Sherlock - BBC

Attila the Professor said:

I get your complaint, but they're inevitably going to give away Moriarty's role in the story, and Harris isn't a big enough name to try to conceal for some sort of surprise.

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It would be impossible to properly feature Moriarty in a movie series, true, but the complaint is primarily: If Lane Pryce appears anywhere on screen before they mention his name, audiences are already going to know he's Moriarity. See, for example, The Tourist.

Attila the Professor said:

I've also seen the first three installments of the BBC series. Quite good, I felt. The next three will be hitting the big stories - Scandal in Bohemia, Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Final Problem - so that's something to look forward to.

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Is this the modern re-telling? I have yet to see it, but have been meaning to give it a look see.

Le Saboteur said:

It would be impossible to properly feature Moriarty in a movie series, true, but the complaint is primarily: If Lane Pryce appears anywhere on screen before they mention his name, audiences are already going to know he's Moriarity. See, for example, The Tourist.

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Fair enough.

Le Saboteur said:

Is this the modern re-telling? I have yet to see it, but have been meaning to give it a look see.

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Yeah, that's the one. The three in the first series were fairly loose adaptations (though there was some dialogue almost verbatim from A Study in Scarlet, and some Dancing Men material appears in the second of the three), but the next season can probably be expected to be closer adaptations.

Attila the Professor said:

Yeah, that's the one. The three in the first series were fairly loose adaptations (though there was some dialogue almost verbatim from A Study in Scarlet, and some Dancing Men material appears in the second of the three), but the next season can probably be expected to be closer adaptations.

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I hope not; they were perfect as they were: far superior to the Downey film, fun as that is. I actually happened across them filming the other day by Battersea Power Station: Sherlock and John were examining a body in the boot of a car!

Attila the Professor said:

Yeah, that's the one. The three in the first series were fairly loose adaptations (though there was some dialogue almost verbatim from A Study in Scarlet, and some Dancing Men material appears in the second of the three), but the next season can probably be expected to be closer adaptations.

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So I finally sat down and absorbed the BBC's modern retelling of Sherlock Holmes, and I am duly impressed. Quite so, in fact. It's not quite Sherlock Holmes...but, here we actually have a detective, not an action hero. Full marks on that aspect. I'm looking forward to the next batch of films, and hope that Netflix picks them up as soon as possible.

The Woman makes her debut.


Big Brother steals every scene he's in during Series One.

The failure of the series for me is the same critical failure in Doyle's original work: Watson is not his own man. He's there to chronicle the events and marvel at Holmes' genius. The BBC production looked to break with that mold during the first feature, but quickly fell back into the norm in subsequent productions.

That said, I like it. And I, again, am looking forward to more.

Game of Shadows, unfortunately, still remains unseen by me. I hope to remedy that this coming week.

I rarely find myself actually looking forward to a season of television, but in this case I am actually excited for Sherlock Series 2. Our friends on their dreary isle of blight have already had the pleasure, but for those of us Stateside it doesn't debut until May on PBS.

Full page for PBS Mystery here.

Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 9pm ET

A Scandal in Belgravia

Picking up from season 1's gripping cliff-hanger, the whip-smart dominatrix Irene Adler (Lara Pulver, True Blood) takes on Sherlock in a game he is ill-prepared to fight...love.

Sunday, May 13, 2012 at 9pm ET

The Hounds of Baskerville

Sherlock and Watson track a gigantic hound to Baskerville, where the military is conducting top-secret experiments. But whether demonic or dubious, something is stalking the moors...

Sunday, May 20, 2012 at 9pm ET

The Reichenbach Fall

Stealing the crown jewels is just a prelude for the unhinged criminal mastermind, Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott, Lennon Naked), when he poses the diabolical and inescapable "final problem" to Sherlock.


Don't have Netflix? Find searching through the teevee guide for "local listings" tedious and dull? Well, PBS has thought of you and has two of the three episodes from Series One available to watch on-line until the 28th of February.

Visit here.

Somebody please tell Guy Ritchie that this is what a woman looks like, not that girl he cast in his adaptation.

Did I get your attention? Good. In case you forgot, Series 2 of Sherlock has made it's debut stateside. The 6th of May saw the premiere, A Scandal in Belgravia, and this coming Sunday will bring the second of three episodes, The Hounds of the Baskervilles.


Drop in on PBS's site for more fun n' games!

Did you cancel your cable subscription in a fit of pique? Well, PBS has you covered until the 15th of June. Drop in here to watch it online.

CBS has officially picked up Elementary for their fall line-up. Check out the behind the scenes snippet they recently posted to their Youtube account.


Johnny Lee Miller is no Benedict Cumberbatch, but there's potential here. The fact that they've even mentioned Holmes' drug problem is a point in the series' favor.

IGN UK sat down with showrunner Steven Moffat, and it sounds like CBS initially approached him about bringing the show stateside.

Steven Moffat said:

Another example of what happens in L.A. television, I suppose. I wasn't very impressed by it.

