The BBC's SHERLOCK starring Benedict Cumberpatch & Martin Freeman

[junior94]

I really can't believe I'd not started a thread on this before though I don't expect this to be very active, not a ton of people will be watching it. It's the new TV series SHERLOCK bringing the Holmes & Watson characters into modern day London, created by Steven Moffat (current Doctor Who showrunner) and Mark Gatiss (sometimes actor & writer on DW). As much as I love Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law, this series is miles above the WB film franchise. The sucky part is, we only get 3 episodes per season/series, the good news is they're feature films, basically, they're 90 minutes long.


The second series kicked off last night (thank god for torrents, I'd never be able to wait for summer for this to debut in the states). A Scandal In Belgravia was the episode, introducing Irene Adler, the only woman to ever get close to Holmes (and beat him). After watching this, Rachael McAdams should be flat out embarrassed by what she put on the film screen as the character (though she only had her script to work with).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5x7wItbKgI

cast Q&A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVWi5oJxhoM

[junior94]

oh and a cool footnote to this series -- these two actors will face off (in a way) in Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT, since Freeman plays Bilbo Baggins and Cumberpatch will voice Smaug the dragon.

[TablesTurnAgain]

I love this show, absolutely excellent writing in these episodes. I watched all of season 1 and I can't wait to see this new season.

Cumberpatch is excellent as a neurotic sherlock holmes

[annie711pm]

I loved Sherlock. Loved. Cumberbatch + Freeman = WINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNINGGGGGGGGG. And yes, it is fucking rad as hell that they'll be in Hobbit together (sort of, haha)
I am not a torrenter, so I'll be waiting till it airs here, but I'm okay with that.

[junior94]

Originally Posted by annie711pm

I loved Sherlock. Loved. Cumberbatch + Freeman = WINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNINGGGGGGGGG. And yes, it is fucking rad as hell that they'll be in Hobbit together (sort of, haha)
I am not a torrenter, so I'll be waiting till it airs here, but I'm okay with that.

Good lord, I don't know how you can bear it Many people thought (I included) that "The Great Game" was probably the best of the first series, then this comes along and arguably blows it out of the water.

I'd say my only complaint with last night is, I'd rather of seen Irene Adler be an American as she is in the original story, not a Brit. But making her a dominatrix as a way of bringing the character to present day... brilliant.

and probably my biggest complaint on the series as a whole is their casting of Moriarty. I'd never seen this actor before, and I'm just not crazy about the metrosexual-ish way that he comes off.


Also frankly Hound Of The Baskervilles is actually one of my least favorite of Holmes stories, but of course it's one of the most famous ones, but even so, after seeing what they did with last night's show, I'm exceedingly pumped for it.

[mr.MikeD]

i watched the first season. something kept me from really enjoying it - pace or something, not sure what. The characters and story were good to very good I thought, but I didn't really get into it.

[Joruus]

Originally Posted by junior94

oh and a cool footnote to this series -- these two actors will face off (in a way) in Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT, since Freeman plays Bilbo Baggins and Cumberpatch will voice Smaug the dragon.

It's Cumberbatch, not Cumberpatch and he'll be playing the Necromancer in The Hobbit as well.

[buzz05232000]

i brought this series up in the doctor who thread a while ago.

so good, can't wait to for the next season/series

[Joruus]

I just finished the new episode... Dear God was that fantastic! So many twists and turns that it'll make your head spin; but when they finally resolve everything it is completely satisfying.

Loved how they snuck the deer hunter hat into the mythos. It totally works and it is genius.

[junior94]

Okay I'm totally stoked that I found this tonight, because I did so completely by accident. It's a download of the 01x03 episode The Great Game but with the commentary track turned on. it's Mark Gatiss, Cumberbatch and Freeman doing the commentary.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I004IO0E

[junior94]

As I feared would be the case, this Hound Of The Baskervilles episode was a letdown in the wake of the premiere last week (ep 2 was a letdown from ep 1 during last series as well), although it saved itself with a pretty wicked final act.

The sucky news is we're already one story away from having no Sherlock for a whole year or more again, the good news is next week could be potentially epic.

