The Thread Of Sherlock Holmes

[Mythopoeika]

One Thatcher was enough. Six?
Phooey.

 

[Xanatic*]

I always felt Six Napoleons was one of the weakest stories.

Someone also disovered Cumberbatch is related to Doyle, if you go back 600 years. Though that far back, who in the UK wouldn't be?

 

[GNC]

I always felt Six Napoleons was one of the weakest stories.

It made for one of the most enjoyable Basil Rathbone movies, though.

 

[GNC]

One Thatcher was enough. Six?
Phooey.

Thought it was funny how one of the Thatcher collectors thought it was ridiculous anyone would want to smash up a bust of her!

 

[Analogue Boy]

The clue was in the first episode.
This show is jumping the shark.
The ghost of Mary FFS.

 

[GNC]

I loved it and much preferred Mary as a Farscape Harvey than an international assassin. Toby Jones was every dodgy celebrity rolled into one, and the mystery wrongfooted me properly, like it should. Nice message adapted from the boys-y Conan Doyle stories about the importance of the female element as character building (and completing) too - Mrs Hudson almost stole the whole show.

Well, I say I loved it... I did until the cliffhanger. It was all a bit "as yet undisclosed evil triplet" for my taste, but I'm intrigued to see what they'll do with it. For a moment I thought she was Moriarty in drag.

 

[Anonymous-50446]

Riveting stuff, great fun.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

So....

Spoiler: Spoiler!

...we still don't know who/what 'Sherrinford' is?

Unless I missed something.

I reckon it's the name of the facility that Mycroft thinks his sister is safely locked-up in.

 

[Coastaljames]

Basil Rathbone

Holmes -

NOT Holmes -

 

[David Plankton]

It looks like I'm going to watch ep2 even though I swore I wouldn't after last week.

 

[Min Bannister]

NOT Holmes -

I know it is very popular but I am unable to tolerate it.
He is SUCH an arse. Holmes was never the most empathic person in the world but that is Professor Challenger levels of arseness.

 

[Anonymous-50446]

Holmes -

Not Holmes -

NOT Holmes -

 

[Fluttermoth]

So....

Spoiler: Spoiler!

...we still don't know who/what 'Sherrinford' is?

Unless I missed something.

I reckon it's the name of the facility that Mycroft thinks his sister is safely locked-up in.

Possibly, although

Spoiler

there could still be a secret brother; "everyone stops at three", don't forget!

 

[Anonymous-50446]

Possibly, although

Spoiler

there could still be a secret brother; "everyone stops at three", don't forget!

Nice one @Fluttermoth

 

[Peripart]

It looks like I'm going to watch ep2 even though I swore I wouldn't after last week.

I felt the same after last week's load of arse-water, but I'm glad I stuck with it. Much better this week. Jimmy Savile will be turning in his grave... !

 

[Yithian]

View attachment 3909

Holmes -

If you will indulge me a moment, I shall add:

Peter Guillam:

Airline Steward at a Wedding:

 

[Anonymous-50446]

If you will indulge me a moment, I shall add:

Peter Guillam:

Airline Steward at a Wedding:

Spot on. Jayston was Guillam and reading the audio-book of "Tinker Tailor..." didn't hurt either.

 

[Fluttermoth]

I love Brett as Holmes, but love the new Sherlock too; I actually wasn't expecting to, I didn't like the idea of a modern day Holmes, but I was very glad to be proved wrong I loved Rathbone when I was younger, but Nigel Bruce's Watson puts me off watching them now, he's such a bumbler :/

As I saw someone else point out on another forum, Sherlock the show isn't really a crime procedural like most Holmes adaptations are, and as a lot of people are apparently perceiving it, it's an exploration of Sherlock Holmes as a meme.

 

[PeteByrdie]

I love Brett as Holmes, but love the new Sherlock too; I actually wasn't expecting it to, I didn't like the idea of a modern day Holmes, but I was very glad to be proved wrong I love Rathbone when I was younger, but Nigel Bruce's Watson puts me off watching them now, he's such a bumbler :/

As I saw someone else point out on another forum, Sherlock the show isn't really a crime procedural like most Holmes adaptations are, and as a lot of people are apparently perceiving it, it's an exploration of Sherlock Holmes as a meme.

Nigel Bruce's Watson was a tragedy. It was as though they'd interpreted a great man in his own right being overshadowed by an exceptional man as some kind of double act with a straight man and a buffoon. Also, few (I can think of one) of those stories where based on Conan Doyle's many stories, and they became increasingly ridiculous. It's a shame because Rathbone was made for the role, and was always a delight to watch.

Brett is 'my Holmes', in the sense of people having a particular Bond or Doctor Who with whom they 'grew up', and I've got the box-set of Granada TV's series. They got a bit shaky over time, too, but some are excellent.

Cumberbatch makes the role his own, and I loved the first two series. I haven't yet seen the latest episode though. It seems to have lost some of its charm.