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Full video here. It's a brief interview and you can here Moffat's thoughts around the 2:50 mark.

Here's a nifty fan trailer for A Scandal in Belgravia!


And if you're interested, check out this Q&A session with the cast & crew of Sherlock following the premiere of A Scandal in Belgravia.

Presented by the BFI. Note: the Q&A contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the episode, you might want to refrain from watching; or, just don't.

Just caught up on Series 2 of the Cumberbatch/Freeman show. The Baskervilles adaptation is the least of the three, but their treatment of The Final Problem ends up being quite excellent. Give them a shot.

Still need to check out Game of Shadows, in the wake of catching up on the Marvel films and enjoying Harris's superb work in this season of Mad Men.

Attila the Professor said:

. . . and enjoying Harris's superb work in this season of Mad Men.

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I agree the season has been great -- which has been a pleasant surprise because some critics at the beginning of the season were lukewarm.

I've got a feeling the attraction to that rifle catches up with Pete Campbell by season's end.

Attila the Professor said:

Just caught up on Series 2 of the Cumberbatch/Freeman show. The Baskervilles adaptation is the least of the three, but their treatment of The Final Problem ends up being quite excellent. Give them a shot.

Still need to check out Game of Shadows, in the wake of catching up on the Marvel films and enjoying Harris's superb work in this season of Mad Men.

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I agree on the Hound adaptation. Its arguably one of the best (or most iconic) crime stories ever written, and although I like the fact they tried something very bold and inventive with this version, I don't think it quite worked. There were some suitably creepy moments in it, but overall I found it to be the weakest of the stories in this short series.

Attila the Professor said:

Just caught up on Series 2 of the Cumberbatch/Freeman show. The Baskervilles adaptation is the least of the three, but their treatment of The Final Problem ends up being quite excellent. Give them a shot.

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Not having seen any of the series nor "Game of Shadows" yet, I'm curious about their versions of "The Final Problem". The waterfall in the climax of the story is the Reichenbach Falls here in Switzerland. Does anyone know if "Game of Shadows" or the new TV series filmed the climax scene there?

I've been up there and have stood on the ledge where Holmes and Moriarty fought in the story. The neighbouring town, Meiringen, is an annual meeting place for Sherlock Holmes aficionados. Some of the hotels & restaurants are named after the character or Conan Doyle, himself, and there is a Holmes museum in an old chruch with a statue outside. If you're a Holmes fan and ever get the chance to visit Switzerland, going to Meiringen is a MUST!

I don't care to spoil anybody with an answer, Stoo, so: clear out a couple PM's from your inbox?

Attila the Professor said:

I don't care to spoil anybody with an answer, Stoo, so: clear out a couple PM's from your inbox?

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There's always the spoiler tag function to black out the text. Anyway, I just made some room in my Inbox.

Stoo said:

There's always the spoiler tag function to black out the text. Anyway, I just made some room in my Inbox.

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Yeah, I didn't feel like dealing with that.

And since I've now lost the message I was going to send anyhow (not your fault, I just had to log out earlier), I'll simply say this regarding the BBC series: no, they didn't film at the Falls, though they do appear.

Attila the Professor said:

Just caught up on Series 2 of the Cumberbatch/Freeman show.

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I should have looked for it on video when you first mentioned this. Instead, I kept looking for it on Netflix. If it wasn't for the BBC America booth at Comic Con, I'd still be waiting.

I've only seen A Scandal in Belgravia so far, and I had a stupid grin on my face throughout the entire episode. It's my favorite of the series so far.



In other news, CBS continues to develop Elementary just below the radar. They've released an extended trailer and a "Meet the characters" featurette so far, and after watching them both I'm intrigued. The writing is quite strong, and there's chemistry between Msr. Miller & Mlle. Liu. If they don't milk it out over the regular length season, there's a chance it'll be good.



The one thing I do not like: the location. I'm tired of seeing New York City in teevee and movies. There's so many other locales to choose from. Otherwise, fingers crossed.

Contact is not a verb under this roof.

There's more news from the ever expanding world of Sherlock Holmes:




CBS will debut Elementary Stateside on the 27th of September according to the network's official site. (Aside from a sizzle reel, there isn't anything of note there yet.)

Expect Holmes' father and Moriarty to make an appearance as well according to showrunner, Rob Doherty.

Rob Doherty said:

"There?s a little more wiggle room [with Moriarty],? Doherty said, who noted he was such a shadowy figure in many of the books - the producer recalled a line about him being something akin to ?the spider at the center of the web of crime.? The source material involved agents of Moriarty and the idea that he always had his ?finger in the pie,? and Doherty remarked, ?We may be able to make some use of that. There?s a few dominoes we can knock over before we get to that.?

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Digital Spy also has a lengthy interview up with showrunners Doherty and Carl Beverly where they try to put to bed (pun intended) the "will they or won't they" aspect of the new show.