[TrippingBilly95]

I watched the first episode on Netflix last night and I'm hooked. This show delivers. Cumberbatch and Freeman really pull it off.

[junior94]

This is a spoiler-free review of the final episode this sunday, The Reichenbach Fall.

http://www.denofgeek.com/television/...ee_review.html


The main thing that I question from what the writer says is praising the quality of Moriarty. My biggest worry is that this episode overall could suffer from him obviously being the centerpiece of the episode, when I've thought since the very beginning (and like I've heard many other fans say) the one part that Moffat & Gatiss blew in this series was casting this guy as Moriarty. Well, and some of the writing of the character, to be fair. It's just never felt right, and he won't be just in small doses this time. I thought in the Irene Adler episode when it showed up sticking out his tongue sort of "shoo"'ing away the text on screen, that was just ridiculous.

And I actually got confused at the end of last week's episode, showing Moriarty suddenly in police custody, I'm thinking, when the hell did that happen? And how? But I suppose we'll learn this in the beginning of episode 3. I was just talking with someone else who's suggesting Moriarty intentionally got himself caught by the authorities, it's all part of his plan, not unlike the Joker in The Dark Knight.

[Jake]

Watched the first episode, great show

[junior94]

Well as I said above, I had some reservations coming into last night's episode, given how I felt about the portrayal of Moriarty so far. But boy... did they knock it out of the fucking park. Hard to believe it's the same guy who wrote series 1's The Blind Banker (a rather weak dramatization of The Sign Of Four).

I'll use the spoiler tag for the rest to be fair.

Even though I knew completely in that final scene with John talking at the grave that Sherlock was alive (and even more or less how he pulled it off) still, Martin Freeman's performance there... I was genuinely in tears. Of course if you're a fan and you know the original stories, you'll know that when Doyle wrote "The Final Problem" and had Holmes and Moriarty both go over the waterfall, he intended to kill both characters for good. So Holmes getting out of it wasn't a forethought. But then there was such a massive public outcry for the stories to continue, Doyle devised a way that Holmes survived the fall, but letting otherwise the rest of the world to believe he was dead for 3 years (Mycroft the only one knowing the truth) and Holmes returned in the story "The Empty House".

Still, it seemed obvious what was going on, and I've already talked with a friend who's never read the stories, who saw the connection of Sherlock going to see Molly (the morgue attendant.. ahem) beforehand for what it meant. He needed her help in faking his own death. But all around an utterly brilliant story.

Click the "Show Spoiler" Button to reveal hidden text.

[jayman414]

What a fantastic way to end this season. I was blown away by the storytelling and performances of all involved again. The BBC really has a gem of a show in their hands. It is so refreshing to see a tv network be concerned with producing the best possible product, instead of just trying to add as many episodes as possible into a season for monetary purposes. I am truly convinced after this season that the television series is superior to the movies in all ways.

[JMcCartyFBI]

Probably my second favorite Holmes & Watson, very close behind Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwick.

[TrippingBilly95]

What the fuck. Reichenbach. I think this show is the highest quality television I've seen. I'm confused, amazed, heartbroken, satisfied, upset and curious.

[dre2142]

where can i watch this online?

[junior94]

well I'm not sure about streaming, but I've got all the episodes off torrent right after broadcast, same way as all my other TV.

[TrippingBilly95]

Originally Posted by dre2142

where can i watch this online?

I use a website called TVLinks. And torrents are always an option.

[junior94]

btw if you guys haven't heard about this, CBS is ordering a pilot on a project called Elementary, it's another modern day retelling of Holmes, but this one in New York. I'm not sure if that means the characters would be American or not. The BBC is understandably threatening possible legal action if it veers too close to theirs.

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethe...ponds-wtf.html

[TrippingBilly95]

Originally Posted by junior94

btw if you guys haven't heard about this, CBS is ordering a pilot on a project called Elementary, it's another modern day retelling of Holmes, but this one in New York. I'm not sure if that means the characters would be American or not. The BBC is understandably threatening possible legal action if it veers too close to theirs.

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethe...ponds-wtf.html

Mehhrrr. Sounds... not promising.

