• The new B5TV.COM is here. We've replaced our 16 year old software with flashy new XenForo install. Registration is open again. Password resets will work again. More info here.

New Sherlock Holmes on PBS

Jade Jaguar

Regular
PBS has just started showing a 3 ep series of a new, 21st century Sherlock Holmes, made in the UK. It has Dr. Who connections, with Steven Moffat doing it. The first installment was quite well done. I'll admit I was skeptical about an update, but IMO, it works well. It is on PBS Masterpiece Mystery, and will probably be rerun this week, with the second ep on Sunday. Check it out!

Sherlock is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who looks like he could be a good Dr. Who himself. His Watson is an army Dr., recently returned from Afghanistan, and suffering from PTSD. We also meet Mycroft in the first ep, and get hints of Moriarty.
 
That sounds very interesting, thanks for passing that along, JJ! :D
You make it sound as if we should soon see a Dr. Who ep with Sherlock Holmes in it. :cardie:

Sherlock Holmes might be difficult to update, are they keeping the egotistical, drug-addicted genius Holmes that we know and love? I know I still like and watch the Jeremey Brett (?) versions (series 1 and 2 when he came back from the dead, well not dead yet...). He dropped the impatience Holmes had with women, the distrust and objectification and all that. They must have wanted Holmes to be a bit more likeable.

But I'd love to see someone play it more as it was written. I wonder which way they'll take it.

Thanks so much for posting this, JJ. :D
 
They did a great job at updating it, IMO, while staying quite true to the characterizations and the feel of the original material. I especially approve of how they did Watson - in so many adaptations, he's reduced to a bumbling fool whose primarily purpose is to make Sherlock look awesome in comparison. This Watson feels a lot more like the charming womanizing bad-ass gentleman who narrates Conan Doyle's stories. With the same adaptations turning Sherlock from a semi-sociopatic misanthropic asexual narcomaniac into a well-adjusted gentleman - I like that they haven't done this here either. It preserves the dynamics found in the original materials which is lost in so many adaptations.

All three episodes had their definite weak points (don't want to spoil anything till they've all been aired), but I absolutely loved the series nevertheless. Looking forward to next year's series.
 
I saw the first episode as well. I liked it considerably more than I thought I would. I am a Jeremy Brett fan and have always loved his idiosyncratic way of portraying Holmes. Cumberbatch was excellent, being both modern and having that quirky way of being. I also like the relationship between Holmes and Watson and it works quite well in the 21st century.

I'm looking forward to the next installments.
 
I've seen the third ep now, and liked them all. This Holmes is the most maniacal yet. But, the part about 'Sherlock doesn't know the Earth orbits the Sun' seemed ridiculous to me.
 
I've seen the third ep now, and liked them all. This Holmes is the most maniacal yet. But, the part about 'Sherlock doesn't know the Earth orbits the Sun' seemed ridiculous to me.

Well, it IS canon. From a Study in Scarlet:

His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.
"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."
"To forget it!"
"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
"But the Solar System!" I protested.
"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work."

So if it's ridiculous, it's Conan Doyle that gets the blame here. Personally, I would like to think that it's ridiculous, but I don't think it is - my sister recently had to explain to a 14-year old coaching student of hers that the Earth goes around the sun. Given, this girl is a complete idiot .. but so is Sherlock, in many ways.
 
Chilli, thanks for clearing up my ignorance on the point. My surprise comes from several points - in the films, Sherlock always seems to know everything about everything. He seems to know all the government functionaries, and what they are up to, i.e. In the last ep, he solved the forgery crime by knowing detailed info about a comet (IIRC.) So, how does he have that level of astronomical knowledge, but not know that the Earth orbits the Sun? My question is rhetorical, I don't expect you to explain it. :D
 
Chilli, thanks for clearing up my ignorance on the point. My surprise comes from several points - in the films, Sherlock always seems to know everything about everything. He seems to know all the government functionaries, and what they are up to, i.e. In the last ep, he solved the forgery crime by knowing detailed info about a comet (IIRC.) So, how does he have that level of astronomical knowledge, but not know that the Earth orbits the Sun? My question is rhetorical, I don't expect you to explain it. :D

I can try anyway :D .. that part is harder to explain, yes. But by engaging in massive fan wank, one could make a case that this, while being a stretch, is conceivable.