 

[Xanatic*]

It's turned into a spectacle rather than a story. Also they are real bad at resolving cliffhangers.

 

[Anonymous-50446]

Nigel Bruce's Watson was a tragedy. It was as though they'd interpreted a great man in his own right being overshadowed by an exceptional man as some kind of double act with a straight man and a buffoon.

That's the popular view as a result and was for a long time. It's pity, As written Watson's no idiot.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Nigel Bruce's Watson was a tragedy. It was as though they'd interpreted a great man in his own right being overshadowed by an exceptional man as some kind of double act with a straight man and a buffoon. Also, few (I can think of one) of those stories where based on Conan Doyle's many stories, and they became increasingly ridiculous. It's a shame because Rathbone was made for the role, and was always a delight to watch. ...

I agree that Nigel Bruce's version was a disservice to the Watson character. I've never been clear whether one should blame Bruce so much as whomever was scripting the Rathbone films. Bruce was already known for playing benevolent buffoons. The question is whether he was the actor chosen to play a buffoon already scripted or he was the habitual buffoon who projected that persona onto the character in the script. I tend to believe the former was the case.

The diminution of Watson into comic relief was most apparent in the series of Universal Studio films during the 1940's, which itself was an assembly line 'reboot' derived from the first two Rathbone / Bruce films (1939; 20th Century Fox). My recollection is that Bruce's Watson was more clear-headed and competent (if only marginally so ... ) in the earlier Fox films.

Bruce was self-conscious about the mutations done to the Watson character, but it didn't seem to stress him as much as the incongruities of setting Holmes stories in the then-contemporary world of the 1940's. This is reflected in the following 'personal quote' from Bruce's IMDb entry:

The stories we did were modernised but the characters of the famous detective and his biographer were kept more or less as originally written by Conan Doyle. Watson, however, in the films was made much more of a 'comic' character than he ever was in the books. This was with the object of introducing a little light relief. The doctor, as I played him, was a complete stooge for his brilliant friend and one whose intelligence was almost negligible. Many of the lovers of Conan Doyle must have been shocked, not by this caricature of the famous doctor but by seeing the great detective alighting from an aeroplane and the good doctor listening to his radio. To begin with, Basil and I were much opposed to the modernising of these stories but the producer, Howard Benedict, pointed out to us that the majority of youngsters who would see our pictures were accustomed to the fast-moving action of gangster pictures, and that expecting machine guns, police sirens, cars travelling at 80 miles an hour and dialogue such as 'Put em up bud', they would be bored with the magnifying glass, the hansom cabs, the cobblestones and the slow tempo of an era they never knew and a way of life with which they were completely unfamiliar.

My guess is that this was excerpted from Bruce's memoir Games, Gossip and Greasepaint - never published as a whole autobiography, but partially disseminated as extracts in Holmes-related publications.

 

[Coastaljames]

It's pity, As written Watson's no idiot.

Not at all. He's smart, brave and a tough guy.

 

[GNC]

Nigel Bruce's Watson wasn't true to the page, but I love watching Nigel Bruce so don't mind at all.

 

[Peripart]

After 5 minutes scribbling, I've worked out that "Culverton Smith" is an anagram of:

"C'mon Svile, truth", which is close enough for me.

 

[Quake42]

Yeah, this Sherlock has really gone off the boil hadn't it? Although better than the last season.

The thing is that when you're churning out 20-25 episodes a season you can get away with a couple of duff ones. Not so much when you're producing three.

 

[Quake42]

Watching tonight's Sherlock, the last of the season. Utter nonsense.

Edit: rubbish mash up of Saw and a disturbing Crystal Maze.

 

[GNC]

B-but that can't be the final one, they didn't explain how he got off the roof! Ahem, anyway, I enjoyed it, there was a lot of the "bigger mousetrap" about it and the moral dilemmas confirmed Sherlock did indeed have morals, which he didn't always like to admit. The bit with Molly was cruel, I'd be interested to see their next meeting (!). It reminded me of Skyfall, oddly. Benedict for Bond?

 

[BlackPeter]

Watching tonight's Sherlock, the last of the season. Utter nonsense.

Edit: rubbish mash up of Saw and a disturbing Crystal Maze.

Watching tonight's Sherlock, the last of the season. Utter nonsense.

Edit: rubbish mash up of Saw and a disturbing Crystal Maze.

 

[ramonmercado]

B-but that can't be the final one, they didn't explain how he got off the roof! Ahem, anyway, I enjoyed it, there was a lot of the "bigger mousetrap" about it and the moral dilemmas confirmed Sherlock did indeed have morals, which he didn't always like to admit. The bit with Molly was cruel, I'd be interested to see their next meeting (!). It reminded me of Skyfall, oddly. Benedict for Bond?

I loved it!

I think we'll see more of H&W.