaught of Narmtastic scenes.
    • Special mention must go to Guy's "secret weapon" that he plans to use to kill Robin Hood. He's carting around a sinister-looking box, as Prince John's elite team of soldiers surround the outlaws. The box opens...and out comes the oldest, tiniest, mangiest, most worn-out lion you've ever seen in your life. The outlaws react with terror as the decrepit beast waddles toward them at a snail's pace, looking like it just wants to find a quiet place to lie down and die.
    • Let us not forget Robin hang-gliding from the castle parapets. It's played for laughs, but it still destroys brain-cells.
    • Whenever Kate has an emotional scene, especially if she has the forehead braid on at the time.
  • Nightmare Retardant: The lion. Seriously, if the outlaws had wanted to kill it, all they would've had to do was kick it over. Gently.
  • Older Than They Think: The idea of Gisborne murdering Marian was one of the ideas for the cancelled fourth series of Robin of Sherwood.
    • This Marian likes to dress up in disguise and go gallivanting around the countryside; in one of the very earliest ballads that featured Marian, she dresses up in disguise and fights Robin to a stand-still in Sherwood Forest.
  • Replacement Scrappy: Kate, who as the replacement of Marian (as Robin's girlfriend), Djaq (as the girl of the group) and Will (as the voice of the peasantry) was utterly doomed to embody this trope. It didn't help that she was also a text-book example of a Mary Sue, a Faux Action Girl, everybody's Shallow Love Interest and The Load, with a knack for getting kidnapped, a ridiculous hairstyle, a whiny voice, and the Informed Ability of an imagination. She was not a very popular character.
  • Relationship Sue: Meg, though done surprisingly well.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Meta example. Joanne Froggatt was never given the chance to rescue Kate from the Scrappy Heap, but she went on to portray the immensely popular Anna in Downton Abbey, a character that bears several passing similarities to Kate.
  • Retcon: The S3 Whole-Episode Flashback rewrote the entire known history of both Robin and Guy.
  • Ron the Death Eater: What usually happens to Robin in Guy/Marian fan-fic. Amusingly enough, by making Robin a jealous, self-centered, possessive, egotistical, violent man in order to consolidate Guy/Marian, Robin ends up being indistinguishable from canon!Guy.
  • Rooting for the Empire
  • Ship Sinking: Despite being one of the most popular ships among the fandom (and at times, among the writers too), the Guy/Marian ship is eventually sunk by Guy himself, not just when he kills her but when he admits to Robin with his dying breath that "she was always yours." Robin then goes on to reunite with Marian in Heaven, at which point she tells him that she'll be his wife "now and forever, my love." Could a ship possibly get more sunk than Guy/Marian??
  • Shocking Swerve: The end of season two, wherein Marian is killed off. It didn't go down quite as well as Foz Allen and Dominic Minghella had hoped...
  • Smug Snake: Despite what the fan-girls say, Guy of Gisborne is definitely one of these.
  • So Bad It's Good: To some viewers. According to Dead Ringers:

"And now on BBC One with a brand new series of Robin Hood; where we've taken a much-loved classic tale, given it a pithy 20th century makeover, and made it shit."

  • Special Effect Failure: The lion (although to be absolutely fair, the director does try his best to work around the fact that it's the most harmless, half-dead specimen imaginable).
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Though some of the new characters are introduced late, or only stay for a few episodes, season three is dominated by Isabella, Kate, Prince John, Tuck and Archer, leading to the marginalization of the original outlaws. Even Robin and Guy were short-changed to some extent as a result of the character overload.
  • Strangled by the Red String: Will and Djaq's relationship is given subtle foreshadowing throughout season two, leading to a declaration of love that was considered too sudden, too corny and completely out of character for both of them in what is widely known as the Barn Scene of Ick .
    • Robin and Isabella's first meeting is accompanied by a musical cue that's about as subtle as an anvil drop, and the episode concludes in a Narmtastic scene in which Robin confronts her about the fact that she's Gisborne's sister. He grabs her by the face, pushes her back into a tree, and acts so betrayed and angry that looks as though he's angsting over a woman he's been dating for three months instead of someone he's known for approximately five minutes.
      • Much's immediate and inexplicable infatuation with Kate.
  • Tear Jerker: Gisborne's death saving Robin and by extension all the townspeople, where he finally admits that Marian was 'always Robin's', and then Robin's death and his final farewells to the gang... well John and Much at least... a few minutes later.
    • This. You don't need to have seen a single second of this show to get choked up at the long-awaited reunion of the two legendary lovers.
    • Allan's death, a heartbreaking and tragic end where he dies trying to be a hero but failing.
    • Allan's reaction to his brother's death. Despite the fact that Tom has given him nothing but trouble, it is made obvious that he still cared and was devastated by his death.
  • The Woobie: Guy sometimes, Djaq often, Much always.
  • Too Cool to Live: Meg.
  • Trapped by Mountain Lions: For two episodes in season three Guy of Gisborne was entirely absent due to Richard Armitage's commitments with Spooks. The Story Arc couldn't proceed without him, which led to the writers marking off time with two negligible episodes in his absence, first in which the outlaws try to rescue a copy of the Bible translated into English, and then in rescuing Kate multiple times from an evil tax collector. Excepting the contrivance of Kate joining the outlaws and some minor background for Tuck, neither episode adds anything to the arc of the season and can easily be skipped.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Djaq. Oh my God, Djaq.
  • Unfortunate Implications: The fate of every single woman on this show, including all the guest-stars. Without exception, they all end up dead, evil, chickified, or are unable to stay out of stupidity-induced trouble for more than twenty minutes at a time.
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic: Isabella is clearly meant to be entirely unsympathetic by the end of the show's run, thereby justifying Robin and Guy's (successful) attempt to kill her. In that case, it probably wasn't such a good idea to have her backstory consist of Guy selling her into an abusive marriage to a sadistic rapist at the age of thirteen, or to have Robin constantly flip-flopping in regards to his attitude and behaviour toward her. Even her ordering the execution of Meg, which is meant to be her Moral Event Horizon, is somewhat understandable, considering that she frees Meg from an arranged marriage only to catch her releasing a prisoner that has already made at least two attempts on Isabella's life. Likewise, the fact that she is one of the few characters on the show to avoid carrying the Idiot Ball earned her extra points, and even when she's batshit insane she manages to be more competent than any one around her.
  • Unnecessary Makeover: Most viewers prefered Djaq's androgynous S1 appearance than her more feminized look in S2 (especially since it included what became known as the outer-bra).
  • Viewers in Mourning: The backlash for Marian and Allan's deaths were not pretty, and the writer/co-creator responsible for the former's death left the show under rather murky circumstances once the episode had aired. There was less outcry for Robin and Guy considering their fates were pretty much sealed by the season two finale and were seen coming a mile away.
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