Are you guys watching Sherlock? (BBC Series)

[FoxWingDrgn]

Considering BBC does Doctor Who. I just have to check this out. PX

[Jd-]

Final episode coming tomorrow. GET EXCITED, PEOPLE!!111

[sstimson]

To me anyway Brett WAS Holmes. Also after watching how they then MURDERED Miss Marple, I will wait for a few reviews. If they can be such horrible things to Miss Marple like take a Great Writer rewrite and change the story and events, I shudder to think and fear greatly for Holmes. I still remember how they murdered the Vampire in sulfux case. That still gives me nightmares. *Shudder*

[kyuuketsuki]

To me anyway Brett WAS Holmes. Also after watching how they then MURDERED Miss Marple, I will wait for a few reviews. If they can be such horrible things to Miss Marple like take a Great Writer rewrite and change the story and events, I shudder to think and fear greatly for Holmes. I still remember how they murdered the Vampire in sulfux case. That still gives me nightmares. *Shudder*

Both Jd- and I are HUGE Sherlockians. And both of us LOVED Jeremy Brett. And I think Jd- feels the same way as I do when I say this... The stories aren't meant to reflect traditional Sherlock Holmes stories (completely at least), BUT the characterizations of the characters in modern times couldn't be closer to the source material by the good Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Honestly, in my opinion, though I loved how they stayed so true to the stories for the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett, its ONE flaw is that Holmes was too clean and gentlemanly. It was certainly a jump from the Basil Rathbone days, but still not how I think Conan Doyle intended the character to be played out. To me, Holmes was an egotistical bastard who didn't care very much for appearances nor for cleanliness. He talked down to people because he felt he was superior to them. It is no wonder that he didn't have any friends outside of Watson, as he felt people were generally idiots unless seeking help from him.

That being said, this new breed of Holmes lore, the Sherlock BBC series and the Sherlock Holmes movie (soon to be movies) hits much closer to how I feel the character SHOULD have been played (Though truth be told, I don't agree with making Irene Adler into a criminal, but meh, I guess they had to find SOME way to get her back, since Holmes has sworn off romance).

All in all, Sherlock is perhaps as close to a perfect modernization as you are going to get. It is masterfully done and should be checked out by all, ESPECIALLY if you are a Sherlock or a general mystery fan.

Want more proof? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/usercomments <-- look at all of those 9 and 10 star ratings! In fact, ALL but ONE of those current 18 ratings and reviews are POSITIVE. Most are 9s and 10s with a few 8s thrown in the mix, and ONE seven star and that already mentioned lone 1 star rating, which NO ONE FOUND HELPFUL.

There is NO REASON to NOT CHECK THIS OUT!

[Dus]

Personally, I like Cumberbatch's interpretation of Holmes even better than Brett's. Brett's Holmes seemed a litte too perfect, too gentlemanly if you will. In Sherlock, Holmes seems like a person who just doesn't care about anything but detection, especially not other people. If Doyle wrote his masterpieces in this day and era, Sherlock would be the result.

And BBC did NOT murder Miss Marple. Joan Hickson was the best Miss Marple ever. (Not as good as Suchet as Poirot though). You might be thinking of Agatha Christie's Marple by ITV.

[akai-kun]

'Sherlock' is just simply awesome. But of course, Jeremy Brett was the Sherlock Holmes of all times. I truly loved the series with him. And now the modernization of Sherlock Holmes and then from BBC. Simply AWESOME! Personally, the actor of Dr. Watson in the new series (M. Freeman) is the best one of all, but that's just my opinion. Today the last episode of the first mini-series. But if I recall correct, there are more episodes of 'Sherlock' planned (and maybe already in work?) which is great news. I really can't wait for more, I love this series. It's just perfect and if you haven't tried watching it yet, you should do it. I agree with kyuu on that matter:

All in all, Sherlock is perhaps as close to a perfect modernization as you are going to get. It is masterfully done and should be checked out by all, ESPECIALLY if you are a Sherlock or a general mystery fan.
There is NO REASON to NOT CHECK THIS OUT!

I hope 'Sherlock' won't end so soon or will be cancelled anytime soon ever. Man, I love that show...

[Dus]

The BBC definitely wants to continue the series, but I don't think new episodes have been commissioned as of now. But with these ratings it would be silly to stop after just three episodes.
Unfortunately, the preview for tonight's episode reads like there will be a final confrontation with Moriarty. That sounds incredibly rushed to me.