Book Sherlock keeps quite a library at home which he uses as a brain extension whenever necessary - i.e. as soon as a topic for whatever reason becomes relevant for a case he's dealing with, he'll read up on any background information he might need. As this Sherlock is like a book Sherlock with more technology at his disposal, he might have read up on this as soon as it became relevant for the case. Also - not sure here, as it's been some months since I watched this episode - I believe there were some indicators that the lady in the planetarium was currently reviewing materials on this supernova (wasn't there something on the speakers about this when the Golem killed her?). It could be that Sherlock learned about the supernova here, and identified it on the painting using his photographic memory.

Another possible interpretation: Sherlock actually knows quite a bit about the sky as it is/was perceived by humans, but considers the mechanics behind what we perceive as irrelevant. I don't Sherlock's supposed to have never heard of the heliocentric world view, just that he never chose to remember the fact, as he could not forsee it having any practical relevance to him. It's not actually unconceivable - different people's minds work in fascinating ways.
 
Well, in retrospect, with the message in the professor's phone call, and given that she worked in a planetarium, and was an astronomer, it probably should have been obvious that the solution had something to do with the sky. In fact, I was thinking that maybe it was something about the location of the stars in the painting, before Sherlock sussed it. Yes, he could have read up on things, when it became relevant, but that seems a stretch, both for time, and for such an esoteric bit of info. Still, I like the series, and look forward to more.
 
Two things struck me about these comments:

Chilli, thanks for clearing up my ignorance on the point. My surprise comes from several points - in the films, Sherlock always seems to know everything about everything. He seems to know all the government functionaries, and what they are up to, i.e. In the last ep, he solved the forgery crime by knowing detailed info about a comet (IIRC.) So, how does he have that level of astronomical knowledge, but not know that the Earth orbits the Sun? My question is rhetorical, I don't expect you to explain it. :D

I can try anyway :D .. that part is harder to explain, yes. But by engaging in massive fan wank, one could make a case that this, while being a stretch, is conceivable.

Book Sherlock keeps quite a library at home which he uses as a brain extension whenever necessary - i.e. as soon as a topic for whatever reason becomes relevant for a case he's dealing with, he'll read up on any background information he might need. As this Sherlock is like a book Sherlock with more technology at his disposal, he might have read up on this as soon as it became relevant for the case. Also - not sure here, as it's been some months since I watched this episode - I believe there were some indicators that the lady in the planetarium was currently reviewing materials on this supernova (wasn't there something on the speakers about this when the Golem killed her?). It could be that Sherlock learned about the supernova here, and identified it on the painting using his photographic memory.

Wow, did I have a deja-vu flash on about a million different posts on "Star Trek" series.

Quite entertaining, I might add. :D


Another possible interpretation: Sherlock actually knows quite a bit about the sky as it is/was perceived by humans, but considers the mechanics behind what we perceive as irrelevant. I don't Sherlock's supposed to have never heard of the heliocentric world view, just that he never chose to remember the fact, as he could not forsee it having any practical relevance to him. It's not actually unconceivable - different people's minds work in fascinating ways.

I have known people like this. It is absolutely possible. Different people reason things out very differently.

What I'd like to ask Sir A.C. Doyle is: how do you know what you might find useful to know? Isn't that a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy, since you'll never know if you could have used anything you have missed?
 
Last edited:
I have a question. Actually two.
1st: Why was the Golumn hiding with the homeless and when he saw he was being followed, he had a sportscar waiting for him?

2nd: When the old woman started to describe Moriarty, "Oh, he had a soft voice," and then she blew up, why didn't Sherlock immediately know it was the guy at the beginning. He is supposed to be the most vigilant detective anywhere.
 
Slightly OT

Is this series up there with the Jeremy Brett series of the late 1980/90s?

It is easily as watchable and interesting. Apparently, apart from the change of eras, it as true to Conan-Doyle's work. I liked Jeremy Brett quite a bit, and this new show isn't a replacement. But, don't miss it just to be true to Brett, or because the modernization seems weird to you. Check it out.
 
I missed it, and I'm not sure how. I suspect this is yet another case of a big, popular PBS series that just doesn't quite make it to the Tucson affiliate. I missed a documentary I really wanted to see because it simply never showed on the Tucson station.

:censored:
 
Maybe it will show up in the summer, or after next fall's run of Masterpiece Mystery. Also, I think you might be able to get it on line.
 
Back
Top