Oh and Kevin (and anyone) assuming you've watched the season 2 finale, read this. HIGHLY interesting:

http://finalproblem.tumblr.com/post/...blah-blah-blah

Click the "Show Spoiler" Button to reveal hidden text.

[Joruus]

Originally Posted by TrippingBilly95

Mehhrrr. Sounds... not promising.

Oh and Kevin (and anyone) assuming you've watched the season 2 finale, read this. HIGHLY interesting:

http://finalproblem.tumblr.com/post/...blah-blah-blah

Click the "Show Spoiler" Button to reveal hidden text.

Hidden spoiler!

[junior94]

thanks for the link Noah, I'll pass that on.

It's incredible ya know, even though I completely knew already how the story would go, and that Sherlock wouldn't be dead, but entirely from Martin Freeman's performance, his entire time talking to the gravestone, I was in tears.

[TrippingBilly95]

Originally Posted by junior94

thanks for the link Noah, I'll pass that on.

It's incredible ya know, even though I completely knew already how the story would go, and that Sherlock wouldn't be dead, but entirely from Martin Freeman's performance, his entire time talking to the gravestone, I was in tears.

My pleasure!

I'm right there with you, when he broke out the line, "I was.. so alone. And I owe you so much." I got so choked up. Jeez Martin Freeman is such a fucking good actor, because in the show John is a soldier, he's programmed to not break down, but you can see it in his eyes when he says his goodbye, he's falling apart inside; he's lost the one person that ever really meant something to him in his life.

[fluffhead_phish]

Just finished series 2, wow that was great. I wish I knew how he pulled it off

[junior94]

Originally Posted by junior94

btw if you guys haven't heard about this, CBS is ordering a pilot on a project called Elementary, it's another modern day retelling of Holmes, but this one in New York. I'm not sure if that means the characters would be American or not. The BBC is understandably threatening possible legal action if it veers too close to theirs.

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethe...ponds-wtf.html

Since the thread got topped already anyway, I'll quickly follow up this previous post, the first official trailer for the American version on CBS titled Elementary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUJeWvpat-M


In a way I'm looking forward to watching the pilot, just in anticipation of laughing at how awful it is. They still have Holmes being British, he's just transported to NY after getting out of rehab, Lucy Liu's Joan Watson is American. I don't really like her as an actress anyway, and so doing this to the character of Watson... oooh boy. The one element I suppose I am especially curious about, with this being a regular network drama, so presumably there will be at least 20 episodes to a full season, I'm wondering if/how often they'll be adapting original Doyle stories, or just making up new ones of their own (which is what they did with the first RDJ/Jude Law Holmes movie).

also ironically, Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch just recently finished working together on a stage play adaptation of Frankenstein.

[TrippingBilly95]

Man is it going to suck. Everything they said in that trailer sounded like a very lazy paraphrase to everything already said in the BBC show.

Plus like you said Kevin, I too am curious how many times there will be a cookie cutter case to solve versus plotlines based on the original Holmes stories.

In conclusion, I am highly invested and interested in this show's failure. Nothing will ever top BBC's Sherlock.

[junior94]

So, they did this same thing for series 2, months before it they gave out 3 "tease words" to indicate which stories they'd adapt, and the clues have officially been revealed earlier today for series 3. They are Rat, Wedding and Bow. Shooting is due to start in January 2013, no release date is set, rumors I'm hearing are mid to late summer.


Now it's the business of trying to figure out which three stories those relate to. There's a logic that already dictates The Empty House would be the first main episode, since that's the short story in which Holmes returned 3 years after faking his death, and explaining to Watson how he did it, etc. But there's nothing about "rat" that immediately jumps out to me. My best guess for "wedding" is Watson's wedding to Mary, meaning they'll do The Sign Of Four next, even though the wedding itself isn't seen in that story, just Watson's meeting, courting of, and proposing to Mary at the end. Although I'd honestly thought they already covered some elements of SOF back in the series 1 episode The Blind Banker. Anyway, "bow" likely points to The Last Bow, (as in, rhymes with 'cow') and the curious thing is that's the last chronological Holmes/Watson story that exists in canon (there were more stories came out later, but they were supposed to have taken place years earlier), but Moffat and Gatiss have already said they want to make this series as long as they can. So we shall see...