I think what's great about Watson in this series, is that he's more than just a supporting character. He's not just Sherlock's chronist, we truly see the mystery through his eyes. The Watson in the novels seems rather bland in comparison.

[KaitoKidMagic]

It seems like it will show in America on October 24th, 31st and November 7th! 

It will be on the PBS channel!

Oh, here's the link

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/

[dilbertschalter]

To me anyway Brett WAS Holmes. Also after watching how they then MURDERED Miss Marple, I will wait for a few reviews. If they can be such horrible things to Miss Marple like take a Great Writer rewrite and change the story and events, I shudder to think and fear greatly for Holmes. I still remember how they murdered the Vampire in sulfux case. That still gives me nightmares. *Shudder*

Both Jd- and I are HUGE Sherlockians. And both of us LOVED Jeremy Brett. And I think Jd- feels the same way as I do when I say this... The stories aren't meant to reflect traditional Sherlock Holmes stories (completely at least), BUT the characterizations of the characters in modern times couldn't be closer to the source material by the good Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Honestly, in my opinion, though I loved how they stayed so true to the stories for the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett, its ONE flaw is that Holmes was too clean and gentlemanly. It was certainly a jump from the Basil Rathbone days, but still not how I think Conan Doyle intended the character to be played out. To me, Holmes was an egotistical bastard who didn't care very much for appearances nor for cleanliness. He talked down to people because he felt he was superior to them. It is no wonder that he didn't have any friends outside of Watson, as he felt people were generally idiots unless seeking help from him.

That being said, this new breed of Holmes lore, the Sherlock BBC series and the Sherlock Holmes movie (soon to be movies) hits much closer to how I feel the character SHOULD have been played (Though truth be told, I don't agree with making Irene Adler into a criminal, but meh, I guess they had to find SOME way to get her back, since Holmes has sworn off romance).

All in all, Sherlock is perhaps as close to a perfect modernization as you are going to get. It is masterfully done and should be checked out by all, ESPECIALLY if you are a Sherlock or a general mystery fan.

Want more proof? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/usercomments <-- look at all of those 9 and 10 star ratings! In fact, ALL but ONE of those current 18 ratings and reviews are POSITIVE. Most are 9s and 10s with a few 8s thrown in the mix, and ONE seven star and that already mentioned lone 1 star rating, which NO ONE FOUND HELPFUL.

There is NO REASON to NOT CHECK THIS OUT!

IIRC, Holmes is actually described somewhere (one of the novels?) as being very into cleanliness, though it's true that when it comes to solving cases he 'gets his hands dirty' very often, in both the literal and figurative senses.

[Jd-]

Jeremy Brett was absolutely phenomenal as Holmes and while I do think he played the best Holmes as far as serialized stories go, the series tapered off so much toward the end that it almost tainted everything they had done so well up to that point. Brett had a very majestic camera presence that will be hard for any other Victorian TV Holmes to follow simply because of how eccentric he was off camera. He was flamboyant in every sense of the word (that may be understating it a bit, actually), which really served to lend him some credibility with Holmes. Though it's mostly due to SACD's forgetfulness (and we must forgive him here), many of Holmes's changing quirks over the canon gave him a personality so dynamic that you would figure it must be a real person. Thanks to Jeremy Brett, we got to see that sort of complete Holmes for the first and perhaps the last time.

Holmes, to me, always was an outsider that tolerated what was necessary in pursuit of his domineering interest in furthering his line of work. His gentlemanly nature always seemed to be a formality and only a formality--he never really intended to be rude, but he never wanted to be held back, either. That's surely one of the aspects that has made him so endearing over all these years and why the character himself is so flexible no matter what era he finds himself in. What many adaptations fail to realize is that the canon (outside of the obvious exceptions) was written in a means that the audience was introduced to Holmes through Watson. Many of them make Watson out to be just another character, when in reality, we should be learning about Holmes--again--through Watson and letting Watson reveal to us what he finds interesting or does not understand. This BBC series has gotten this part down very well, and you are given the feeling that, while Holmes is obviously the focus, Watson is not just a sidekick but someone there along for the ride--just as we are.

Thankfully, the DVD sets are sold so that you can stop short of the travesty that is the final three "movies" and the "Memoirs" collection.

