I found an Amazon review of this wonderful DVD set that so accurately reflects my own thoughts that I think I'll open with an abridged version of it. The reviewer wrote:
"I needed another adaptation featuring Sherlock Holmes about as much as I needed a full frontal lobotomy. I patently refused to accept this new BBC adaptation and refused to watch it--but I relented (I'm so weak willed) and now, hat in hand, I repent. This glorious updating is fast, smart, and riveting entertainment. What an idiot I would have been to miss it!"
"Set in contemporary London, "Sherlock" modernizes three classic mysteries. Episode One is "A Study In Pink" and, by itself, it is an absolutely perfect film. The way the murder is introduced, the stellar screenplay, the ingenious play on familiar characters, the droll humor, the emotional resonance, and the technological innovation to update this tale all work in perfect harmony to create an unforgettable re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes."
"Benedict Cumberbatch turns in a star making portrayal as Holmes. Cumberbatch, with his unorthodox appearance, has always stood out for me--but this is easily his most memorable performance.'
"But surprisingly, it is Watson who is the real revelation here. Martin Freeman brings incredible depth as a war veteran who is alternately awed and frustrated by Holmes. While the banter is devised for maximum cleverness, there are real characters in "Sherlock." While Richie's cleverness led to a "too cool for school" vibe, the BBC version has actual emotional consequence by fully fleshing out the lead characters....[This] ranks with the best. KGHarris, 11/10."
Well said, K. G. Harris! I'll simply add that this BBC treatment also gives full vent to the philosophical side of Conan Doyle's creation. Sherlock can do what he does, not only because he has brains, but because he's able to screen out distractions and focus entirely on the problem at hand.
Can he do that because he has Aspergers? The screenwriters might have thought so, but I'm not so sure. My impression of Aspergers is that it gives focus but denies perspective. It wastes focus by attaching it to what are trivial ends. That doesn't gel with what we know about Holmes. One of his greatest strengths is exactly that he does know what's important. The screenwriter also has Holmes say that he's a high functioning sociopath, but I don't buy that either.
How much focus any of us ordinary people can give to an intellectual task isn't really known. If we were disciplined to do that from an early age, that would no doubt help, but we all have the suspicion that too much prodding would be harmful. It's hard to know how much is too much. Besides, even if we wanted to do that for our kids, how would we go about it? No institution is geared for that.
One more observation: I like the music in this series. I'm always interested to know what I believe to be the hidden emotional messages in music (sans lyrics), so I ask myself what the Sherlock music is saying. Unexpectedly, it seems sad. What I'm hearing is "You wanted this, and now you've got it. Feel the exhilaration of being truly human and accept the tragic outcome."
The title graphics that overlay the opening music carry a message of their own. First we see (above) the modern London skyline, replete with Ferris wheel. It's very tranquil, though the monochrome adds a dissonant note.
After that we see Piccadilly Square and Soho, and the traffic races ahead in fast motion. That and the montage of scientific close-ups that follow make us feel that we're seeing London as the dangerous place it really is, through the eyes of some extraordinarily perceptive person. Later in one of the stories somebody says something like, "The rest of us shuffle around the city and see only shops and cars. He looks around and sees a battleground." Yikes!
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BTW, a friend asked if he should get this collection for his 12 year old niece since one of the episodes involves a dominatrix. My answer was a loud "yes!" The positive messages in this series easily outweigh the negative. Also, twelve is the last age where kids would consider watching or reading something recommended by their uncle. After that they care only about what their peers think.
17 comments:
The BBC Sherlock show is brilliant! I got the second series on DVD for my birthday and it's just as good as the first.
I'll tell you what I need like a frontal lobotomy, an Americanized version of this show. CBS put one into production after the huge success of the BBC version. It's set in Brooklyn and stars Lucy Liu as a female Watson. Thanks but no thanks.
As for the theatrical Robert Downey Jr. movies? They were ok, I guess but too conventional for my liking. If I need Sherlock, this is the version I go to.
Steven Moffatt is a genius writer and show runner. Murray Gold is an amazing musician as well. Plus both gents do double-duty on the new Doctor Who series. DW is incredibly ambitious and not the budget-strapped version of years past. How these folks maintain those levels of quality is beyond me.
JoJo and I watched the Peter Cushing Sherlock Holmes BBC series from the 60s last nightt. It was pretty low budget but well acted and fun.
I don't know who the greatest Sherlock Holmes on film is, and don't care. With all due respect to Basil Rathbone, my favorite Holmes & Watson screen team was always Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. (I'm also partial to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.) But even I'd have to admit this BBC version is up there with the best of them.
