Post by jjpor on Jul 27, 2010 17:08:31 GMT
I meant to say yesterday, before I got distracted reading cakefic, but I watched the new Steven Moffat-Mark Gatiss series Sherlock the other day, and I thought it was really quite good, all things considered.
I don't know if I'd count myself as fully paid up "Holmes Fan", but I've read just about all of the stories and really like them (even the latter day, slightly cracky ones like The Creeping Man), and I didn't see anything here that offended my sensibilities or anything. I mean, the idea of setting it in present-day London rather than the Victorian period sort of got my Spidey-sense tingling before I saw it, but I thought it actually worked very well. I also thought the characters of Holmes and Watson as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch (try saying that a few times, very quickly!) and Martin Freeman were a lot closer to the characterisations I get reading the stories than many of the film and TV adaptations I've seen. I mean, in the stories, at least the earlier ones, Holmes and Watson are these youngish, physically active guys who spend a fair amount of time involved in gunfights, house-breaking and fisticuffs among other fun activities; Holmes is a weirdo genius and Watson a burned-out ex-soldier and reputed ladies' man...and they were sort of tapping into a lot of that stuff in this adaptation. And the humour too; the stories are full of humour; Holmes cracks jokes and stuff! And you don't really get that in a lot of the more traditional adaptations. So I was well-pleased with that and all the fanw*nky references to various Holmes stories.
Not as good as some of the 80s TV versions starring Jeremy Brett, I'll add, but all TV was better in the 80s - it's a fact!
The main reason I mention it here though is the obvious Who connection; not only Moffat's involvement but Cumberbatch has also been mentioned as a possible Twelve. Certainly, his portrayal of Holmes is very Doctorly, coming across almost like a less friendly version of Eleven at times; I'd argue he's probably a bit too similar to Matt Smith to follow him directly (and I hope that won't be for at least another two years!)
But yes, I liked it, and it might serve to fill the gap between the end of S5 and the onset of SJA just a little bit (the only thing is it's only three 90-minute films rather than a full series, so it won't fill the gap for very long...)
Best line (Holmes to the disgruntled police forensics guy he keeps upstaging): "I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high-functioning sociopath - do your research!"
I don't know if I'd count myself as fully paid up "Holmes Fan", but I've read just about all of the stories and really like them (even the latter day, slightly cracky ones like The Creeping Man), and I didn't see anything here that offended my sensibilities or anything. I mean, the idea of setting it in present-day London rather than the Victorian period sort of got my Spidey-sense tingling before I saw it, but I thought it actually worked very well. I also thought the characters of Holmes and Watson as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch (try saying that a few times, very quickly!) and Martin Freeman were a lot closer to the characterisations I get reading the stories than many of the film and TV adaptations I've seen. I mean, in the stories, at least the earlier ones, Holmes and Watson are these youngish, physically active guys who spend a fair amount of time involved in gunfights, house-breaking and fisticuffs among other fun activities; Holmes is a weirdo genius and Watson a burned-out ex-soldier and reputed ladies' man...and they were sort of tapping into a lot of that stuff in this adaptation. And the humour too; the stories are full of humour; Holmes cracks jokes and stuff! And you don't really get that in a lot of the more traditional adaptations. So I was well-pleased with that and all the fanw*nky references to various Holmes stories.
Not as good as some of the 80s TV versions starring Jeremy Brett, I'll add, but all TV was better in the 80s - it's a fact!
The main reason I mention it here though is the obvious Who connection; not only Moffat's involvement but Cumberbatch has also been mentioned as a possible Twelve. Certainly, his portrayal of Holmes is very Doctorly, coming across almost like a less friendly version of Eleven at times; I'd argue he's probably a bit too similar to Matt Smith to follow him directly (and I hope that won't be for at least another two years!)
But yes, I liked it, and it might serve to fill the gap between the end of S5 and the onset of SJA just a little bit (the only thing is it's only three 90-minute films rather than a full series, so it won't fill the gap for very long...)
Best line (Holmes to the disgruntled police forensics guy he keeps upstaging): "I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high-functioning sociopath - do your research!"