Rob Doherty said:

"I also was sort of up for the challenge. I knew it would be inevitable that people would be fascinated by the 'will-they-won't-they' that would come up and I like that the question is there and it exists, but I also don't feel any rush to? In fact, let me be blunt - I don't want them to end up in bed together. That's just not what the show is for.

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IGN has also chimed in with an interesting article on the series' potential.



Across the pond, both Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, & Benedict Cumberbatch have confirmed that Series 3 will begin production in January. Ostensibly using Doyle's The Adventure of the Empty House as its logical leaping off point, no further details have as of yet been confirmed.

Finally, the fine folks at Frogwares Game Development have been keeping the good detective afoot through the adventure game genre since 2004. Now -- and I completely missed this too! -- their latest outing is set to bow on not only the PC, but also on home consoles! The last two games weren't as well received as the initial two, but this latest one looks promising.

Details are few and far between right now, but it sounds like they've adopted the open-world and interrogation aspect of Rockstar's L.A. Noire.

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes

Le Saboteur said:

CBS has officially picked up Elementary for their fall line-up.

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And I sort of wish they left it on the shelf to gestate some more. Which might seem harsh, but as a Sherlockian of Absolutely No Regard, I expect to see The Great Detective on the screen; this incarnation wouldn't seem out of place in an episode of Law & Order. Still, I welcome any addition to the corpus.

Johnny Lee Miller & Lucy Liu are worth a watch for their chemistry alone, but beyond that Elementary is...well, a mixed bag. Where the BBC draws heavily on Doyle's original stories, the pilot episode of Elementary played like a rejected script from that aforementioned Law & Order. Most damning though is the fact that many of Holmes' analyses & deductions are rote, and the resolution has absolutely nothing to do with Holmes' genius. All of this can go away though; it's just a matter of waiting and seeing. For now though, I would watch it with a generosity of spirit.



Did I weigh in on Game of Shadows? I don't remember, but I enjoyed this one far more than the original. Especially once that child impersonating The Woman finally exited the stage. Jude Law & RDJ are more comfortable in the roles, and everything has been given an extra degree of refinement and, I dare say, excitement. Mark Strong was a quite capable villain in the original outing, but I really enjoyed Harris' take on Moriarty.

By the way, Attila, my original concern has proven correct: for the Napoleon of Crime, Moriarty's designs are awfully prosaic. I expected better. Though, there are some great moments between the two that help to make up for it.

I nominate Arsene Lupin for the inevitable third film's villain. Who? For non-francophiles, check out this trailer. He's the French equivalent of Holmes.

And where's Toby?

Attila the Professor said:

The Baskervilles adaptation is the least of the three, but their treatment of The Final Problem ends up being quite excellent. Give them a shot.

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Which seems to be the starting of a trend; both of the middle episodes thus far have been the weakest of their respective seasons. For me though, the second episode of Season 1 is the weakest of the six on file. Conversely, A Scandal in Belgravia is the ne plus ultra. I don't think they'll be able to top it. Agreed on their treatment of The Final Problem. I prefer the traditional ending, but Moffat & Co. handled it superbly.

Le Saboteur said:

Across the pond, both Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, & Benedict Cumberbatch have confirmed that Series 3 will begin production in January. Ostensibly using Doyle's The Adventure of the Empty House as its logical leaping off point, no further details have as of yet been confirmed.

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Season 3 is official. Well, it's been official. But with Peter Jackson cocking up the works with a new found desire for a third picture in The Hobbit adventure, it remains to be seen when Cumberbatch & Freeman will be available to reprise their roles. Still, it didn't stop showrunner Steven Moffat from tweeting

Steven Moffat said:

Last year it was Woman, Hound, Fall. This year?s three words revealed tomorrow at #MGEITF #Sherlock Master Class.

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True to form, he followed up the tease as promised with the the "Three Words".

Steven Moffat said:

So. The three tease words for the next run of Sherlock ? Rat. Wedding. Bow.

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The three words should be fairly obvious to figure out, but just in case go here if you don't mind potential spoilers. That last word though is of particular concern.

I'm willing to give Elementary a go, its got a lot to live up to in terms of the new UK version of Sherlock. So it'll be interesting to see whether they can pull it off.

AndyLGR said:

I'm willing to give Elementary a go, its got a lot to live up to in terms of the new UK version of Sherlock. So it'll be interesting to see whether they can pull it off.

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You won't be disappointed. Well, you might. The cultural landscape is littered with adaptations of Doyle's work that feature Holmes & Watson, but completely do away with the stories. Elementary is another of those playing like a version of Law & Order with a guy named Sherlock Holmes. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it achieves escape velocity.



That's Jeremy Brett. For those of you who didn't know, he played Holmes in the much acclaimed ITV/Granada teevee series from 1984-1994. Got Netflix? All 36 episodes of the series are available on instant view, as are the five feature films that they put out. For the completest, this is as close as you're probably going to get to seeing The Canon on film; only 16 of the stories were left unfilmed.

Don't have Netflix? A lot of the series has found its way to YouTube.