As Eddie knows, I had to be anesthetized and strapped down like Malcolm McDowell in CLOCKWORK ORANGE before submitting to watch this. I'm not kidding when I say it practically changed my worldview overnight. I no longer believe that everything new is sh*t. Everything new IS STILL sh*t --- except SHERLOCK.
The BBC has always put American television to shame, ever since the days of MONTY PYTHON and probably even before that. SHERLOCK could never have happened here because it would never have gotten past the imbecilic TV executives on this side of the pond. They insist on dumbing everything down until even a network suit can understand it. This show is innovative on every conceivable level, and yet still manages to be reverential to the source material, which I now appreciate even more. I'm currently rereading the original Conan Doyle stories, as a learning exercise in how to update and adapt classic material correctly.
One last word about Martin Freeman, who plays Watson. In an interview on YouTube, he talks about his own fantasy "dinner party" in which he'd invite Jesus, MLK, Ghandi - and Stan Laurel! Now I ask you -- is this guy the coolest person on the planet, or what?
Holy moley, Eddie. I've been avoiding this series, figuring it was another modern TV show that's overrated, but with your recommendation I'm gonna check it out! It means a lot to me!
Thanks a million!
Preach it Mike!
Something else I love about the show is it's unusual format. If Sherlock were done the traditional 22 minutes, 13 episodes per season way it would fall into the trappings of all shows that use that tired format: The episodes would suffer in quality because of the number of episodes they have to produce.
I can see it now; they'd do the pilot and then 12 episodes of filler, with little teases of the stuff we really want to see (like Moriarty) but they'd save all the good stuff to cram into the season finale. Seems kind of backward doesn't it?
By doing the series as 3 TV movies per season, not only can they cut out all the filler and give us their best but the actors can go and do other movies and projects during the break and then come back and shoot the next season.
British Television has been and continues to be innovative in method and quality!
I kept telling Eddie that this series was great and to get it at the library. But he wouldn't watch it until he forgot I recommended it to him.
I'm sadly out of the loop on this one, Eddie, but I might see if Netflix has this up on their streaming service.
Mike: Tell eveybody here what Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) was called in school.
Steve: Haw! That's not the way I remember it, but if it turns out to be true then I'll doff my hat to you and try to pay more attention to your recommendations.
Joshua, Roberto, Jorge: The shorter pilot is also on the vol. one set. It's very good but the longer remake works even better.
Even so, I'd say a few of the Watson scenes play better in the pilot.
Brian: I've been trying to track down other things they've written. Like you I also can't imagine how they managed to pull off this show.
According to Benedict Cumberbatch, his most notorious school nickname was "Bendy-dick Cum-on-my-back." It's strange, but that was Eddie's school nickname too! Isn't it a small world?
I'm in luck! I found the first two seasons of this show on the streaming Netflix service and I'm watching the hour and a half version of the first episode right now! I'll try to watch an episode a day since each one seems to be pretty lengthy.
I don't care much for media embraced by Anglo-philes so I don't think I'll ever watch this.
"The BBC has always put American television to shame, ever since the days of MONTY PYTHON and probably even before that. SHERLOCK could never have happened here because it would never have gotten past the imbecilic TV executives on this side of the pond."
Actually Mike, Monty Python themselves claim that the show wouldn't be able to be made today on the BBC, or at least Eric Idle does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuib8WtZU0
The British public is arguably just as obsessed with being politically correct as the USA, or maybe more.
For example, the BBC tried to make a "comedy" (it was about as funny as ) about a Muslim family living in Birmingham but got in hot water over it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-receives-hundreds-of-complaints-and-is-accused-of-insulting-muslims-with-new-racist-sitcom-citizen-khan-8092543.html
If Americans think the BBC is superior to American tv then it must be awful, people criticise the BBC all the time. Especially for it's comedy shows.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2013/jan/29/mrs-browns-boys-worst-comedy-ever-made-smash
Update: This show is a lot better than I thought it would be and the lengthy format is perfect to flesh out the characters. There also many twists and surprises that I wasn't expecting and I loved the scene where Sherlock is playing the pill game with the murderous taxi driver. Frankly, the review of this show is quite accurate. Thanks so much for recommending this, Eddie. I'm hooked.
At this rate, I think I will have the two series done by Tuesday or Wednesday.
Robert, that's fine -- but stop posting spoilers!
Have you seen the Ronald Howard Sherlock Holmes? I think that if he had writers as good as the BBC one then he would have been my favorite Holmes. It's the only American Sherlock Holmes that I like, though.
Joshua: The CBS Sherlock Holmes isn't a copy of the BBC version. It's a copy of an idea they used in 1987. Other than getting rid of the idea of him being cryogenically frozen and moving it from Boston it is pretty much the same. They tried making it into a show, but they couldn't get any interest int it. Even for as bad as it was it is still better than the Lucy Liu version.
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