As I've mentioned on any number of occasions, I once longed for a by-the-books, faithful adaptation of the entire canon as a whole. The Brett series is and probably always will be the closest we will ever get to that, but as we saw with how that went toward the end (due to Brett's own health, gradually falling ratings, loss of interest, and cut budgets), it really just isn't worth worrying about. Ever since I got over that, I've been thoroughly enjoying pastiches and even the least faithful of interpretations in filmed form. Let it also be known that I actually did enjoy some of the changes they made--particularly in LADY and its ending. Naturally, they did have problems pacing some of the stories out to fill an hour, and I feel the series would be served better should it be filmed in required length and not an hour's timeslot. Thanks to the limitations of broadcast TV, that's unlikely to ever really happen (c'mon, subscriber networks!). A lot of time has passed and I'm not really sure that we can get another engrossing TV Holmes set in Victorian London. Much of the natural scenery that has been used so many times before is now fading away with time, so that part of the charm really can be gone before we know it. Thanks to the beautiful directing and the 'aged' look, the Brett series is likely the end game. Even though the end of it was an absolute mess, I can at least say I am very grateful to everyone who made it all possible and kept Sherlock Holmes alive for yet another generation.

As for Marple: Joan Hickson is infinitely better than Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie. The problem with these latest Marple adaptations is they are doing what they have started (tragically) doing with the latest Suchet Poirot releases--changing. way. too. much. They have always changed a few things here and there, but nothing so bad as what is going on now. Everything has gone to hell on ITV. I do want to say that I really was unable to sit through some of the Joan Hickson adaptations. Though she was spectacular, some of them were too faithful to the original, causing the pacing to get bogged down like nothing else I've ever seen. A Murder is Announced comes to mind--it was nearly three hours long and had about an hour of good content.

I do implore everyone to get on the Suchet Poirot series IMMEDIATELY. There are some absolutely fantastic adaptations in there, and if you are a mystery fan to any degree, you really must see them. I personally suggest reading the stories before watching the adaptations, but if you really have no intent on doing that, by all means!

I recommend the following if anyone is just wanting to check out a few:

- Lord Edgware Dies. The absolute best adaptation for my money. The always-great, very convincing, and stunning Helen Grace stars alongside Suchet and perhaps even outshines him in a rare upset.
- Peril at End House. Great and even more fluid than the already-fluid novel. Suchet is really put into a very challenging scenario where he has to balance quite a bit but responds with one of his best performances in the series. In very few other places of the Christie canon is Poirot even remotely as charming or likable on a non-detective level as he is here.
- Death on the Nile. This adaptation does have quite a few changes, but the pacing is sublime. Read the book instead if you can bring yourself to; it's better, but also catch this later.
- The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The first Poirot and one of the finest adaptations they have made to date. It's actually quite enjoyable to see Suchet and Hugh Fraser rewinding the chemistry they'd been building a bit. This adaptation will convince you that the pair had both been perfectly cast if nothing else has.
- The Double Clue. Fabulous work here with surprisingly great acting all around. The script is very concise and tells the story without sacrificing much at all.
- Double Sin. Poirot on holiday once more, in one of his more interesting short mysteries. It's just a good episode and really is better than the original.
- Cat Among the Pigeons. Anyone that's a steadfast Poirot fan will likely have my head for this, but I thought this was far, far better than the original novel. The original had so much going on for what was essentially no real reason, creating a really spotty narrative that was pretty characteristic of her later work (it must be said). Thankfully, this adaptation--while not perfect--does utilize a very intriguing and engrossing setting against a backdrop that makes for a far better tale than the work upon which it is based.
- The Clocks. Recent, and actually improves greatly on what was a pretty subpar novel by Christie's standards.
- The Mystery of the Spanish Chest. Another terrific adaptation. In fact, this is probably the one single episode I would recommend to introduce people to the series. It's a very strange story that is ultimately entirely logical. Seeing it in filmed form instead of text was something I did not expect to work out, but somehow it did.

One very bizarre change that occurs in a staggering amount of the later Poirot adaptations is turning previously-straight characters into homosexuals. I have absolutely nothing against gay characters or gay people, but I never have been able to understand why they keep doing it time and time and time again. It's quite strange. It's almost like one of the staff writers is trying to tell us something...

[Dus]

One very bizarre change that occurs in a staggering amount of the later Poirot adaptations is turning previously-straight characters into homosexuals. I have absolutely nothing against gay characters or gay people, but I never have been able to understand why they keep doing it time and time and time again. It's quite strange. It's almost like one of the staff writers is trying to tell us something...

