I said in my last post that I might expound on the TV show I mentioned there. Well, I've got a long weekend of doing nothing ahead of me so I thought now would be a good time to write about it :)
OK, where to start... I guess I'll start where I normally do. A summary of how I was introduced. (I know I sort of did in my last post, but this will be a little more detailed). So, being a Doctor Who fan, I heard about two of the writers from Doctor Who that got together and came up with an idea for another show. Naturally, being a fan I was interested in other TV shows that they wrote, so when I came across the TV show called Sherlock... "WHAT IS THIS?? 8D" I didn't watch it right away though. For one thing I didn't know where to find it. And for another, I wasn't completely caught up on Doctor Who yet, so I was determined to finish that first. I have another blog elsewhere and some of the people I follow on there happen to watch the show. I started noticing their posts more and more and became more and more interested in it. Eventually, I found it on Netflix instant play and started to watch. After the first episode, I was hooked.
Sadly there's only one season with only three 90 minute episodes. However, despite the lack of footage, it is an amazing show! Season 2 is scheduled to air sometime in early 2012.
Anyways. What it is, is a modern-day Sherlock Holmes. The original Sherlock Holmes stories take place in the late 1800's, so I find it extremely entertaining to see the characters and situations placed in a modern setting. Each episode is actually based off of at least one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories (unlike most of the movies where the writers have just made up the story entirely), except it's been modernized.
Sherlock Holmes is played by Benedict Cumberbatch (try saying that when you've just woken up), who's absolutely fantastic! Since it's modern, the characters refer to each other by
their first names which explains why the name of the show is just 'Sherlock' and not 'Sherlock Holmes'. One thing you need to remember about this character is that he's not a psychopath, he's high functioning sociopath "do your
research". In this adaption he loves to text and is extremely skilled when it comes to researching on the internet. Sadly, he doesn't smoke a pipe like the original Holmes (although, I suppose that would seem a bit odd in today's society). Instead, he uses nicotine patches, saying that "it's impossible to sustain a smoking habit in London these days". Even though he's in the modern world, he still maintains most of the original Sherlock Holmes character that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote. Cudos to Benedict Cumberbatch for memorizing all those extremely long monologues of Sherlock's deductions and spewing them out at 90mph.
Dr. John Watson is played by Martin Freeman. This Watson has an amazing amount of depth compared to past Watsons. The episodes actually are mostly from his point of view like the books are. He is a traumatized war hero with trust issues, but then he meets Sherlock Holmes and then, boy, does his life get turned upside down. For the modern world, instead of writing down his adventures with Holmes as a diary for the public, he writes a blog. Another thing I found amusing was that the writers poke fun at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's continuity error by giving him a psychosomatic limp in his leg when he actually got wounded in the shoulder.
Each adaption of Sherlock Holmes portrays the Holmes/Watson relationship differently. In this adaption, their relationship is sort of like an older brother/younger brother relationship. Watson is constantly reprimanding Holmes for his rudeness, childish behavior, lack of moral principals, etc. But then of course, Watson obviously admires and trusts Holmes more than anybody else he knows. Despite their differences, they are very good friends. Watson is really the only person that Holmes actually seems to care about (and he clearly does a great deal by the third episode). Occasionally, people assume that Watson and Holmes are a couple because they live together, which I suppose is what would happen sometimes in today's society -__-. This is played for comedy as a running gag in the show since Watson gets annoyed at it and Holmes (par usual) hardly cares and lets Watson deal with it. More comedy comes from Holmes constantly insulting and being rude to everybody ("What is it like in your funny little brains? It must be so boring.") and Watson always having to cover and apologize for it.
Of course other original Sherlock Holmes characters are present as well. Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes, Moriarty. Mrs. Hudson's character doesn't really alter much from the original character as Holmes's and Watson's landlady. Lestrade has been modernized to a detective inspector who respects Holmes's abilities, but is easily irritated with him. The Holmes brothers are basically pure comedy; They're so melodramatic ("This petty feud between us is simply childish. People will suffer.") and Sherlock's always just a sassy little brother to Mycroft XD. And then Moriarty... well I'm not going to say much on him. You'll just have to watch and see how they've upgraded our hero's arch-nemisis.
There's so much more I could say, but then I'd just give away the entire series. Basically, this show is amazing and I highly recommend it (especially if you're a Sherlock Holmes fan). I personally, get excited every time I notice a reference to the books, so I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I was never bored.
So to finish, I'm just going to put a couple of my favorite quotes here for my own amusement.
Sherlock: Shut up.
Lestrade: I didn't say anything.
Sherlock: You were thinking. It's annoying.
Sherlock: Anderson, don't talk out loud. You lower the IQ of the whole street.
Sherlock: Shut up! Everybody shut up! Don't move, don't speak, don't breathe! I'm trying to think! Anderson, face the other way, you're putting me off.
Anderson: What? My face is?
Watson: So why do you put up with him?
Lestrade: Because I'm desperate, that's why. Because Sherlock Holmes is a great man, and I think one day- if we're very, very lucky- he might even be a good one.
Watson: We can't giggle, it's a crime scene.
Sherlock: I need some air. We're going out tonight.
Watson: Actually, I've got a date.
Sherlock: What?
Watson: It's where two people who like each other go out and have fun.
Sherlock: That's what I was suggesting.
Watson: No, it wasn't.
Sherlock: I've disappointed you.
Watson: It's good, it's a good deduction, yeah.
Sherlock: Don't make people into heroes, John. Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them.
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