I think it's because it was such a non-issue at the time these novels were written. They try to make them PC and it just doesn't fit into that era. Those were more racist and more sexist time. Unfortunately, modern writers often impose modern values and morals upon historical characters.
There was never anything sexual about the relationship between Hastings and Poirot or Holmes and Watson either, but today almost everybody would assume they were a gay couple. I like how this is played at in Sherlock.

I didn't realize these changes were present in Joan Hickson's Marple. Then again, I wasn't able too watch all that many episodes on youtube before they started taking them down...

[Jd-]

I think it's because it was such a non-issue at the time these novels were written. They try to make them PC and it just doesn't fit into that era. Those were more racist and more sexist time. Unfortunately, modern writers often impose modern values and morals upon historical characters.
There was never anything sexual about the relationship between Hastings and Poirot or Holmes and Watson either, but today almost everybody would assume they were a gay couple. I like how this is played at in Sherlock.

I didn't realize these changes were present in Joan Hickson's Marple. Then again, I wasn't able too watch all that many episodes on youtube before they started taking them down...

Heh, I liked that in Sherlock as well. It illustrates the pretty stark contrast we have as a global society as compared to how it once was.

I didn't realize these changes were present in Joan Hickson's Marple. Then again, I wasn't able too watch all that many episodes on youtube before they started taking them down...

There really weren't too many changes all around, honestly. I haven't seen all of the episodes (because I have not read the corresponding novels just yet, but I intend to with time--still haven't finished eight of my remaining Poirot's), but from what I have seen, there are a few bits in there. The changes I was referring to are those on the recent ones on ITV. As I said though, the hardest part of watching the Hickson ones was that they were sooooo long. I could read the book in that length of time--it's madness!

All of that said, Joan Hickson was absolutely perfect. She was very likeable and somehow totally sold the role of this elderly lady who just so happened to have a penchant for solving a bit of crime on the side. The Body in the Library is still the best of the series as far as I've seen, and I do recommend that to anyone who happens to read this.

[Dus]

I think it's because it was such a non-issue at the time these novels were written. They try to make them PC and it just doesn't fit into that era. Those were more racist and more sexist time. Unfortunately, modern writers often impose modern values and morals upon historical characters.
There was never anything sexual about the relationship between Hastings and Poirot or Holmes and Watson either, but today almost everybody would assume they were a gay couple. I like how this is played at in Sherlock.

I didn't realize these changes were present in Joan Hickson's Marple. Then again, I wasn't able too watch all that many episodes on youtube before they started taking them down...

Heh, I liked that in Sherlock was well. It illustrates the pretty stark contrast we have as a global society as compared to how it once was.

I think that aspect is the main reason why I enjoy this series so much. The characters are left intact, only they've been cast in a world we're more familiar with. There's no distancing effect and the personalities of the protagonist can really come in their own.

[KaitoKidMagic]

I think it's because it was such a non-issue at the time these novels were written. They try to make them PC and it just doesn't fit into that era. Those were more racist and more sexist time. Unfortunately, modern writers often impose modern values and morals upon historical characters.
There was never anything sexual about the relationship between Hastings and Poirot or Holmes and Watson either, but today almost everybody would assume they were a gay couple. I like how this is played at in Sherlock.

I didn't realize these changes were present in Joan Hickson's Marple. Then again, I wasn't able too watch all that many episodes on youtube before they started taking them down...

Heh, I liked that in Sherlock was well. It illustrates the pretty stark contrast we have as a global society as compared to how it once was.

I didn't realize these changes were present in Joan Hickson's Marple. Then again, I wasn't able too watch all that many episodes on youtube before they started taking them down...

There really weren't too many changes all around, honestly. I haven't seen all of the episodes (because I have not read the corresponding novels just yet, but I intend to with time--still haven't finished eight of my remaining Poirot's), but from what I have seen, there are a few bits in there. The changes I was referring to are those on the recent ones on ITV. As I said though, the hardest part of watching the Hickson ones was that they were sooooo long. I could read the book in that length of time--it's madness!

All of that said, Joan Hickson was absolutely perfect. She was very likeable and somehow totally sold the role of this elderly lady who just so happened to have a penchant for solving a bit of crime on the side. The Body in the Library is still the best of the series as far as I've seen, and I do recommend that to anyone who happens to read this.

Excuse me, JD-, do you have the download links for episode 2? I just finished watching episode 1 (on Youtube) and I can't view episode 2 sadly (It was blocked in my region). Also, I seen that you posted links for episode 3, so, yeah...

[Jd-]

OC: Here you go.

Spoiler:

(EDIT: Now removed)